Whence I Came

Horsley's Mill was referenced in The Vestry Book of St. Paul's Parish, Hanover County, Virginia 1706-1786  as a landmark in two procession years; 1731 and 1739.  In both years, Horsley's Mill was a starting point in describing the precinct it bounded: Ordered into one precinct for processioning all the Lands below Horsley's Mill, upon a Strait Line to Chickahominy Swamp, and to the Extent of this parish downwards... Which meant that the precinct included all the land between Horsley's Mill Pond, the Chickahominy Swamp, and the border with St. Peter's Parish (New Kent County).   In 1731, land owners within this precinct included Mr. Joseph Baughon (Vaughan?), Simon Woody, William Bostick, John Philips, William Leak, Richard Leak, Anthony Waddy, Walter Leak, Walter Chapman, Col. John Fleming, William Reynolds, John Hopkins, John Goodwin, Robert Wood, Henry Crumpton, Henry Kerby (Kirby?),  Thomas Longwood, John Thorp, Richard Crafford (Crawford?), Abraham Burnet, D...

"There lived....a people who had the moral courage to stand up for their rights and thereby they injected a new meaning into the veins of history and of civilization."      ---------Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  In 1835 Hanover County, Virginia, a woman simply named Betty filed suit in forma pauperis to fight for her and her children's liberties.  In a world where Betty had no rights under the bondage of slavery, the court abstract for Betty's suit presented a woman's fight to keep her family together.  What initially drew my eye to this suit was that somehow my Thurman family was involved Betty's battle.  I feared digging further into the suit and learning something about my Thurman that I really didn't want to know.  And yet, I couldn't get Betty and her brave heart out of my mind.  I had to know Betty's story and the fate of her children. According to the official court record , Betty was the property of William Gooch, a white, land...