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FALL 2016 |
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1 . Courtesy of Library of Congress , 17,137-112N-112P . Sometime in 1844 , John Payne Todd penned this list of several of his slaves . Individuals may have been grouped according to family relationship . |
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2 . Polly May Ellis ( 1855-1929 ): Clara Ellis Payne ’ s grandmother and daughter of Squire May and Clia Madison was born on the Peter Johnson plantation in Orange County . |
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3 . Courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration . Arranged by the Freedmen ’ s Bureau , Abraham Shepherd and William P . Cave enter into a contract agreement on January 2 , 1866 . |
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4 . Courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration . In the 1870 federal census , the household of Abraham Shepherd lists his wife Nancy and children , Emma , James , Wesley , Mary , Cornelia , Elizabeth , and Lacy .
5 . Squire May ( 1824 – circa 1910 ): Clara Payne ’ s great grandfather born into slavery in Orange County , Virginia was married to Clia ( Clara ) Madison ( 1823-1869 ).
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family papers , and runaway ads from newspapers . Their world is full of microfilm and fruitless visits to cramped records rooms in county courthouses .
Meanwhile , Nelson is working from the other side building strong relationships in the African American community . By interviewing people about their family histories , she hopes to track those histories backwards , connecting family narratives and last names to people who had been enslaved at Montpelier or in Orange County . Nelson said that most of the people she reaches out to have a strong
desire to connect with their roots , but there is also a mistrust of institutions that either have never told their stories or have told them irresponsibly .
“ I think there ’ s a hunger to have your history , your ancestors , recognized . You know , from your own world , what your family ’ s contributions and accomplishments and lives have been like . But you live in a world that has denied those truths , or misrepresented them , or ignored them , really forever . There is a desire to believe that an institution like Montpelier is willing to change that .”
“ The story doesn ’ t stop with Emancipation . It goes on because so did the lives and the struggles that impacted this country .”
— Zann Nelson
Nelson ’ s particular focus over her career has been connecting oral accounts with documentary records . She believes that oral history projects are crucial to any accurate reconstruction of the African American narrative .
“ I think that oral histories represent people ’ s own voices about a particular subject . I think it ’ s extremely important in African American history , because that voice has been absent in the writings , in the tellings , in the documentation . It ’ s just been absent .”
In addition to tracking down documentary evidence of George Gilmore ’ s connection to Montpelier , the team has begun to piece together stories of enslaved individuals like Sarah Madden and the aforementioned Abraham Shepherd .
“ The story doesn ’ t stop with Emancipation ,” Nelson said . “ It goes on because so did the lives and the struggles that impacted this country . Through Reconstruction , Jim Crow , the Civil Rights movement , and even what we ’ re experiencing today .”
Above : Old photographs and documents like these are helping the researchers working on the Descendants ’ Project piece together the story of individuals who were part of Montpelier ’ s enslaved community .
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