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Archiver > VAROOTS > 2006-04 > 1144761251


From: "Paul Drake" <>
Subject: Re: [VAROOTS] Mullato - was VA population in the 17th Century
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 08:14:11 -0500
References: <7D72B13C2E5CC444B5F1AA646B4FE2C06ABB5F@HSCSEMAIL21.hscs.virginia.edu>


GOOD genealogy, my Friend. !!!!


Genealogy without documentation is nothing.
Paul Drake JD
Genealogist & Author
<www.DrakesBooks.com>


----- Original Message -----
From: Peck, Leontyne *HS
To:
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 8:01 AM
Subject: RE: [VAROOTS] Mullato - was VA population in the 17th Century


Pat,

Thank you for sharing this wealth of information. Thanks to Gynger Cook
from the Clay Family Society, I have most of the information that you
shared regarding Patience Clay Chapman. I will be a presenter at the
Clay Family Society in Chester. Hopefully, we will have a chance to
meet.

Next week, I am hosting a gathering of the descendants of my Henry Clay!
Henry is the common ancestor of all of those who will be attending the
gathering. Madison County was truly a unique county in that there was a
significant free population prior to the Civil War. My Henry was
involved with 4 different women and he had children by all of these
women.

He seems as though he had quite a bit of freedom of movement in the
county starting in 1848 when he "married" my great great grandmother
Judy. Throughout his life his partners included Sydney, Lucy Chapman
(?), and Mariah Johnson. I have placed a question mark beside Lucy's
name because she was a white woman.

The early census did not give relationships so I had assumed that Judy
was the mother of one Thomas Clay. On the census, Judy is listed with
William Washington Clay (my great grandfather), Henry P. Clay and Thomas
Clay. They all are living in the Thomas Chapman Household.

In 1923, Thomas Clay died in Page County, VA and a Lucy not Judy is
listed as his mother. We did some research on Lucy Chapman (who lived in
the same household as Henry and others) and found that she had never
married and was living with an uncle at the time of her death. It would
have been very scandalous at the time for a white woman to have a child
by a "mulatto" or "black" man. So perhaps Lucy was indeed the biological
mother and Judy became his substitute mother. Thomas is listed on the
census as a mulatto. He and his wife and children were all listed as
mulatto. They moved to Page County, VA, while the other brothers
remained in Madison County. I'm in the process of trying to find more
information about Thomas Clay and Lucy Chapman.

In any event, the Clay Gathering that I'm hosting will be for the
descendants of Judy & Henry and Henry & Mariah. I'm still searching for
other relatives primarily the descendants of Henry's sons Thomas and
Henry P.

Thanks to all for your responses.


Leontyne







-----Original Message-----
From: Kith-n-Kin [mailto:]
Sent: Monday, April 10, 2006 6:08 PM
To:
Subject: RE: [VAROOTS] Mullato - was VA population in the 17th Century


What label people got depended on many factors -- (see Paul Drake's
comments) - enumerators and "society" gave many labels to many people.

The instructions on the 1870 census read:

"Color.-It must not be assumed that, where nothing is written in this
column, ''White'' is to be understood. The column is always to be
filled. Be particularly careful in reporting the class Mulatto. The word
is here generic, and includes quadroons, octoroons, and all persons
having any perceptible trace of African blood. Important scientific
results depend upon the correct determination of this class in schedules
1 and 2."

You can see, although "Indians" are not included, "any perceptible
trace" could certainly lead to conscious or unconscious labeling. From
what I have read, people weren't too discriminating when it came to
labeling.

As to the Clay family, here is some interesting information. The Clay
family, as a matter of fact, had
many dealings with Indians, including trading with them, and having
Indian "help." I quote here from a
forthcoming book that includes much on the Clays, unfortunately not much
on Patience and her husband:

"Two fascinating and thoroughly documented articles pertinent to the
Clay family have been compiled by Peggy Carswell Peacock for publication
in The Virginia Genealogist. [In] The first, "Choctaws in Virginia in
1712", published in 1985, . . . Mrs. Peacock documents the fact that
Henry Clay was an Indian trader and that he had been away for eighteen
months prior to his arrival home in September 1712 with three Indian
children. Of these, Henry kept the boy (James) and the girl (Chance). A
court action was brought by descendants of Chance to obtain their
freedom from slavery from some of Henry's descendants. In depositions
given by Henry's widow, his grandson, and others close to him, it is not
clear whether Henry "bought" or "took" the children; however all agreed
that there were three and the majority identified them as Choctaws."
This is much too long to quote here, but throughout the suit, the
plaintiffs are variously referred to as "slaves", "Indians", Mulattos".

The lawsuit mentioned is fascinating, both because of what it was, and
from a family viewpoint regarding the people giving depositions. This
Henry Clay was married to Mary Mitchell, and the great-grandfather to
Patience, through her father Mitchell Clay (m Phoebe Belcher), and his
father William Mitchell Clay (m Martha, perhaps Lewis). In several wills
there is mention of

So, it's not a stretch for me to believe that "your" Henry could have
been part Indian, or part Black, or some combination of both. But, the
"evidence will rule out" in the sense that if you can find probate
records (hoping Madison was not a burned county), or sales records, or
tithes, you may find some mention of your Henry or his parents.

Now, it is curious that Henry's last name was Clay. After Patience's
marriage, of course, she would be Chapman, and any slaves left on the
farm after the Emancipation, probably would have taken the name Chapman,
if they were so inclined. This may mean, then, that Henry was a slave of
Mitchell, Patience's father, or one of her brothers. If he belonged to
Mitchell, he could have been given to her as part of a dowry, as in his
will, Mitchell says, "firstly of all I give and bequeath to my dearly
beloved daughter Patience Chapman one dollar to be raised and levied out
my estate." That would ordinarily imply that she had already "been taken
care of."

Of course, Henry's name may also mean nothing more than that he admired
"Henry Clay, the Great Emancipator".

I'll ask at the Clay Family Society meeting this June 23-25 in Chester,
VA, if anyone is related to Patience, and if so, if s/he has any records
regarding your Henry. Wouldn't that be neat!

Regards,

Pat (in Tucson)







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