Slave Descendants of the Cabell Family and Massie families



Residing at LIBERTY HALL - Warminster, Lovingston, Nelson, Virginia - area known as Midway Mills.
Allied families of Massies Mill, residing at Pharsalia and Level Green.

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I am often asked why spend all of this time and effort, researching my family history. The answer is simple.
First, I feel indebted for the efforts put forth by my grandmother, and the slave owner, Nathaniel Francis Cabell, for having the insight to record this information for their descendants, and those who came after they were gone.
Secondly, this is a test for the "so-called" modern day technology, called the Internet. The information is out there, but scattered on various websites. I'm just compiling all this information pertaining to my family in one place. This is a very difficult task, but I've made some startling discoveries.

Carlie Ann Alen & Arther Garfield Nicholas

Carlie's parents

Carlie's cousins

Nathaniel Francis Cabell

Cabell's slave list

Perhaps, it was a pure stroke of luck that our family history, was left for someone to explore. It may have been my destiny all along. For the last 30 years, I've become an expert in the trade of sign painting. Which has enabled me to identify, all sorts of freehand and written letter-forms.

Recent inquiries and discoveries have taken me on a long and exciting journey, into our family's past, and this country's history. From years of research, it appears that many of my ancestors were originally from Midway Mills, Nelson, Virginia.
Some migrated, and or were sold from "The Corotoman Plantation", owned by John Hartwell Cocke, and ended up in Midway Mills.

As each family member aged, they moved out with their children to other surrounding areas, such as Buckingham, Rockfish, Shipman, Massies Mill, and Amherst. The children of these descendants, moved even further to places such as Lynchburg, VA and Kentucky. Other descendants to a northern track to the north, in search of jobs. They settled in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York.

Important note: Midway Mills was the first Colony established, by Dr. William Cabell, in Nelson County, June 6, 1774. This was the meeting place, where all other counties were created. This area, then was known as "Swan Creek Estates", and afterwards, "Liberty Hall". An ordinance was raised for providing the colony with a sufficient force for defense. The colony was then divided into sixteen districts, and required to organized a battalion of minute-men, who were to prepare themselves for regular service.
This district was composed of the counties of Albemarle, Amherst, Buckingham, and East Augusta.

Residents of Cabell Farms, and the Swan Creek Plantation Midway Mills, Nelson, Virginia 1880

Not too long ago, I traveled to the state of Virginia to do some family research, and here is where the true quest began!

Here is the sequential order in which I conducted my research.

Saturday, November 7, 2009
My first stop, along with my wife, Monica Stevens, was the Library of Virginia, in Richmond, to view microfilms of the "Cabell Family Papers". The Cabell's were listed in the same household, as my great-great-great-grandfather, John Nicholas, born 1810, of Lovingston, Virginia.

We arrived in Richmond, late that evening, to find the location of the library, then checked into a nearby hotel.

Sunday, November 8, 2009.
We drove to the Library of Virginia, in Richmond, to start the long and tedious process of searching for information. After locating the room where the microfilms are kept, we began our research.
The microfilms were extremely old, very hard to read, and decipher. Printing them out on paper, was even more of a challenge. We spent a full day, trying to gather and record the information stored on these films. We documented what we could, and it was off to the University of Virginia Library, in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Monday, November 9, 2009
We drove to Charlottesville in Albemarle County, and stopped at the main library in the center of town, near the statue of General Lee, sitting proudly on his horse, across from the Historical Society in the main square.
We looked through various books about the town's history and it's original inhabitants. To my surprise, I found many books and documents concerning the slaves of Virginia, and discovered the book "The Cabell's and Their Kin".
In a letter written by William H. Cabell, to his brother, Joseph Carrington Cabell, explains problem he is having with some of the slaves, he inherited from his first wife and 1st cousin, Elizabeth Cabell.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009.
Went back to the main Library in town, which used to be the original post office, directly across the street from a building that was once, an old "Slave Auction" building. Back inside the library, I found more documents concerning slave births from the early 1800's.

While I was there, I thought I'd look at some old newspaper articles on microfilm, pertaining to the history of that area. While loading the machine that reads the microfilm, someone had left the machine in full-unwind mode. The entire roll of film from the year 1834, unwound over the entire floor of the library. It took over 45 minutes to re-roll the film. After which, I sparked up a casual conversation with the head librarian, trying to smooth things over, and to avoid criticism of the disaster that just happened! After things calmed down a bit, he said I should check the "Historical Society" around the corner.

