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Pieces of the Quilt
The Mosaic of An
African American Family
My latest book, Pieces of the Quilt: The Mosaic of An African American Family, expands on the lines of Mary Bowden. We now know that she was born on February 20, 1730, the child of William and Mary Monroe. Her Grandmother was a white woman, Lydia Hilliard (born 1690), the servant of William Monroe (Senior). Lydia had a daughter Mary, who was born in 1710. The father of the child was an an unidentified Negro man.
That was a big problem in Colonial Virginia, a place where marriages between Whites and People of Color was against the law. The children of these unions were farmed out as Indentured Servants (males twenty years & females thirty years). William Monroe Senior was awarded the Indenture for Lydia's child. However the child was in the possession of a Reverend St. Shropshire. William went to court against the good Reverend, and demanded that Shropshire release turn her over. The courts agreed and the child was returned to William Monroe's house, where her mother was a live in Servant. As a white woman, Lydia was probably serving a seven year Indenture. However, her Indenture may have had years added on after the birth of her child.
After Mary Bowden's birth in 1730, there was another court case, this time against Mary Monroe. She was charged with Bastardy (having a child outside of marriage), and summoned to appear before the Westmoreland County Grand Jury. The case against Mary was thrown out by the Judge who cited the ambiguities of the laws, which did not allow Whites and Mulattoes to marry. It is possible that William Monroe Senior was behind the dismissal.
In 1737 William Monroe Senior died, as did Mary Monroe. It is not clear where William Monroe Junior was at that time. Mary Bowden was now living with Thomas and Jemima Cook-Chilton. They were relatives of the Monroe's, and took the child in. The Westmoreland County Court intervened and the child was determined to be a Mulatto, and sentenced to a thirty-year Indenture. She was seven years old, when taken to Popes Creek, the Washington Family Plantation. It was not that far from the Monroe house, but the main players in the child's life were no longer there. Mary spent nearly forty years at the Washington Family Home, due to her frequent attempts to escape. At one point, she spent four years in Essex County, before the Washington's located her. When her daughter Patty was born in 1750, the Washington's immediately received her Indenture. When Mary escaped in 1752 she did not take Patty, since she had no legal rights as a mother.
The laws Mary Monroe, Mary Bowden, and Patty Bowden were under, were aimed at the Mulatto children. The Washington Plantation also housed about seventy-five slaves. Like slavery, Mary and Patty's indentures were forced, therefor different from the voluntary Indentures served by Europeans.
John Washington, the Great Grandfather of George Washington was the first Washington at Popes Creek Plantation. Although the work of building Plantations is credited to the owners, they did none of the physical labor. The slaves dug the foundations, and built the and maintained the Plantations.
In 1999 when I visited George Washington Birthplace, we visited a Grave out in the woods. That is where the slaves of George Washington Birthplace were buried. No Markers, no fence, nothing to mark their lives or passing. Males and females, young and old are laying in that graveyard. I believe Patty Bowden's father, and some of her paternal relatives are in that grave. He would be my ancestor through Patty, and his parents may be there as well. However, access to that Grave has been denied by the owner of the property, a descendant of the Washington's. It is as if they are still slaves, and still owned by the Washington Family.
The home that George Washington was born in was built by slaves. The slaves also worked the tobacco fields, and mines owned by the Washington's. George Washington was born at Popes Creek February 22, 1732, two years after Mary Bowden was born. Patty Bowden was a Personal Servant to George Washingtons' niece, Elizabeth Washington-Spotswood (the daughter of Augustine Washington Junior, and his wife, Ann Aylett). Patty's indenture ended when she turned thirty-one, and she was living with the Spotswoods in Fredericksburg. After completing their Indentures, Mary and Patty settled in Fredericksburg, and remained there the rest of their lives.
Patty had several children before marrying James Jackson, the father of James Junior, William, and Samuel Jackson. They purchased a house in Fredericksburg, where generations of the family lived. Mary had several children besides Patty, one of whom was named Dominic Tapscot-Bowden. They lived on Barton Street in Fredericksburg, not too far from Patty and James Jackson. Both lived well into their eighties, and are buried in Fredericksburg.
NOTES AND DOCUMENTS OF FREE PERSONS OF COLOR
The saga begins in 1950's Coatesville Pennsylvania, with a background of George Baxter, who was targeted by the FBI as a suspected member of the Communist Party. The story of the FBI investigation of him, is chronicled, and transcriptions and citiations of FBI files are included. Coatesville Pennsylvania was the home of Essie Mae Washington, the bi-racial daughter of Strom Thurmond.
The area described in the first chapter of, is located in a rural area of Eastern Pennsylvania. Prior to the Civil War the Underground Railroad activity was hot, and heavy. Several branches of my family came into the area through the Underground Railroad. Some were Free Persons of Color, and others slaves fleeing the south. The communities of free blacks that sprang up, made no differentiation between slave, and free.
Their loyalty was put to the test on September 11, 1851, when Edward Gorsuch, a slave owner, showed up at William Parkers home. Gorsuch was looking for his escaped slaves, and word got back to him that William Parker was holding his slaves. According to writings on Gorsuch, he did not believe his slaves would just run away, since he was known as a kind Master. He suspected that a free black, Anthony Johnson, and provoked, and assisted his slaves in running away.
