FAQ%27s

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As we get a common questions from our visitors or new family information we will answer them here. 23 NEW PHOTOS OF JEFFERSON SIDE!

News Flash! We now have original copies and annotated wills, slave values, probate court records with Peter & Eliza named in 1844, 1845 & 1858 on the GA Plantation.

Mary will be 101 years old August 2011 and she is still going strong! Nina Kemp-Robinson turned 92 in March 2011, Freddie Jefferson turned 91!

Updated listing of the children of Peter & 'Liza Farrow and Milton Strother Sr. is in progress, see the latest one below! One of Nora's children and two of her first cousins are still living! They are assisting me with correcting the information.

There are photos added below of Milton Strother Sr. and his father David Richardson Strother Sr. and Peter Farrow! Contact me for photos of other family members, brochures and booklets being developed by the families with the UGRR Secret Quilt Code Museum. ugrrquiltmuseum@gmail.com Teresa Kemp

If you are one of Peter Farrow, John McDaniel,Will McDaniel, or Milton Strother's or allied families descendants we are trying to get your and your children's photos. Please contact me at ugrrquiltmuseum@gmail.com or trkemp@hotmail.com and forward the photo(s), dates, relationship, names of people in the photos and any other information you want to share.

Here is a Family Death Record from the Scoggin's Family Bible that list some of the Allied Families names and Family Dates of Death

Question 1. I found this statement below on the internet, it is not in the form or a question but you get the idea....

Ozella Williams credited the origin of the meaning of blocks used in Underground Railroad quilts to her grandmother Eliza Farrow who was brought to this country "in the early 1800's". This has proved problematic for quilt historians as Eliza was not born until 1859 (in Georgia, not in Africa), giving birth to Ozella's mother Nora in 1888 who gave birth to Ozella in 1922.

REV. PETER Sr. & 'LIZA FARROW had a son he named after himself. (Naming of the son after the father is an Ibo custom).

REV. Peter Farrow Jr. and Eliza 'Liza' Smith-Farrow had 4 children (Thomas"Tom", James "Jim", Nora Bell "Bell", Jencia " Jency")

Rev. Peter Farrow Jr. was born 1851 or 1858/59 he died 1946 (3 census records all differ on the birth date but we have two sources both show the same date of Death) and ‘Liza Smith-Farrow born 1864, she died d. September 11th, 1933. They had 2 sons and 2 daughters. Here are the children of Peter and ‘Liza Farrow:

Nora Bell Smith-Farrow m. Will McDaniel had the following 8 children. Their Children are shown in ( ).

One of the children of Nora listed below, two of Nora's brother’s daughters are still living but do not want to be in public life. I have been blessed to have met and to know all three!They are assisting with the Family projects and are blessed with great memories.

Question 2. Where can I see your quilt exhibit?

On the event page are engagements for 2012 so visit the News page and check back.

The 19th century quilts are not currently on display. Quilts from our family members are. We do not discriminate over hand and machine quilting since our family has done both, depending on economic and physical health of the quilter. We hope that you will not let health restrict you.... adapt and keep quilting. My health has greatly improved! Praise the Lord!

We are working to open UGRR Secret Quilt Code Traveling Exhibits, including family members who were in the Revolutionary War to Civil War period's information. Check back for updates! In the interim, if in the area you can visit the Brooker T. Washington house in Malden, West Virginia. A small quilt exhibit is in a house on thier property (I was told due to weather conditions they were moved from the original cabin location to an adjacent house that has a climate controled environment. )

West Virginia State University purchased Booker T. Washington's boyhood home and church properties in Malden, West Virginia
near Charleston, WV. We have a small Quilt exhibit there.

200 Erickson Alumni Center Institute, WV 25112
Phone: (304) 766-3130 Email: rakescm@wvstateu.edu

Question 3. Could enslaved people engage in religious worship?

Slaves were getting formally married by a pastor or "Jumpin the Broom" which was one a religious rite. They also attended church services in low country plantations. There has been some discussion and controversy over the fact that our ancestor Peter Farrow was a blacksmith and pastor who traveled between plantations preaching. during slavery.

He did! I have locations where he was but the documents are not digitized nor can an indexed search be done at this time. So as my health and time permits I have been given permission to go and get copies of what they have.

One of the churches records go back 200 years and are not ordered nor alphabetized in any way! Now that the last two of my eight children are in college I do have more time on my hands but it is still a large request. It is on my list of documents to acquire! If I do not get it done I will pass it to the next generation.

