- Joined
- Mar 18, 2015
- Location
- Kent, Ohio
I've just returned from a 2,817 mile research trip, driving to places in CT, MD, VA, NC and SC connected to the ship General Lyon and the people who built it, died on it and survived it. One of the more intriguing (and mysterious) connections is to a "freeborn black barber". This unnamed man, according to an article by S C Armstrong in The Southern Workman, Volume 31, No 1 January 1902, died on the Lyon, March 31 1865.
https://books.google.com/books?id=k...wilson's -creek -nathaniel -archibald&f=false
Armstrong wrote two connected stories in that publication. The first was about Reverend William B. Taylor 1800-1873 of Elizabeth County, VA , a mulatto and former slave who'd purchased his own freedom and was an important member of the black community in Hampton, VA. His owner's surname was Colton so that's how Taylor appears in many Virginia records - he chose a new "free" name, "Taylor"
He and Thomas Peak (also Peake/Peek)were local luminaries. Flouting Virginia law, Peak's daughter Mary taught black children under an oak tree in Hampton and from her work Hampton University eventually arose. "Today, the Emancipation Oak still stands on the Hampton University campus as a lasting symbol of the promise of education for all, even in the face of adversity" (Hampton U website). Uncle Billy Taylor was co-founder of the 1st Baptist church in Hampton and the second pastor. I attended services there on Sunday last - although it's not the same building these days.
William's wife, Harriet 1825-1895, was the co-founder of the United Order of Tents - the nation's oldest fraternal benevolent group for black women, still clinging to existence. And his daughter, Mary Ann Taylor 1840-1867 (and now we're almost there) was also a teacher of freedmen's children, president of the black Norfolk Ladies Soldier's Benevolent Society and a former slave. It was Mary Ann who married that "freedman black barber" as Armstrong related in his second story.
William Taylor purchased his wife Harriet and his daughter Mary Ann as slaves - it was the only way he could keep those two elements of his family together and save them from being sold off to God knows where. He paid tax on them. In 1863 he was able to free them both because Emancipation had come and Mary Ann apparently celebrated by getting married in that year or in 1864.
I visited the gravestones of all three of them in Hampton last Sunday - William, Harriet and Mary Ann MAGNOS. I've not downloaded my own photos yet so this shot is from Findagrave.com. That's William's stone behind Mary Ann's and a bit of Harriet's is peeping in the top right corner
But as president of the Norfolk group she spelled the last name as MAYNOS - presumably to indicate pronunciation. Is Magnos a Hispanic name? That took me to a copy of her death certificate which named her "consort" as SAML MAYNOS.I have even seen a wedding citation on Ancestry.com for one Sam'l MAYNOR and Mary Ann - but for some reason I can no longer locate the thing. Virginia Archives and the State Library along with the Hampton records office could shed no light on her marriage.
Evidently one Samuel Maynos or Magnos is an otherwise unrecorded casualty of the General Lyon.
Vexingly, the passenger list does have the otherwise untraceable name "Lewis Mognors". Magnos/Maynos/Maynor seem so close. I wanted his first name to be Lewis!
I find myself admiring these people and wanting to know more of them and the struggles they endured during the war of the Rebellion - the burning of Hampton, the contraband camps of Ben Butler and the pride they felt when they saw soldiers of colour wearing the uniform and bearing arms for their country.
https://books.google.com/books?id=k...wilson's -creek -nathaniel -archibald&f=false
Armstrong wrote two connected stories in that publication. The first was about Reverend William B. Taylor 1800-1873 of Elizabeth County, VA , a mulatto and former slave who'd purchased his own freedom and was an important member of the black community in Hampton, VA. His owner's surname was Colton so that's how Taylor appears in many Virginia records - he chose a new "free" name, "Taylor"
He and Thomas Peak (also Peake/Peek)were local luminaries. Flouting Virginia law, Peak's daughter Mary taught black children under an oak tree in Hampton and from her work Hampton University eventually arose. "Today, the Emancipation Oak still stands on the Hampton University campus as a lasting symbol of the promise of education for all, even in the face of adversity" (Hampton U website). Uncle Billy Taylor was co-founder of the 1st Baptist church in Hampton and the second pastor. I attended services there on Sunday last - although it's not the same building these days.
William's wife, Harriet 1825-1895, was the co-founder of the United Order of Tents - the nation's oldest fraternal benevolent group for black women, still clinging to existence. And his daughter, Mary Ann Taylor 1840-1867 (and now we're almost there) was also a teacher of freedmen's children, president of the black Norfolk Ladies Soldier's Benevolent Society and a former slave. It was Mary Ann who married that "freedman black barber" as Armstrong related in his second story.
William Taylor purchased his wife Harriet and his daughter Mary Ann as slaves - it was the only way he could keep those two elements of his family together and save them from being sold off to God knows where. He paid tax on them. In 1863 he was able to free them both because Emancipation had come and Mary Ann apparently celebrated by getting married in that year or in 1864.
I visited the gravestones of all three of them in Hampton last Sunday - William, Harriet and Mary Ann MAGNOS. I've not downloaded my own photos yet so this shot is from Findagrave.com. That's William's stone behind Mary Ann's and a bit of Harriet's is peeping in the top right corner
But as president of the Norfolk group she spelled the last name as MAYNOS - presumably to indicate pronunciation. Is Magnos a Hispanic name? That took me to a copy of her death certificate which named her "consort" as SAML MAYNOS.I have even seen a wedding citation on Ancestry.com for one Sam'l MAYNOR and Mary Ann - but for some reason I can no longer locate the thing. Virginia Archives and the State Library along with the Hampton records office could shed no light on her marriage.
Evidently one Samuel Maynos or Magnos is an otherwise unrecorded casualty of the General Lyon.
Vexingly, the passenger list does have the otherwise untraceable name "Lewis Mognors". Magnos/Maynos/Maynor seem so close. I wanted his first name to be Lewis!
I find myself admiring these people and wanting to know more of them and the struggles they endured during the war of the Rebellion - the burning of Hampton, the contraband camps of Ben Butler and the pride they felt when they saw soldiers of colour wearing the uniform and bearing arms for their country.
Bringing the