The remains of a teenager killed during the Tulsa Race Massacre 103 years ago have been identified by genealogists as a young World War I veteran from Georgia.
Daniel, a young man of unclear age, was one of hundreds killed when the prosperous Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma, also known as Black Wall Street, was burned in 1921 by a white mob intent on erasing decades of black history. And success.
Daniel, who is from Newman, Georgia, was passing through Tulsa so he could return to his mother's house when the riots broke out.
He had served in the Army in World War I before being wounded and honorably discharged.
In the decades since, identification initiatives have succeeded in connecting long-lost relatives across state lines.
“In August 2023, I received this email with my grandparents' names and my parents' names. It was a message saying we might be connected to the Tulsa race massacre,” Angela Poythress, who was born and raised in Newnan, told FOX5 Atlanta.
The forensic team has been working tirelessly to trace relatives of the victims, including those where Danielle was found.
FOX 5 Atlanta anchor Alex Whittler has bolstered their efforts by connecting anyone open to cold calls with the team for further DNA testing to confirm. At the time, they were specifically looking for the surnames Daniel, Meriwether, Bohannon and Vaughn.
Andrew Poythress had already taken a DNA test before the forensic team got to him. He found that he was a “perfect match” with Daniel.
There were even positive matches outside Georgia.
“They were trying to reach out to a number of 'Stacey Daniels.' My grandfather is Stacy Daniel. That's what led them to me,” Stacy “Daniel” Brown, a Florida woman, told the outlet.
The matches confirmed that Daniel Brown and the Poythress family were cousins, making Daniel their uncle.
They were all able to trace their ancestry back to Amanda Meriwether, Daniel's widowed mother of seven. She tried to get confirmation of her son's death and compensation for his discharge, but she did not hear a word.
“He wrote letters to the VA saying, ‘I want to go home. I need help getting home to my mom. She needs me. He left a forwarding address in Wyoming — which is where he was next headed before he was killed in the racing massacre, Angela told the outlet.
Daniel was officially buried during the fall in a ceremony organized by former Tulsa Mayor JT Bynum. He moved all of Daniel's remaining descendants to put the ancient warrior in his rightful place more than a century later.
They hope to eventually bring Daniel's remains to the cemetery where his parents are buried – but the grounds have been poorly managed over the years, leaving the terrain unstable and littered with sunken gravestones.
So, the descendants come together for another project and seek to renovate the dilapidated cemetery to bring Daniel back alongside his family forever.
“Don't worry, Grandpa. We'll make it right,” Andrew told the outlet as he looked at the overgrown grave.
The forensic team continues to identify more victims of the massacre and is searching for families in Louisiana, Alabama, North Carolina and Texas with connections to the names listed.