I have read many slave narratives and book excerpts listed on-line where the enslaved people could not worship at threats of death and beatings. This is still true in some instances worldwide today. Consider this has been the case for centuries and was not just the case of enslaved people whether they were Scotts, Irish, Dutch, African or American born slaves in Pre-Civil War America.

Realize this was not the case on every plantation in America or the up and low country South Carolina plantations. Every African or African-American was not a slave there were free people of color in many states (even southern states) and they worshiped and married and co-existed with slavery as you do today. There were over 60 African/African-American plantation owners in South Carolina pre-civil war period.

Yes, some free Negroes (African, Mulattos, African-African American, Black or Browns as they were listed) people were listed as slave owners since they purchased their family members who were formerly slaves. Some others bought and sold humans and formally engaged in the business of slavery. There were even Native Americans who owned over 900 slaves of many nationalities and origins. Some of the narratives are on the Research tab and more will be added. There was a very good video about the Creek Indians freed slaves who were not freed at the end of the civil war nor extended American citizenship for years. They were not extended Creek citizenship either. They were people without a country living in OK. I'll try to add a link here and on the research pages.

Here is a excerpt of two enslaved people who considered themselves married (a religious institution) during slavery but formalized it again following their freedom and a link to places you can look to find other information on marriages during the 18th, 19th and 20th century periods.

Family bibles, letters, wills, deeds, plantation ledgers, diaries, court records, family genealogy records and books (there are some back to the 1600's for American or immigrant families still in existence) and military pension records can be helpful since the pensions were paid to children or widows of men who could document service and the marriage union by bible records or eye witness testimony. Some of the Revolutionary War records are also around.

I will continue updating my family information here and on the Research and Links page. I wanted to add this article and link to the National Archives where some slaves were married in and during slavery "Jumpin the Broom" with celebrations, days off and parties on the plantations where even the owners attended. Others were formalized following the Civil War like this couple and their date married was listed, as they considered it 1843 during slavery. You may want to look at the records at your closest National Archives (Marrow, GA is closest to Atlanta) or at their website Archives.gov

Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, RG 105) [ (Freedman’s Bureau)

Sealing the Sacred Bonds of Holy Matrimony
Freedmen's Bureau Marriage Records
By Reginald Washington

......."The Wilson County, Tennessee, couple had lived as slave man and wife since October 28, 1843 and for the first time in more than two decades their marriage had finally received legal recognition. The Freedmen's Bureau—established in the War Department by an act of Congress on March 3, 1865—was responsible for "the supervision and management of all matters relating to the refugees and freedmen and lands abandoned or seized during the Civil War." With duties resembling those of a modern-day social services agency, the bureau provided freedpeople with food and clothing, medical attention, employment, support for education, help with military claims, and a host of other socially related services—including assisting ex-slave couples in formalizing marriages they had entered into during slavery.

For the Mansons—who had lived intermittently on separate farms—the marriage certificate issued by the Freedmen's Bureau was more than a document "legally" sealing the sacred bonds of holy matrimony. Listing the names and ages of 9 of their 16 children, it was for them a symbol of freedom and the long-held hope that they and their children would one day live free as a family in the same household. Two Manson sons, John and Martin, had fought for freedom during the Civil War with the 14th Regiment of the United States Colored Troops. A third son, William, would later serve several tours in the Regular Army defending the American West with the famed all-black regiments of the 24th and 25th Infantry.

Benjamin and Sarah Manson were not alone in their quest to put their slave marriage on a legal footing. When freedom came, tens of thousands of former slave men and women—some seeking to marry for the first time and others attempting to solemnize long-standing relationships—sought help from Union Army clergy, provost marshals, northern missionaries and the Freedmen's Bureau."

Here is another 1st hand account that I had saved on my hard drive from 1846 in VA: thought some of you may light to read it. It is not a low country plantation but the met in a cabin or in swamps and had church! I have not edited any typos.

Peter Randolph, who grew up in slavery on a plantation in Prince George County, Virginia, received his freedom in 1847 following his owner's death, and then served as an antislavery agent, a newspaper editor, and as a Baptist minister in the North and in Canada. Following the Civil War, he served as minister in the Ryland or Old African Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia. This selection describes the disparity between the version of Christianity that masters taught to the slaves and the version that slaves taught to themselves.

Many say the Negroes receive religious education- - that Sabbath worship is instituted for them as for others, and were it not for slavery, they would die in their sins- - that really, the institution of slavery is a benevolent missionary enterprise. Yes, they are preached to, and I will give my readers some faint glimpses of these preachers, and their doctrines and practices.

