Webinar – In Conversation with Joseph Roby: Discussing The Enslaved at Oakley and Beyond Project [11 Feb 2026]
February 11 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Researching enslaved individuals is often challenging, particularly when records name the enslaved only indirectly or not at all. In many cases, locating and thoroughly analyzing records created by enslavers is the key to identifying and tracing African American lives across time. The Enslaved at Oakley & Beyond Project demonstrates how careful, contextual research into enslavers and their families can illuminate the lives of those they enslaved—and how responsibly locating, analyzing, and sharing these records is essential to that work.
This program will depart from a traditional webinar format and take the form of a moderated conversation with Joseph Roby (The Enslaved at Oakley & Beyond Project), Kelley Conner Lear, CG®, and Dr. Shelley Viola Murphy. Together, they’ll discuss methodology, interpretation, and ethical considerations in this type of research. Time will be reserved at the end of the session for audience questions.
A version of this blog post appeared in the Main Line Genealogy Club’s online newsletter, The Dispatch 3.5 January 2024
December 16, 2023 was the 250th anniversary of the famed Boston Tea Party. There were countless events leading up to and on the anniversary, mostly in Boston, but also around the world. These events were just a prelude of things to come as we celebrate the semiquincentennial of birth of the United States of America. I am proud to say that my fourth great-grandfather, Joseph Roby, had a small part to play in the founding of this country, including as a participant in the Boston Tea Party.
I grew up knowing that my paternal roots in this country went way back to New England, including to the Mayflower. I also knew that the Robys were emigrants from England to the Boston area in the mid-1600s. While I never heard any specific stories, the family story came down through the generations that my fourth great-grandfather, Joseph Roby (1753-1836), participated in the Boston Tea Party and fought in the Revolutionary War.
It was not until I was in a colonial American history class in college that I revisited my revolutionary ancestor. Dr. Dan Rolph, who was the reference librarian for the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP) for many years, was my professor. He introduced me to manuscripts at HSP, including a letter written by my fifth great-grandfather, Joseph Roby (yes, another one), which was in their archives. He also showed me sources on the tea party and colonial America. Later, I went to the National Archives branch in Philadelphia, used microfilm for the first time, and found Joseph Roby’s service record from the Revolutionary War.
Over the years as I have become a better genealogist, I have delved deeper into Joseph Roby. One of my main research goals is to prove (or disprove) that he participated in the tea party. I contacted the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum early this year because I saw that they had a brand-new descendants program, in partnership with the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS). I have not completed my application yet, but I do plan on it if I can confirm my ancestor’s involvement. The museum and NEHGS have concluded that Joseph Roby was a participant, but the genealogist in me needs to continue the reasonably exhaustive research.
There are only two documents which list Joseph Roby as a participant in the Boston Tea Party: an 1819 letter printed in the Niles Weekly Register and the book Tea Leaves: Being a Collection of Letters and Documents Relating to the Shipment of Tea to the American Colonies in 1773 By the East India Company by Francis S. Drake. The 1819 letter was written by Lewis R. M. Morse, a son of Anthony Morse. Lewis claims that his father and Joseph Roby “were the most active in destroying the tea.” He wrote the letter on June 22, 1819 from Hanover, New Hampshire, and states that Joseph Roby was currently living in that town. My ancestor’s whereabouts have been hard to trace, but he probably resided in Hanover, NH at that time. He ended up near Rochester, New York by the 1830s.
Tea Leaves was published in 1884. The first part of the book lists Boston Tea Party participants and what, if anything, is known about them. This is the entry for Joseph Roby on page CLIV (p. 154): “Resided in Prince Street, Boston, in 1807, but was living in Hanover, N.H., in 1817.” There are no citations for this information nor in any other entry. However, as documented in his Revolutionary War pension file, a few people testified that Joseph Roby lived in Hanover, NH around 1817–1819. The Prince Street address can also be confirmed by newspaper advertisements and other records.
I was shocked in June 2023 to receive an email from my contact at the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum. She said their group located many burial locations for Boston Tea Party participants, and they were placing markers on their graves throughout the rest of 2023 leading up to the anniversary. My ancestor’s grave is in Brockport, New York, over four hundred miles away from Boston. I could not pass up the opportunity to represent my family at this event.
On July 10, 2023, representatives from the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, Revolution 250, the towns of Brockport and Sweden, New York, and the local DAR and SAR chapters honored my fourth great-grandfather. It was a small, but nice ceremony and one which I won’t soon forget. I also felt drawn to attend because my grandfather, who was the first person to tell me about my family history, was instrumental in organizing a similar ceremony fifty years prior in 1973 on the 200th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.
Dec 16, 1973 (200th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party) – My grandfather, Rochester Ross Roby, took this photo at an event to honor our ancestor, very similar to the one I attended almost 50 years later.
I intend to keep researching Joseph Roby. I have been working on an article which I hope one of the major genealogical journals will publish. The focus is how I sorted out my Joseph Roby from all the other same named individuals in the Boston area. I was able to spend three extra days in Brockport and Rochester during my trip in July researching in local archives. Some of the information I uncovered should help with that future article. One of my resolutions for 2024 is to write more often on this blog, so if you want to read more about Joseph and my research, please sign up to receive updates.