Later that afternoon, after a brief tour of the downtown area, we stopped in, and met the head librarian, Margaret O'Bryant. I told her of the information I was seeking, in which she filled an entire 8-foot table with documents and books. I recorded an enormous amount of information pertaining to the slave descendants of the Nicholas, Allen, Diggs, Venable, Woodson, Rose, and Rives families of Nelson County. It was so much information, that we had to return the following day.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Returned to the Charlottesville Historical Society to continue my research, and finished early that afternoon. Before leaving Charlottesville.

Later that evening, we stopped at the "Special Collections" department, at the "University of Virginia Library", that was designed by Thomas Jefferson, built by the Cabell Family, his associates, and their slaves, (my ancestors). That evening, after reading through over 800 hand written documents by the Cabell family, I could only find a few articles, pertaining to slaves. Many documents that I held in my hands, were older than the "CONSTITUTION" itself.
I've even read original letters that Dr. William Cabell wrote to King Henry of England. William Cabell had lots of business dealings with his associates, who were all major landowners too. They sold and exchanged slaves, as if they were currency.

These slaves, were used by the slave owners, to satisfy debts to one another, like "Shillings, pence, and pounds".

I've read and recorded many documents concerning business deals, between William H. Cabell and William Mayo. There were also deals with Joseph Carrington Cabell, Cole Diggs, William Loving, Nicholas Cabole Early, William C. Scott, William Venable, William Diggs, George Nicholas, John Diggs, John Dillard, Robert Rives, Alexander Rose, William Horsley, John Hartwell Cocke, Joseph Loving, Charles Kidd, H. Carrington, Mary F. Allen, Thomas Lockett, Joseph Shelton, William Ligon, and many more.

William H. Cabell and the original Nelson County, Virginia government

Finished for the evening... tomorrow's a new day.

Thursday, November 12, 2009
We went back to the "Special Collections" department at the "University of Virginia Library". Today I met with Jean Cooper, a genealogist for the university. We had lunch, and discussed various aspects concerning ancestry research.
I received many important tips and advice on the subject. I went back to research, and to apply the techniques that I've just learned. Today, I read through the documents pertaining to Nathaniel Francis Cabell, who was listed as the head of household, along with my great-great-great grandfather, John Nicholas of Lovingston, Virginia, in the 1880 United States Federal Census. I've read through hundreds of invoices, pertaining to the family owned and operated businesses. Which dealt with bridge building throughout this entire nation. Along with the production of tobacco, and owners and builders of the "C and O" railroad, at the old town of Edgewood in Warminster, and Midway Mills. I still could not find any information, concerning the slaves that they've owned. I've read over two thousand documents in total, so far.

Edgewood, in the old town of Warminster Nelson County, Virginia

Warminster Station - C & O railroad line Nelson County, Virginia

Slaves on packet boats - the James River Wingina, Nelson, Virginia

In one of the last boxes that the special collections department put out for me to explore, was a diary written by Nathaniel Francis Cabell.

Nathaniel F. Cabell was an unusual, strange and extremely intelligent character. His compassion for his fellow human beings, including his slaves, (my ancestors), truly showed in his writings. He wrote in his diary, about philosophy, and the Episcopal Religion. He's read literally hundreds of books. He's even read a book about "The Life of Bugs". He had a (multiplication times table card) that he carried in his pocket, along with hand-written business cards.

Nathaniel also wrote an essay on "The Black Race in North America". From 1832 to his death, he took a special interest in his family history, and compiled a manuscript listing the details of his ancestry.
Upon his death in 1891, he willed a list of Latin vocabulary words that he created, along with his massive collection of books to his family and friends. He also documented a full list of his lifetime friends throughout his lifetime.

Finally, in the last box of documents, (box 4, file number 5084), were the hand-written lists of slaves.

In his diary, and other documents, he specifically listed the full names of the slaves that they've owned, along with stories of their lives at Union Hill, Liberty Hall, and Edgewood in Warminster.
The names were Susan "Sukey" Diggs, Emily Early, Martha Brown, Betsy Gilmore, Maria Rively, Saunders Early, Ben Diggs, Mima Tompkins, Catherine Early, Washington Nicholas, and Sophy Diggs,to name a few.
Sophy was the first wife of my third grandfather, Washington Nicholas. Along with Polly, Clarissa, Lizzie, Jennie, Eliza, and the names of most of my ancestors living at Liberty Hall "Cabell Farms", on the "Swan Creek Plantation" at Warminster, in Wingina, Virginia.
Many relatives of my family still lives on, what was once, the Swan Creek Plantation. Many of my ancestors are still buried throughout this entire area, along route 56, and route 626, in Wingina.