In Prince George County there were two meeting- houses intended for public worship. Both were occupied by the Baptist denomination. These houses were built by William and George Harrison, brothers...that their slaves might go there on the Sabbath and receive instruction, such as slave- holding ministers would give. The prominent preaching to the slaves was, "'Servants, obey your masters'. Do not steal or lie, for this is very wrong. Such conduct is sinning against the Holy Ghost, and is base ingratitude to your kind masters, who feed, clothe and protect you...." I should think, when making such statements, the slaveholders would feel the rebuke of the Apostle and fall down and be carried out from the face of day, as were Ananias and Sapphira, when they betrayed the trust committed to them, or refused to bear true testimony in regard to that trust.

There was another church, about fourteen miles from the one just mentioned. It was called "Brandon's church", and there the white Baptists worshiped.....

There was one Brother Shell who used to preach. One Sabbath, while exhorting the poor, impenitent, hard- hearted, ungrateful slaves, so much beloved by their masters, to repentance and prayerfulness, while entreating them to lead good lives, that they might escape the wrath (of the lash) to come, some of his crocodile tears overflowed his cheek....But, my readers, Monday morning, Brother Shell was afflicted with his old malady, hardness of heart, so that he was obliged to catch one of the sisters by the throat, and give her a terrible flogging.

The like of this is the preaching, and these are the men that spread the Gospel among the slaves. Ah! such a Gospel had better be buried in oblivion, for it makes more heathens than Christians. Such preachers ought to be forbidden by the laws of the land ever to mock again at the blessed religion of Jesus, which was sent as a light to the world....

Not being allowed to hold meetings on the plantation, the slaves assemble in the swamps, out of reach of the patrols. They have an understanding among themselves as to the time and place of getting together. This is often done by the first one arriving breaking boughs form the trees, and bending them in the direction of the selected spot. Arrangements are then made for conducting the exercises. They first ask each other how they feel, the state of their minds, etc. The male members then select a certain space, in separate groups, for their division of the meeting. Preaching in order, by the brethren; then praying and singing all round, until they generally feel quite happy. The speaker usually commences by calling himself unworthy, and talks very slowly, until, feeling the spirit, he grows excited, and in a short time, there fall to the ground twenty or thirty men and women under its influence. Enlightened people call it excitement; but I wish the same was felt by everybody, so far as they are sincere.

The slave forgets all his sufferings, except to remind others of the trials during the past week, exclaiming: "Thank God, I shall not live here always!" Then they pass from one to another, shaking hands, and bidding each other farewell, promising, should they meet no more on earth, to strive and meet in heaven, where all is joy, happiness and liberty. As they separate, they sing a parting hymn of praise.

Sometimes the slaves meet in an old log- cabin, when they find it necessary to keep a watch. If discovered, they escape, if possible; but those who are caught often get whipped. Some are willing to be punished thus for Jesus' sake. Most of the songs used in worship are composed by the slaves themselves, and describe their own sufferings. Thus:

"Oh, that I had a bosom friend, To tell my secrets to, One always to depend upon In everything I do!"

In some places, if the slaves are caught praying to God, they are whipped more than if they had committed a great crime. The slaveholders will allow the slaves to dance, but do not want them to pray to God. Sometimes, when a slave, on being whipped, calls upon God, he is forbidden to do so, under threat of having his throat cut, or brains blown out. Oh, reader! this seems very hard- - that slaves cannot call on their Maker, when the case most needs it. Sometimes the poor slave takes courage to ask his master to let him pray, and is driven away, with the answer, that if discovered praying, his back will pay the bill.

Question 4. What are the numbers of people who could have used the UGRR Secret Quilt Code?

We must first look at how many enslaved people spoke the same language and shared a common family/geographical link. There are French, Dutch and British shipping records to New Orleans, LA, Virginia, other coastal ports and some South Carolina in existence.

I have noted on my personal "Research to Do" list to acquire records that can be used to document and research this further. As time permits, translations, digitization’s happens or I learn Dutch and much better French I will update you. (Seriously, I am working to get college students and/or collaborations to assist with this item.)

When it comes to the divisions of land boundaries in Africa you must consider that division of the people, countries and land were not made by linguist groups, family ties or even by the African people themselves. Several new groups were formed from some that are all related or the same people and given new names by Europeans, British in particular.

I have found the answer is hundreds of thousands in America, over hundreds of years is the answer. There are records still in existance in French and Dutch languages showing how many came through Louisiana and Mobile AL. The sea ports in SC, GA, VA were also frequently used due to the low country plantation demands and need for the knowledge of agricultural (rice, cotton, indigo) cultivation as well as carpentry, metal smithing skills of the west African tribes routinely performed in high heat and humidity.

