Man unknowingly buys former plantation house where his ancestors were enslaved

slave housing. Just a single room with a smaller one above it. And no indoor plumbing. Fred Miller: You come from a long way away, huh? Betty Dixon: Of course. Fred Miller: I'm glad I don't have to live here. Betty Dixon: Well, I had to make it work. Fred Miller: Do you want to take a piece of this wallpaper with you? Betty Dixon: Yes. Fred Miller: (tears off the hanging piece) I hope the owner doesn't say anything. Betty Dixon: Oh my god. There you go. Sarah Miller is buried in the cemetery of the church that the Miller family still attends.

Fred at the grave: I'm glad now that I can come here and see. But, unbeknownst to this Miller family, just five miles up the road, in the cemetery of a different church, there was a headstone that also said “Miller.” , a much older tombstone, with names that Fred and his family had never heard of, but were about to. In searching for information about Sharswood, Karen found a document that mentioned them. Karen Dixon-Rexroth: She gave the names of the original owners, who were Nathaniel Crenshaw Miller and also Charles Edwin Miller. Lesley Stahl: Miller?! Karen Dixon-Rexroth: Yes. Miller. Lesley Stahl: Any light bulbs? (LAUGHTER) Is there any cable connected?

Karen Dixon-Rexroth: No, not at that time. Fred Miller: For me, it wasn't like that. At that time it was not yet like that. Karen Dixon-Rexroth: At that time, no, it wasn't like that. Others had suspected a connection between the two Miller groups. Bill Thompson: Because I told Dexter about it in '88... Bill Thompson says he had mentioned that idea to Dexter 30 years ago. Bill Thompson: What we had been taught in high school was that when they freed slaves, they just took the last name of the person who was there, which was Miller. He had just said to Dexter, "Dexter, it's very likely that your

ancestors

came from this farm." Dexter Miller: He did it.

He said that. Lesley Stahl: So you knew it was a

plantation

? Dexter Miller: I did. Lesley Stahl: Well, Fred, you said you didn't know. Fred Miller: I had no idea. Lesley Stahl: Dexter, you didn't tell Fred. Dexter Miller: I didn't tell Fred. I didn't tell anyone. Dexter says that he had kept it to himself because he hadn't found any way to prove it. And that's

where

this turns into a detective story, with the Miller cousins ​​now on a mission to discover if their own

ancestors

may have been

enslaved

on the same property that Fred now owned.

The first step was to discover who his last

enslaved

ancestors were. And Sarah Miller's death certificate contained the answer: the names of her parents, David and Violet Miller, who would have been adults at the time of emancipation. Lesley Stahl: Did you know anything about them? Karen Dixon-Rexroth: Not at all. You are welcome. Marian Keyes: I didn't know anything about them. We don't... Even Marian Keyes, who knew Sarah Miller, had never heard her name. Marian Keyes: Nothing. Lesley Stahl: Wow. Marian Keyes: Of course not. Karice Luck-Brimmer: I just... I... want everyone to know. Enter Karice Luck-Brimmer, local historian and genealogist.

Karen approached her to see if she could help her. Lesley Stahl: What are the special challenges facing the search for the ancestors of African Americans? Karice Luck-Brimmer: African Americans were not listed by name until the 1870 census. Before that, they were just a number. Lesley Stahl: You mean if they were enslaved, they... Karice Luck-Brimmer: Yes. Lesley Stahl: They weren't on the list? Karice Luck-Brimmer: Not at all. So really, you're just looking for any kind of tips and hints you can. She began by looking at the 1860 records of the then-owner of Sharswood, North Carolina. To Nathaniel Crenshaw Miller.

Karice Luck-Brimmer: There it is. Lesley Stahl: (pointing) N.C. Miller right there, okay. Karice Luck-Brimmer: Yes. He had 58 slaves here. But only age and gender are listed. Lesley Stahl: You've enslaved people (noting ages) 69, 44, 34. And not a single name. Karice Luck-Brimmer: No names. There was no way to know if Violet and David were among them, so Karice looked up David and Violet Miller in the 1870 census, the first after the Civil War,

where

they finally appeared by name. She showed that they were farmhands, who could not read or write, and listed their children, including, as Karice showed us, a very young Sarah Miller.

