One of my ancestors, Mary Bowden, was the product of a union between 
William Monroe (Grandfather of President James Monroe), and a Mulatto 
woman named Mary Monroe. My ancestor was born in February of 1730, and 
that summer the mother appeared before a Grand Jury. They were seeking 
to indict her on Bastardy Charges. However, she was living openly with 
William Monroe, and even had his last name. The Grand Jury did not 
indict citing the catch 22 situation Mary was in. She could not under 
the law marry William, and if she did she would be breaking the law. 

Within seven years, Mary was living with the brother of Mary, Thomas 
Chilton, going by the last name of Bowden. Mary was taken to court, 
and sentenced to a thirty year indenture. The indenture was to be 
served under Augustine Washington Senior (who was a friend and 
neighbor of the Monroe family). My feeling is that the mother, Mary 
Monroe, was run out of the county, since there is no mention of her 
after 1730. The Grand Jury records are still available at the 
Westmorland County Courthouse. 

Anita


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-- Brent Tarter <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Place and time may be less important in how an interracial couple got
along in its neighborhood than the attitudes of the neighbors. Thomas 
E.
Buckley's article, "Unfixing Race," in the Virginia Magazine of History
and Biography 102 (1994): 349-380, discusses just such a case in depth.
Joshua Rothman's book, Notorious in the Neighborhood, already 
suggested,
has much good information on this topic, as do Melvin Ely's Israel on
the Appomattox, and Henry Wiencek's The Hairstons: An American Family 
in
Black and White. All treat episodes and communities in the first half 
of
the nineteenth century.

Brent Tarter
The Library of Virginia
[log in to unmask]

Visit the Library of Virginia's web site at http://www.lva.lib.va.us

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sally Phillips
Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2006 5:59 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Changing Attitudes East to West?

Would it be fair to say that residents of Cumberland County, Virginia,
and other counties well west of the fall line, in the 50 or so years
following the Revolution, would be more independent-minded, more
free-spirited, less bound to the 100-year-old traditions of the more
easterly counties?  I am trying not to use the word "liberal" as it is
used today, because I don't know what "liberal" meant in 1800.  But 
that
is what I'm getting at.  I am researching an inter-racial family where
the father/owner and the mother/slave and the offspring lived publicly
as a family.  As well as I can tell from the records, they seem to have
been at least tolerated.
They appear to have functioned well in the community.  Although
Cumberland County was far from the frontier in 1800-1825, had it been
settled by frontier-seekers who simply didn't care that much about
traditions?  Is there a book that deals with this subject?

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