The Ibo showed a natural immunity to the disease of malaria which routinely killed many other nationalities of forced laborers. It would present more like a cold lasting a week or two. Here is one of many of the links I will be adding in support of the numbers of imported Ibo peoples.

Reviewed by Douglas Chambers (Department of History, University of Southern Mississippi)
Published on H-Atlantic (November, 2007) "Almost an Englishman": Carretta's Equiano

The British Museums have many of the documents and I will add a few of the images shortly that I have of those documents. Here is a copy of one of the documents still in exsistence doing just that, allocating the trading companies rites to people and land!

Question 5. Do you have photos of your mother's Strother family?

Yes, over one hundred I have added several below. See the Family Reunion page I have added about 10 photos here on this site and will add more.

I have received another photo of my mother's grandfather (Milton Strother Sr.'s father David Richardson Strother) David Strother and thought you may like to see it.

There were two David Richardson Strothers of this era. One is Milton's dad born 1814 and the other is Milton's brother born 1845. Our family has a nack for living long and having children over 40 years often by multiple wives or husbands. I will try to note 1st and 2nd, 3rd wife where known or appropriate.

This one is another photo I got of David Richardson Strother (Milton Strother's father) from the Old Edgefield Historical Society in Edgefield, South Carolina from the Strother File.

I have added photos to the collection they have and we are still working to complete information available from photos and legal documents from research and collections of W. Serena Strother-Wilson's brothers and sisters 11 of whom were born in the 1800's.

If you are one of Peter Farrow, Will McDaniel, or Milton Strother's or allied families decendents we are trying to get your and your children's photos. Please contact me at ugrrquiltmuseum@gmail.com or trkemp@hotmail.com and forward the photo, date, relationship, names of people in the photos and anyother informaiton you want to share. Here is a list of my mother's brothers and sisters I have. I will add Mc Daniel, Wilson. Farrow family information shortly. You may also foward corrections. I'll try to do a little more daily.

Question 6. Is about my mother, Serena Wilson's place of birth and who is her father Milton Strother Sr.

born about 1853-60 per US Census 1910 1920 records or Milton Strother Jr. born 1882.

Here is the detail of the question. My mother's father had a son also named Milton Strother Jr. and that is the one you are refering to below. Milton 's father also had a son named David Richardson Strother (1845) who is also confused with his father who was born in 1814.

"First, I'm afraid you have confused your grandfather and great-grandfather. According to census records, there were two Milton Strothers - father and son. They are the only people by that name in the Edgefield, South Carolina censuses."

The first, Milton Sr., whom you seem to think is your grandfather, is in fact your MOTHER's grandfather. He was born in 1859. In the 1880 census he is described as single and living on the Edgefield farm of Henry Barnes, apparently his stepfather. Henry's mother, Ann Barnes, is black; Milton is the only one of her children who is surnamed Strother and described in the census as mulatto. Since Milton would have been born while Ann was a slave, it is not impossible that his father was a white member of the Strother family, who were among the largest slaveholders in Edgefield. That would support your mother's claim that an ancestor (her great-grandfather, not her father or grandfather) was a white son of a plantation owner.

In 1934 when your mother was born, both Milton and his wife, Martha (Frazier?) Strother, would have been about 75 years old. More logically it is their son, Milton Jr., who is your mother's father.

Milton Jr. was born in 1882. In 1934 when your mother was born, Milton Jr. would have been a much more plausible 52. By his first marriage, Milton Jr. had a son, Fred, born around 1902; Fred's mother died sometime between 1910-30. In the 1930 census, Fred is living in Williamson, West Virginia, where you say your mother went to school, along with his wife and 4-year-old daughter, both of whom are, strangely, named Serena. The census notes that Fred (the only one by that name in West Virginia) and both Serena's were born in South Carolina, and moved to West Virginia in about 1928.

If you want, I can provide you with links to original census records documenting this. If you can demonstrate that I am wrong, I would appreciate seeing comparable evidence.

Related Question : I would therefore appreciate your focusing on addressing the matter at hand - your mother's Mother's family. For example, please explain how Eliza, born in Benin "in the early 1800s", could have been the mother of Nora, who herself gave birth to your mother in 1934 and was alive in the 1950s.

Serena Strother-Wilson (Her name is different on the official SC birth certificate) was born in Edgefield, South Carolina to Mary Eva & Milton Strother Sr. who was in his 70's by her birth date which was March 1934. Milton Sr.'s age is different in each of the US Census for 1880, 1910, 1920 US Census records. Milton Sr. is her father, not his son Milton Strother, Jr. who was also born in the late 1800's.

