Janet,

I can come at this from the perspective only of northern Loudoun County and
the result of 10 years research into the free and enslaved African Americans
of the Waterford area, the topic of a soon-to-be published paper. I am also
a mother and can sympathize with your wanting your children to know more
than the hideous history that can indeed be true.  As I have learned and
others have learned, there ARE some less than horrible stories but one has
to look. Yes, "Weevils in the Wheat" does have some anecdotes.

For some possible reassurance, or, at least the facts in your own case,  I
would suggest delving into YOUR family histories: and, as a research
benefit, as my husband and I, and other Waterford researchers have found
(along with historians like Edward Ball), there is much data of value to the
black community in the records of the white community.  Some of the best
photos we have collected on former black residents of our village have come
from white families with whom the black families had a close connection (a
Quaker family taking a former slave up north, for example.)

And the research of Sue Beach of the slaveholding Waterford
Braden/Dulin/Stevens etc family helped unfold a real drama here two years
ago of the matching of a descendant of Waterford freed slave with a
descendant of the nearby slaveowner.

Good luck on your own research. If you will send me your address by email
separately, I will be happy to send you a copy of our paper when it is
published.

Bronwen Souders
Education Committee
Waterford Foundation
P.O. Box 142
Waterford VA 20197

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