Joseph Roby's search for his Fauquier County, VA ancestors
Finding ancestors
I am researching the people my Dulany ancestors enslaved at their Oakley Plantation in Fauquier County, VA. I found George Tibbs' advertisement in the Last Seen Project database by searching the map in that county. Even though George Tibbs and his family are not related to me, I felt almost a calling to continue the research and perhaps find the brother George was looking for. Another reason I felt compelled to research George Tibbs is that the enslaver mentioned in his ad is a collateral relative.
The ad George Tibbs took out looking for his brother, Lias, was a key piece of evidence that helped me build out the Tibbs family tree. I had come across the Tibbs/Tebbs name many times in my research, but I had been unable, prior to finding the ad, to definitively connect them as family groups. The ad also expanded my Tibbs research to Montclair, Essex County, NJ, where I had found many of the formerly enslaved from Northern Virginia had moved to in the 1870s and later. So the ad enabled me to tell the postbellum/Great Migration side of the story.
George Tibbs, 1870 Federal Census, Fauquier County, VA.
George Tibbs (Tebbs) appears on the 1870 Census for Fauquier County in the household of Adam Tebbs. The surname is often spelled Tebbs in Virginia. The family consists of George, his parents, Adam and Lucy, and his brother Beverly. All four of these people were mentioned in the ad I found on Last Seen. Lias Tibbs, of course, is absent. The family is living very close to many of the families I am researching for my Oakley project.
Marriage License for George Tibbs and Julia Smith, Montclair, NJ, April 7, 1888
George Tibbs's New Jersey marriage record, which I obtained on a trip to the NJ State Archives, contains his mother's maiden name, which I did not have before. It may prove to be very helpful as I try to find his lost brother and his ancestors.
Between 1870 and 1888, George Tibbs moved from northern Fauquier County to Montclair, Essex County, NJ. He was one of dozens, if not hundreds, of African Americans to leave that area of Virginia for Montclair. Even though George was decades removed from his time in Virginia, he never forgot his roots, especially his brother Lias, and the family that was broken up by enslavers.
One year after George placed his ad in the Richmond Planet, his brother, Beverly, placed one looking for Lias in the Chicago Defender. The Tibbses still hadn't found Lias. I don't know if they ever did.
Using these two ads, I have been able to connect members of the extended Tibbs family to the enslaved community I am researching. The ads also gave me clues about how to find the Tibbs brothers after they migrated North. Thanks to Last Seen and the research that I have been able to do after finding the ads, I feel as though I have given the family a voice again. I hope to find descendants of the Tibbs family and people who were enslaved by my ancestors
The Last Project website should be checked regularly by any genealogist researching enslaved persons and enslavers. I have been blown away at what I have found.
Joseph Roby
enslavedatoakley@gmail.com
Chapter Representative, Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists
Enslaved at Oakley & Beyond Project: https://enslavedatoakley.com/