When the current owner of Old Whitewood, Mark Ohrstrom, learned the property was a former plantation, he set out to discover more about the enslaved people who once lived there.
“I think it’s very important to honor those people,” Ohrstrom said.
To do that, he turned to his friend Karen White, co-founder of the Afro-American Historical Association of Fauquier County (AAHA).
At the time, White had done genealogical research for years. What she told Ohrstrom was troubling — the records identified enslaved people with only a first name.
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“It was so shocking to me when I got the first list from Karen that it was the first name, the age and the dollar value,” Ohrstrom said. “They didn’t merit a last name.”
But the Know Their Names project is changing that. White had already been mining through numerous resources to better identify and link enslaved people and free African Americans who also worked in the area.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, White had the time to dig even deeper.
Discover Black Heritage
“This brings to light who they were. It’s acknowledging them. It's the humanity,” White said.
The goal of Know Their Names is to merge databases to create connections. The project got a big boost when Jim Stribling, a Markham resident, heard about it. His ancestors, once slave owners, go back 200 years in the county. His family’s archival records listed hundreds of enslaved and free African Americans. The records led to a surprising connection with White.
“When they were able to use the papers, they actually found one of their own ancestors — a great-great-great grandfather of theirs in the documentation,” Stribling said. “That was a magical moment. That’s when I knew that yes, we could help and tell the story together.”
The Know Their Names database is now available online, opening the door to countless family discoveries.
“The neat thing about the work that we’re doing with Know Their Names [is] it brings people together. Descendents of slaveholders and the descendants of free, enslaved and of the slaveholder,” White said.
A museum at the Historical Association puts faces to some of the names. For descendants and the community, the work done creates valuable connections and bonds.
AAHA faces a challenge finding a new home. The lease to their building is up at the end of the year, so they hope to raise funds to help relocate.
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