Nancy Woodson was my 7th great grandmother. Nancy was part of the Iroquoian speaking Nottoway people. After the 1676 Virginian civil war called Bacon's Rebellion, the Nottoway people negotiated articles of peace with special commissioners representing King Charles II. They lived in Southampton County, Virginia. By the twentieth, many Nottoway people married into other ethnic groups like black Americans and white Americans. Many of their original lands were sold. Nancy Woodson and Mike Bozeman had the following children of Amy Woodson, Winny Woodson (who was my 6th great grandmother), William G. Woodson, and Jincy Woodson. In the Nottoway language, ena means mother and akroh means father. Nancy Woodson signed deeds on behalf of the Nottoway tribe in 1794 and 1795 (along side James Woodson and Henry Woodson who may have been Nancy's brothers or uncles). Nancy was born close to the French and Indian War. William G. Woodson was living with his father Mike Bozeman in North Carolina. The Quakers taught him to read and write. Jincy Woodson married James Taylor. James was born in the mid 1790's. James Taylor was a black man. Jincy Woodson and James Taylor had the children of Robert, Benjamin, and John Taylor. Robert lived at Petersburg, Virginia as a carpenter with his wife. John Taylor worked his community and sol his 1855 allotment to Nottoway Edwin D. Turner. Winifred (Winny) Woodson had these children with the African American Burwell Williams: Patsy Williams-Crocker, John Williams, Sally Williams, and Mary Woodson Williams (she was my 5th great grandmother who lived from 1811 to 1870). Mary Woodson Williams married a Nottoway descendant named Parsons Turner (b. 1814). Their children are: Milly Woodson-Bozeman Turner (b. ca. 1831), Rebecca Woodson-Bozeman Turner (b. ca. 1829), Betsy Turner (b. 1825. She married Edwin Turner). Betsy and Edwin Turner's children (or my 1st cousins) are: Richard Turner, Darthelita Frances Turner, Virginia Turner, Mariah Turner, James Turner, Caroline Turner, and Edwin D. Turner Jr. Darthelia Frances Turner married John Harrison Jr. on January 4, 1877 at Southampton County, Virginia.
Sally Williams married Robert Wiggins (an African American) and had the following children of: Mary Wiggins (b. 1843), Margaret Wiggins (b. 1847), Arry Wiggins, John Henry Wiggins (b. 1852), Robert Wiggins (1852-1929), Augustus Wiggins (b. 1857), and Richard Wiggins (B. 1859). These children were my 1st cousins. Augustus Wiggins was my 1st cousin whose parents were Sally Woodson-Williams and Robert Wiggins. His brother John Henry Wiggins married the matrilineal Nottoway person Odelia Turner on December 14, 1876 at Southampton County, Virginia. Odelia Turner was the oldest surviving daughter of Milly Woodson/Bozeman Turner-Hurst (and Milly was my 4th great grandmother). Odelia (Candy) Turner (1860-1934) was my 4th great aunt. Odelia's 2nd husband was Marshall Darden (1863-1937). They married in 1898 at Southampton County, Virginia. My 5th great aunt Patsy Woodson-Williams (whose parents are Burwell Williams and Winifred Woodson) had the following children with the black man named Thomas Crocker: Patsy Woodson Bozeman Crocker, Caroline Woodson-Bozeman Crocker, and Indiana Bozeman Crocker. My 1st cousin Indiana Bozeman Crocker married William Richard Artis. They had the following children of Benjamin T. Artis, Caroline Artis, Mark Artis, Washington Artis, William W. Artis, Benjamin J. Artis, Clara J. Artis, Henrietta Artis, and George Washington Artis. The son of Indiana Bozeman Crocker, William Artis, moved into Sussex County and later to work with tabacoo factories of Petersburg, Virginia. His children are Kenneth and Willie Artis. Patsy Bozeman (daughter of Thomas Crocker and Patsy Williams) married a Nottoway descendant named Alexander Scholar-Stewart. Their children are Lamb, Lydia, George, and Alexandria Bozeman Scholar Stewart.