Lesley Stahl: There's Sarah. She is one year old. Karice Luck-Brimmer: One year. Lesley Stahl: And this she looks like Emily. Karice Luck-Brimmer: Yes. Lesley Stahl: She is three years old. And here is Samuel. Karice Luck-Brimmer: Yes. Lesley Stahl: He's five years old. For Karice, that meant that Samuel, Sarah's older brother, was born before emancipation. So Karice looked it up in another historical record called the Virginia Slave Birth Index. Where slave owners had to register births on their property. And there, under the name of N.C. Miller, there was Samuel. Karice Luck-Brimmer: N.C. Lesley Stahl: Right.

Karice Luck-Brimmer: And there's Samuel. Lesley Stahl: Oh. Karice Luck-Brimmer: And look at that. Lesley Stahl: Oh my gosh. Karice Luck-Brimmer: Includes Violet as her mother. It was the genealogical equivalent of irrefutable proof. Lesley Stahl: So this is proof that Violet, Sarah's mother, was enslaved by... Karice Luck-Brimmer: Yes. Lesley Stahl: --North Carolina. Miller Karice Luck-Brimmer: Yes. Lesley Stahl: And this is absolute proof? Karice Luck-Brimmer: This is absolute and definitive proof. Lesley Stahl: And you were able to tell Karen... Karice Luck-Brimmer: That her ancestors, David and Violet, were enslaved at Sharswood. Karen Dixon-Rexroth: That was difficult. Lesley Stahl: So, did you call Fred?

Karen Dixon-Rexroth: I did. I don't think he believed me at first. Fred Miller: I didn't believe him. (LAUGHTER) Lesley Stahl: So suddenly the connection is made to his family, slavery, and this

house

. Karen Dixon-Rexroth: And this

house

. Fred Miller: This house. Lesley Stahl: And you own it. Fred Miller: Once I realized that it was actually my blood that was here, it took on a whole new meaning for me. It really makes me sad sometimes when... you know? And I'm awake... many times, I'm awake until the wee hours of the morning, thinking about what happened here. As the news spread through the family, there was sadness, but that wasn't all.

Tonya Miller Pope: I almost felt like I was running out of breath for a moment. It was almost like a feeling of having been found. VOICES: Yes, huh. Tonya Miller Pope: This is where I started. And as black people, we don't always know where we start. Lesley Stahl: Here we are, sitting in this house. Marian Keyes: I can't believe it. I can not believe it. That I'm... in the

plantation

house (LAUGHTER) on the plantation where my family was enslaved. Lesley Stahl: You're laughing like this can't be true. Marian Keyes: It can't be, that's right. But it is.

Sonya Womack-Miranda: I felt... I feel complete. Lesley Stahl: Wow. Sonya Womack-Miranda: I'm not half a human being anymore. They make me feel complete, even if I don't know them. I felt a connection with them at Sharswood. Dexter Miller: I touched the tree, hugged it, and said, "My God, you were here when my ancestor was here." I wonder which ancestor of mine touched the tree. I didn't know what to say or do, I just hugged the tree and felt like "I'm home." That hunch from all those years ago Bill Thompson: I consider that I have been a servant of this farm and this house all my life and that the Miller family returns to my house, to our house, Fred.

Miller: Absolutely. Bill Thompson: That's great. It's a celebration of coming home. Lesley Stahl: Have you never heard anything like that? Several plantation properties like Mount Vernon and Monticello have established relationships with descendants of those enslaved there, but to see those descendants come to own that plantation property, wow: This is God. : This is... this is where we're supposed to be. Brenda: It's like a full circle, like it's meant to happen... Fred Miller: It's God's work Brenda: To me it's like it's meant to happen. The Millers also see the hand of their ancestors in all of this. Fred Miller: I think they had to be because I did everything...

