May 29th, 2009
Gardner Family Tour at Wessyngton Plantation
In 2008 the Gardners celebrated their 75th annual family reunion. As part of the reunion festivities I led them on a tour of Wessyngton Plantation. The tour included the Wessyngton mansion, Washington family cemetery, slave cemetery and a restored slave cabin. The Gardner earliest ancestors, Aaron Gardner, his wife Betty and their three sons, Daniel, George and Jackson came to Wessyngton in the late 1830s. There are more African Americans in Robertson County, Tennessee with the Gardner surname than any other family.
Tags: Family Reunions, family tree, Gardner family, Gardner Family Reunion, Slave Cabin, Slave Cemetery, Surnames, Wessyngton mansion, Wessyngton Tour
Posted in Current Events, Genealogy & DNA, Interviews, Introduction & Personal, Plantation Life | Comments Closed
May 18th, 2009
Baker at the Hermitage
On May 17th a dedication ceremony was held at The Hermitage, the plantation owned by President Andrew Jackson, in honor of 60 African Americans who had been enslaved on the Ingleside and Cleveland Hall Plantations. Both plantations were owned by nephews of Rachel Jackson and had ties to the enslaved population at The Hermitage.
As reported by the Associated Press, a memorial sculpture of seven oak trees in the shape of the Little Dipper was laid out among a circle of thirty boulders. The piece by Lee Benson is named “Our Peace, Follow the Drinking Gourd.” Slaves fleeing to the North would follow the North Star, one of the stars in the Little Dipper.
Following the ceremony I gave a presentation and did a book signing. It was a very special and meaningful event.
Tags: Andrew Jackson, Civil War, Cleveland Hall, Enslaved Memorial, Hermitage, Ingleside, Rachel Jackson, Tulip Grove
Posted in Book Tour & Reviews, Civil War, Current Events, Genealogy & DNA, Interviews, Introduction & Personal, Plantation Life, Research | Comments Closed
May 18th, 2009
My half-hour television interview with John Seigenthaler Sr, A Word on Words, is available as a free downloadable Podcast.
http://www.wnpt.org/productions/wow/
Mr. Seigenthaler asked me many in-depth thought-provoking questions. At the end, he said, “I learned more from your book than I learned from reading my friend Alex Haley’s book called Roots.” I hope you enjoy the interview. Leave a comment with your reaction.
Tags: Abraham Lincoln, African American History, Black History Month, book review, Civil War, DNA Research, Emancipation, family history, family tree, Genealogy & DNA, George Washington, John F. Baker Jr., John Siegenthaler, plantation slavery, Reconstruction, Roots, Simon & Schuster, Tennessee slavery, Washington family, Wessyngton Plantation, WNPT, Word On Words
Posted in Book Tour & Reviews, Civil War, Current Events, Genealogy & DNA, Interviews, Introduction & Personal, Plantation Life, Research, Videos & Audios | Comments Closed
May 18th, 2009
USCT from Wessyngton
On Memorial Day, we need to take a moment to tell our children about their ancestors who fought for freedom and America. During the Civil War, our ancestors fled slavery and the plantations and joined the Union Army to fight for freedom. We must never forget the sacrifices of our ancestors that we might enjoy freedom today.
Tags: African American History, August 8th, black history, Civil War, Contraband, Contraband Camps, Emancipation, Emancipation Proclamation, Freedmen, Freedmens Bureau, Ft. Negley, Ranaway Slaves, Union Army, Union Troops, United States Colored Troops
Posted in Civil War, Current Events, Genealogy & DNA, Interviews, Introduction & Personal, Plantation Life, Research | Comments Closed
May 11th, 2009
Ebony Magazine Article
Check out my story in this month’s Ebony. “Telling our Stories: Relaying family history to children can keep our heritage alive.” On page 94, Shirley Henderson describes my story. A photograph of my ancestors and the Wessyngton Plantation slave cemetery memorial illustrate the article.
Tags: African American History, black history, Book Tour & Reviews, Genealogy & DNA, John Baker
Posted in Book Tour & Reviews, Genealogy & DNA, Introduction & Personal | Comments Closed
May 7th, 2009
What better way to honor our mothers and our maternal ancestors than to tell our children about the sacrifices made so that the lives of future generations could be lives well lived. When I think of what our great-great-grandmothers endured in the times of slavery and early emancipation I know that their sacrifices should not be forgotten. Please take a moment on Mothers Day to honor our ancestors.
Tags: African American Mother, Ancestors, black history, Mothers, Mothers Day, Slavery
Posted in Genealogy & DNA, Interviews, Introduction & Personal, Plantation Life, Research | Comments Closed
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
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
May 2nd, 2009
Baker-Presents-His-Book-to-Mrs-Cooper
While in Atlanta for a presentation and book signing at Auburn Research Library for the National Black Arts Festival in February I had the honor of presenting Mrs. Ann Nixon Cooper a copy of my book; The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation: Stories of My Family’s Journey to Freedom. I also had Mrs. Cooper to sign a copy of the book for me on the page she was pictured on. Mrs. Cooper is now 107 years old.
Tags: Ann Nixon Cooper, Auburn Research Library, John Baker, National Black Arts Festival, Wessyngton Plantation
Posted in Book Tour & Reviews, Current Events, Genealogy & DNA, Interviews, Introduction & Personal, Plantation Life, Research, Videos & Audios | Comments Closed
May 1st, 2009
Native American Arrowheads found at Wessyngton
Based on arrowheads found on Wessyngton Plantation, Native Americans lived in the area thousands of years ago. Arrowheads and other Native American artifacts have been found at Wessyngton by farmers plowing the fields for many years.
During the Cherokee removal known as the Trail of Tears during the 1830s, hundreds of Native Americans passed through Robertson County, Tennessee. Descendants of the Washington family and African Americans who lived at Wessyngton told their descendants that Native Americans came to the Wessyngton mansion to get food and water enroute to Port Royal. They were marched from Port Royal to Hopkinsville, Kentucky where they spent the winter of 1838-39. From Hopkinsville they were forced on to the reservations in Oklahoma.
Tags: Arrowheads, Cherokee, Cherokee Removals, Hopkinsville Kentucky, Indian Artifacts, Indians, Native Americans, Port Royal Tennessee, Trail of Tears, Washington family, Wessyngton Plantation
Posted in Genealogy & DNA, Interviews, Introduction & Personal, Plantation Life, Research | Comments Closed
