Nov 11, 2016 Orange County Review
Do not think for a moment that this research is a one-woman endeavor; on the contrary, it is an incredible team effort involving many! Among those is James Madison’s Montpelier, its research department and most specifically research associate Lydia Neuroth. I am grateful for their commitment to the Descendants’ Project and particularly to Ms. Neuroth’s remarkable knowledge of the Montpelier database and her dedication to the effort!
A record of correspondence between Madison and Taylor regarding the sale of the 16 enslaved Virginians had previously been provided. However, we were puzzled by the chronology of Taylors’ residences, marriage and his land and slave holdings in Louisiana. The ‘For Sale’ ad for the sugar plantation published in 1842 raised questions about Taylor’s plans and possible financial situation.
Side note to readers: Everything that happened to a slave owner directly impacted the enslaved persons. Plus, inquiring minds wanted to know more about this man who left Orange County for Kentucky at the age of 8 and in 1834 at the age of 52 married a 22-year-old woman from Culpeper County, VA and relocated immediately after the wedding to Point Coupe’e Parish, LA. Fifty- two is not exactly an age when one engages in hasty adventure which leads us to believe he had an established life in Louisiana prior to his 1834 wedding.
We had previously learned that Taylor also owned a cotton plantation in the same parish, but we were still pondering the missing chronology. Ms. Neuroth dug more deeply into Montpelier’s database and unearthed additional correspondence from William Taylor to the Madison household.
This documentation indicated that he had owned property in Louisiana since about 1813 and had been living there for all intents and purposes full time since 1823. Later correspondence with Dolley Madison revealed that the sugar plantation was not doing so well financially, thus a possible explanation for the “For Sale” ads. But what of the enslaved individuals; were they also offered for sale?
These new findings create a broader net for the research.
But wait, there is more!
Keep in mind that to find a living descendant, one must know an ancestor’s name, preferably first and last as well as some of their history. At this point, I would be thrilled for the mention of a first name of a few of those relocated from Montpelier Plantation, Orange County, VA to Lakeland Plantation, Point Coupe’e Parish, LA.
And so, began a new direction of the research.
The Thom family of Culpeper County was quite prominent and I wondered if there was any information archived in some dark and dusty place about them and perhaps, about Lucy Thom Taylor?
New findings were uncovered.
Housed in the Library of Virginia is a dissertation on the Thom Family and more promising still, archived at the Virginia Historical Society (also in Richmond) are the Thom Family Papers. The abstract on the latter indicates the existence of letters between Lucy Thom Taylor and her half-brother J. Pembroke Thom during the period of 1834 to 1858!
I am beside myself with anticipation! But I must be patient: the trip to the Richmond repositories is planned for a little later in November.
To tantalize you a bit more, we have also made other connections and identified a few new resources, but those must wait for another column. Stay tuned.
Until next week, be well!