Was my great-great-great grandmother enslaved or employed by Va. judge William Bolling?

Question

I have Bolling DNA, and it didn't come through marriage of any of my relatives into the Bolling family, or through any relationships with Bolling family members.

Comments

A Virginia resource says about 58,000 free black people lived in Virginia at the eve of the Civil War, which was a bit over 40% of the free blacks in Virginia after the war. If she appears in the 1850 of 1860 census, then she was free. Also, if she was employed the census would give her occupation. If you don’t see her there check the 1850 and 1860 slave schedules for the judge and see how many enslaved people he owned. They will be listed only by race, gender, and age. If there is a woman the right age (or close to what her age would have been) that person may have been your 3x great grandmother.

Answer 1

Hello Margaret,

I worked on Judge William Holcomb Bolling's profile today, which included looking through the 1850 and 1860 Slave Schedules. He is not recorded on either. I also spent a little time on his father Archibald, but could only find a possible record for an A Bolling in Bedford County with 8 enslaved persons. I suggest looking for a will for Archibald Bolling, Jr. on Family Search. 

If you have an oral history that links you to him, you may add that history under a heading called Oral History.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Answer 2

I was just working on the records of this family recently and just came across your question.  I hope this information might be helpful.

Judge William Bolling was only 14 at the time of the 1850 census.  In 1860, he was a 25 year-old lawyer, living with his aunt and uncle (his uncle was also a lawyer and they were practicing law together).  His uncle, William Terry, held 5 enslaved people--two adults and three children.  William Bolling is not shown on the 1860 slave schedule.

However, William's father, Dr. Archibald Bolling, is shown on the 1860 schedule holding 8 enslaved people.  Dr. Bolling lived in the household of his father-in-law, Benjamin Wigginton, in Bedford County, Virginia; Benjamin Wigginton held 38 slaves as shown on the 1860 slave schedule.  When Benjamin died in 1863, his will divided his slaves between his two daughters, Anne (Wigginton) Bolling, the wife of Dr. Archibald Bolling and mother of Judge William Bolling, and her sister, Emma (Wigginton) Terry, the wife of William Terry, with whom William Bolling was living in 1860.

William Bolling would have been in close proximity to half of the Wigginton enslaved people as well as the Terry enslaved people, and Archibald Bolling would have had access to his own enslaved people as well as been in close proximity to the other half of the Wigginton enslaved people (his wife, Anne, inherited them free and clear of his control, contract, or debt, so they were hers, not his).

Dr. Archibald Bolling also had several brothers who lived into the 1830s.  I haven't looked at their records, but chances are good that they were also slave holders.

Comments

Hello Cheryl Cruise,

I have Bolling DNA. I'm also a member of Ancestry, and one of its users, a man whose last name is Bolling and who lives in Virginia, shares my DNA. It's more than a coincidence.

The paternal side of my family has handed down the account that my great-great grandmother, Phoebe Eva St Clair Gibson, had a daughter with one of the Bollings. She and William Bolling would have been around the same age. I don't think she was a free Black person in Virginia. Can you find the slave registries belonging to William and/or Archibald Bolling? I know the registries or schedules almost never listed slaves by name, but I know that William Bolling listed the names of slaves, their births and their deaths.  Thank you for your assistance.

Margaret (Tarter) Summers

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Dr. Archibald's 1860 slave schedule is attached in the Research Notes at the bottom of his profile.  It is certainly his record, as it is positioned right after Benjamin Wigginton, his father-in-law, with whom he was living, and also has his title, "Dr. A. Bolling."  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bolling-427

William did not have a slave schedule as he did not hold any enslaved people during the time that the slave schedules were collected in 1850 and 1860.  However, he had close proximity to enslaved people.  The Wigginton enslaved people, seen on the Slaves of Benjamin Wigginton page, were living near William after 1863.  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Slaves_of_Benjamin_Wigginton

Also, William Bolling married about 1860, and his wife came from a slave holding family.  There is a possibility she brought a slave or slaves to the marriage (though she did not receive any enslaved people in the original division of the estate of her father, William A. White, in 1848, she may have received a portion later from those enslaved people held by her mother, who retained one third of the estate's enslaved people.

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Hi Cheryl Cruise,

Is it possible for you to research whether there are documents or wills from William Bolling's brothers or his wife that mentioned my great-great grandmother Phoebe, where she was either sold to one of them, or bequeathed to one of them in a will? I definitely have Bolling DNA. I took tests from Ancestry and My Heritage. Each one turned up a Bolling, and both Bolling descendants are alive and in Virginia.

There is a detailed slave registry that William Bolling maintained and kept, in which names, birth dates and death dates of enslaved Black people who worked for him, or the family, are recorded. The Virginia Historical Society in Richmond has a copy, although it may be on microfilm. It covers a period between the 1700s and 1890. Maybe some of the enslaved were still working for Bolling long after the Civil War ended. The Bollings reportedly owned a huge plantation called Bolling Hall in Goochland, Virginia. Maybe Phoebe was there, and her daughter Rachel was conceived and born there. I know that assaulting enslaved Black women was very common in the 18th and 19th Century Southern states. No owner was ever convicted or imprisoned for doing these things. It wasn't even considered illegal, since Black people had no rights.

The Virginia Historical Society has a copy of William Bolling's registry but it's probably on microfilm. It's in Richmond. Here's the link:

https://legacy.upress.virginia.edu/plunkett/PluAfro19.html

Maybe they could page through it for you to see if Phoebe's name is in it. It wouldn't appear until after 1836, 1837 or 1839, which is one of the years in which Phoebe was born. Back then, no one took the time to accurately record Black people's births, so those of us who are related to her don't know her exact birth year.

There is another story about Phoebe in my family, that William Bolling's wife smacked Phoebe in the face because she thought Phoebe was trying to style her own.. hair like hers (the wife).

The other reason Phoebe is difficult to trace is that her name was always spelled incorrectly in census and other records, even on her death certificate. If you look for "Pheby" or "Cheby" you might find more information about her.

Anyway, thank you for your work on this.

Margaret (Tarter) Summers

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Hello Margaret,

I am very happy to help all that I can.  I searched for Bolling Hall and discovered that the William Bolling of Bolling Hall is a different man, and not Judge William Bolling.  This is the William Bolling of Bolling Hall:  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bolling-279   I will research him and see what I can find.  Judge William Bolling is a first cousin, twice removed to the William Bolling of Bolling Hall.  They both share this ancestor, John Bolling:  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bolling-59

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Margaret, I am still researching, but I have found a diary entry that says that William Bolling of Bolling Hall inherited more than 100 enslaved people.