The mid-wife did not write her name as Serena on her birth certificate but her father and mother are listed. My mother did not know how her name was listed differently until she applied for a US passport and sent for her birth certificate to go to Germany with my father, in 1957. She then had Serena added to her vital statistical information.

Her mother, Mary Eva Mc Daniel married Milton Sr. after the death of his first wife Martha Pixley-Strother. Martha and Milton Strother were married in 1880. We know that my mother's other grandfather Rev. Peter Farrow Jr. officiated the marriage of Mary Eva and Milton. In our family there were 4 Serena's one was Fred Strother's wife called "Big Serena", my mother's older sister called "Little Serena" the one you refer to in the Census dataYhere is Serena who is called "Sister, my mother who was called "Doll" all her life to distinguish them apart. Actually, npw that you brought it up, my daughter's middle name is also Serena! There are two Liza's One Eliza and one Maliza. There are two Rev. Peter Farrows, you also are referencing to the youngest set! It is a custom of the Ibo people to name the son after the father.

We know which Milton it was because she knew her father, lived with him and he participated in raising her. An interesting note is that David Strother had another wife named Ann and Milton's mother is also named Ann (B.)! David Strother's wives both have Ann in thier names.

By the way, we do have the census information also. Here is a photo. We also have her (Serena Strother-Wilson) with her birth certificate, one of Nora's children, all still living, the midwife's statement along with two eye witnesses of her (Serena Strother-Wilson) birth signed affidavits regarding the name mistake of the midwife. We have many copies of official documents and intimate hand written pages from bibles.He does not look in his 30's below.

Question 7. Where could an escaping person find a quilt?

Everyone in the country hung their quilts outside. No one had washers or dryers. If a quilt was outside does not mean it was used on the Undergroumd Railroad!

Slave escapes done with the quilts were orchestrated by a "conductor". An escaping person would not know the Secret Quilt Code (unless they were from tribes that used that or other textile languages, then he or she could read the language in the quilt.) Even many of the "run aways" did not know the codes which is why they had a conductor also indicated by the Monkey Wrench pattern. Note it should not be illegal for a kidnapped person to run away!

Every quilt with the same patterns used in the UGRR Secret Quilt Code were not all used to assist with slave escapes. Each UGRR quilt was unique. Many were maps that match the phyical terrain of the cities and states they went through. The shape of the quilt patterns were the same.

In our quilts, the distinct stitches, the dying, colors, construction were unique, and weaving techniques particular to African tribes. Also the colors of the patterns along with the arrangement of the symbols and patterns were and still are used in African languages or dialects.

There are some quilts that the conductor carried as maps and the grid of the map were in a pattern that formed the longitude and latitude of the map. Also the ties on the quilt were used as the longitude and latitude of the map that would show safe houses, bodies water, stations, places you should not go and plantations.

Other quilts were displayed outside as a prearranged signals to inform a freedom seeking group, traveling with a conductor, if it is "safe" to come to my home and the services I could provide. The services were usually Bow Tie/Sue Bonnet = clothes to dress up like the free Black, affluent society, Log Cabin = sheltar, Nine patch = food. The services would be rendered by their husbands, sons and the church they belonged to --- usually not just one person.

Question 8: Is this the only time in History that quilts were used as messages?

No. Jewish people used quilts during the World War to let others know when Nazi presence made it dangerous to come and go. I am sure many other cultures may have and that is also on my "Research to Do List". Since people could be punished with death, imprisonment getting people to discuss how they were escaping was usually done by individuals first, who survived and second, only years later! One of my grandmothers took some information of the names of one of my relatives to her grave.

Question 9: Were all people of color slaves? If so how did they fund escapes?

There were large numbers of free Blacks, Browns, Africans, African-Americans and Mallatoes in all of the states in existance. -- 1790's to late 1800's. My children were also taught as if all Black people were slaves. FYI They were also not taught that Egyptians were African! Hope this table quickly sheds some light on the subject. Usually Landholders have a source of income to purchase land pay the taxes so from this table it gives you and ideas everyone was a slave. Everyone is not counted in today's cencus so I know everyone was not counted in 1850.

Source Lenoard P. Curry The Free Black in Urban America 1800-1850. The Shadow of the Dream.
The University of Chicago Press (Chicago, Ill. 1983) p. 267.

It should not be reproduced without the expressed consent of those herein named Information contained herein is exclusively the property to the Dr. Howard & Serena Wilson & Calvin & Teresa Kemp and their heirs.