Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
On Saturday August 8th the Terry family will tour Wessyngton Plantation as part of their bi-annual family reunion. The group will tour the Wessyngton slave cemetery, the Washington family cemetery, the grounds around the mansion and a restored slave cabin. Members of the National Black Arts Festival from Atlanta will also attend the reunion festivities. Following the tour the group will dine at the Tennessee National Guard Armory. I will also autograph copies of my new book The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation: Stories of My Family’s Journey to Freedom. The Terrys descend from Dick Terry 1818-1879 and Aggy Washington Terry born 1824. Today there are more than 1,000 Terry family members.
Terry Family Tree
Tags:Aggy Washington Terry, August 8th, Dick Terry, National Black Arts Festival, Slave Cabin, Slave Cemetery, Terry Family Reunion, Washington family
Posted in Book Tour & Reviews, Current Events, Genealogy & DNA, Interviews, Introduction & Personal, Plantation Life, Research, Uncategorized | Comments Closed
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
In the 1890s the Washington family contracted the famous artist [Maria] Howard Weeden to paint portraits of several African Americans. These portraits hung in the plantation mansion. In this photograph Preston Frazer, a Washington descendant, is seen with the portraits. The portraits remain in the Washington family.
Would you share a photo of a portrait of your ancestors with others? Please send a photo to me with a short e-mail telling me about it. Also please let me know if I could post the photo and the information on my blog. I would not post your name or e-mail address. Thank you. john@johnbakerbooks.com
Tags:African American History, antiques, Howard Weeden, Howard Weeden Museum, Maria Howard Weeden, paintings, plantation slavery, portraits, Tennessee slavery, Wessyngton mansion
Posted in Current Events, Genealogy & DNA, Interviews, Introduction & Personal, Plantation Life, Research, Uncategorized | Comments Closed
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
1785 Land Grant to Moses Winters
{Deed}
Stories of the founding of Wessyngton Plantation have been passed down through generations of the Washington family. These stories were corroborated by deeds and other documents I found in the Washington Family Papers in the Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville. In this deed, we learn that Moses Winters was granted 640 acres of land for military service in the Revolutionary War. Joseph Washington later bought this land which became part of the Wessyngton estate.
Tags:Caleb Winters, Caleb's Creek, Joseph Washington, Land grant, Moses Winters, Revolutionary War, Washington family, Wessyngton Plantation, Winters family
Posted in Interviews, Introduction & Personal, Plantation Life, Research, Uncategorized | Comments Closed
Friday, May 1st, 2009
Joseph Washington's Money Purse
{Money Purse}.
Joseph Washington came to Tennessee from Virginia as did many young men after the Revolutionary War. He carried this money purse with him. When he was twenty-six, he left his parents in Virginia, bringing several slaves and all his wordly possessions. His sister and one of his brothers came to Tennessee later.
The money purse in now in the possession of Joseph’s great-great-great-grandson, Stanley Frazer Rose.
Tags:Founder, Joseph Washington, Revolutionary War, Settler, Slavery, Slaves, Southampton County Virginia, Tennessee Land Grant, Wessyngton
Posted in Genealogy & DNA, Interviews, Research, Uncategorized | Comments Closed
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
During a book signing in Evansville in February I met a cousin Mildred Moore Robinson who gave me this wonderful photo that belonged to her mother. The photograph was of an 1890s baptism in Cedar Hill, Tennessee. The church was a central part of the African American community. People would come from miles around to witness a baptism as shown in this photo.
1890s Baptism in Cedar Hill, TN
Tags:baptism, church, religion
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Closed
