In April 2008, the City of Alexandria, Virginia asked me to assist them in locating descendants of the Alexandria Freedmen Cemetery. The history of the Cemetery is connected to the Civil War. Over 1,200 African Americans were buried in the Freedmen Cemetery.
Most of those African Americans were from Alexandria, from various parts of the counties of Virginia, Maryland and a small number came from other States. They all found refuge in Alexandria during the Civil War. For more history on the Alexandria Freedmen Cemetery, please visit “The Friends of Freedmen’s Cemetery” site at http://www.freedmenscemetery.org/.
The City of Alexandria, Virginia wants to recognize the descendants of the Freedmen Cemetery. Please go to the Alexandria Archaeology Museum’s web site that discusses the Contrabands and Freedmen’s Cemetery Memorial at http://alexandriava.gov/FreedmenMemorial.
Since 2008, I have identified over one hundred descendants of the Freedmen Cemetery. I am still looking for their descendants. If you have more than four generations of families from Alexandria, Virginia and your surname is on this list http://www.freedmenscemetery.org/burials/burials.pdf, please contact me through my web e-mail address. The City of Alexandria is building the Contrabands and Freedmen’s Cemetery Memorial at the Freedmen Cemetery, which is located at Washington and Church Streets in Alexandria.
Construction will start in May 2012. A dedication ceremony will take place in 2013 for the Freedmen and the Descendants. If you would like your family to be recognized during this event, please contact me.
As of date, these families have been identified as the descendants of the Alexandria Freedmen Cemetery:
Reverend James P. Aston and Family of Virginia
Judy Coles-Bailey and Family of New York and Maryland
Terry Coles and Family of New Jersey
Beatrice Cross-Taylor and Family of Virginia
Ferdinand T. Day and Family of Virginia
Gwen Day-Fuller and Family of Virginia and Massachusetts
James Henson, Sr., Esquire and Family of Virginia
Mary Morris and Family of Virginia
Kenneth F. Majors and Family of Virginia
Kevin F. Majors and Family of Virginia
Carolyn Phillips McCrae of Maryland
Norman M. Reynolds, Jr. of Maryland
Brittany Williams of Virginia
Clarence McKenney of Virginia
Wendy McKenney Jackson of Virginia
Jasmine Jackson Lee of Virginia
Tia Jackson of Virginia
Tamera Jackson of Virginia
Sabrina McKenney Bussie of Maryland
Ashley McKenney of Virginia
Brenda McKenney of Virginia
Vernon Bussie of Virginia
Eric McKenney of Virginia
Betty Wade of Maryland
Francis Wade of Maryland
Edna Cary of Maryland
Norma Jean Jennings Turner and Family of Virginia and Maryland
Frances Colbert Terrell and Family of Virginia
Roland Burke and Family of Michigan
Frances Burke and Family of Virginia
Doris (Dottie) Hughes and Family of Virginia
Harry Burke and Family of Virginia
Margaret Chisley of Virginia
Beatrice Wright of Virginia
Katie Lou Wright of Virginia
Eunice Wright Jones of Virginia
Lillian Stanton Patterson and Family of Virginia
Lois Diggs and Family of Virginia
Bertrum Drayton of Maryland
Eugene Shanklin Drayton of Virginia
Sharon Dunlop Green and Family of Virginia
Rosalind Drayton Lanford and Family of Maryland
Delores Wilhoit Peake and Family of Virginia
Karen Suggs and Family of Virginia
Clyde G. Fairfax of Maryland
Wanda Ellis of Maryland
Sylvester I. Gaines and Family of Maryland
Samuel (Sammie) Shanklin and Family of Virginia and Washington, DC
Charlene Taylor Napper and Family of Virginia
Donald Lee Taylor and Family of Virginia
John Leonard Taylor and Family of Virginia
Charles A. Taylor and Family of Virginia
Theola Martin Chambers of Virginia
Carol Ann Haskins Daniels and Family of Virginia
William Jackson’s family of Washington, DC
Phyllis Roy Tate’s family of Virginia and DC
Shirley Sanders Steele and Family of Virginia
William Holt, Jr. of Virginia
Michael Lee of Virginia
Mary Louise Cooper of Virginia
Angela J. Sanders of Virginia
Kirk Sanders of Virginia
Tyrone Sanders and Family of North Carolina
Karen Smith of Virginia
Kim Tucker of Maryland
Ester V. Butler and Family of Virginia
Andrew Johnson and Family of Georgia
Antoinette Lightfoot and Family of Virginia
James Lightfoot and Family of Virginia
Bernice Robinson Lee and Family of Virginia
Keith Cave and Family of North Carolina
Betty Dogan Nicholas and Family of West Virginia and Maryland
Adrienne Washington and Family of Virginia
Calvin Terrell and Family of Virginia
Montess Sanders Wales and Family of Virginia
Irene Gaskins Macklin and Family of Virginia
Lucian Johnson of and Family Washington, DC
Dorothy Beatrice Hall Smith and Family of Washington, DC
Dr. Elisha G. Hall and Family of Virginia
Matthew A. Hall and Family of Virginia
Nathaniel Hall and Family of New York
Arthur L. Nelson, Sr. and Family of Virginia
Charles H. Nelson, Sr. and Family of Virginia
Howard Dishman and Family of Virginia
Dorthea Bentley Campbell and Family of Virginia
Patricia Roy’s children of Maryland
Joyce P. Anderson Abney and Family of Washington, DC and Maryland
Fayrene Richardson and Family of Maryland
Frances Norton Burton and Family of California
Henry Norton and Family of Virginia and Maryland
Elizabeth Brooks Evans and Family of Maryland
Zunny (Zunnie) Matema of Maryland
Rita Murphy Harris and Family of New Jersey
Karen Ambush Thande and Family of Maryland
Sandy Porter and Family
theotheralexandria 
Lovely to see my family included. Margaret Chisley was my grandfather’s sister and we just lost her this year to Covid at 109. Eunice Wright, Katie Lou and Beatrice were my mother’s first cousins. We are so blessed to be their descendents.
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Hi Char,
I think Gwen Hubbard Lewis might have had family ties too. I have asked her to contact you with the particulars.
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Thanks Gwen! I look forward in hearing from her.
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You may add: Rosa Johnson Landers and family of Chapel Oaks, Landover, and Clinton, Maryland. Rosa was the daughter of Frederick Douglass and Frances Johnson of Seminary (Alexandria, VA).
Solomon Moniscreto Landers (son)
Clinton, MD
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I see you have added my name but it would be more appropriate to add my uncles, Henry W Ward, Jr’s children of Virginia and Maryland, Charles R Ward, Sr and Family of Maryland, Don T Ward’s children of Virginia and Maryland, and my mother Peggy E Ward-Jordan-Barber’s children of Virginia, Maryland, North and South Carolina. Thank you so much for the work you are doing and I’m truly enjoying learning about the Alexandria I didn’t know. My great grandmother, Isabell Giles Goodwin went to the Hollisman school for girls in 1888 which cost 5 cents a week.
Sandy Jordan-Porter
Winston-Salem, NC
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Thanks Sandra for your e-mail. I will include your family on my blog when I do an update. I want to ask you about Hollisman school for girls. Did you mean that your great-grandmother attended Hallowell School for girls in Alexandria, VA? Thanks!
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