The Mallory and Betsey Brown Family

Mallory Brown

Mallory Brown was born in 1846 to Allison Brown (1815-) and Nancy Brown (1820-). Mallory had four siblings: William (1844-), Cornelius (1848-), Thomas (1851-), and Allison Jr. (1854-).


The family appears to have been baptized at the First Baptist Church in Williamsburg. Allison, Nancy, William, Mallory (possibly recorded as 'Malry'), Cornelius, and Thomas Brown are listed in the church's 1865 Baptismal Memberships.


According to the 1865 Freedmen's Bureau Census, Allison was working as an oysterer and farmer. Census records note that Allison was "disabled by a torpedo whilst oystering" during the Civil War. Mallory, who would have been around 19 years old in 1865, appears to have already set out on his own, while the other four brothers were still living in their parents' household. The eldest brother, William, was working as an oysterer. The family appears to have been living on the Whitaker Farm at this time, which may have been in the Reservation community.

The Allison and Nancy Brown family recorded in the 1865 Freedmen's Bureau Census of the Colored Population of York County
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source:  Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Despite the institutionalized racism of the time, the Brown family demonstrated an ability to use the legal mechanisms at hand to defend their rights. 

In 1864, one of the five brothers, Thomas, had agreed to work for Robert Ruffin for two dollars a day from August to December. When Mr. Ruffin did not pay him the wages due, Thomas filed a complaint with the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands. The Bureau ruled in his favor on January 9, 1866.

Thomas Brown, January 9, 1866, Freedman's Bureau complaint
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com, Freedmen's Bureau Records

A few years later, Allison Brown also appears to have used the Freedmen's Bureau to secure money that he was owed. Several letters were sent in June of 1868, calling for money to be collected in his favor. 

Allison Brown mentioned in letter from the Freedmen's Bureau
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source:  Ancestry.com. Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

In 1870, Allison continued to work as a farmer, despite his disability, and had a personal estate valued at $110, according to census records. Mallory's four brothers were working as farm laborers.

The Allison and Nancy Brown family recorded in the 1870 Federal Census
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source:  Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Mallory's brother, Cornelius, married a woman named Harriett. Cornelius passed away first, and Harriett followed on April 12, 1913. According to her death certificate, she was buried in the St. John Baptist Church Cemetery, called the Cheesecake Cemetery, in the Reservation. This suggests that Cornelius and Harriett had settled in the Reservation.

Harriet (Morris) Brown, death certificate
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com. Virginia Deaths and Burials, 1853-1912, [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Betsey Brown

Betsey Brown was born in 1853 to Pleasant and Sarah/Sallie Brown. 

Betsey Brown
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan

According to the 1865 Freedmen's Bureau Census, Betsey and her family were living on the Tinsley Farm, which was part of the Reservation. 

Pleasant Brown was a tenant farmer. The contract below dated March 5, 1866 demonstrates that Pleasant Brown rented a house and garden on half an acre of land, and three additional acres to farm from the Tinsley family. The rental included use of dead and fallen timber for firewood, enclosures, and house repairs.

The Brown family recorded on the Tinsley Farm in the Freedmen's Bureau 1865 Census of the Colored Population
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com Virginia Freedmen's Bureau Records, 1865-1872

1866 Contract between Pleasant Brown and the Tinsley Family
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com Virginia Freedmen's Bureau Records, 1865-1872

Betsey had two siblings, Martha and Mary "Millie". The three sisters appear to have been baptized at the First Baptist Church in Williamsburg as all three names appear on the church's 1865 list of Baptismal Memberships. A Sarah Brown also appears on the list, which may be their mother.

The eldest sister, Martha Brown (1849-), married William Redcross (1846-) on December 29, 1870 in Williamsburg, VA. They had five children:

Mallory Brown and Betsey Brown were married

on January 12, 1871 in York, VA. They had four children: William Wesley, Mary, James Edloe, and Matilda.

Mallory and Betsey's eldest child,

William Wesley Brown (circa 1872-December 12, 1959), 

married a woman named Susan. Wesley worked as a laborer in a saw mill. 


Susan may have been a midwife. A Susan Brown is listed on a number of birth certificates from babies born in the Reservation, including her nephew, James Dillard Brown.

