Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Introduction starting with the Blue's

The participial women line down the Thorne Family
Over 150 years

X-slave Eliza Thorne who has many hundreds of  Descendants 



Five Generation later, Eliza Lucinda Blue Brown 
my Grand Mother



My Mother Wearing Glasses



My Daughter's 


Amanda Ann Williams III and 
Future Stephanie Ann Williams Tulloch


Introduction starting with the Blue's

On March 16, 1976, my Great Uncle Joe and my Great Aunt Neil wrote my x-wife Ann and me a letter that started this blog, documenting my ancestry. As my friends and political activists were calling on us Natives, Africans, and other people of color to embrace something that they can mold and control into a policy  that they can call  Black or African American society,  we found out that people of color do have a history in this nation.  

It is not all about slavery. We have families and we tried to make a living just like everyone else.  Some had better luck than others. Some did better than others. Never the less, we were born, went from babies to adults, and died leaving memories and a history.

The Blues said in a letter to future generations;

Dear Darnell and Ann;

Forgive our waiting  so long to write you.  Do hope this finds you both in good health.  Also your mother and the rest of the family. We think of you quite often.

Well, we finally got around to putting some of the family record on paper.   Lots of names we don't know -- so please add or correct where ever necessary. Hope you enjoy reading it.    Tell Jean (my mother Jean Williams), I have a copy for her  and will get it off later.

Give everyone our love -- Be sweet
Albemarle
                                                Uncle Joe and Aunt Neil




The Political Atmosphere at the End of the War Between the States


The Emancipation Proclamation: Three Views



For Some Slaves, Path to Freedom Was Far From Clear-Cut

This was the politics back in the 1860s in Virginia. When I met Uncle Joe in the 1970s, he showed me pictures that he had of his ancestors and the house across the street once owned by the late Eliza Thorne. Eliza was not like most slaves leaving slavery. She had a skill. She made furniture. I had a chance to see some of it still being used in Uncle Joe's house made with wooden nails.

When the Thorne women became refugees from Culpeper, they accumulated a Conestoga Wagon, a team of horses, cattle, and purchased 11 Acres of property in Free Union. Free Union was an x-slave settlement created by the Commonwealth of Virginia to protect x-slaves from being recaptured and sold back into slavery. Today, Free Union is called "Stoney Point."  



Family Record January 1976

The Blue's family history on the Paternal side, According to available reference, goes back to Allen and Clara Blue of Albemarle County. They were parents of seven children;

1. Willie Blue who married Fannue Franklin. They raised one daughter, Sadie Blue.
2.  Allen Blue; he had no offspring.
3.  Dabney Blue;   he had no offspring.
4. Sarah Blue; She had no offspring.
5. Sarah Blue;  She had no offspring.
6. Clara Blue;  She had no offspring.
7. George W. Blue; who married Eliza Walker. They were parents of six sons and one daughter.    

To the best of available information, the ancestors on the Maternal side go back to Eliza Thorne.  She was part Indian and was a slave on the Plantation of Russel  Brown or Colonel Slaughter in the vicinity of Culpeper, Va. She was the mother of four daughters:
Maria, Violet, Jane, and Eliza Thorne II.

After the "Emancipation" Eliza Thorne  and Eliza Thorne II "refugeed" to Albemarle where they spent the rest of their lives. She (Eliza Thorne II) was married three times.
The first to James Graves, there were three children;
1. Warren Graves who married Laura (last name unknown). They had one daughter, Mary Ellen and one son, Montgomery.

2. Nancy Graves who married Allen Jackson.  They had 4 children: James, Susie, Silas, and Eliza.  

3.  Emily Graves who married Thomas Brown. They were parents of 8 children; Robert Alfred, Abraham, Willie, Warren, Walter, Annie, and Lucy.


Eliza Thorne's second husband was Robert West. Of this union were born three children:
Mary Etta West (Aunt et as the younger generations including my mother called her), who married William Tyree. They were parents of 9 children:   Robert, Arthur (who I met), James, Gilbert, Albert, Joshua Lee, Nellie (my great  Aunt), Annie , and Allie.


Eliza Thorne's third husband was Reuben Walker. Of this union was born one daughter. Eliza J. Walker who married George W. Blue. The ceremony was performed in 1895; by Rev. Daniel Brown, pastor of the Free Union Baptist Church. They were parents of 7 children;  James R., George W., Eliza  Lucinda, Dabney, Daniel, Roy L., and Joseph E.  

Free Union Baptist Church still stands and is still part of my families religious practices!


   



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