Family Tree Girl

While reviewing a Virginia Chancery file that involved my 3rd great grandparents and their family I found the information very interesting and there is a story to be told. First, let me clarify that my 3rd great grandfather was Joseph Brand Jr, born about 1785 in Hanover County VA. He is a son of Joseph Sr and Frances (Whitlock) Brand. Joseph Brand Sr was born in Angus Scotland in 1740 and they also enslaved individuals. The house servant as noted in Joseph Jr’s 1826 will was Caroline b. about 1796. Joseph Jr. was her slave holder and the father of her four children. Caroline had five children but not sure if the child named Ferdinand was fathered by Joseph Jr. Caroline and the four children took on the Brand as a surname.

Joseph Brand Jr, died in 1826 assumably in Albemarle County, Virginia. His death is a mystery, but my family oral history says he was poisoned for having Caroline and children in the house like a white wife. He was a single man and never married. The research continues to locate where he is buried and any other circumstances about his death. In his will he freed Caroline and her five children in 1826. The note below was found in the chancery file. The executors of the will would not follow Jr’s wishes so the sheriff at the time stepped in and hired a driver to take Caroline and the five children to Middleburg, Franklin County, PA. Just simply getting them out of Virginia. The research continues as to why this location.

Over the years of conducting research I have been challenged in Franklin County, PA not able to locate where my 2nd great grandmother, daughter of Joseph Jr and Caroline, Mildred Ann was born in Virginia. All I know is she was born in Virginia. Well, Virginia has 95 counties and over the last 15 years I have not been able to locate information on her birth. Joseph Jr enslaved eight individuals (Fleming, Sukey, Henry < these three were rented to the University of Virginia as enslaved laborers), Ferdinand, James, Elizabeth, Mildred Ann, and Adelaine) I am not sure if all eight are related besides the four we know of, but I am claiming them all as family and being related to Caroline. Now, I just want to say thank you to George W. Hewitt and Charles Hewitt of Franklin County, PA for renting a house Caroline and the children, now free! There is more to this story, so stay tuned…

Caroline Brand and children arrived in Middleburg, Pennsylvania in Jan 1828.