A candidate for S.C. governor, who has spoken fondly of the Confederacy, says she was unaware her ancestor owned dozens of slaves at the time of the Civil War.

The Greenville News reports census records show Catherine Templeton’s ancestor, Hiram Clark Brawley, was a “substantial” slave owner in Chester County in 1860.

Templeton often has talked about her pride in South Carolina’s Civil War history and her family’s role in it. Templeton, a Mount Pleasant attorney and former state agency director under then-Gov. Nikki Haley, is the direct descendant of a Confederate veteran.