On August 20th through 21st the Gardner family will celebrate their 77th annual family reunion in Springfield, Tennessee. The Gardners have held a reunion on the same date each year since 1935. The Gardner family is one of the largest African American families in Robertson County, Tennessee. I am currently working on a family tree for the reunion which includes nearly 800 direct descendants from Aaron and Betty Gardner. Aaron and Betty along with their three sons, Daniel, George and Jackson were enslaved on the Wessyngton Plantation from 1839 to 1865. The reunion will include a tour of the Wessyngton Plantation.
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Gardner Family to Celebrate 77th Annual Family Reunion
Tuesday, July 26th, 2011Terry Family to Celebrate Family Reunion
Tuesday, July 26th, 2011On August 13th the Terry family will celebrate their bi-annual family reunion in Springfield, Tennessee. The reunion festivities will include a tour of Wessyngton Plantation. Hundreds of descendants across the country will attend the reunion. The Terry family is one of the largest families from Wessyngton with over 1,000 descendants, spanning eleven generations from their first ancestors, Dick Terry and Aggie Washington Terry.
Wessyngton Plantation Named in Honor of Washingtons’ Ancestral Home
Sunday, October 11th, 2009
Washington Family Crest
The Washingtons trace their ancestry back to William de Hertburn in twelfth-century England where their family owned a manor estate called Wessyngton─the Norman spelling of Washington. William de Hertburn changed his name to William de Wessyngton. The first Washington to come to America in Joseph Washington’s line was John Washington, who immigrated to Surry County, Virginia, in 1658. One of John’s cousins also named John immigrated to Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1656. This John Washington was the great-grandfather of President George Washington. Joseph Washington came to Robertson County, Tennessee in 1796 and established Wessyngton Plantation, which he named in honor of his ancestral home.
Slave Labor on Southern Plantations
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
Wessyngton Tobacco Field
Slaves toiled endlessly, clearing land, plowing fields, raising livestock, erecting buildings, and planting crops to transform frontier landscapes into lavish plantations.
The enslaved population on Wessyngton Plantation primarily produced tobacco, which was very labor intensive. In 1860, 250,000 pounds of tobacco was produced on Wessyngton making it the largest producer of tobacco in the United States and the second largest in the world.
Colonial Documents Reveal African Roots
Friday, July 24th, 2009
Court Orders, Southampton County, VA, 1749
Nero a Negro boy slave belonging to Henry Cooker is by the court adjudged to fourteen years of age.
Zingo a Negro boy slave belonging to John Warren by the court adjudged to thirteen years of age.
Douglas a Negro boy slave belonging to Thomas Westbrooks by the court adjudged to ten years of age.
Anarcha a Negro boy slave belonging to Thomas Westbrooks by the court adjudged to nine years of age.
Juba a Negro boy slave belonging to David Edmunds by the court adjudged to ten years of age.
Tilla a Negro girl belonging to Thomas Gillum the court adjudged to fourteen years of age.
Pompey a Negro boy slave belonging to John Barrow the court adjudged to ten years of age.
During the Colonial period, slave owners were required to pay taxes on their slaves from ages twelve to fifty years old. When Africans were brought to the colonies and it was evident that they were adults they were simply added to tax rolls called tithables. When small children and teenagers arrived from Africa and their ages were uncertain, the slave owners would have to take them into court and a judge would assign an age for the slave, which was then recorded in minute or court order books. Most of the slaves were assigned English names, although some retained their true African names. Some of the court orders also list the names of the ships the Africans arrived in and the dates of arrival. Many of these individuals can be traced in later documents such as tax records, wills, and estate settlements. These records can prove to be a genealogical goldmine for African American researchers.
Terry Family to Tour Wessyngton Plantation for Bi-Annual Reunion
Thursday, July 16th, 2009On 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
Portraits by [Maria] Howard Weeden
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
The Founding of Wessyngton Plantation
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.
Joseph Washington, Founder of Wessygnton Plantation
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.
Photo Reveals Our Ancestor’s Religious Devotion
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009During 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