When self-proclaimed “Aboriginal” artist Sylvia Huege de Serville discovered her roots lay in Bermuda, not Australia, she was understandably devastated.

The New Zealander had built a successful career as an indigenous visual artist, documenting on canvas the plight of the Aboriginal people, of whom she believed her great grandmother Artimeza was one.

But in 2005, as she prepared for a Melbourne exhibition of her paintings, she received an email from a distant relative which blew apart her belief that she was descended from Aboriginals and sent her, she says, into “a spiral of despair”.

The message revealed that Artimeza - known as Wee Mum - was born in Tasmania of a Bermudian father, a sailor called Edward Thomas Bascome Darrell who travelled to the Australian island sometime in the late 1800s and married an Irish-Tasmanian girl.

The news came as a huge shock to Ms Huege de Serville but two years on, after publicly announcing that she was an - albeit accidental - impostor in the art world, she is determined to continue tapping into her ancestry for inspiration.

Ms Huege de Serville is now investigating the possibility that she is descended from Bermudian ship’s pilot James (Jemmy) Darrell, whom she believes was the great grandfather of Edward. Pilot Darrell - one of the first black men to buy a house in Bermuda after his nautical prowess earned him his freedom from slavery - was commemorated at a service in St. George last week on the 192nd anniversary of his death.

The event at St. Peter’s Church was attended by Bermudians thought to be his descendants, though historical researcher Adrian Kawaley-Lathan, a consultant at the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs, told The Royal Gazette that no record of him having children - or siblings - existed. Ms Huege de Serville, who lives in Brisbane, Australia, read coverage of the St. George event in the online edition of this newspaper and got in touch, hoping that the family here would be able to shed more light on her bloodline.

In fact, the 57-year-old may herself have provided a vital piece of the jigsaw for those seeking to learn more about Pilot Darrell, who has a square named after him in St. George.

Those attending last week’s service heard that the home he bought in Aunt Peggy’s Lane had remained in his family, but Mr. Kawaley-Lathan said a gap in historical records made that impossible to confirm.

The house - now promoted in Bermudian tourism literature - is listed in deed polls as belonging to James Darrell and later John Cooper Darrell, but the latter may have come from a different line of Darrells altogether. That means that the current owner of the house, Romano Ramirez, may not be descended from Pilot Darrell, as was thought.

Long before Mr. Kawaley-Lathan began researching Pilot Darrell, a family tree enthusiast in New Zealand called Bill Grant had already uncovered what he believes to be a direct line of descent from the freed slave to himself and Ms Huege de Serville. Mr. Grant was the distant relative who informed Ms Huege de Serville about her Bermudian roots after a genealogist here told him that Pilot Darrell, one of Bermuda’s first King’s Pilots, married a woman called Eusebia and the couple had two children: Joannah in 1774 and Thomas Cooper in 1790.

Mr. Grant says Thomas, a Queen’s Pilot, went on to father Samuel James Darrell in 1835, who sired Edward, the sailor who left Bermuda for the distant shores of Tasmania. Edward and his wife had eight children in total, including Elizabeth, Mr. Grant’s grandmother.

Mr. Kawaley-Lathan said documentation was still needed to confirm the history but added that the fresh information was “exciting” for those on the Island committed to keeping Pilot Darrell’s name alive.

Mr. Grant believes that somewhere in the family lineage lies Native American blood. He said Edward Darrell - whose death certificate in 1945 described him as Indian - was thought to be descended from slaves taken from the Wampanoag people and shipped to St. David’s to work the salt fields.

“Pilot Darrell was born in 1749 so could not have been one of the original Indian slaves imported into Bermuda,” said Mr. Grant. “James may not necessarily have Indian blood in him; the Indian could have come from Eusebia or one of the wives of successive generations.”

His investigations have put him in touch with a number of distant relatives in Bermuda and revealed that Pilot Darrell’s descendants may also include former Miss World Gina Swainson and former MP Anita Smith.

But no one on the Island has been able to confirm the Native American connection. For Ms Huege de Serville that’s especially important. “Now that I find that I, and my family, am no longer Aboriginal, I have had to deal with a major identity crisis, whilst contemplating the ethical dilemma of calling myself an Australian Aboriginal artist,” she says.

The mother-of-three and grandmother-of-four adds that she contacted The Royal Gazette>to find out more about her Bermuda and pre-Bermuda family roots and hopes that anyone who can help her will get in touch.

“I realise (it) may be an impossible task given that records of slaves are fairly non-existent,” she says. “But, to begin with, I wanted to follow the only thing that I had to go on and that was the family rumours re: ‘Indian’ blood.

“I wanted to do this so that I could begin a series of paintings. If there is Wampanoag blood, I intended to go to Bermuda to gather resource material for the paintings, then onto Martha’s Vineyard in the USA, where a handful of Wampanoags live, to do the same.

“If possible, I am hoping to show such paintings in both Bermuda and New York, to help re-kindle interest in a story of a ‘lost people’ that so many USA citizens are ignorant about, as indeed so was I until I started re-tracing my family history to Bermuda.”

Mr. Kawaley-Lathan, meanwhile, continues to research Jemmy Darrell and look for clues to the pilot’s ancestry. The April 12 service commemorating his death is likely to become an annual event and an exhibition about him could be held in August.

“He has the name Darrell and he was a mulatto,” says Mr. Kawaley-Lathan, explaining that Pilot Darrell would have been named after his owner, Captain Francis Darrell.

“He potentially could have been the son of his own master,” he says. “It’s very fascinating. We still don’t know how he came to Bermuda.”

* Anyone with information which could help Ms Huege de Serville or Mr. Kawaley-Lathan can call Sam Strangeways at The Royal Gazett$>on 278-0155 or email sstrangeways[AT]royalgazette.bm.

New Zealander finds her roots