Here is the map of the Swan Creek Plantation, owned by DR. William Cabell. It shows the locations of Liberty Hall, Union Hill, Norwood, Soldier's Joy, Midway Mills, Edgewood, and Warminster. Note: The slave quarters, were located behind Soldier's Joy.

Nate, often referred to his female slaves, as his "Aunts". He was so pleased at how they took care of, and nursed his family's children. It was those memories, according to his diary, that affected him the most.
In the mid 1700's, these original settlers, needed a large work force to carve out the new frontier. They imported indentured "Scotch-Irish" servants, for a 4-year contract. In return for their service, they would receive a small parcel of land. These new landowners, soon became wealthy themselves, and would then need slaves to labor on their rapidly expanding farms.

England, decided to import a massive labor force from Africa, the West Indies and other parts of the world, to handle the work that was once done by these "indentured servants". Except, with Negroes, it was a life sentence, that would span generations.
..... the rest is history.

Annie's Trip To Grandma's

This book is about Barbara Rose Page's uncle Jasper Rose, and his trip along with his 3 daughters to visit his mother Malinda Cashwell in Roseland, Nelson VA Arthur Rose, born 1888 (Jasper's brother) was Barbara's grandfather. Arthur's wife was Josephine Bowling. Arthur Rose and Josephine's son was Samuel C. Rose who married Theresa "Tessie" Morse. - They were Barbara's parents from Piney River. Jasper and Arthur's father Moses Rose was the son of Daniel Rose (a slave of Hugh Rose born 1743). Hugh was the son of Parson Robert Rose of Amherst. - Hugh Rose's wife was Caroline Jordan born 1744. - Hugh and Caroline's daughter Judith married Landon Cabell.

I often wonder, if the Cabell family could ever imagine a descendant of one of their slaves reading and studying their documents and lives, 400 years later. Perhaps, that was Nathaniel's hope and intent all along. After all, he practiced the "Swedenborg Religion", whose many members were abolishionists. Also, befriending black people, let alone slaves, in those days wasn't very popular among the majority.

Friday, November 13, 2009
Went back to the Historical Society in Charlottesville, and brought the faculty some coffee and bagels. I picked up the copy of "The Nicholas Family of England and Virginia, written by John Nicholas", that Margaret had copied for me. I thanked her for her time, and it was off to Lovingston.

After arriving in Lovingston, I immediately stopped at the main library, but it was closed. So I went into town to check out the county courthouse. Once there, I viewed will books, and marriages from 1850-1930. In those books, I found all of the information I needed.
Now it was time for some site seeing, before checking into a motel.

This area of Virginia, is located at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Not too far from the famous, "Walton's Mountain", from the old TV show, The Waltons. This area, is full of steep hills, and sharp winding roads, with heavily tree-lined hills.

Saturday, November 14, 2009
Went directly to the Lovingston Library, on route 29, to gather information on maps of the area, and the locations of my family's gravesites. From the library, I traveled down route 56, also known as, (James River Road), passing through the town of Shipman, where my father, William A. Nicholas, was born. About 17 miles down, is the small town of Wingina.

The grave site - locator map direct us to turn on route 426, which is also, known as Cabell Road. The first set of graves, according to the map, was located somewhere on this road. I stopped at a house with people standing outside on their front porch, to ask for directions on the grave site locations. They wanted to know my identity, and why was I asking for this information. I showed them my grandmother's list of family names, and explained to them, that I was trying to locate my ancestors and family. They wanted to know how I tracked my ancestors to this location. I told them, I traced my family history, through the slave owners, which appeared on the old United States Census documents.
To our surprise, their names, the Woodson family, was on my list. They were beside themselves, as was I. After a few pleasantries, they led me and my wife, up a steep mountainside, to the location of our family's gravesites, which was located on their land.

The Woodson Family Wingina, Nelson, Virginia

Old house of Alex Woodson Wingina, Nelson, Virginia

Possibly Nathaniel Woodson, or George Allen with William Nicholas

Leftrich Mayo and Ella Brown Wingina, Nelson, Virginia

My newly discovered family, said the Venable family, lived nearby, and the Rose family, lived up the street. After all of the hugs and kisses, they took me over to meet my cousin's from the Venable side of the family. The Venable gravesite was located halfway up another tree-lined mountainside, located in thier backyard. My 72 year-old cousin, "Puddin" (Barbara Venable), out-walked my wife and I, up the steep, leaf-covered mountain to the gravesites.

