Family History Honor and Legacy

My mother, Veronica Peters Jones b 1934 used to climb the cherry trees in her grand parents orchard.  She and her cousins would eat cherries and then fall out of the trees.   LoL Her grandfather was John Henry Peters 1881 - 1960 Her grandmother, Ella Ashby Peters 1882 - 1978 They owned property on Seminary Hill in Alexandria VA. At least 5 acres of the property was purchased prior to 1910.  The couple married in 1908  and had 7 children.  5 boys and 2 girls.  Many Black property and home owners were forced to sell during the city of Alexandria's urban development. I found this picture of my family's home on Seminary Hill  in my grandmother's photo album.  INOVA Hospital now sits where their homestead was.    In addition to the cherry orchard our family  raised cattle and hogs.   People from neighboring households would come to get milk from the cows.    It's evident that the Peters cultivated the land in a way that sustained the family and provided much needed income. 

I went to public school, k-12 in the city of Alexandria. It took me years to figure out if Stonewall Jackson was for or against  people like me. I was black and I was going to an elementary school named in honor of confederate general Stonewall Jackson.  I was a descendant of enslaved Africans, going to Stonewall Jackson's school 🤔 That was inconceivable!!!   Was this a cruel joke or was I just too dull to understand who the bad guys in history were? My innocent, malleable brain could not figure it out . The truth is, it was not a joke but indeed it was cruel .  It was the cruelty of a system and people not willing to make repairs or repent for centuries of crimes against humanity.  Crimes like bringing Africans to work in a land that plantation and business owners should have worked themselves and paid other whites to work.  The system of slavery was not only a crime against Africans but it was also a crime against white Americans. It kept many white Americans in extreme poverty

I w as thrilled to be a part of the Descendants’ and Black Seminarians’ weekend at  Virginia Theological Seminary.   I decided to participate in all the happenings.   On Saturday morning, April 22, 2023,  I arrived at the chapel a little late.  As I entered the chapel, the minister was reading a passage from the prophet Zechariah.   I thought of how beautiful that moment in the chapel was and how beautifully the weekend was going.   I felt deeply connected to God and to my ancestors, John Holman Peters and his father John Henry Peters , who both worked on the property of Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS).   I asked myself, “Who prayed this moment into existence?   Who prayed the beauty of these blessings on my life?” THE BLESSINGS of experiencing God in a deeply passionate way. The blessings of spending this weekend at VTS in honor of my grandfather and great-grandfather.     I imagined my ancestors walking the grounds of VTS, praying.   Praying for future generations and now

My great grandfather Benjamin Franklin Brooks Sr.  was  born July, 1879 in Louisa County VA. We're not yet clear on who his biological parents were.  My DNA does not match descendants of the couple who most family trees attribute to being his parents. We found Benjamin on an 1880 census report in Louisa County.  He was listed along with his brother Auther, born 1880 and his sister Eliza, born 1875.  Ben, Auther and Eliza carried the sir name Brooks. There were several other children in the household listed who carried the sir name "Winder".  I was told the name was actually Washington. 2 older girls were listed on the census with the last name Washington.  In 1928 when Ben was 49 yrs old he started a club for young black men in the city of Alexandria. One of the objectives being, "to push over the top anything our colored citizens wish to achieve..."   (more to come in a later post on this fascinating club he started) As a career  Benjamin worked and drove for