Thomas B. Winston

By: Douglas L. Winston

In ascertaining the propriety of including Thomas B. Winston and Martha Winston (Dunn) as the parents of Thomas Henry Winston, it’s important to observe matters of historical importance mentioned in: African-Americans and the Federal Census, 1790-1930.

As an enslaved person born in 1823, Thomas B. Winston would have been counted as three-fifths of a person for census purposes under Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. (see Section 2, Article I of the U.S. Constitution at law.cornell.edu). Neither Thomas B. Winston’s name nor the names of his family members (wife and children) would have appeared in a U.S. Census that was conducted during his enslavement. Only the number of slaves in his family, and their sum multiplied by .60 (i.e. the 3/5ths percentage), would have been recorded, as an addendum to the census of the slave owner’s family. If there were ten slaves in his family that were owned by a slave holder, the sum of six (10 times .60) would have been added in computing the number of persons in the slave owner’s family. When it came to slaves only numbers mattered for determining the census of a state’s population, not names.

After the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution barring slavery was ratified by three-fourths of the states in 1865, newly freed blacks were then counted in the U.S. Census of 1870. The names, ages, and address of blacks or African Americans, including other demographic information, was recorded in census data.

Additionally, as an enslaved person, Thomas B. Winston's marriage to another slave would not have be memorialized in a fashion as free persons. “Enslaved individuals rarely had surnames and created few records themselves.” (see Federal Records that Help Identify Slaves and Slave Owners). Thus, “Jumping the Broom” was a way to announce a marital union between enslaved couples. (see, for instance, "Jumping The Broom," a short history). And because marital records of those enslaved were scarce, or exited at all, what was relied upon for acknowledging the marital relationship of those enslaved was personal knowledge of their relationship in their community. However, as “slave marriages often weren't legally recognized, with tragic consequences — families could be separated at the whim of their owners.” (see NPR - New Discoveries In Black History, Slave Marriages, Families were Often Shattered By Auction Block).

For these reasons, “successful family history research – regardless of one’s ancestors’ race or ethnic background – requires ‘reasonably exhaustive research’ in all relevant records. It requires researching not only direct ancestors, but also their ‘FAN’ club – family, associates, neighbors – because records created by or about those individuals may provide critical information about one’s own ancestors.” (supra, Federal Records that Help Identify Slaves and Slave Owners).

As noted in the death certificate of Thomas Henry Winston ("Thomas Henry"), he was born in Hanover County, Virginia. This fact, and the name of his parents, i.e., Thomas and Martha Winston, was conveyed by the informant mentioned in his death certificate, Robert Winston, who provided the information for Thomas Henry’s death certificate.

Thus, we must accept as true that the names of Thomas Henry’s parents were Thomas and Martha Winston, provided this information came from a family member, close associate or neighbor, “because records created by … those individuals may provide critical information about one’s own ancestors.”

The documents from Ancestry.com related to a “Robert Lee Winston” (“Robert Lee”) reveal he, like Thomas Henry Winston, was from Hanover County, Virginia, Henry District, and the names of his parents were also Thomas and Martha Winston. The information provided by Robert Winston scribed in Thomas Henry’s death certificate disclosing his familiarity with Thomas Henry’s parents and his place of birth, including the 1880 Census mentioning a "Robert" was then 16 (born around 1865), and he and his father, Thomas B. Winston, lived next door to Thomas Henry Winston (who was approx. 23 at this time this census was taken), and Thomas Henry's wife, Elizabeth (Brown), and their daughter, Martha E., support the conclusion that the "Robert" listed in this census of 1880 and Thomas Henry were brothers, and their parents were Thomas B. and Martha Winston.

This conclusion is supported by the recorded fact that only one enslaved couple who cohabitated as husband and wife in Hanover County, Virginia before slavery was barred in 1865 was named Thomas and Martha Winston, who were both born in 1823, and started cohabiting as a married couple in Hanover in 1846. These facts were reflected in the Freedmen’s Marriage Register of 1866. (see the excerpted portion of this register, both handwritten and transcribed, appearing in Thomas B. Winston’s profile, as well as Hanover County's website on Genealogical Research in Virginia. This document recorded the names, and parents, of enslaved couples who cohabitated as husband and wife before 1865 and remained married after ratification of the 13th Amendment. The Freedmen’s Marriage Register, a public document much like a marriage license, afforded these newly freed couples who remained married after 1865 with the rights and protections of white married couples.

