I've been working on my genealogy for at least 20 years and have never found an ancestor to be a slave owner even though all my roots are southern, until today.
I was researching through a 1840 Baton Rouge newspaper and found the police report section stating they had picked up a black guy named Bob who said he belonged to Horn_Spanker's GGGG-grandfather, and for GGGG-grandfather to come pick him up. There was a list of other held slaves to be picked up so it looked common for the police to do this.
The reason it struck me to post this is, GGGG-grandfather had immigrated from Germany just a few years earlier. As far as I know, slavery was not a thing in early 1800s Germany. What prompted him to buy slaves when his upbringing frowned on such practices? Was he thinking back in Germany, "when I get to Louisiana, I'm gonna buy some slaves" or, when he got here he realized he needed them? Maybe he was just an asshole?