Are you researching any of the same people, names, or places I am for The Enslaved at Oakley & Beyond Project? Look at the surnames below. Contact me if you think you are connected.
During the Q&A at a recent presentation I gave on my research project, The Enslaved at Oakley & Beyond Project, I received a recommendation to help me with my research. The person suggested that I post a list of the surnames I’m researching on my blog and anywhere else where people can find it. I thought it was a great idea! So that’s what this post will be. I’ll make a note if there is an enslaver’s surname and if the surname appears somewhere outside of Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., such as Montclair, Essex County, New Jersey.
Please reach out to me if you think you are related or connected to a name or place below. Click on the Contact tab at the top of the page and send me a message. I will do my best to respond to you as soon as possible.
* = Enslaver (may also be name of enslaved persons)
That question has been on my mind all day. As someone whose DNA is 100% European, most people may think, “not much.” For people who follow this blog and know the research I have been focused on for the last few years, I bet the answer is different. When I think about Juneteenth in 2023, I think of family.
I’m not going to pretend that I know everything about the history, culture, and everything else that is Juneteenth. However, I do know that the institution of slavery and the people behind it tore families apart. I see Juneteenth as a celebration of reuniting families, especially after the Emancipation Proclamation, the events on June 19, 1865, in Texas.[1]and the 13th Amendment.
Last Friday night, sometime after midnight or 1am, I came across some marriage records in the Freedmen’s Bureau.[2] I had not seen these before, but I realized right away that these were special.
On Friday evenings, I go on Zoom with a few dozen other like-minded individuals, who are researching African Americans, to learn about the Freedmen’s Bureau. Not only do we learn, but we also have a great time. Dr. Shelley Murphy has been volunteering her Friday nights to lead the group for about 18 months now. I believe the group began as an offshoot from the MAAGI[3] in 2021. The Friday night event is called Freedmen’s Bureau Fridays.[4] These Zoom sessions can last well into Saturday morning.
It was like this last Friday/early Saturday when I discovered the marriage records. I didn’t make the connection until during the day today between the people listed in those marriage records and the Juneteenth holiday. The records are perfect examples of the reuniting of families upended by slavery and the Civil War. The marriage records are from the District of Columbia Freedmen’s Bureau Field Office.[5] These records show marriages of African Americans in Washington, D.C. between November 1866, and July 1867. Remarkably, they also show when, where, and who married the couple prior to this, usually when the couple was enslaved. Even though the laws prior to the Civil War did not allow civil marriages of African Americans, some were allowed to marry in religious services, while others married in secret. These records show how long some of these couples had to wait for their marriages to be recognized by the government. I spotted a union as early as 1815![6]
Register of Marriages, Superintendent of marriages, District of Columbia Freedmen’s Bureau Field Office
One of the biggest clues in these records are the locations listed in the “Former Residence” column. There are people from D.C., Maryland, and all over Virginia. This record might be the only record of a person’s existence prior to the Civil War.
The facing page (it’s like a book) has even more information. There is a column for “No. of Children.” Again, this might be the only known record for a couple’s children while they were enslaved. It is hard not to think about the possibility of some, if not all, of the children being separated from their parents.
However, I think these records, in a way, help to bring the family together again. Whether it be marriage records like these in the Freedmen’s Bureau, vital records of the enslaved listed in the enslaver’s family bible, or oral history brought down through the generations, what is important is family. Families were torn apart during slavery and beyond, too. I urge you to celebrate your family, no matter what your race, creed, or nationality. Let your ancestors know you remember them by “reuniting” them with their family through family history research. Spend some time this Juneteenth with your ancestors and family.
[6] Mathew Ender & Winnie Johnson from Caroline County, Virginia. No marriage ceremony performed in 1815. Five children from their union. Married in Washington, D.C. in April 1867 by Rev. M. V. Wright. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2QV-TYWT
On Tuesday, October 25, 2022 at 1pm Eastern, I will be the guest of the Afro-American Historical Society of Fauquier County, Virginia (AAHA) for their monthly series, “AAHA Virtual Genealogy & Local History.” I will be discussing my research project entitled, “Enslaved at Oakley & Beyond.” No registration required. The direct Zoom link can be found here: https://www.aahafauquier.org/events-2.
My 3x great-grandparents, Mary Eliza “Ida” Powell and Henry Grafton “Hal” Dulany, owned a plantation called Oakley in Fauquier County, Virginia starting in the 1850s. From then until the end of the Civil War, my ancestors enslaved dozens of men, women, and children there. The goals of this project are to trace everyone who was enslaved, find their ancestors, and their descendants. I have been and will continue to share my research with any living descendants and the communites in and around Fauquier County, Virginia.
I have already written a few blog posts about my Dulany ancestors and the people they enslaved. Please see those posts for more information. Of course, I hope to see you virtually on Oct. 25 so you can hear all about this project and the people connected with it. If you miss the live event, you can watch the video on AAHA’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX_TLihoYqd4-ErUQYxvuOw.
Too Many Ancestors, Too Little Time 