She said that she walks over 5 miles a day, and that she was used to traveling these distances. My excuse was that I was concerned about being eaten by bears, which caused me to stop frequently, to take a look around. She exclaimed, "you watch too much TV", and that she hasn't seen any bears in weeks. I thought? only a few weeks? I've never seen a real bear, except in a zoo.

I took many photos, gather priceless information, and said my good-byes. After reflecting on the information gathered over the last 3 days, I realized that this entire area, where my family lives, and died, was all part of the Cabell owned, "Swan Creek Plantation".
All of my original ancestors were slaves of the Cabell family, and their associates. This is how my ancestors got their surnames, such as Nicholas, Allen, Diggs, Mayo, Woodson, Early, Rives, Yancy, Rose, Venable, Beverly, Bailey, Terrell, Bolden, Cottrell, Clopton, Horsley, Gilmore, Fleming. Shipman, Miller, and Brown.

This is how I came up with the term "RBS", which means "Related By Slavery", since we weren't considered blood relatives to white slave owners.

We've been here for hundreds of years, since our country was in its infancy, but never appeared in any history books. We built the universities, bridges, roads, railroads, historical buildings, and monuments. My ancestors has fought along side the Cabells, during the French and Indian, the Revolutionary, and the Civil Wars.

But now, I can put names to these faces, along with hand written proof of ownership, by the slave owners themselves. Along with the direct ancestry connection, from the Mulatto family members of Scotch-Irish descent, the locations of my family's burial grounds, which were my 3rd and 4th great grand parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Sunday, November 15, 2009
Today, we decided to do a bit of sightseeing, and take a drive along the road, that runs alongside the James River, where Nathaniel F. Cabell, once walked. We started from the Old Richmond Highway, and drove about 18 miles on Union Hill road. Passing through the old towns of Norwood, Union Hill, Buffalo Station, Soldiers Joy, and Liberty Hall. We took many spectacular photos along the way. This road changed into Cabell road, at route 56. We ended our journey at Edgewood, in the old town of Warminster, and toured the Historic Estate called "Bon Aire", which overlooks the entire Swan Creek Plantation. While touring Warminster Road, we met a local woman named Gracie Davis. She grew up with my cousins from the Venables, and told us wonderful stories of my ancestors. She said back in the early days, my uncles, taught her children how to read, and that black and white people treated each other as family.

Monday, November 16, 2009
Went to the Lovingston visitor's center, and spoke with Becky Howard, head of the historical society in Nelson County, to gather information on Union Hill and Liberty Hall. They directed me back to the Library, and two large file cabinets containing all of the information needed, on the Cabell Family and their history. I recorded what I could, and headed for home, after taking a few more photos of the family grave sites, and scenery, located on James River Road.

My final assessment and realization, was that there are more records of slave ships than one would dream. It seems inconceivable, until you reflect that for more than 200 years, ships sailed carrying cargoes of slaves. The earliest information on our families slave descendants that I've been able to retrieve, is only dated back to 1790. Slavery began around the year 1600. That's two hundred years of un-accounted for, family history.
When compared the Cabell family, who can trace their family history back to the 1400's and even earlier. The Cabells were descendants of Normandy. The Normans were the ones who conquered Europe. It's been said through our family lore, that our earliest ancestors came from Cameroon, Africa.
I've been unable to find any documented proof of that. I'm counting on the descendants of the Cabell family, to shed some insight in this matter, and this is why I posted this story!

It was well worth the trip. It has changed my entire life, knowing who I am, and where I came from!

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These surnames are;
Nicholas, Gilmore, Diggs, Beverly, Yancy, Woodson, Horsley, Mayo, Venable, Rose, Bolden, Nunery, Early, Fleming, Bailey, Cottrell, Clopton, Bowling, Morse, Coleman, Allen, Jamieson, Edmunds, Patteson, Hughes, Page, Pryor, Penn, Powell, Payne, Cashwell, Carrington, Napier, Essex, Christian, Sandidge, Jett, Madison, Loving, Epps, Ellis, Mack, Meade, Cabbell, Spinner, Payne, Whitlock, Winston, Wright, Terrell, Callen, Srange, Giles, Shipman, Steptoe, Durett, Crockett, Vaughn / Vaughan, Taliaferro / Toliver, Hill, Penn, Tompkins, Thompson, Jackson, and Johnson.

It's not just a family tree... but and ENTIRE COUNTY of slaves and their descendants who are ALL related by an unusual web of marriages, consisting of 60 original families dating back to 1730, and brought forward in time to the year 2012 of the current generation of descendants.

Click the button to gain unlimited, complete and total access to ALL of my well-documented research in my "PRIVATE" online tree.
(your access password will be e-mailed to you)

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