Lanier identified her direct ancestors Tena and Jack in the slave inventory.

Evidence

In the second column, I saw another grouping that included familiar names: Jack and Tena. That hit me like a ton of bricks: Tena was my great-great-grandmother, Renty Taylor Thompson’s mother. These were my direct ancestors; I had no doubt in my mind. This was proof. But Tena was also listed in the same family grouping as a man named Jack. Could that be the same Jack who was captured in the daguerreotypes, along with Renty and Delia? He was also from the Taylor Plantation. Jack and his son Little Jack are the only Jacks listed in this index. This suggested to me that Jack and Tena were related, which would mean that I was his lineal descendant as well. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 359