Researching Slave History

No account has been found of specific names of the slaves owned in the Booth household other than a few mentioned in the will of Moses Booth’s father Benjamin. Only the number on the census, nor has any account been found to date as to the treatment of the slaves under the Booth family. Daniel Blake Smith in his book Inside the Great House, says of this:

… the daily experience and impact of slaves in white planter households is particularly hard to assess. Slavery, which stands as perhaps the most visible, distinctive institution of southern family and social life, remains almost impervious to study – at least in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries simply because of the paucity of surviving sources. Barely a handful of reliable documents (a fragment of a letter or diary here and there) exists to help shed light on the personal relationship between slaves and their masters inside the great house. The silence of the documents on the slave experience in planter households is overwhelming and is one of the biggest disappointments for historians of the family in the colonial south.

I have had my own experiences of researching for the last 10 years, but in researching the history of people of African American descent held in bondage to slavery it takes double the research. First of all, most recorded history in Virginia is about the white race. Records are geared toward recording the actions of white folk and their property. Census records prior to 1870 have no names of slaves’ only ages. Slaves are not usually listed by their names in any index only under some document under their master’s family name. So you have to research virtually every shred of evidence of the plantation owner’s histories prior to 1860. The history of a slave family has to be found by what you can gleam through the records of every member of the white plantation owner’s family that exist or can be found plus through their social, political, economic and kinship connections.

I believe it is appropriate here to mention that in researching African American or black history things are changing for the better to aid (however slowly) in the research. The Internet is helping to find and close the gap on all historical research by aiding in locating records and resources that normally would have taken years to find. Repositories, archives and libraries are combing files, letters, and primary sources formerly only geared to pulling out information about white history to create databases to bring out any mention of blacks, slavery etc.

This project funded in part the first year by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities African American Trail across Virginia shows the need for such programs to help locate what is left of the lost history Daniel Blake describes. Though still in its infancy I am finding more hope than despair that the formerly unknown history of such an important era of our country is being rediscovered as those who are descendents of free blacks and slaves are pulling together their own family histories. The demand to know and to learn where they came from has created a need to look over the old records with a different search perspective and discover new sources long thought lost.

For example, in the inventory and accounting of the estate of Moses Booth we learn some of what Reubin Ferguson, Edmund Clarkston, (spelled Clarkson and Clarkston both in the records) Betsy and James Woods did in his household. The estate paid for their labor for various jobs and upkeep of the property. The executor’s account listed Reubin as plasterer, repairing wood in tobacco house, for hauling wheat, and for general labor. Edmund Clarkson was paid for hauling tobacco, cleaning wheat, and general labor. Betsy Woods was paid for boarding the surveyor, carrying the surveyor’s chains. And her son was paid for assisting.

Reuben Ferguson Slave Origins

When trying to determine if Reuben Ferguson was a slave of Moses G. Booth, I turned to primary sources. I researched the Ferguson Wills and Deeds in Franklin County VA. One of interest is the Will and Inventory of George Ferguson who died in April or May of 1836. In his inventory of slaves is listed a Reuben age 12, and a Diana age 12. The Ferguson plantation was in the same neighborhood as the Booth Plantation and right across the road from the Burroughs plantation of Booker T. Washington fame. There was also a slave owned by George Ferguson named Washington and I believe this could be proven with further research to be Booker T. Washington’s step father. Moses Booth’s sister Sarah married a Josiah Ferguson, but I have not found out who Josiah parents were at this time. He is thought to be a brother to George, but I have no proof of that.

Henry Gray who moved with Reuben’s son Mc Henry to Bland County lists his mother on his marriage license to Octavia Saunders in Franklin County VA as Diana Ferguson and his father as unknown. Henry Gray may have had family connections to McH Ferguson before he came to Bland County if later there is a connection between the two slaves of George Ferguson. George Ferguson in the division of the slaves left his slaves Reuben and Diana to his son Charles Ferguson. Charles had 3 daughters that George Ferguson recognized in his will but no other sons. In a future visit, I hope to follow Charles Ferguson to see what became of his slaves.

Georgia Connection?

I also turned to the Internet to gain a perspective on the Booth family through sites such as the Genealogy Forum. What I have found is that most plantation owners have been researched by descendents and there is a wealth of information out there on these families. Through the genealogy forum I came in contact with Timothy Booth and Jeanette Hull who are working on a history of the Booth Family to be published at a later date. Their history covers many branches of the Booth family through many of the southern states. Jeanette also gave me a contact of Peery Booth a descendent of one of the Booth slaves living in California. Peery gave me a listing of the slaves of a Robert Booth, of Elbert County Georgia from a family Bible located in a repository.

Robert Booth recorded in his Bible a number of slaves born to a slave woman named Charity. Charity or Chats as she is also called gave birth to a slave named Rubin born in the same year as our Reuben Ferguson. I wouldn’t have said this is a possible connection but through Timothy Booth and Jeanette Hull’s work on the Booth family I determined this Robert Booth is actually a third cousin of Moses G. Booth. I am in the process of trying to locate deeds, wills, or a bill of sale that could prove a connection to the Franklin County Reuben Ferguson. A glance at the census of Elbert County Georgia in 1830 also shows there are also Ferguson living in that county. But once sold to Georgia, I imagine it is not impossible to be sold or given back to a family in Virginia. But this needs much further research.

