Running her hand across the pages of an eighteenth century journal, Fenella Tillier tries to imagine the thoughts of its author, her great-great-great- great-great-great-grandfather, "The Forgotten Abolitionist" James Ramsay.

It is 200 years since the abolition of the slave trade and while Mrs Tillier knew of her connection to the anti slavery campaigner, it was only last month that she discovered his journal was here in Oxford, just a few miles from her home.

"Seeing his beautiful handwriting and just putting one's hand over it, I could almost imagine what he was going through," said Mrs Tillier, 71.

"I still can't believe this important part of him has been so close all this time."

Ramsay's journal has been housed at the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House in South Parks Road, Oxford, since it was purchased from a book dealer in the 1930s.

A collection of his writings and prayers, it also contains correspondence with other abolitionists, including William Wilberforce, and drafts of some of the anti-slavery pamphlets which would eventually help persuade Parliament to abolish the slave trade.

Until last month, the Bodleian librarians and the parishioners of the Kent church where Ramsay was pastor, were unaware of any living relatives.

But then the journal became the central feature of an Abolition exhibition entitled, Am I not a Man and a Brother? - and Ramsay's relatives came forward.

Mrs Tillier, who lives near Thame, explained: "It happened quite by chance.

"My distant cousin, Nancy Sanders, (Ramsay's great-great-great-granddaughter) who is 93 and lives in Little Tew, near Chipping Norton, was reading a magazine article about the exhibition.

"She contacted me and our other cousin Charlotte Thomas (Ramsay's great-great-great-great- granddaughter) who lives near Bristol, and we contacted the librarian John Pinfold.

"He was as amazed to hear from us.

"He then invited us along to see it and he was able to tell us things we didn't know, and we were also able to tell him things we knew about Ramsay, which we'd learned from our families.

"It has all been a very special experience."

James Ramsay (1733-1789) is known as the Forgotten Abolitionist because he died 18 years before the Act was passed.

However, it has been said that the abolition probably owed more to his arguments, proposals and personal integrity than to any other influence.

Born in Scotland, he was a ship's surgeon when he first encountered the brutal reality of the 18th century slave trade. On November 27, 1759, he was serving on HMS Arundel when it was approached by a slave ship in West Indian waters.

A dysentry epidemic had killed many of the slaves and crew, including the ship's doctor, but Ramsay was the only naval doctor who volunteered to go on board.

Ramsay treated a hundred or so victims, and was sickened by the sight of the slave decks covered with faeces and blood.

Soon after, an injury led him to leave the Navy and he became an Anglican minister on the Caribbean island of St Kitts for more than a decade. There he enraged local sugar planters by preaching to enslaved people and teaching them the Bible in his home.

Later, he settled in Kent as a country parson in Teston, and continued his crusade, writing several influential books and pamphlets attacking slavery and also testifying before Parliament.

Included in his journal are some of the questions he used when giving evidence to a Parliamentary inquiry in 1788.

But perhaps most importantly, he met and heavily influenced most of the main abolitionists, including William Wilberforce.

Bodleian librarian John Pinfold explained: "What he had to say was particularly important because he had lived for a long time in the West Indies and had seen the slave trade in practice. But he was also married to the daughter of a plantation owner, so he particularly infuriated the slave interests.

"Pro-slavery Members of Parliament and pamphleteers attacked him with great personal venom, smearing his name and even claiming he brutalised slaves."

Some believed the attacks contributed to his early death at 55.

Mr Pinfold added: "Although he was treated as a traitor by many, he continued to fight against slavery.

"He was obviously a very brave man."

Members of Teston Church where Ramsay was pastor have also visited the Bodleian's exhibition and are planning a special celebration of his life next month, which Mrs Tillier will attend.

She said: "Having seen and touched his journal, I will now have the chance to sit in the church where he preached and also see his grave.

"My great-great-great-great-great- great-grandfather was a deeply evangelical man and a good man, and this experience has left me thinking that if I can be half as good a person as he was, I will be doing well. I feel very honoured to be related to him."

The Rev James Ramsay's original journal, and editions of his writings including An Essay on the Treatment and Conversion of African Slaves in the British Sugar Colonies, along with the rest of the Bodleian's abolition exhibition are available for inspection online.

Go to: www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ dept/scwmss/projects/abolition