- This topic has 7 voices and 19 replies.
-
Posts
-
Ok, I spent all day at the National Archives digging up as much info as possible and I ran across something strange. My search led me from Orange County, Virginia to Louisa County Virginia, and now to Albemarle County Virginia. This line I’m following is my grandmothers maternal grandmothers family that has some Virginia Indian blood from what my grandmothers brother told me. The person on the census name is Winston Jefferson from Albemarle County Virginia. His son and wife are both listed on the census as Negro, but he has no race that is listed. It’s blank. Is this a hint or a clue that I’m getting close or is this just an error by the census taker?
Tonio wrote: Ok, I spent all day at the National Archives digging up as much info as possible and I ran across something strange. My search led me from Orange County, Virginia to Louisa County Virginia, and now to Albemarle County Virginia. This line I’m following is my grandmothers maternal grandmothers family that has some Virginia Indian blood from what my grandmothers brother told me. The person on the census name is Winston Jefferson from Albemarle County Virginia. His son and wife are both listed on the census as Negro, but he has no race that is listed. It’s blank. Is this a hint or a clue that I’m getting close or is this just an error by the census taker?
Tonio,
1) What year was said census?Perhaps VA’s anti-miscegenation law may not have been firmed up.Maybe Winston Jefferson was white.Maybe the census taker erred;they weren’t anthropologists or historians.
2) If you have a “Jefferson” from Albemarle CO,VA,the same county as Monticello and Charlottesville and home of President Thomas Jefferson,is there a by slavery and/or by blood connection to the late president?
Roca
All of those thoughts have run across my mind lol. Well this is what I have gathered from that household:
*Winston Jefferson
Born 1842
28 years old
Residing in Samuel, Albemarle, Virginia
Census year of 1870
*Eliza Jefferson
Born in 1848
22 years old
Born in Virginia
Residing in Samuel, Albemarle, Virginia
From the Negro race
*Henry Jefferson
Born in 1869
1 year old
Born in Virginia
Residing in Samuel, Albemarle, Virginia
Negro
Yeah, I know that census takers weren’t the brightest, but at the same time I would excpect him to at least come up with an educated guess even if he didn’t believe what he was told. As far as the connection to the Jefferson family, I wouldn’t be suprised simply because of the things that happened during that time between slave and master. It’s a reality that many deny, but it’s one (IF TRUE) I’d be ready to accept just as if it where an Indian ancestor. No matter how disturbed I might be about that relationship.
Hey Roca… I just remembered something one of the researchers here said in a previous post. This was in reguards to NA’s changing their names to English names and a lot of times famous names where used as well as former presidents (i.e. Jefferson, Washington, Adams, ect.). Is it a possibility this might have happened? Another point that was added was that during that time if you were NA you wouldn’t volunteer information. Could he have been hiding that instead? I still don’t take away the fact that this man could have been white, but it’s hard to believe seeing as though Negro’s were not permited to marry European-Americans during that time.
There are some researchers who believe that Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hennings were both mixed bloods. Wouldn’t that throw a monkeywrench in that whole white master/ black slave scenerio if they were mixed bloods in love? 😉
Ms.Hemmings father was an English sailor and her mother was an African. As for Thomas Jefferson all I’ve known him to be was a Welch Englishman with French ideals. I have no clues in reguard to his blood mixture. Some might say he’s mixed, some might say it’s a lie. It’s possible for TJ to have been mixed. After all, white male slave masters where not the only ones sneeking into the slave shacks…
It’s common in French, and Spanish control lands to see Mulatto’s (Including European/Indian mix) owning slaves, but such behavior in the English colonies was looked down upon. This is why I have a hard time looking at Mr.Jefferson as a mixed blood. Then again…. you’re not told what your not supposed to know.
Until there is actual proof of ties between my Jeffersons and his, I think I should place more focus on my ancestor Winston Jefferson and determining his race. However, this whole Thomas Jefferson convo seems to be pretty interesting.
Tonio, speculation is sometimes fun and sometimes it can lead to revelations. We cannot “prove” history even with documents. Sometimes the proponderance of circumstantial evidence and deductive logic are all we can hope for. That being said, there are several points I would address.
If two people are in love, regardless of race, it isn’t exactly “sneaking into the slave shacks” (I thought Ms Hemmings stayed at the “big house”?)
