Know Their Names:

Background

Over the years, AAHA has diligently collected information from various repositories, recorded oral histories, and presented educational programs at local churches, historic venues, social events, school, and family reunions. Information has been loaded into numerous spreadsheets/data bases for reference within AAHA’s files. Many records are available online and on-site. Currently there are multiple data sets on Caspio’s platform. The Know Their Names Project is the result of conversations held in 2019, first between Karen White and Mark Ohrstrom and later with members of the PATH Foundation staff.

Know Their Names, Phase I

The Know Their Names Project was introduced to the public in a news article by Angela Roberts of the Piedmont Journalism Foundation. Ms. Roberts visited AAHA and interviewed members of the staff. The article appeared in Fauquier Times on March 10, 2021. In the article, AAHA co-founder, Karen White tells of the call from Mark Ohrstrom, who grew up in The Plains. He wanted to memorialize enslaved people who may have worked on the property that his family has owned since the 1940s. After reviewing AAHA’s files, Karen supplied the names, primarily first names, of those held in slavery by the Foster family, former owners of the Ohrstrom property. Without surnames it was realized how difficult it would be to follow the lives of enslaved individuals and families and to honor them respectfully. It became clear that it would be necessary to know the names and location of Fauquier’s property owners. Sadly, their property included men, women, and children of African descent. It is within County and personal records involving Fauquier’s property owners that one often finds the names and location of Fauquier’s enslaved African Americans.

In 2020, the impact of the Pandemic was significant. We closed our museum, research center, and programs were cancelled. Work, however, did not cease. Staff worked diligently both from home and on-site completing the birth, death, probate databases. Our grantors continued to support us.

When the article was published, in 2021, over 40,000 entries had been loaded in databases increasing our collection to over 25. To fulfill AAHA’s mission, this information must be made available to the public. How best to give this information to the public, on-line and on-site, was a challenge. The article brought interest to our work as did the national social justice movements of the summer of 2020. Many members of our local and state communities visited us, expressed their desire to support us and learn the story of Fauquier's African Americans. Some began sharing information from their own family’s records, Bibles, journals, diaries, and letters, to aid us in our quest to find the names of Fauquier’s enslaved population. Some took part in our Virtual AAHA programs of 2021-22 and now serve as members of AAHA’s faithful Volunteer team.

Know Their Names, Phase II

Staff from John Marshall Center for Constitutional History & Civics, AAHA staff, and volunteers shared information and viewed AAHA archival records. During these discussions it was suggested that AAHA seek funding to support the merging of our datasets into one “master” database. This aligned with earlier discussions with PATH, AAHA and the Ohrstrom family. The Oak Spring Garden Foundation in Upperville shared these sentiments. By Fall 2022, the total number of entries across all datasets had reached over 50,000. October 2022, a project grant application was submitted to the Virginia Museum of History and Culture (VHMC) under the title, Know Their Names Project, Phase II. On January 11, 2023, we were informed that our project was selected for funding by the Virginia Museum of History & Culture’s Commonwealth History Fund presented by Dominion Energy. Our Project Team began work at once and we are honored to have a chance to share the culmination of our work with you.

To search the database, simply input the desired results into any or all of the search fields and click the search button. Listed below are descriptions of each of the 5 available search fields.

- Name: This field is for the name of the free or enslaved individual. Please note that many records do not contain a name, so searches using this field will often produce fewer total records.

- Slaveholder/Landowner: This field allows for a way for users to filter by a specific individual person or family. It is included because the slaveholder or landholder is often present when a name is not provided for the free or enslaved individual. Please note that names are provided in a Last Name, First Name format.

- Est. Birth Year Range: The birth year is offered as a range because sometimes estimations had to be made when calculating birth years, especially for infants. It is suggested that searches using this field use a range of 5 years when looking for a specific individual to provide the best chance of finding associated records.

- Sex: Clicking any of the checkboxes will filter by any or all of the selected choices. Some records are missing a value, the ‘N/A’ selection will add those records into the results.

- Source: The source field shows the original dataset that the record comes from. Clicking the blue hyperlink will produce a page with additional information on the record.

The database limits searches to 25 records per page to improve search speed and load times. To navigate between pages, use the arrows below the records or enter the page number you wish to view in the box next to the arrows.

The results page, found by selecting the hyperlink on the record’s source, contains any associated information that does not fit into any of the fields above. Selecting the back button on this page will bring the user back to the search page.

To reset the search boxes and database, click the reset button found at the top of the page. The page may need a few seconds to reload before new searches can be made.

Know Their Names is an on-going project and will continue to evolve over time. There are several additions and changes that we intend to start working on following the initial release:

• Adding more data sets, including marriage records, Chancery suits, and more.

• A dedicated website for all current and future Know Their Names content.

• Linking the Know Their Names database to an interactive map to provide a visual of the pre-Reconstruction landscape.

We hope you will follow us along our journey to improving upon the Know Their Names project.

Any questions or comments can be sent to Troy Marshall at tmarshall@aahafauquier.org. We can also be reached Tuesday and Wednesday from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM on site or over the phone at (540) 253-7488.