When the family heard that the U.S. government was commandeering their land, Wesley signed the Prayer Petition. The petition called on the U.S. government to provide more time for families to relocate before they were displaced from their homes. 

Source: Roberts, John A., Moses Lee, Annie E. Roberts, Cyrus Jones, and L. Redcross. 1918. Petition submitted to Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, by residents of York County threatened with eviction by Presidential Proclamation #1492 dated November 15, 1918. General Correspondence, Records of the Bureau of Ordinance 1818-1967; Record Group 74; National Archives Building, Washington D.C.

Wesley Brown, death certificate
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com. Virginia, U.S., Death Records, 1912-2014 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Mallory and Betsey's second child, 

Mary Brown (1874-1922) 

first married William Scott on June 7, 1896 and then remarried to Tinsley Nelson on January 8, 1914. She died at just 48 years of age.

The third child of Mallory and Betsey Brown,

James Edloe Brown (February 14, 1882-November 22, 1966), 

married Mary Lou Banks (1898 - 1985) on April 2, 1914 in York County, VA. Mary Lou was the daughter of James and Millie (Scott) Banks and had three siblings, Elizabeth, Gertrude, and Leona.


The couple rented a home and some land in the Reservation community and had two children, James Dillard Brown (1915 - 2006) and Virginia Lee Irene Brown (1917 - 2016).

James Dillard Brown, birth certificate
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com. Virginia, U.S., Birth Records, 1912-2015, Delayed Birth Records, 1721-1920 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

A year after the birth of his second child, James Edloe registered for the World War I draft. He was working as an operator at the DuPont Engineering Company in Penniman. 

WWI Draft Registration Card for James Edloe Brown
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.

Just a few years after their marriage with two young children in the home, James Edloe and Mary Lou learned that they would serve the war effort in another way: they would be displaced from the Reservation community by the U.S. government to build the Navy Mine Depot. James Edloe testified to the U.S. government's Board on the Valuation of Commandeered Property. Below is an abstract of his testimony.

Source: Board of Valuation on Commandeered Property. 1920. Abstract of Testimony In Vols. 1 and 2 of Hearings Before Board On Valuation of Commandeered Property at Yorktown, VA. Box 42, Records of the Board on Valuation of Commandeered Property 1918-1922, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Navy) 1799-1950, Record Group 125; National Archives Building, Washington D.C. 

After their displacement from the Reservation, James Edloe and Mary Lou rebuilt their lives and livelihoods. By the 1940s, the couple was living in James City County, and James Edloe was working for a contractor named K.G. Foster from Wadley, Georgia. He registered for the World War II draft on April 27, 1942.

WWII Draft Registration Card for James Edloe Brown
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

After James Edloe passed away, Mary Lou remarried to Clarence Blizzard on September 9, 1967 in York, VA.

James Edloe and Mary Lou's son, James Dillard Brown, graduated from the James City County Training School in 1933. He appears to have worked as a waiter at Log Cabin Beach. He later served his country honorably during World War II and was a dedicated employee of Cheatham Annex for 34 years until his retirement. He married Vernett Pittman (1921 - 2017) on March 12, 1943 in Williamsburg, VA. They had three children: Cheryll Brown who married Frank Hughes, James Dillard Brown, Jr., and Rosslyn Brown.

(l to r) James Dillard Brown, Robert Lee, Pete Coley, James Payne, John Holcomb, and Unidentified, Dining room waiters at Log Cabin Beach, a segregated swimming and recreational facility located along the James River just outside of Williamsburg, Virginia, circa 1950s.
Courtesy: Media Services, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

James Dillard was a lifelong member of St. John Baptist Church where he served as a Trustee, Assistant Superintendent of the Sunday School, and charter member of the Senior Choir. He also was a member and a Past Grand Master of MACEO Consolidated Lodge, No. 124. 

James Edloe and Mary Lou's daughter, Virginia Lee Irene Brown, married Samuel Taliaferro (1916 - 1994) on May 9, 1937 in York County, VA. They had two children: Harold Samuel Taliaferro (1937 - 1976) and Carlyle Dillard Taliaferro (1939 - 2000).

