Dublin Core
Title
Clara Garland's Correspondence with the Louisa Freedmen's Bureau Office
Description
Until 1877, married women in Virginia could not own property, so the size of their inheritance certainly made them consider marriage carefully.
Matriarch of the sisters was Clara Garland, born about 1800 and a 65 year old women at the end of the Civil War. She was the guide and sustaining influence to a broad community. Besides the sisters, we know they had 70 slaves on their farms before the war and most of those to care for afterwards. Clara’s vision for well being of the community under her care….divided plantation among her former slaves …Garland Town is a community which still survives.
What makes Clara unusual is that she favored emancipation long before the war and, after it, was one of the most outspoken women to see that justice was done to the freedmen then in her care.
Of those 4 million newly freed slaves in the South, 70 of them were on her farm. We discovered her story in the records of The Freedmens’ Bureau office in Louisa Court House 1866-1868.
Clara’s extraordinary influence is seen in a series of letters she wrote to return liberate two young children who had been virtually re-enslaved in 1866 by their father
Matriarch of the sisters was Clara Garland, born about 1800 and a 65 year old women at the end of the Civil War. She was the guide and sustaining influence to a broad community. Besides the sisters, we know they had 70 slaves on their farms before the war and most of those to care for afterwards. Clara’s vision for well being of the community under her care….divided plantation among her former slaves …Garland Town is a community which still survives.
What makes Clara unusual is that she favored emancipation long before the war and, after it, was one of the most outspoken women to see that justice was done to the freedmen then in her care.
Of those 4 million newly freed slaves in the South, 70 of them were on her farm. We discovered her story in the records of The Freedmens’ Bureau office in Louisa Court House 1866-1868.
Clara’s extraordinary influence is seen in a series of letters she wrote to return liberate two young children who had been virtually re-enslaved in 1866 by their father