This is an older story, but one I wanted to share about a genealogy trip my husband and I took. While I don’t know the name of the man from history involved (update: I do. His name was William Patterson), he was someone who was a major contributor to a Presbyterian church where many of the members were of Scots-Irish descent. (Piney Creek in Taneytown, MD)
While searching for my husband’s Thomson ancestors, we had a pleasant time talking to the church’s current pastor, The Rev. Paul Matthews. The photo below is the pastor in the middle, Tom on the right, and one of the church elders on the left (we unfortunately forgot his name.)
Rev. Matthews told me a historical story about one of the graves in the churchyard. When a local man’s house slave passed away, he wanted to have her buried at Piney Creek. This is a church right on the Mason-Dixon line and the congregation said no way, this is for our white church members. He insisted. They said no. He said, fine then. I’ll bury her somewhere else, but I’ll leave as well and take my tithe with me. Apparently he was a wealthy and generous man so they relented, saying he could bury her in the furtherest corner of the graveyard, which he did.
*When I first wrote this, over a decade ago, I thought her name was Sarah Agnes. But on FindaGrave it says Nancy. Her date of birth is unknown but she died in 1885.
It’s a wonderful story of a man standing up for what he believed was right. This woman, Nancy Agnes Brown, had served this man’s family well for many years. She was a part of the family and died well after slavery ended. Even so, prejudices remained. However money talks. And in this case it seems justified. The current church members think so too. They’ve taken very good care of all the old grave sites in this small churchyard. They are slowly going about pouring new concrete footings for the old markers. One of the first they finished was Nancy’s. Here it is:
