Blog Post: We Are All Children of Betsey

Betsey was able to secure her freedom and through that she was able to create freedom as the foundation for generations to come. Her known children who were born free are Peter Lawson, Charlotte Lawson, William Lawson, Robert and John Lawson.

John Lawson, Growler, as he was nicknamed according to family lore was a property owning Blacksmith born in 1816. His description on the Free Negro Register describes him as thus:

a very dark mulatto, 5’9 and 5/8 inches, short wooly hair, a scar on his right wrist, free born and registered in the Clerks Office of Stafford County.

Free Negro Register of Rappahannock County, Virginia 1838

Family lore reveals that John Lawson was a man of business saviness and acumen and census documents appear to back that up. By the 1830s, the family had shifted from Stafford County to Rappahannock County, Virginia. John Lawson and his wife, Mary Richardson Campbell were living in the Laurel Mills district of the County, and by 1850 they were the parents of the following children:

Lucy Lawson

Mary E. Lawson

Sarah C. Lawson

Patsy Lawson

Frances Lawson

James Lawson

My direct line would be Frances Lawson bolded above. By the 1870 census we see two more children were born:

Johnie Lawson

Catherine Lawson.

We also see that 5 years after the Civil War, when most were still eking out a survival both white and African-American, John Lawson had a personal estate value of $180 which translates to $3,520 in 2019. His older brother William lived next door and was able to acquire the same type of economic stability that was so elusive to most after the War and to hardly any African-Americans before for after. When I visited the Rappahannock County Historical Society, there were some Lawson holdings and references but it was a historian in Culpeper County that I interviewed that simply said:

“The Lawsons were a prestigious Black family.”

That one line changed my understanding. It was something that seemed a bit elusive to me at the time because it had never occurred to me that there might have been any type of historical privilege.

John and Mary’s daughter, Frances (Fanny) Lawson is the first photograph that we have in our direct line - the photo featured in this post. Frances Lawson was born in 1848, and family lore reveals that she was both a midwife and a seamstress. Both valuable skills repeat in her direct line, showing that Fanny actively transferred that knowledge down to her children. Her daughter, Mary Frances Lawson Bailey Smoot was known for her ability to sew as well as being a midwife and “laying out” those after they had deceased.

My cousin Norma Logan who first picked up my call when I called the Afro-American Historical Association of Fauquier County and several great-grandaughters down from Frances (Fannie) Lawson is also a skilled seamstress.

Frances Lawson often referred to as Fannie, mother of my direct 2nd great-grandmother Mary Frances Lawson Bailey Smoot.