Sally Williams-Woodson Wiggins's great grandson was Luther Everett Wiggins (1918-2007). Today, I know that Luther Wiggins was my late 3rd cousin as we share the same ancestor of Burwell Williams (who was my 6th great-grandfather). Luther's parents are Charlie Lively Wiggins (1881-1951) and Nannie Lanier (b. 1895). Luther Everett's first wife was Peachola Edmonds (1919-1946). Their children are James Alphonso Wiggins (1941-1994), Theodosia Vistcellia Wiggins (b. 1942), Ruby McCoy Wiggins-Greene (1943-2013), and Luther Everett Wiggins Jr. (1945-1995). These children are my 4th cousins. Later, Luther Everett (who was born in Southampton County, Virginia) married Nannie Easter Barrett on September 16, 1948 at Petersburg, Virginia. Their children are my 4th cousins whose names are Jerole Warren Wiggins (b. 1948), Kenneth Irvin Wiggins (b. 1950), Lora Eve Wiggins-Hightower (1951-2013), Arvilla Mae Wiggins (b. 1952), and Latisha Hayes. The late Lora Eve Wiggins-Hightower had a child named Larkie L. Kumi (b. 1973. Kumi's father was William Ellis Hightower). Lora also married Zulfiqar Ahmad before her passing. Larkie L. Kumi is my 5th cousin, and she married Ralph Nkatia Kumi on July 31, 2009 at Union Township, New Jersey. My 4th cousin James Alphonso Wiggins married Joyce Dickens (they married at Orange, New Jersey on October 1961), and their son is James A. Wiggins Jr. (1966-2007). James A. Wiggins Jr. was born in Orange, New Jersey. Mr. James A. Wiggins Jr. grew up in Montclair, New Jersey. He was the founder and executive director of Premiere Dance Inc. in Montclair. Later, James A. Wiggins Jr. married Shirlise L. McKinley-Wiggins, and their children (who are my 6th cousins) are: Vanessa S. Wiggins, Alisa S. Wiggins, James A. Wiggins III, and Jordan A. Wigggins. The late James A. Wiggins Jr. worked in public schools in New Jersey, and he was involved in some of the great theater performers in American history. To this day, Shirlise L. McKinley-Wiggins is the Director, choreographer and instructor at Premier Dance Theater, Inc. She has been working to help her community of Newark and Montclair, New Jersey for years. She is an expert dance instructor. My 4th cousin Ruby McCoy Wiggins-Greene was born on November 25, 1943 at Sussex, Virginia. She married Jesse M. Greene on September 1967 at Orange, New Jersey. Their children are Jesse Green and Eric Greene or my 5th cousins. It's inspiring to witness this history from Southampton County, Virginia to New Jersey and elsewhere in America.
My 4th great grandmother Milly Woodson-Bozeman Tunrer married the free African American Morefield Hurst, and their children are Virginia, Cordelia, Joshua, Susanna, Tom, Josephine, Willie P., George, and Ben. Susanna was Susanna Field Hurst Turner, and she was my 3rd great grandmother. She lived from March 1862 to January 1949. She married Rev. James Thompson Claud, and had many children like my 2nd great grandfather Arthur Boss Claud. Rev. James Thompson Claud's parents were Sarah Claud and Dr. E.C. Barrett. Back then, many black families were at the Rose hill plantation like the Artis, Claud, and Hill families. Rev. James Thompson Claud's sobriquet (or nickname) was Mehtah. Rev. James Thompson Claud's mother was Sarah Claud. Sarah Claud was a slave at Rose plantation before her emancipation. Sarah was the daughter of Zilphy Claud (1820-1893). Sarah Claud married Thomas Hill, who was a free black man.
During the antebellum period, Nottoway families were anchored around women leaders. Back then, many black families were at the Rose hill plantation like the Artis, Claud, and Hill families. Rev. James Thompson Claud's sobriquet (or nickname) was Mehtah. Rev. James Thompson Claud's mother was Sarah Claud. Sarah Claud was a slave at Rose plantation before her emancipation. Sarah was the daughter of Zilphy Claud (1820-1893). Augustus Wiggins was my 1st cousin whose parents were Sally Woodson-Williams and Robert Wiggins. His brother John Henry Wiggins married the matrilineal Nottoway person Odelia Turner on December 14, 1876 at Southampton County, Virginia. Odelia Turner was the oldest surviving daughter of Milly Woodson/Bozeman Turner-Hurst (and Milly was my 4th great grandmother). Odelia (Candy) Turner (1860-1934) was my 4th great aunt. Odelia's 2nd husband was Marshall Darden (1863-1937). They married in 1898 at Southampton County, Virginia. Sarah Claud (or my 4th great grandmother) married freeman African American Thomas Hill. One of their children was Adeline Hill. Adeline Hill married Nottoway descendant John Henry Williams (who was my 1st cousin). John Henry Williams's father was John Burwell Williams (b. 1815) and his mother was a freeborn black woman named Mary. The daughter of Sarah Claud and Thomas Hill was Johnnie Roberta Hill-Scott who ran a store from the reservation. Millie Turner's husband was Morefield Hurst (who was a free African American). John Burwell Williams was my 5th great grand uncle.
