Our Pre-20th Century African American Photograph archive features family photographs, African American communities, and African Businesses up to and including 1899.
Mollie was raised by John Sharp and his 3 daughters. The Sharps were a white family who lived near Burke County, Georgia. She was given away when she was born in 1871 because she was of mixed ethnicity. She was the wife of the former slave Tasso Hopkins.
Oscar J. Thompson, Sr. was one of five children born to the Rev. Logan L. and Lavinia Corley-Thompson on 5 March 1881 in the Skillet community outside of Salley, Aiken County, South Carolina. At a young age, he joined Smyrna Baptist Church where he was ordained as a deacon. Like his parents, Oscar was a sharecropper. Briefly, he lived with his brother Robert Thompson and his family until he was able to support himself. Later, he married Lessie Felder.
Oscar and his family continued to sharecrop for several years. While working, he saved his money with the goal of becoming a landowner. On December 9, 1915, Oscar purchased 92 acres from David Link of Deland, Florida.
Oscar was full-fledged entrepreneur. In agriculture, he cultivated his farm into a full-scale operation that garnered local acclaim. The local newspaper lauded his three-year crop rotation system. To further his knowledge in agriculture, Oscar joined a group of local African-American farmers on a field trip to Coker Pedigreed Farm in Hartsville, South Carolina “to study and observe seed breeding and other farm practices”.
Oscar died on August 11, 1945 at the age of 64.99 Four years later, his wife Lessie died on September 21, 1949 at the age of 56.
Julianne and her parents, Paul and Harriet, were enslaved by the brothers Octave and Numa Cornay of the Calumet Plantation. The plantation was in Patterson, St. Mary's Parish, Louisiana and was a large sugar mill. During the Civil War, Julianne went with the Cornays to Lafayette, Louisiana, where she had one son by a man she was not marry to but had a "shacking" relationship to breed children. After the Civil war, Julianne returned to Patterson, St. Mary's Parish, Louisiana and was a laundress. She met and married Vilmont Schexnayder on 4 January 1883 in St. Mary's Parish, Louisiana. Julianne had at least 15 children, 14 of them with Vilmont Schexnayder.
Patrick Henry Roane, Sr., the son of George Henry Roane (1805 Williamsburg, Virginia -1876 Varina, Henrico County, Virginia) and Elizabeth Henley, was born enslaved in 1833 in Varina, Henrico County, Virginia.
He cohabitated in slavery with Susan Price in Varina, Henrico County, Virginia. They were the parents of George A. Roane, Patrick Henry Roane, Jr. (a Newport News, Virginia Councilman), William E. Roane, Wyatt Roane (a judge of Elections in Newport News, Virginia), Bachus Roane (a policeman and Justice of the Peace in Newport News, Virginia), Edmonia Carlotta Roane, and Leonard Wilson Roane (a shipbuilding engineer in Newport News, Virginia).
Patrick Henry Roane was the 3x great-grandson of Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia and Revolutionary War Patriot).
Leonard Wilson Roane, the son of Patrick Henry Roane, Sr. and Susan Price, was born on 18 September 1874 in Varina, Henrico County, Virginia. He married Julia Ella Bates on 1 April 1896 in Varina. They were the parents of two daughters Susan "Susie" Julia Roane and Ella Bates Roane. He later married Abigail "Abbie" Smith.
Leonard worked as a shipbuilding engineer in Newport News, Virginia, where he died on 21 December 1912.
He was the 4x great-grandson of Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia and Revolutionary War Patriot.
Edmonia Carlotta Roane, the daughter of Patrick Henry Roane, Sr. and Susan Price, was born on 31 December 1871 in Varina, Henrico County, Virginia.
She married John James, Jr. on 26 December 1889 in Varina, Henrico County, Virginia. They were the parents of Ann V James, Florence Arlene James, William E James, Beatrice Carlotta James, Roscoe Arlington James, and Wyatt A James.
She died on 25 October 1904 in Richmond, Virginia.
She was the 4x great-granddaughter of Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia and Revolutionary War Patriot.
Bacchus Roane, the son of Patrick Henry Roane, Sr. and Susan Price, was born on 18 August 1869 in Varina, Henrico County, Virginia.
He married Josephine Harris on 4 September 1895 in Newport News, Virginia. They were the parents of William Edward Roane, Edith Irene Roane, and Collis Roane.
Bacchus Roane was a Special Policeman and a Justice of the Peace in Newport News, Virginia. He died on 6 June 1921 in Newport News, Virginia.
He was the 4x great-grandson of Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia and Revolutionary War Patriot.
Salina (Newton) Mears born was born on 3 May 1831 in Beaufort District, South Carolina. Her mother was Kitty Newton, who was the daughter of Kitty Newton, Sr. The Newton family were Free People of Color with ancestry dating back to 1790.
Lewis Matthews, the son of his enslaver Drury Cook Matthews and the enslaved Darkiss (Dorcas), was born in 1824 in Edgefield County, South Carolina and died between 1901 and 1910 in Pickens, Edgefield County, South Carolina. He married Martha Bottom who was born a free woman of color in 1843 in Edgefield County, South Carolina. Martha (Bottoms) Matthews died in Pickens, Edgefield County, South Carolina between 1881 and 1890. Lewis and Martha Matthews were the parents of a large family.
ulia Ella Bates, the daughter of David "Davy" Bates (1853-1920) and Ella Young (1844-1914) of Varina, Henrico County, Virginia, was born on 6 May 1876 in Varina.
She married Leonard Wilson Roane on 1 April 1896 in Varina, Henrico County, Virginia. They were the parents of two daughters Susan "Susie" Julia Roane and Ella Bates Roane.
Julia (Bates) Roane died on 16 December 1901.
