My research partner (a cousin) and I are trying to identify the parents of an Amherst County, Virginia slave, DAVID "Davy" MITCHELL, born 1810/11, from whom we are direct descendants. Per the 1880 Census, his mother may be a former slave named CAROLINE (MITCHELL) born in 1795. It has been suggested that Caroline arrived in Amherst from a plantation in South Carolina, but as yet we haven't seen any evidence of that. It has also been suggested that David's father was an ALEXANDER MITCHELL, born in 1790, but we have seen no evidence that he was or that he even existed. David has been described as mulatto or mixed race. That is supported by the fact that all of us African American direct descendants carry the DNA of English Mitchells, believed to be originally from Sussex County, England (perhaps via Scotland and New Kent County, Virginia). His mother, Caroline (we believe) was most likely mulatto, too. So, we, of course, are trying to identify the English MITCHELL whose DNA we are carrying. Any help, or even thoughts, would be very much appreciated. BTW, we are also trying to identify the parents of David's wife POLLY, also a slave, whose surname is in dispute but, per the Freedmen's Bureau, may be Peters.