Was her father born in England? Was her mother fresh off the ship from Africa or was she born in bondage in America to African slaves? If the latter is the case then it is quite possible, even likely, that her grandmother or great grandmother was Va indian. From 1619 (or was it 1617?) until 1700, very few African women were brought into the VA colony. African men were imported and provided with indian wives. Their children were considered African slaves and had no freedoms. You should check out the very early Va history here at Saponitown. …. especially the customs and laws governing Indian/African mix slaves.
Check out Thomas Jefferson’s genealogy also. He has connections to some of those early Va families that are familiar to us here at Saponitown.
The first 100 years of American history are poorly studied by our school systems and there are many misconceptions and some blatant omissions. Early America, like the island colonies, was a society that operated by standards of CLASS, not COLOR. All races and colors and mixes that rose to a certain Class were equally likely to have other people in bondage.
Just a little addition to your info., Cuz. We should know or just simply remember that Africans were not the only race to be in bondage,so to speak. Indentured servitude was quite common in the Colonial history.
The rules of bondage became quite complex in the first 100 years of english settlement in America. The rules in Va colony are of most importance to me because virtually all my ancestors first settled in Va colony. Anyone interested in delving into this aspect of colonial life should first study the english feudal system as it existed in the 1600s. Then check out the timeline of the laws of Va colony. Finally read transcripts of the earliest judicial proceedings of Va colony. I find all of this quite fascinating.
Two things I learned from this ongoing study is that the real allure of America was the ability to rise in class and that democracy can be the purest form of tyranny.
Everyone should obtain a copy of “Free People of Color” by Mary B Kegley pub 2003. This book is compiled from Va court records. It will open your eyes.
You guys know something, I just now noticed that the time printed of our postings is a hr earlier than my time. Is this Eastern time or did the time not move with the season? Spring forward and Fall back.
1. Albermarle Co. Va is north central where Charlottesville is.
2. Thomas Jeffereson is my Gx(n)Uncle
3. The other point I had dissappeared from my head this morning 😮 :p
Yep,Albemarle CO,VA surrounds the independent city of Charlottesville and is
in Central VA.My late grandparents (mother’s side) were from Albemarle.
Cherosage,when I read my postings here in VA,they show with Eastern Time.
Maybe that’s preset;I’m not sure.
Roca
You all are very right. I did a little research (I’m an ameture at this as y’all can see lol) on the laws of colonial Virginia, and yes the servant and enslavement status not only was thrown upon Africans brought to the colony, but to Natives and some European Americans as well. In fact there was an African decended man that owned land and slaves in South Hampton county, Virginia. So yeah, Africans were not only servants, and slaves, but slave owners too. I guess it wasn’t until later years that slavery was moreso about skin color as opposed to class. You are very right about the servatude and enslavement process. I’ll continue to look at the laws and rules of colonial Virginia. They seem to be a contradiction to what I was taught in class. Knowledge is power 🙂
Salle Hemmings was (From my understanding) born to an imported African slave woman. However where she was imported from is an even bigger question to me because maybe she was born in the carribean islands or another colony in New England. Her father being an English sailor and father of Thomas Jeffersons wife is kinda strange because of the ties that both families had with each other. I’ma def. check out the book “Free persons of color”. It seems like a book that can shine a little or maybe even a lot of light on my family.
Speculation is fun and interesting, but at the same time while laughing about the matter in the back of my mind I think to myself…. what if this really did go on? As I stated in an earlier reply, I’d be ready to accept the truth. Thanks Dreaminghawk, and all others that took the time to reply. I’ve learned a lot, and I’ll continue t look up older posts relating to colonial Virginia and especially this area of Virginia. I’ma get that book too, because I try to read as many colonial books as possible that address the issues and history of not only colonial Virginia, but my other ancestors homeland of SC. Both have a complex history that should be studied, and brought to light not only on this site, but in classrooms around the Americans and the world. P.S. Salle did live in the Big House 😉
One more question though…. does that book have the law timeline of the Virginia colony in it? If not, is there a book, or web-site I can go to that will show the timeline?
We will never know the whole truth about the Hemings/Jefferson relationship. Suffice to say it was more than the “typical” master/slave liason.
I’ll see what I can pull up on the early laws when I get a chance. One of the most important bits of legislature was the Act of 1705 saying that no indian could be enslaved in the Va colony after that date. It did not free descendents of indians who were enslaved before 1705. It also didn’t stop enslavement of certain “foreign” indians taken in warfare.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
