The remarkable story of Christiana Long, born in England in 1832 to a Kanuri woman from Africa and an impoverished English sawyer, whose descendants concealed their African heritage for over a century until DNA testing in 2002 revealed their connection to the Kanuri people of Lake Chad.
Posted: 2025-Jul-17
This narrative is my effort to extrapolate and weave together the story of my African ancestry, drawing upon two histories given by Christiana, the history given by her sibling Emmanuel Long, and the book "Black People in Britain: 1555-1833", F.O. Shyllon, 1977.
March 2007
Around the year 1815, a woman was born in the Kanuri homeland near Lake Chad in Africa—near the present-day borders of Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad. In 1807, the Slave Trade Act was passed in England that prohibited the importation of African slaves; however, African slaves continued to be smuggled into England until slavery was completely abolished in 1834.
The story is well known of Africans being taken from their homelands in Africa, transported to the coasts, where they were held in abominable conditions while awaiting the arrival of a slave ship, and then carried onto the slave ship as human cargo on the journey to the West. Less well known is that the conditions of Africans living in England were as abhorrent as the conditions of Africans in the U.S., with the exception that there were no cotton or sugar cane plantations in the U.K. Even absent the plantations, the Kanuri woman's life was one of extreme hardship and exploitation.
Some slave ships coming from Africa would sail first to England before continuing on to the Americas. Some of the Africans were sold as slaves in England or were given to the ship's captain as partial payment for services. In the early decades of the 1800's, prior to the abolition of slavery in 1834, there were approximately 10,000 to 15,000 Africans living in the whole of England, of which 15-20%, (2,000 to 3,000) were women. Most Africans in England were slaves; however, there was a significant portion who were free. The largest numbers of Africans were in the port cities of London, Liverpool, and Bristol.
The young Kanuri woman served in the London home of a wealthy English family. Little is known about her conditions with the family; however, Africans in England, whether slave or freed, were generally treated as poorly as were Africans in the Americas. They were physically and sexually abused, and they suffered extreme degradations and humiliations. It may be assumed that the life of the Kanuri woman was difficult at best and unbearable at worst.
The family for which she served had a summer estate in or near Oxfordshire, approximately 100 kilometers northwest of London. In May 1831, while at the Oxfordshire estate, the Kanuri woman became pregnant by John Long, an English man who lived in the area and who worked as a sawyer (timber man) on the estates. The nature of the relationship (whether consensual or forcible) is not known; however, it is known that John Long was married with three children, that he was hardly able to provide for his family, that he drank heavily, and that he was a womanizer. In January 1832, after returning to London with the family for the winter, the Kanuri woman gave birth to a daughter, Christiana Long.
Little is known of life for the Kanuri woman and her daughter for the next several years. Although slavery was abolished in England in 1834, when Christiana would have been two years old, the Kanuri woman continued to serve in the home of the family. When Christiana was approximately four or five years of age, the family traveled to Toronto, Canada, taking Christiana and her mother with them. The purpose of the trip and its duration remain unknown; however, Toronto remained an English settlement at the time, and it is likely the trip was occasioned either for business or political/governmental purposes and probably lasted no more than a year or so. One possible scenario is that the trip was connected to efforts to put down the rebellion in Upper Canada (Toronto) that culminated in armed conflict in 1837.
Within a short while of returning to London from Toronto, the Kanuri woman died. The circumstances of her death are not known. At that time, Christiana was likely five years old or just turning six. After the death of her mother, the family sent Christiana to live with John Long in Oxfordshire. His circumstances had not improved in the years since Christiana's birth, so young Christiana was cared for by John Long's wife, Martha Hignall, who had to eke out a meager existence while caring for her own children as well as for Christiana.
In a cruel twist of fate, Martha Hignall died on 1 Oct 1839, when Christiana was seven years old, turning eight in January. After the death of Martha Hignall, Christiana was apparently left in the primary care of her older half-siblings; however, the 1841 census shows Christiana and her brother Levi living with John Long and a woman named Hannah – recorded as the wife of John – in the village of Wallingford, Berkshire, which is an adjacent county to Oxfordshire. (Wallingford now part of Oxfordshire since 1974). Christiana was 9 years old at the time of the Census.
A few years later, at the approximate age of 11 or 12, Christiana was placed as a nanny or domestic help for a family in London. The family treated her poorly, wanting her to perform duties which she found disagreeable. The exact nature of those duties is not known; however, it can be surmised that the family was treating her more as a slave than simply as a nanny/domestic help. Because John Long would have had few, if any, contacts in London, it might be surmised that Christiana was placed in the home through the assistance of the family for which Christiana's mother had served, or perhaps with the assistance of another wealthy Oxford family on whose estate John Long may have worked.
Regardless of how she came into the house of the London family, Christiana was unhappy with her treatment at their hands. Fortunately, slavery had been abolished in 1834, and after one year, she managed to leave the employ of that first family and found engagement with the King family. They treated Christiana well, and for the next five years, Christiana served in the King home. These were surely among the happiest years of her young life. Unfortunately, this arrangement was not to last.
In approximately 1849, when Christiana would have been about 17, the King family decided to immigrate to the United States. The King family invited Christiana to come with them to America; however, Christiana refused their invitation and remained alone in London. Her refusal to travel with the Kings makes sense only when remembering that slavery was very much alive in the United States. To travel with the Kings to America was to risk enslavement.
Some time after the departure of the Kings, Christiana became engaged to marry a young English man. It is not known how soon after the Kings left for America that Christiana became engaged nor how long the engagement lasted, but it is known that the engagement ended, purportedly at Christiana's doing. Christiana's explanation of why the engagement failed was that she had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the young man had no interest in the Church; therefore, she ended the engagement.
While that is a perfectly plausible scenario, there is another possible explanation. While Christiana's own history described Christiana as being dark, with wavy black hair, dark eyes and lashes, and having slender ankles, her physical appearance did not unmistakably reveal her African lineage. It is possible that the young man was not initially aware of Christiana's African heritage, and that upon discovering her African ancestry, the young man broke off the engagement.
In any event, the engagement ended, and on 25 Dec 1851, Christiana married her first cousin Luke Syphus, the nephew of her father, John Long. Luke and Christiana were married in St. Pancras Church in the King's Cross section of London. John Long and another woman not his wife served as the witness for the marriage. Luke and Christiana made their home in London, and Luke worked with John Long as a sawyer.
Luke Syphus had also joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints, and Luke and Christiana decided to emigrate to Utah as many thousands of European converts to the Church were doing. In early 1853, one year after their marriage, Luke and Christiana set sail from England; however, rather than sailing west across the Atlantic with the other Saints going to Utah, Luke and Christiana sailed south around Africa bound for Australia. It appears, that Luke and Christiana had decided they would conceal Christiana's African heritage, and they apparently decided to sail the long way around the world to Utah rather than travel in the company of any English members of the Church who might know Christiana's true heritage.
The voyage to Australia was planned to last three months; however, it lasted five. Conditions on board were difficult, with rations eventually being only a wormy biscuit per day. Christiana gave birth in March 1853 to her first child, a son born aboard ship while anchored at Table Bay, Cape Town, South Africa. Luke Jr. died at sea a month later. When they finally reached Australia, Luke worked as a sawyer to provide timber for the mines during the gold rush in Australia. Their second child, Lavina, through whom we descend, was born in August 1854 in Australia.
Luke and Christiana remained in Australia until 1856, when they sailed for the West coast of the United States. Almost immediately after they landed at the harbor at San Pedro, California, their third child, a son, was born in August 1856. Luke and Christiana remained at San Bernadino until the Saints were called into Utah following the Mountain Meadows Massacre. They lived in Toquerville, UT, Santa Clara, UT, Clover Valley, NV, and finally Panaca, NV.
In 1964, while LaRene Slack—the great, great granddaughter of Christiana—was pregnant with Reed, Hettie (great-granddaughter of Christiana), told LaRene that the birth of a black child to a cousin who was also a descendant of Lavina was "our family's fault" and that is was possible it could happen again. (This birth to a cousin has never been confirmed by other family members, and it was likely a pretext for broaching the issue of the family's African ancestry.) Despite Hettie's efforts to convince her otherwise, LaRene dismissed the notion that our family had any African ancestry. Hettie also had similar discussions with [three other nieces], but after these initial discussions with her nieces were similarly dismissed, Hettie never again spoke of the family's African heritage.
In 2002, Reed was able to confirm the family's African ancestry through DNA testing that matched his mitochondrial DNA with the mitochondrial DNA of an anonymous Kanuri person from Africa. The matching DNA meant that if Reed and the Kanuri person each traced back their direct maternal lines, they would share a common grandmother. It is not possible to know how many generations back the common grandmother would be. The DNA sample from the Kanuri person was made anonymously, so it is not possible to identify the branch of our family that has remained in Africa to this day . . . we only know they exist.
| Date | Age | Event | How Calculated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Circa 1815 | Kanuri woman born near Lake Chad area of Africa. Kanuri woman was to be the mother of Christiana Long. | DNA linkage through direct maternal lineage to Kanuri tribe around Lake Chad; Christiana is child of a Kanuri woman & John Long. Kanuri woman may have been born in UK rather than in Africa because the Slave Trade was abolished in 1807 in both the UK and the US —this abolished only the importation of slaves from Africa but did not abolish holding slaves—however, British ships still smuggled African slaves into the UK until slavery was completely abolished in 1834; further assuming that the Kanuri woman gave birth as a late teen. | |
| 10 Jan 1832 | 0 | Birth of Christiana in London or possibly Standlake; | Christiana's two histories – no documentary evidence to support Standlake parish as place of birth. Assuming later history is the more accurate – gives more details of early life and given at a time when no reason to mislead granddaughter. |
| c. 1834/35 | 4 or 5 | Traveled to Toronto | Christiana's history; dates estimated by age at which most children would have memory of trip. |
| c. 1835/36 | 5 or 6 | Return to London; Kanuri woman dies soon thereafter. | Christiana's history; Trip would have lasted approx. 1 year at minimum given modes of travel but not for longer given her age when living with Martha Hignall. |
| 1836/37 | 6 – 7 | Living with Martha Hignall & children | Christiana's history; Emmanuel's history; Martha's death date. |
| 1 Oct 1839 | 7 | Martha Hignall dies | Martha's death date |
| 1841 | 9 | Living with John Long & a woman named Hannah (recorded as wife of John), and brother Levi in village of Wallingford, Berkshire (adjacent county to Oxfordshire). | 1841 British Census Records |
| 1843/44 | 11 or 12 | London – Nanny for woman's family; worked for one year before leaving. | Christiana's history; extrapolation backwards from marriage date and other events in between. |
| 1844/45 | 12 or 13 | London – began to work for King family. Stayed with them for 5 years | Christiana's history; extrapolation backwards from marriage date & other events in between. |
| 1849/50 | 17 or 18 | King Family migrates to United States; Christian declines to join them | Christiana's history; extrapolation backwards from marriage date & other events in between. |
| 1850 | 18 | Alone in London after Kings migrate; little details known other than she joined the Church during this time. | Christiana's history; Emmanuel's history; extrapolation backwards from marriage date – assuming approx 1 year between King's departure and 1st engagement. |
| 1851 | 19 | Engaged to be married; broken off ostensibly because he refused to join the Church. | Christiana's history; extrapolation backwards from marriage date – assuming approx 1 year between 1st engagement and marriage to Luke. |
| 25 Dec 1851 | 19 turning 20 | Married Luke Syphus, her first cousin; a few weeks short of 20. St. Pancras Church, London | Christiana's history; copy of wedding certificate. |
| Early 1853 | 21 | Sailed for Australia | Christiana's history |
| Mar 1853 | 21 | First child, Luke, born aboard ship; Table Bay, Cape Town, South Africa; died at sea a month later. | Christiana's history |
| Aug 1854 | 22 | Second child, Lavina, born, Sydney, NSW, Australia; lineage through which our family traces. | Christiana's history |
| 1856 | 24 | Sail from Australia to California | Christiana's history |
| Aug 1856 | 24 | Third child, Edward, born, San Pedro, Calif. immediately after landing. | Christiana's history. |
The historical information about the conditions of enslaved persons in England came from a book I found in the Library of Congress when I worked on Capitol Hill and had access to the Library's holdings: Black people in Britain 1555-1833 by Folarin Shyllon. Published for the Institute of Race Relations by Oxford University Press, London ; New York, 1977
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