ABOUT US

Allison Thomas descends from enslavers dating back to colonial Virginia -- including GWYNN, HUDGINS & EDWARDS families of Gwynn’s Island & greater Mathews County. When not obsessed with this history, Allison is a film and theater producer. She is also active with Coming to the Table, an organization that provides a supportive environment to those seeking to acknowledge and heal the wounds of racism rooted in the US history of enslavement.

Maria Montgomery descends from enslaved people brought to Gwynn’s Island at least two hundred years ago. She works as an OR Staff Nurse in Norfolk, Virginia.

Allison and Maria met on Ancestry.com in 2016. Maria messaged Allison to request a copy of her 3x great-grandmother’s Civil War diary, which listed 40 enslaved people emancipated by the Union army in 1863. Maria’s 2x great-grandmother, Dolly JONES/SMITH, was on that list. Maria then mentioned an incident involving her great-grandfather, James Henry SMITH, which caused her ancestors to flee Gwynn’s Island in 1916. Additional information has been provided by other Smith descendants Rufus Frazier, and Barbara and Shawn Massey.

After further research, Allison discovered that the entire Black community had been driven off Gwynn’s Island, an untold story that was covered up by the white community. In addition to the wealth of resources available at the Gwynn's Island Museum, and the ongoing support of Tom Edwards and John Dixon, Allison hired research historian Kristine Paterson to help her review court records, property records, genealogical records, and local accounts in order to piece together the true story of what happened. Additional Gwynn's Island family descendants who contributed information include Rufus Frazier, Elsie Williams, Alma Lee, Barbara and Shawn Massey, and many more each day. This website is the fruit of their labor.

Here is the story of how Allison & Maria connected:

We are grateful to Sharon Leslie Morgan, the founder of Our Black Ancestry, for her assistance in analyzing data and building this website.

We welcome hearing from people with Gwynn's Island ancestors. We have much more information than we could post here. Please fill out the form and we will get in touch with you.