Fredericksburg Parent

22 Fredericksburg Parent and Family • February 2025 307 It's black history month, and if you are looking for ways to educate your kids about the African-American experi- ence, Fredericksburg is filled with buildings that tell the stories of black residents of the past. This home at 307 Fauquier Street was owned by Collin Williams, one of just six Black property owners in Fredericksburg in 1863. When Collin Williams bought this house in 1863, he was one of only six Black property owners in Fredericksburg—even though free Blacks accounted for 10% of the city's population. During his lifetime, Williams, described as a "free mulat- to man" who worked as a shoemaker, purchased and emancipated his own father, and saw his son involved in what could easily have been a life-threatening clash between law enforcement and Black youth in 1872, according to research conducted in 2018 by Janet Waltonen for the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation's marker program. When he died in 1874, Williams—who never learned to read or write—was able to leave property to his widow and nine children, providing them and his grandchildren with some stability in a time when Black people had to live "behind the veil," as W.E.B. DuBois wrote and Waltonen quotes. "Their story is a testament to how Black southerners found a way through a system that denied them their most basic rights," Waltonen wrote. Finding a Way to Succeed The building that stands at 307 Fauquier Street today was most likely built in 1824 by Thomas Seddon, who owned the lot. Seddon was Director of the Farmer's Bank of Virginia and was a member of the committee that welcomed and celebrated General Lafayette when he visited Fredericksburg in 1824. Seddon rented the building, which was divided into two residents, to two tenants for $25 each, according to Waltonen's research. In 1846, Thomas Knox bought the lot and building. Knox was one of 18 citizens of Fredericksburg to be arrested by Union general John Pope and imprisoned in Old Capital Prison in Washington, D.C. for six weeks. 307 307 Fauquier Street today, photo by Adele Uphaus growing up on historic ground An Uncommon Arrangement Knox sold 307 Fauquier Street to Collin Williams in two installments in 1863 and 1864, during the height of the Civil War. The chain of title shows payment of $625 in 1863 and $612 in 1864. Waltonen notes that purchase in installments was "an uncommon arrangement" and "had to have been prearranged" between Knox and Williams. Williams was born in 1830 in Falmouth. His father, Collin Sr., was enslaved but Waltonen suspects that his mother was free—Virginia law passed in the 1600s stated that children of Black women were born enslaved or free depending on the status of their mother, and Collin Jr. was certainly free by 1850, when he is included in the Census. His life still would have been constrained, Waltonen writes. Free Blacks were required to register with the Clerk of Court and carry papers with them, and Fredericksburg's Common Council passed a law in 1845 stating that "any free Negro or mulatto" found on city streets after 9 p.m. could be arrested and taken to the Mayor or jus- tice of the peace and inflicted with "not less than five nor more than 30 lashes at the public whipping post." It was also illegal for free Blacks to purchase enslaved people unless they were immediate family members—but that didn't prevent Williams from being able to free his father. WRITTEN BY ADELE UPHAUS Fauquier Street

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