Surname dilemma

As to Reuben’s last name I am not sure why he has the name Ferguson. I have read many theories and discussed this with other historians. I have met some whose ancestors chose a completely different name from their owners to distant themselves from that way of life as well as others whose ancestors kept the name of their former owners. One theory who have kept the last name is they were actual children of the former plantation owner’s family and many former slaves felt it was their right to carry the surname (which it was). Another theory exists that some slaves chose their mistress maiden name in order to gain favor with her while enslaved and kept it after the war because that is what they identified with. Another theory is that if a slave were sold away from their family, one connection they could keep (if the new master did not protest) was to keep the surname of their former master. The name was kept in hopes that later one can locate or identify family and kin. I have not found an in-depth study on this subject to date, but have hopes to see one in the future.

Reuben Ferguson’s original deed for the acreage he purchased from Moses Booth his former employer, names him as Reuben Booth. This could be taken to mean the clerk who wrote it knew of some connection of Reuben to Moses G. Booth or he was in a hurry and just made a mistake. If one finds more than one record with the same mistake I would go with the prior theory. To date, I have only found the one mistake.


Reuben Ferguson Descendents

By the time Reuben died in 1893, he was a man of property with 160 acres of his former employer’s land and with almost $200 dollars in the bank. McH Ferguson, had moved to Bland County married Mary Fannie Clarkson, 29 June 1876 in Franklin County and according to the Chancery Records of Bland County contracted for the land on Dry Fork Creek sometime in 1879. By 1893, he finally had a legal deed (1891) to his property on Dry Fork Creek.

The children of Mc H and Mary Fannie Ferguson are:

Alice Ferguson born 18 Oct 1878 Franklin Co. VA married James M. Patterson 24 Dec 1897 in Bland County. Had 4 children.

Fannie Ferguson born 27 Aug 1888 Bland Co. VA married Roach Shields (son of Richard Shields) 29 March 1909 Bland Co. VA. (Fannie is said to have married a Holmes first.) Had 1 child.

Gamaliel Ferguson born 16 Dec 1889.

Ruben E. Ferguson born 18 March 1883. (Wife’s name Minnie Ardella. Had 11 children)

Ulysess Ferguson born 24 April 1891 (had 3 children)

McDaniel Ferguson born 12 July 1881 married Cornelia E. Hogan, 30 Jan 1906 in Bland County (had 11 children) Mc Daniel was educated at the Christiansburg Institute.

Seywood S. Ferguson born 13 Sept. 1885

Henry Ann Ferguson born 28 April 1887 (Married John Penn) 10 Children

Frederick Ferguson born 13 July 1884 died 02 Oct 1884

Emma Jane Ferguson born 12 Oct 1896 died 10 Aug 1977 (Married John Waller)

Thomas G. Ferguson died Feb. 1898

Zacharias Ferguson died 15 April 1899

John William (or also reported as William John) died 9 Oct 1892

Andrew Ferguson died 16 May 1894

To determine why the children of Edmund Clarkson, Reuben Ferguson and Betsy Woods, (the servants of Moses G. Booth) Henry Gray, A. Jack Tynes, Lewis Holmes, Thomas Showalter, Jacob Sea, moved to Dry Fork Creek and their family and community connections requires further study. As a group they were seeking a better life for themselves and their families. Whether they found that better life is possible since 120 years later many of their descendants still remain on Dry Fork Creek.

About this Project

This project is in two parts. First is the history research and reporting of the original settlers of Dry Fork Creek. Specifically identifying where they originated from in the state of Virginia and how they came to Dry Fork Creek. At present the research is geared towards Reuben Ferguson, Henry and Octavia Saunders Gray, A. Jack Tynes, Richard Shields, Jacob Sea and Thomas Showalter. I have information on the origins of each of these but it is incomplete.

The second is an ongoing genealogy project to gather as much information on the descendents of Reuben Ferguson and the other original settlers of Dry Fork. Their social and kinship connection as a community after arriving on Dry Fork Creek is a story itself. Where those descendants are and what they have accomplished to date is another wonderful story. (One great grandson of Henry and Mary Saunders Gray served with the Tuskeegee Airmen)

We have many family group sheets gathered through research and donations of present family members as well as a wealth of pictures. We are searching for genealogy material, photographs and people to interview with their memories of Dry Fork Creek. We hope to have the material gathered from this entire project and genealogy on line in a database in 2001-2002. Hard copy of the material will be placed in the archives of the Bland County Historical Society for researchers and family historians. If you have any questions, comments, corrections, additions, suggestions of people you feel should be interviewed, or donations of copies of photographs, please feel free to contact me Denise A. Smith at dsrdmt@netscope.net or John Dodson at jdodson@mac.com

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