James Dillard Brown
Courtesy: Daily Press

Mallory and Betsey Brown's youngest child,

Matilda Brown (1885-1947)

married Thomas Cook (1883-) on June 27, 1926 in Elizabeth City, VA. The couple divorced several years later. 


Matilda had two daughters: Edna and Bettie Olivia.


Matilda passed away on November 14, 1947.

Matilda Cook, Death Certificate
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com. Virginia, U.S., Death Records, 1912-2014 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Matilda's eldest daughter, Edna Brown (1902-1941), married James Rufus Edwards, Sr. (1892-1943) on November 6, 1918 in Newport News, VA. Edna worked in domestic service. James was working for the Naval Supply Depot, Cheatham Annex in the 1940s when he registered for the World War II draft.

WWII Draft Registration Card for James Rufus Edward, Sr.
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Edna and James had four children:

Edna passed away on November 20, 1941.

William Alvester "Jack" Edwards Sr.
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Legacy.com

Pauline Juanita (Roberts) Edwards, wife of William Alvester Edwards
Courtesy: Yvonne Hamilton

Jessie Lee Edwards and his son Jessie Bell
Courtesy: Yvonne Hamilton

Doris (Jones) Edwards, wife of Jessie Edwards
Courtesy: Yvonne Hamilton

Edna (Brown) Edwards, Death Certificate
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com. Virginia, U.S., Death Records, 1912-2014 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Matilda's younger daughter, Bettie Olivia Brown (1907-1987), married Frank Green (1902-1927) on August 25, 1924 in Newport News, VA. They had two children, Clarence and Bettie. Frank passed away soon after, and Bettie remarried to Benjamin "Ben" Randall (1896-1961) on October 5, 1929 in Williamsburg, VA.

Bettie and Frank's son, Clarence Green (1925-February 9, 1946), never married and worked as a bell hop at a hotel.

Frank Green, Death Certificate
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com. Virginia, U.S., Death Records, 1912-2014 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Clarence Green, Death Certificate
Courtesy: Bernie Vaughan
Source: Ancestry.com. Virginia, U.S., Death Records, 1912-2014 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Bettie and Frank's daughter, Edna Beatrice Green (1928-1978), married Reverend James Bowden Tabb, Sr. (1926-March 8, 1996) on September 2, 1950 in New Kent County, VA. 

Rev. Tabb's family also experienced displacement by the U.S. government. His family was pushed off their land in Magruder for the construction of Camp Peary, as his brother, Lt. Col. V. Langford Tabb, describes in this oral history.

They had three children: Maria Olivia (Tabb) Norman, James Bowden Tabb, Jr., and Sylvia Lucinda (Tabb) Lee.

Edna Beatrice (Green) Tabb
Courtesy: The Tabb family

Rev. James B. Tabb, Sr.
Courtesy: The Tabb family

Rev. Tabb was considered the "Dean of Preachers" in Williamsburg and was a well-known community activist. A graduate of Virginia State University, he served as pastor to Mount Ararat Baptist Church in Williamsburg and Rising Sun Baptist Church in Lackey. During his career, he served as President of the Tri-County Ministers Alliance, President of the Tri-County Pastors Council, and member of the board of directors of the Ecumenical Outreach Ministry. He organized the Lackey Community Development Association, which, brought running water to much of the community and played a major role in creating the Charles E. Brown Park. Upon his death, he was recognized by the Virginia General Assembly, which passed House Joint Resolution No. 372 to honor his contributions.

Rev. James B. Tabb (third from left), pictured with other church leaders
Courtesy: Jacqueline Bridgeforth Williams

Edna Beatrice (Green) Tabb
Courtesy: Helen Marler

In this oral history, Maria (Tabb) Norman and Sylvia (Tabb) Lee share memories of their grandmother, Bettie Olivia (Brown) Green, as well as their parents, Rev. James B. Tabb and Edna (Green) Tabb, and their leadership during segregation and the Civil Rights era in Williamsburg.

Interview with Mrs. Maria Olivia (Tabb) Norman and Mrs. Sylvia (Tabb) Lee | Conducted by Amy Quark | November 9, 2021 | The Village Initiative Collection 

Sources: