How can i find my grandparents dating back before our family got to America as African Americans?

Question

i am trying to locate my family tree, where we originated from and what other nationallities i maybe

Answer 1

Unfortunately, a lot of records as to where exactly slaves came from are lost to history. If you are trying to find where your ancestors came from in Africa, the best approach would be thru DNA. If you are male, they can trace your direct paternal and maternal line. If you are female, then they can trace only the maternal line.

Answer 2

It's likely to be very hard.  If you have an oral tradition in any branch of your family, as Alex Haley did, that may help; but if you've read his account of how he came to write Roots, you have an idea of the effort and expense he went to to establish one line.  DNA testing can also help you locate at least the region in Africa that some of your ancestors came from, as well as other parts of the world that have contributed to your lineage.

Answer 3

Family trees are not located.. they are built with research, based on documents and facts that are a record. There are many different types of records.

If you are referring to your actual grandparents (not someone back in the 1700s or 1800s), then you should be able to find them in US census records, which often list where they came from. However, if you mean ancestors prior to the Civil war, who came here as slaves, I don't think that records will exist in their home country. DNA testing in SOME cases, gives information believed to show the areas of Africa.  I don't have info on how accurate that is.