Isaac Collier: Brunswick County, Virginia

Isaac Collier (1709-1771)

These are the names of slaves listed in the will of Isaac Collier. Brunswick County, Virginia.
The following are places his children lived after his death. They were the owners of his slaves after his death.

Greensville, Brunswick Virginia


To:

Daughter Ann Collier: Seems to have stayed in Brunswick, Virginia.
Phibby
Annakay
Delsey
Pompy

Son Myhill Collier: Died in Oglethorpe County, Georgia act 1802
James
Daniel

Vines Collier: Moved to Lexington, Oglethorpe, Georgia. Died in 1795 (Was Wilkes County)
Dave

Daughter Elizabeth Collier Smith
(Married Josiah Smith in Albermarle, Surry, Virginia. Died in York, York, South Carolina):
Eady (woman)

Daughter Edith Hicks:
Eady (girl)

Wife Ann Collier: Died in Brunswick, Virginia in 1737
Nick
Harry
Frank
Pat
Milly
Daphny


Listed in Last Will and Testament Inventory:

Man Nick
Man Harry
Man Frank
Man James
Man Daniel
Boy Pompy
Woman Patt
Woman Phibby
Girl Eady
Woman Annakay (there is some question of the last part of the same. The first is certainly Anna. It could be Annamay. It is ANNA_ _ Y.
Woman Kelsey
Woman Daphney

You Can't Change History...

I am from the deep south. I was born there and lived there until 1982. As a result, it is with a heavy heart that I am aware that many of my ancestors owned slaves. It was something I knew in my heart, but was unprepared for the emotions that squirmed their way to the surface of my soul the first time I saw proof.  I can't change history. I can't apologize for the actions of my forefathers. They were living and fighting for what they knew. I can help in any way possible, to recreate the families of so many people who were separated by slavery, who have no idea who their 3rd great grandfather was because   until 1870, if he was a slave, he was not listed by name in a census record.

While traveling through this genealogical DNA journey,  I have discovered many cousins, linked by DNA, who are likely descendants of my slaveholders and their slaves. Typing these words makes my heart weep. I would like to fantasize that it was "love", but I am not so naive. I pray they are the product of boundless love in recent generations.

I have decided to take on a project to list the slaves of my ancestors, who are mentioned in any way in their wills or in other documents. Since many slaves were given or took the last name of their owners, I am hoping that through this project I may join at least one person with an ancestor they have not yet found. 

It know it is a miniscule gesture, but it well help to heal my sadness, at least in a very small way, to try to give back an ancestor that was taken from one of my DNA cousins. 

"Oh Danny Boy", or Holy Cow, We are Irish!

I am one of seven children, each of us having our own quirks and characteristics. Many we share, if not with all of our siblings, with at least one or two.

For a few years now, I have been considering the Ancestry DNA test. Okay, honestly, I have been obsessing over it. Two of my siblings generously agreed to test at the same time I tested. The wait was excruciating. My sister, JFO's DNA was the first to arrive, and although we were pleasantly surprised that the largest portion of our DNA comes from Ireland, we were shocked at the substantial amount of Scandinavian that was in our DNA. 

It was only a few days later when my DNA results arrived and about a week later when the third family member's arrived. 

If you haven't researched DNA testing, you may be surprised to learn we are not all the "same". Yes, we are full siblings, the amount of shared DNA proves it, but we are still each a mishmash of 50% of the DNA of each of our biological parents. I always use this analogy to explain how we can be siblings and yet our ethnic DNA not be identical. 

Imagine that each of my parents has a bowl of alphabet soup. The bowl is filled with random letters that they received from their two parents. When I was created, each of my parents took their bowl of alphabet soup and poured 50% of it into a new bowl, representing Me. They were unable to sit and pick through the letters and choose which traits to give to me, they just had to be satisfied with the random lot of letters that were poured into my bowl. In my parents case, they did that seven times.  There were seven new bowls, filled with random letters. When those letters were combined, they made each of us unique, and similar.  

I am thrilled to begin this journey. I have much to learn!