(CNN) A woman who was taken from Africa when she was just two years old has been identified as the last known survivor of the transatlantic slave trade.

Matilda McCrear was taken from West Africa to Mobile, Alabama, on board the last slave transport ship, the Clotilda, in July 1860, a UK researcher has discovered, uncovering the life of a remarkable woman.

McCrear was transported alongside her mother Gracie, three older sisters, and a man who became her stepfather, according to a press release from Newcastle University. Her two brothers were left in West Africa.

McCrear, her mother and one sister were bought by the same slaveowner, while the other two siblings were never seen again.

She died in 1940 when she was 81 or 82. McCrear's grandson, Johnny Crear, now 83 years old, said he had "no idea" she had been on the Clotilda and said the new information will help him trace his family tree.

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