After the American Civil War, the peanut crop was prominent in Southampton County, Virginia. Peanuts have been an export during the trans-Atlantic slave trade for centuries. Susanna Turner or the daughter of Milly Woodson/Bozeman-Turner was reported to have said that, "we lived off the land" but "supplies were short." She meant that following the American Civil War, that were were loss of property and supplies in the region. Emancipated slaves formed their own independent churches like the famous Bryant Baptist Church being created in 1874. The Nottoway people went from Methodist to Baptist overnight by the late 1800's. Nancy Woodson is said to have died in ca. 1805. Burwell Williams was a free African American man who had a Nottoway wife named Winny Woodson (or Winifred Woodson-Bozeman. Winifred was my 6th great grandmother. She passed her land rights to her children and granddaughter Millie Woodson). Burwell Williams helped to establish productive farms on Nottoway lands. By 1830, the Nottoway people had surnames like Woodson, Turner, Scholar, etc. Patsy Woodson-WIlliams' husband Thomas Crocker repurchases many tracts of lands. He maintained a modest farm alongside Woodson's ohwachira members. Patsy Woodson-Williams was about 29 years old when she and her siblings requested allotment lands in 1840.
The Hurst family were farmers, and Morefields' father was a cooper by trade. One of their children among Millie and Morefield Hurst was my 3rd great grandmother Susaana Field Hurst Turner (1862-1949). Millie Turner was described by Millie Woodson/Bozeman Turner's elderly grandchildren, during the 1970's, as having long hair down to her waist, a "stout brown skinned woman." Millie Woodson-Turner's farmstead promoted crops, cattle, and markets. During Reconstruction, there was the Turner Hill School next to the Millie Woodson-Turner farm. Nottoway man Edwin Turner owned the building that housed the school Harriet A. Gregory was the black woman teacher whose father was a leader of the Southampton County's Reconstruction era Republican Party (and candidate for the House of Delegates in 1869). Millie Turner and Morefield Hurst sent their children to the Turner Hill School. Morefield Hurst planted crops like apples and peaches to later sale in the market at Courtland, Virginia. Millie's daughter's Sussana has been described as small framed, light skinned or brown skinned, long hair, tall, long thin face, high checkbones, and grey streak in her hair during her older years. Susanna would go fishing with her brother's wife Romine Turner. His brother was William P. Turner. She or Susanna fished at the Nottoway River. Susanna's farm was plenty, and she loved to make apple turnovers. Sussanna Turner would use a wagon to go to church, and she would go to Courtland to sell cakes, pies, and chickens. The church was at Shiloh Baptist Church were many of Rev. James Thompson Claud's children would be baptized at. Alice Rosetta Claud or the granddaughter of Millie Turner remembered Millie's passing in 1915. Morefield Hurst would pass away in 1918. Many members of the family moved into Petersburg (in Virginia), Portsmouth, Philadelphia, and in other places of Virginia. John Melton Hardy (b. 1919) would be in the Navy in 1940. Leroy Hardy Sr. would join the Army in 1942. Both Hardys are sons of Virgie Claud (and these sons are the grandsons of Susanna). Susanna's children of Arthur Claud (or my 2nd great grandfather), Joshua Claude, and Nannie Claude Nickens stayed in Southampton County to farm cotton and peanuts. Susanna lived with Arthur Claud as time went onward. Sussana's house mysteriously was burned to the grown. Sussana passed away in 1949. Later generations would come about honoring Susanna's memory. Many decades into the future, came me and I'm a descendant of both Nancy Woodson and Sussana Field Hurst Turner.
My 2nd great grandfather Arthur Boss Claud (or the son of Susanna Turner. Arthur lived from December 12, 1891 to May 28, 1974) married Martha Jane Claude and had many children like my great grandmother Ella Claude (1913-1991). Ella Claude married Fenton Albert Bynum Jr. and gave birth to my grandfather Robert (who was married to my grandmother Fannie), then she or my grandmother Fannie gave birth to my mother. Then, I was born.
By Timothy
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