I did everything in my power to (LAUGHTER) make this thing fail. Brenda: So it doesn't happen. Yes. Fred Miller: I tried to screw it up at every angle (LAUGHTER). But those ancestors had one more surprise in store. With all the revelations, there was one question that continued to plague Dexter. Where were his enslaved ancestors buried? Then, just a few weeks ago, he asked Bill. Dexter Miller: I said, "Bill, there's a question that's been bothering me: Where is the slave cemetery?" He said, "Dexter, it's right there." I said, "Right about where?" He said, "Do you see those trees over there?" Lesley Stahl: So you went straight there?

Dexter Miller: We went straight up there. The trees Bill Thompson pointed out, just beyond Fred's property, didn't look like a cemetery. Take a closer look Lesley Stahl: Is that one of them? Fred Miller: That's one of them. Lesley Stahl: Oh my gosh... Fred Miller: And that's... and that's one. the... he bled right there... the tombstone there. Maybe this is a rock at the other end. Karen Dixon-Rexroth: Yes. Lesley Stahl: (Gasp) Fred Miller: Always... Lesley Stahl: Oh, God. Fred Miller: --it seemed to be-- Lesley Stahl: Oh, yeah... Fred Miller: There was one, yeah, absolutely, poking out of the leaves around us were pointy rocks, some small and some medium-sized.

No names, no engravings. Simply anonymous markers of many, many lives. Lesley Stahl: Wow, this is amazing. Karen Dixon-Rexroth: It's... Lesley Stahl: It's kind of overwhelming, right? : It is... Karen Dixon-Rexroth: It is. Really is. I mean, we all live in the same area, pass by this place and wouldn't know that our ancestors were there by our side the whole time. Lesley Stahl: Fred, if you hadn't bought that house... Karen Dixon-Rexroth: Right. You're right. Fred Miller: If I hadn't... Lesley Stahl: I would have... Fred Miller: --bought that house we would never know about. Lesley Stahl: Never... Karen Dixon-Rexroth: Never.

Lesley Stahl: So how has all of this affected you? Fred Miller: It's changed me, it's definitely changed me. Lesley Stahl: Did you ever get angry? Fred Miller: I get a little, sometimes a little upset, when I find out things I should have already known. Lesley Stahl: Are you mad at yourself? Fred Miller: To myself and to the system, because I think we should have known better. Lesley Stahl: What about the school system? Fred Miller: I should have known better. Lesley Stahl: Family? Fred Miller: I should have known better, absolutely. Lesley Stahl: You want the story of slavery to be told.

Fred Miller: I want the story of slavery to be told. It is important. Fred Miller: So this was converted from a door to a window? Dennis Pogue: Yeah, yeah. Fred wants to do whatever it takes to preserve the slave house. Dennis Pogue: You know, this has been on display for, you know, 200 years. Fred Miller: Yeah, sure. He is in the process of creating a nonprofit organization to make it possible. Fred Miller: That's important to me too because I know there's a lot of emphasis on that big white house over there. Doug Sanford: Well, exactly. Fred Miller: But this right here is really (LAUGHTER) near and dear...

Doug Sanford: Well, here's the story... Fred Miller: --for me, of course. Yeah, this is the story... Doug Sanford: This is... Fred Miller: --right here. Doug Sanford: This is your family's story... Fred Miller: Yes, absolutely. Fred in the cemetery: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. There are eight right here. And he's been thinking about the cemetery, too. Fred in the cemetery: I imagine him being someone young. Karen Dixon-Rexroth: We have to do something about this. Fred Miller: Yeah, I have to. And I'll do it. I'm going to fix it. Lesley Stahl: Do you think you could allow historians to come and… Fred Miller: Absolutely?

Absol... this place will be open to anyone who wants to learn. Lesley Stahl: Anyone? Fred Miller: Anyone can come here. But for now, Sharswood serves the purpose for which Fred bought it in the first place. Bringing the Miller family together to celebrate. Lesley Stahl: What do you think Violet and David would think if they could see that you owned this place? Fred Miller: Yeah, I hope... I hope they're proud of us, and I think they would be. They endured a lot. I mean, I can't even imagine what they went through. Looking at us now, they must be smiling at us.