Cynthia Wilson, Author at

Independent Historian

Cynthia A. Wilson is a former Co-Chair of Black Genealogy Research Group of Seattle and former member of the board of directors of Black Heritage Society of Washington, Inc. The history and genealogy of African American residents of Patrick County, Virginia, have been her principal area of study. Currently, she is concentrating her research on black civil war soldiers who found their way to Seattle. She self-published a compilation of slaves names from Patrick County court records and has published articles in the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society Journal.

Robert Morris, Sr. (1823-1882)

Robert Morris became one of the first black lawyers in United States after being admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1847. Morris was born in Salem, Massachusetts on June 8, 1823. At an early age, Morris had some formal education at Master Dodge’s School in Salem. With the agreement … Read MoreRobert Morris, Sr. (1823-1882)

Robert T. Hickman (1831-1900)

Robert Thomas Hickman, born enslaved in Missouri in 1831, is most noted for the group of slaves including his wife and young son, whom he led to freedom in Minnesota in 1863, and helping to establish the first African American church in St. Paul, Minnesota. … Read MoreRobert T. Hickman (1831-1900)

Pompey Factor (1849-1928)

Pompey Factor, former slave, scout for the United States Army and Congressional Medal of Honor winner, was born in Arkansas in 1849 to Hardy Factor, a black Seminole chief and an unknown Biloxi Indian woman. By the end of that 2nd Seminole War (1835-1842), most … Read MorePompey Factor (1849-1928)

John Jones (1817-1879)

John Jones, apprentice tailor, writer, and politician was born in 1817 in Green City, North Carolina to a German father and an African American mother. Born a free man, he taught himself to read and write. Jones started his own tailoring business and eventually became … Read MoreJohn Jones (1817-1879)

Mary Ann Spencer Smith (1917-2001)

Postal worker, real estate broker and civil rights activist, Mary Ann Spencer was the 10th child of twelve. She was born in Patrick County, Virginia on January 7, 1917. Spencer completed high school at Christiansburg’s Industrial High School in 1937, Virginia and went on to … Read MoreMary Ann Spencer Smith (1917-2001)

George Washington Rawles (1845-1922)

George Rawles was born in South Carolina to a young slave mother owned by Benjamin Rawles II. At the age of 17 and now living in Perry County, Mississippi, he was given to his master’s son, Benjamin Rawles III to be his body servant during … Read MoreGeorge Washington Rawles (1845-1922)

Green Fields (1840-1914)

Green Fields, former Seattle City employee, early African American resident of the Queen Anne Neighborhood in Seattle, and soldier with the U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War, was born a slave in DeSoto, Mississippi, the son of Fannie Jackson and Richard Fields. In 1864 … Read MoreGreen Fields (1840-1914)