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Genealogy hunt leads woman to area
Descendant of free black patriot from area will speak at library
Date published: 8/11/2005
By LAURA MOYER Anita Wills has spent more than 20 years tracing her ancestry, and the search has led to the Fredericksburg area before the Revolutionary War. Her free African-American ancestors, Charles and Ambrose Lewis, fought in the American war for independence, first as sailors and later as soldiers. Wills will give a public lecture, "Free Persons of Color" at 7 this evening at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library headquarters, 1201 Caroline St. Her talk is sponsored by Historic Fredericksburg Foundation Inc. Wills, a San Francisco resident, has self-published a book titled "Notes and Documents of Free Persons of Color." In it, she documents the Lewis brothers' lives and the seven generations between her direct ancestor, Charles Lewis, and herself. She also gives information about the Ambrose Lewis line. She believes Charles and Ambrose Lewis were the sons of an unmarried white King George County man named John Lewis, and an African-American mother whose identity she hasn't been able to pinpoint. The young men were forced into indenture as "mulatto bastards" in preteen and early teen years, Wills said. They were trained as sailors and, she said, were released from their indentures through their service in the Revolutionary War. Pension records indicate that they served on the Dragon, an oar-powered military ship. A multivolume work titled "Revolutionary Virginia: The Road to Independence," edited by Brent Tarter and Robert Scribner and published by the University of Virginia Press, refers to that ship as having a connection to Fredericksburg patriot Fielding Lewis, according to HFFI Executive Director Tom Hart. With his wife, Betty Washington Lewis, Fielding Lewis built and lived at the Kenmore mansion in Fredericksburg. The brothers later fought at the Battle of Camden, Wills said, where the younger man, Ambrose, was shot, bayoneted and held prisoner aboard a British warship. After the war, according to Wills' research, Charles Lewis moved to Richmond and owned a business in the Rocketts Landing area. Ambrose Lewis moved to Alexandria. Wills doesn't know the name of the woman Charles Lewis married, but she also is believed to have been the child of a white father surnamed Lewis and an African-American mother. Their daughter, Nancy Lewis, was born in Richmond but later lived in Fredericksburg as a free woman. Her descendants left Virginia for Pennsylvania in 1853, Wills said. Wills, who is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, said she has been helped in her genealogical research by several Fredericksburg-area residents. She said her remarks tonight will focus on her ancestors with Fredericksburg connections. She also spoke last night at Shiloh Baptist Church (Old Site) in Fredericksburg. To reach LAURA MOYER:
Read more stories about Fredericksburg Date published: 8/11/2005
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