I’ve had this site for some years but never promoted it. Omeka is a free, open-source platform that allows you to display collections as well as stories that explain the collections. I use it in the opposite manner – I tell stories and add documents or videos to support the stories. If you visit ‘We Never Left’, you can download the photos and documents that … Continue reading Check out my Omeka Site!!
Susanna Toney was born around 1789 in Barre, MA to Abraham Toney and his wife Mary Harry. She was commonly known as Susan. Barre was and is a small rural farming community just northwest of Worcester. Her mother, Mary Harry, was part of the Narragansett tribe and her father, Abraham, was a Black man born free in Upton, MA to free parents. Upton was another … Continue reading The Root Doctress
When I think about my dad, it’s not my biological father that comes to mind. The man I call ‘Daddy’, Alfred Bruce Shepard, was my step-father. He raised me and loved me as if I were his biological child and I am forever grateful for it. When I discovered I was pregnant with my first child, I called him first – weeks before I told … Continue reading Muriel and Alfred Shepard
Some photographic images recently surfaced of African-Americans living in Worcester, MA in 1900. Two of those photos are labelled ‘Kenneth Anderson’ and ‘Mrs. Anderson and baby’. Kenneth was my great-grandmother Hattie’s younger brother and Mrs. Anderson was Hattie’s mom. Here’s a quick genealogical sketch of my great-grandmother, Harriet McKinley Anderson Bostic. Hattie Bostic with a neighbor child and two grandsons. Hattie McKinley Anderson was born … Continue reading Hattie McKinley Anderson and family
Mary Jane (Scott) Smith and her son, James Martin Smith. William Bullard, Mary Jane and James Martin Smith, about 1900, courtesy of Frank Morrill and Clark University. Mary Jane Scott was born on 13 Nov 1862 in West Boylston to Edward W. Scott and Catherine Annie Jackson. Edward and Catherine were former slaves who traveled from their birthplace in Warrenton, VA to Massachusetts with … Continue reading Mary Jane (Scott) Smith and James Martin Smith
Florence Shepard, Sarah Scott Shepard, and Eugene Shepard, Jr. circa 1900 in Worcester, MA William Bullard, Mrs. Shepard and Two Children, about 1900, courtesy of Frank Morrill, the Worcester Art Museum, and Clark University. Sarah Ann Scott is my 3rd great-aunt. She was the daughter of Edward Scott and Catherine Annie Jackson of Warrenton, VA. You can read more about Sarah’s parents and her younger brother, … Continue reading Sarah (Scott) Shepard
The above picture is a plaque that now hangs in the second floor of City Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts. The ceremony yesterday was charming and long overdue. As it states on the plaque, Charles E. Scott served as a City Councilor from 1918 to his death on 11 October 1938. Elected not by the tiny people of color population but instead by white, mostly European … Continue reading The Family Scott
Cheryll Toney Holley 