White Utah woman shares journey of discovering her Black roots

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — A white woman who was raised in Utah shares her experience as she learns more about her Black roots along the way.

A wise man from centuries gone by once said "to everything there is a season. A time to get, and a time to lose."

For Deena Hill of Mt. Pleasant Utah, she experienced those seasons, while looking to solve a family mystery.

“I’ve always had this fascination with my third-great grandfather, Nelson Holder Ritchie, because he was a mystery. Nobody knew where he came from,” Hill said.

She had to "lose" all previous notions about her family history tree when getting the life story behind Nelson Holder Ritchie.

“We knew he had darker skin, but we didn’t know what his nationality was. Rumor was probably Native American," she said.

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Deena’s no stranger to the world of family genealogy. She grew up in a family of avid genealogists who made sure to show her how to keep the tradition going.

Hill along with her grandmother, her grand aunt, her daughter, and granddaughter took the DNA test.

“I took the DNA test, my 94-year-old grandma, her 93-year-old sister, my mother, my daughter, and my granddaughter all took the DNA test," Hill said.

DNA results revealed Hill had African American ancestry. From the moment she found out, questions instantly flooded her mind.

“Where did this come from? What is going on?" Hill asked herself.

It was a shocking revelation for Hill who grew up in Utah and realized another crucial reality.

“I do not remember ever meeting a Black person in Utah as I was growing up," she said.

For a better perspective, consider this, the Utah of Deena’s day, the state’s Black population was scarce compared to today’s estimated 1.5% as recorded in the U.S. Census.

“I called ancestry and they told me to find the closest person to Nelson Holder Ritchie," Hill said.

Hill went so far as to getting her hands on a phonebook. She called around, eventually her efforts lead to calling Donald James Ritchie of Mesa, Ariz.

“I called him, and I said, you don’t know me at all but are you related to Nelson Holder Ritchie? And he said yeah that’s my grandpa,” she said.

From there the conversation really took off. Donald agreed to take a DNA test to help in the search for answers in Nelson’s life.

“It came back, he had quite a bit of African American blood in him,” Hill said.

Without hesitation Hill flew out to meet her relative and connect the dots. It was Hill’s first life-changing trip in her season of family discovery.