And the information provided in Robert Lee Winston's death certificate likewise supports the conclusion that Thomas B. and Martha Winston were Thomas Henry's and Robert Lee's parents. Outlined in Robert Lee’s death certificate, he passed on July 6, 1939. The informant who supplied information in his death certificate was a Sally Johnson. According to Robert Lee Winston’s tree, she was likely his daughter born in 1900, who would have been 40 when Robert died. Among other things she stated in providing biographical information for Robert Lee Winston, she stated that the name of Robert’s father was Benjamin Winston.

The B. in “Winston (surname) B. Thomas,” mentioned in the census of 1880, likely referenced Benjamin. While Sally Johnson stated Benjamin was the name for Robert’s father, it’s not likely she knew the particulars of Robert’s biological parents. That’s evidenced by the fact she did not know where Benjamin was born and was not sure that Jane was the name of Robert Lee’s mother. She also incorrectly noted the county of Robert Lee’s birth. The records from Ancestry.com, including the various censuses related to Robert and his family contained in his profile, establish Robert was from Hanover County, Henry District, not from Cumberland County. Robert Lee Winston was born in, lived in, and died in Hanover County, the latter noted in his death certificate. He was not born in Cumberland County, Virginia and his census records and material from Ancestry.com confirm this fact.

Due to Sally Johnson’s lack of firsthand knowledge about the particulars of her grandparents – attributable to her grandparents likely passing in the 1880’s - decades before her birth - it should come as no surprise she was not certain when providing information for Robert's death certificate. What she likely heard during her association with Robert was that Benjamin was a name for her grandfather. She was not totally incorrect in providing his name, however. That was his middle name. Unlike Thomas Osbey who, because of his firsthand familiarity with his father’s name, could write “Thomas H. Winston” as the full name of his father on his enlistment and assignment card, Sally Johnson, who then lived Richmond, Virginia, and was not raised when her grandparents were alive, would be less likely to give accurate information about Robert Lee’s birth place and the full name of his parents.

For all these reasons, it is reasonable to conclude the middle name of Robert Lee’s and Thomas Henry’s father was Benjamin and Thomas Benjamin Winston was their father. The only question left unanswered is why the name Jane, rather than Martha, was listed as Thomas Benjamin's wife in the 1880 census.

The name Jane appears, however, as Thomas Benjamin’s wife, not the mother of Robert Lee. While Robert is listed as a son in this census that does not mean he was Jane’s son, only that he was then living in his father's house and his father’s wife was Jane. In fact, that Fred C. Brown, then 17, and Wesley P. Brown, then 13, were listed as the stepson of Thomas B. means that Robert was the son of Thomas B., only, Thomas B. Winston and Jane having children named Selia, age 5 and Susan, age 1.

Thus, the Jane in this census was not Robert's mother. And this conclusion is further supported by the Freedmen’s Marriage Register. According to that register, the only married couple named Thomas and Martha Winston who lived together as a married couple in 1866 were both born in 1823. By the time the 1880 census was conducted in Hanover County, Henry District, they would have been around 57 or 58. That is the age listed for Thomas B. Winston in the 1880 census, 57.

Furthermore, Jane's age that's listed in this census is 45 and she had children, Fred and Wesley, not born from Thomas B's and Jane's union. This must mean either Martha passed after giving birth to Robert Lee in 1865, when she would have been roughly 42 or 43, or Thomas Benjamin and Martha no longer lived together as husband and wife before the 1880 census was conducted on June 4, 1880 in Hanover County, Henry District. And the likely conclusion is that Martha passed, evidenced in the marriage certificate of Thomas B and Jane who, according to that certificate, were married on April 30, 1874.

Thus, to conclude Thomas Henry and Robert Lee did not have the same parents because the name Jane appears as Thomas B. Winston’s wife in the census of 1880 is not warranted. The information contained in the Freedmen’s Marriage Register and 1880 census, the information provided by Robert Lee for Thomas Henry’s death certificate, the Ancestery.com material noting Robert Lee’s parents were named Thomas and Martha Winston, including the census records of Robert Lee and his family, establish that Thomas and Martha Winston were the parents of Thomas Henry and Robert Lee.

Having firmly established that Thomas B. Winston and Martha were ancestors of Thomas Henry Winston and Robert Lee, who were they? Little is known other than what is in the census of 1880 and the Freedmen's Marriage Register. According to the register, Thomas Benjamin's father was William Winston and his mother's maiden name was Nancy Wilds. This register, like the 1880, census, notes Thomas Benjamin Winston was a farmer in Hanover County, Virginia. This fact likely explains why his son, Robert Lee, took up farming as a trade. It further notes the parents of Martha Dunn were Samuel Dunn and Lucy Staves.