Prepare for the 2011 Annual Charlotesville Family History Conference

http://charlottesville-fhc.org/

Charlottesville Family History Center was established in 1970. The Charlottesville LDS Family History Center (FHC) is one of more than 4,000 centers around the world providing training and resources to research family history and genealogy. The center provides free computer access to Family Search, Heritage Quest, and a multitude of on-line family history databases sponsored by the LDS church and others. Microfilm readers and printers are also available to access millions of film media records in the local collection or on loan from the Family History Library. Here is where you can learn to document your personal family history like I have with my family.

In 1803, Lacy Brown was born in Orange County Virginia. As a “Free Man” he moved to an area call a “Free Union.” Later it was called Stony Point, a suburb of Charlottesville, Va. Part of Stony Point was known as “Brown Town” because the land was generally owned by members of the Brown Family. Many of these Browns today still own the land handed down to them by their ancestors. “Free Unions” were areas where ex-slaves and captured Native Americans moved to so that they could not be recaptured and sold back into slavery.

After the Civil War (April 1865), a slave named Eliza Thorn, a half Cherokee, gathered up her family from Col. Francis Slaughter’s Plantation in Culpeper, Va. Bought a Conestoga Wagon and a team of Horses, bought cattle, and moved to Stony Point, Va. There, she bought 11 acres of land. This land existed in the family until the 1980s. Eliza Thorn made furniture in her spear time when she was not working for the master. This is how she made the money to move her family to Stony Point. In the 1970s, I had the opportunity to see bedroom furniture made by Eliza Thorn. She used wooden nails in her furniture. This is how she was able to finance her move.

Eliza Thorn had three families, the West, the Walkers, and the Thorns. I fall along the line of her daughter Eliza Walker who married Reubon. They had a daughter, Eliza J. Walker. Eliza J. Walker (born June 25, 1881) married George W. Blue in 1895 by Rev. Daniel Brown at Free Union Baptist Church. The Blue’s were Cherokee Native Americans. They probably took their last name from their Cherokee clan, the “Blue” clan. From 1803 to 1923, most of my family history on my mother’s side took place in and around Free Union Baptist Church. My family is still at service every Sunday at this church.

My Grandmother Eliza Blue (Born 1899 as Eliza Lucenda Blue) and Grandfather John Brown got married in this church that still stands and is still in service today. Most people called this Eliza, Lucy Brown. They caught a train headed for Pittsburgh Pa. because my grandfather found out that they had jobs in the steel mills in that City. But it takes money to travel by train and when they got as far as Steelton Pa., the money ran out. He went across the street and got a job with Bethlehem Steel. Both grand parents lived in Steelton until they died in the 1950s and 1960s. The family moved from generations of farmers to steel worker. Here is where the name Eliza was retired from use in our family.

My mother Jean Julia Williams, (born Jean Julia Brown) married William Jackson Williams II, a decendent of the Western Cherokee Nation. They moved to Pittsburgh Pa. Their children became administrators, healthcare workers, and computer scientist.

From 1923 to the present started the era of First Baptist Church in Steelton. The descendents of the Lucy and John Brown Family still worship in this church today.

My daughters, Stephanie and Amanda have a colorful family history on their mother’s side. While Eliza Thorn was a slave in Culpeper Va., Amanda Ann Porter became a slave. Amanda Ann Porter lived in a Native American village in Spottsylvania, Va. Slavery laws dictated that any Indian that could be caught can be sold into slavery. Indians did not have rights and could be killed or sold with no legal problems. A group of enterprising Virginia citizens raided her village, killed the men and sold the women and children into slavery. Amanda Ann Porter was one of these children sold into slavery.

Amanda Ann Porter was sold to a White slave breeder named Noah Smith. My ex-wife Amanda and my daughter Amanda Ann Williams III are named after her. Mr. Smith had children by Amanda. One was Thomas Porter. After slavery, Thomas Porter married Mary Yeager. In that day, it was not the custom for a non-white to marry a white woman. In fact, it could get you killed. To this day, General Yeager, the first man who broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 rocket plane in 1947, will not admit that they are related to the Porter family (See the movie, "The Right Stuff"). Thomas Porter had Thomas Porter II who had Amanda Ann Porter (Williams). Amanda Ann Williams had Stephanie Ann Williams (now Tulloch) and Amanda Ann Williams III.

Stephanie Ann Tulloch and Damine Tulloch now have a family, living in the Harrisburg Area. Damine is a Jamacian national. Stephanie is a line manager for Computer Aid, a multinational computer service company. Damine is a Satellite TV installer. They have a son Daniel. Damine is made up of Asian Indian, English, and Native Americans who lived on his home island nation.

By learning from the Charlottesville Family History Center, Fifth Annual 2011 Family History Conference, you will be able to construct your legacy and bring pride and confidence to your future generations.