Family Strength

Family Strength. . , Family and Community Strength. Inhospitable Times., You stand on historic Powhatan Paramountcy land. Before the Civil War, women seldom owned property. Keziah Carter was an exception. She was descended from the local Powhatan tribe leader, Keziah Powhatan. Her purchase of this land in 1842 represented the resolve of a woman with indigenous roots to buy back 50 acres originally inhabited by her ancestors. Before the war, Keziah Carter purchased the freedom of her husband, Robert, a Black man, from indenture. They had 10 children, and they lived, bartered, and sold property and food among each other and their community, earning enough to provide an inheritance. Keziah and her family, including Mills and Boston lines, were key area landholders. Her son, Robert Jr., in 1852 purchased 10 acres of land that is now Vienna, Virginia. His family helped establish the First Baptist Church of Vienna in 1867. Keziah and her descendants are buried in the Carter Family Cemetery nearby on land they once owned., [Sidebar:] ,

Register 151 , The hearer hereof Sally Carter, a light brown woman, five feet six and three quarter inches high, about twenty two years of age, full suit of hair, the little finger on each hand slightly crooked; no other perceivable marks or scars, is the daughter of Keziah Carter a free woman of colour and born free as appears from the affidavit of William H. Moore on file in my office; Whereupon and c. , Examined by the Court S.M. Ball C.C. 1842

The Fairfax County Register of Free Negroes tells little about Keziah's daughter, Sally Carter. This record masked that the family was multiracial, and their Native American Heritage was obscured., This artwork was created to commemorate the joining of indigenous families from Fairfax County (the Mills/Boston Family). Intermarriage among ethnic groups created new multiracial communities in Fairfax County., Powhatan's Territory in 1607 , Freedom Hill is on and that was part of this large Native American kingdom/confederacy known as the Powhatan's Paramountcy.