Venture Smith - DNA Project

DNA Project

During the summer of 2006 and with permission from over a dozen of his descendants, scientists dug up Smith's grave to look for artifacts and take DNA samples from Venture Smith's remains to be compared with DNA from communities on the west coast of Africa in an effort to understand Smith's history and background better. The effort stopped when Nancy Burton, a disbarred Connecticut lawyer without relation to the family, filed legal action to stop the dig. Burton claimed that the dig was disrespectful to Smith and his memory. The case was dismissed because the family had made application to the East Haddam Probate Court and the town's probate judge, Paul Buhl, had granted custody of the remains to Venture Smith's oldest living relative who qualified as next of kin. Town clerk Debra Denette had, upon application based on the Probate Judge's findings, issued exhumation permits authorizing the dig. This project was followed by a BBC Television team, which produced the documentary A Slave's Story, which aired on March 2007. (See external links below to view.)

After extensive consultation with the documented relatives of Venture Smith, an archaeological team exhumed the graves of Venture and his wife and some of their descendants. Unfortunately, the soil in which his family had been buried was so acidic that almost no bones remained. They were able to obtain some DNA evidence from the forearm bones (the only bones remaining of the entire family) of Venture's wife. However, the DNA obtained is weak and inconclusive.