May 19, 2016 Orange County Review
This week our ancestors in question are Soloman and Sarah Taliaferro.
Anyone who knows Orange, knows not to be worried by the spelling or pronunciation of this surname: Toliver or Taliaferro (pronounced Toliver or as it is spelled) are all acceptable. The given name of Soloman is sometimes spelled Solaman or Soleman. We are not picky!
A Bible was given to Soloman by a Mrs. Thompson and a Miss Lizzie Cave with inscriptions noting his marriage to Sarah Taylor in 1849. Soloman was believed to have been born about 1819 and Sarah about 1814.
There is often a variance in birth dates: commonly one to five years. Remember that during most of the 19th century, hospitals were few and far between and a rarity in rural areas. Most of the enslaved population, and in fact the largest percentage of the entire rural Virginia population, was illiterate: these folks were not recording births, deaths or marriages.
That is not until the Commonwealth of Virginia realized there was a new source of tax revenue. By 1853, all births were to be recorded and submitted and slave holders were taxed on a per capita basis for the number of persons they "owned." Those records are extremely valuable as resource tools.
Now back to Soloman and Sarah. Soloman was believed to be the son of Pamela Barbour, both owned by Nelly Madison of Montpelier and mother of President James Madison. Her will allowed that her slaves could choose their next master/mistress from Mrs. Madison’s relatives. Soloman would in turn be owned by Nelly Madison’s daughter Sarah Madison Macon and at Mrs. Macon’s death he would be inherited by her son Reuben Macon of Somerset Farm.
Upon Reuben Macon’s death it was believed that he freed at least some of his slaves with a requirement and the necessary funding to enable them to relocate to Liberia. Reuben Macon’s will is now being studied to ascertain exactly--if there is an exact answer-- just what happened.
What we know: In 1867, according to the personal property tax records, Solomon Taliaferro was living at Bankhead’s. A preliminary search would suggest that this was the farm of Charles L. Bankhead, though we have not yet ascertained the location. There was no location of residence in the 1868 tax records, but the 1869 records place him living near Barnett’s Ford. The 1870 Census places him with wife Sarah in the Madison District of Orange County. Also in the household is Jefferson Taylor (full name is Thomas Jefferson Taylor) his wife Lucy Jane and four-month-old daughter Rachael Taylor. The Taylors’ marriage record lists his mother as Sarah Taliaferro and from that we believe Sarah was married to a Taylor before she married Solomon. Lucy Jane’s parents were John T. Allen and Amanda Samuels.
The 1889 Census lists Solomon and Sarah living with a granddaughter named Sarah Johnson. We have been unable to locate Jefferson and Lucy Taylor.
Sarah Taylor Taliaferro died between 1880 and 1889. A marriage record indicates that Soloman Taliaferro, a widow, married a Sarah Brown in 1889 and listed his father as Frank Taliaferro and his mother as Pamela Barbour.
Solomon is believed to have died about 1892 and there the trail becomes very challenging.
Hope you can help!
Until next week, be well.