He approached William Parkers' house, with a Federal Marshall, and a small posse. He demanded that William Parker return his slaves, who he spotted, as they approached the Parker house. It is not clear whether Gorsuch heard the bell ring, or whether he was too engrossed in proving his point. At some point they realized that they were surrounded, and that is when the shot rang out, and Gorsuch lay mortally wounded. His son, Dickinson, was chased into the woods, and beaten nearly to death. He was saved by one of the black men, who put himself over his wounded body.
The Sheriff, and posse left their charges, after realizing that they were outnumbered. During the encounter, the Marshall attempted to deputize some whites, and they refused stating they would be no part of the bondage of another human being. The next day, the Federal Marshall came back with a bigger posse, and arrested several whites, and many of the black men in town.
Not only were the men put on trial so was the Fugitive slave law, which allowed Slave Owners to retrieve their slaves from Northern States. The men were all acquitted, and included in those acquited was Great-Great Grandfather, Henry Green. Today, Christiana Pennsylvania is an historic town, and honors all of the participants (including Edward and Dickinson Gorsuch), by naming streets after them. The house where the even took place is not an historical mounument.
Charles and Ambrose Lewis were born in King George County Virginia, sometime around 1758-60 respectively. That is where they were in 1771, when they were forced into an Indenture. The court ruled that they were Mulatto "bastards", and awarded their indentures to a Mr. Buckham. That may be why they were on board the Page Galley when the Revolutionary War broke out. Ambrose stated that he became a Seamen while on the Page Galley, and remained there for a time. He then transferred to a larger ship, the Dragon, which had cannons. Charles and Ambrose served in the Revolutionary War together.
After serving as Seamen, the brothers became soldiers, and fought at the Battle of Camden South Carolina. Ambrose was shot nine times, and Bayoneted clean through while in service. He was taken aboard a British Prison ship, and held until the end of the War. According to Ambrose, his occupation was a barber, and he was probably a barber aboard the prison ship. After the War, Ambrose and Charles appeared before the House of Representatives, and the Virginia Assembly requesting pensions. Ambrose was successful, but Charles died before receiving his pension.
Rawley Pinn, fought at the Siege of Yorktown, with his brother, Robert, and nephews Billy, James, and John. His Nephew, James, was killed at the Siege of Yorktown. All were born in Indiantown, Lancaster County Virginia. Rawley was born about 1742, and his brother Robert about 1740. Their parents were Robert Pinn I, and Margaret(?), who were in Northumberland County in 1733. Robert was taken by the Wicomico Parish Church Wardens for absenting himself from Services. By 1758 Margaret was in Lancaster County, and her children, John Pinn, and Rawley were being apprenticed out.
Within the next twelve years Rawley left the area, and eventually settled in Amherst County. He was a member of the Amherst County Militia, prior to joining the Revolutionary War. He marched to Yorktown with his unit, which joined with Marquis De Lafayettes Unit. They camped at Colonial Williamsburg, and waited for the signal from George Washington. Already fighting with Washington was Robert, Billy, John, and James. They served from Lancaster County Virginia, and their unit was engaged in the battle against, Lord Cornwallis Troops. Once the signal was sounded, Rawley, and his friends, Benjamin Evans, and John Redcross, became a part of an historic Battle. The Siege of Yorktown was one of the deciding battles of the Revolutionary War.
A descendant of Rawley Pinn, Mary Bowden, and Charles Lewis, also fought in an historic unit. He was Samuel Walter Pinn, the Great-Grandson of Rawley Pinn. Samuel Walter Pinn, was the son of Robert and Elizabeth Jackson Pinn. Born in Fredericksburg, he was taken to Pennsylvania with his parents in 1853,when they fled the area. Robert and Elizabeth were Free Persons of Color, who were active in the Underground Railroad. They and their children settled in Columbia Pennsylvania.
When the Civil War broke out, Samuel joined the 54th Massachusetts, United States Colored Troops,Company D, out of Lancaster County. At training Campe in Readsville Massachusetts, he was commissioned Corporal by Colonel Robert Shaw. The Unit was formed by the sons of Frederick Douglass, Charles and Lewis. As the unit fought south they lost many men, but picked up many more. The newly freed slaves were joining the unit in droves. By the end of the war, the men headed north, and camped out at the home of Walter Samuels parents, who were then in Burlington New Jersey. Samuel Pinn and his mother Elizabeth returned to Fredericksburg, where he died of consumption in 1872.
Virginia's Own Creole Population: Notes And Documents of Free Persons of Color, chronicles the lives of Free Persons of Color, in the Colonial Era. They were Virginia's "Creoles", and many lived better than the whites who surrounded them. In Virginia,their connections to the elite Planter Class families was one of the reason they were successful. They were also highly skilled, having learned crafts, and other service occupations during indentures, and apprenticeships.
Notes and Documents of Free Persons of Color, is 292 pages, Non Fiction, African American History; and contains, Appendix, bibliography, endnotes, and index. It is the documented history of a group labled, "fpc", or Free Persons of Color, by the Fredericksburg Virginia, Free Negro Registry.
NOTES AND DOCUMENTS OF FREE PERSONS OF COLOR NOW AVAILABLE AT:
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