DLHOYABABYMOMMA says...
IN MEMORY
LETHA LEE RILEY Angelicque’s great aunt…but the greatest aunt has always been aunt ginger…
I DONT REALLY GET THE CHANCE TO DO AS MUCH AS I HAD HOPED BUT LIKE MY SONS FATHER OSCAR SAYS... "WHEN I GROW UP" I WANNA BE LIKE MY GREAT-GRANDMOTHER. OR AUNT GINGER...
EDITH CONNAWAY FIELDS ANGELICQUES GREAT GRANDMOTHER
Edith Connawav Fields celebrated her 90th birthday this year (1988). She was born Apr. 4, 1898, in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood and has always resided in Union County. She married Maynard Thomas Fields (1896-1946), son of Thomas and Anna (Whittington) Fields (q.v.). on Oct. 18. 1917. Maynard Fields was a farmer, who after retiring worked in a factory for a short time during World War II. He was a veteran of World War I. Their four children are Mary Elizabeth Goodwin. Letha Lee Riley (deceased), Thomas Meredith Fields (deceased), and Norma Faye Paddock. There are nine grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
The name Connaway dated back to the 1300s in Wales and England. The name was then spelled "Conway". Sir John Conway of Conway Castle was Edith Fields' 14th great-grandfather.
Edwin Conway, Sir John's great-grandson, was sent by appointment of the King to Lancaster Co.,
Edwin's great-granddaughter. Eleanor Rose. married Col. James Madison, Sr., and was the mother of President James Madison
Edith Connaway Fields
James Conway (1778-1859). third great-grandson of Edwin Conway. migrated to Union Co., IN. He married Sarah Sparks (1781-1872) in 1795 in Fayette County. They had 12 children, and it was during this generation that the spelling of "Conway" was changed in various ways.
Charles S. Connaway(l801-l885). third son of James, married Mariah White, daughter of Joseph and Mary (Heaton) White, in 1829. At one time, Charles S. owned several hundred acres of land in Union County, and it is said that he deeded farms to several of his Len children.
John S. Connaway (1833-1911). second son of Charles S.. married Elizabeth A. Folger (18361907) in 1856. John S. was a volunteer with the Indiana Infantry during the Civil War. They lived south of Brownsville on the west side of the White-water River where the house still stands. Elizabeth Foiger Connaway was the granddaughter of Latham and Matilda (Worth) Folger who were early Union County "Friends" settlers. Latham Folger was a Revolutionary War veteran and was the second great-grandson of Peter Folger(I617-l690) of Nantucket Island, MA. One of Peter Folger's grandchildren was Benjamin Franklin.
Charles Meredith Connaway (1866-19 18), son of John S. Connaway, married Maggie May Kinder (1869-1953), daughter of Michael and Mary Catherine (Connaway) Kinder. Their children are Paul, Cecile, and Edith. Paul Connaway (1894-1971) married EstherE. Williamson (1894-1978) in 1915. Their children are Frances Eleanor Napier, Iva Louise Clark. and Dorothy Jean Barnard. Paul was a member of the Mt. Pleasant Church, a fanner, and a lifelong resident of the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood. Cecile was born on June 25. 1896. and died on Sept. 8, 1903. Edith, the subject of this vignette, is a member of the Edwards Memorial United Methodist Church. V.F.W. Auxiliary, ReLodge, and a past member of the Mothers of World War II. She is greatly loved and respected by her daughters and their descendants. who appreciate that she knew the roots from which she came and gave to them a direction in which to follow
FAMILY HISTORY OF IVA
LOUISE (CONWAY) CLARK
(MAYFLOWER AND
HUGUENOT LINES)
THE UNDERGROUND
RAILROAD
ANGELICQUES HOME TOWN
Previous to the Civil War a great many free slaves gained total freedom by reaching Canada by the "Underground Railroad". Probably only a few have heard how this truck line between Dixie and Canada received its name. It is said that a number of men in Cincinnati were engaged in conversation concerning, the escape of a colored man when a southern man said that the owners could always trace them to that city but from there they lost all trace. They felt there must be an underground railroad. To which one of the Cincinnati men replied "yes, we have one." The slave-holder wanted to see it so they took him to the hills back of Cincinnati. which were being unveiled for a railroad, and told him it ran straight to Canada. In this way he was deceived and believed it to be the means by which the slaves escaped their masters. Consequently it was called the "Underground Railroad."
The institution was composed of people living north of the Ohio river who were opposed to slavery. By uniting and forming a chain of stations they organized the means by which hundreds of freed slaves escaped their masters and fled to Canada.
The most active of the sympathizers were Quakers, the leader of whom in this state was Levi Coffin. We enlisted the sympathy of people living north and south of Newport. After a fugitive slave crossed the Ohio river he was hidden away and as soon as the immediate pursuit was over, he was conducted during the night to the next station.
One of the lines of the railroad ran thru Union County near where Angelicque once lived in Roseburg.
The first station was kept by Peter Napper, a man of color who was well known to the fugitive slaves. He lived in a log cabin on the farm now owned 'by Albert Bertch. He brought them to Thomas Haworth's, living but a short distance north of Roseburg, who would take them to the next station William Beard's. He in turn took them to Wayne Co. near Newport where friends would forward them towards Canada.
Levi Coffin, who lived in Cincinnati, kept a station and a great many slaves passed under his supervision. At one time a slave had reached the Coffin home and the ex master, close behind, came up and insisted that the slave was in the house. Mr. Coffin's wife dressed the slave in woman's attire and took him with her out of the front door before the gaze of the slave-holder and thus succeeded in getting him away.
This railroad was carried on in secret because it was in opposition to the Fugitive Slave Law. The operators were actuated by a spirit of kindness and devotion to the cause of freedom for the African people.
Slavery was instituted in the first settlements of the colonies. After the Declaration of Independence, all the leading men thought that slavery would soon pass away, (James Madison was known to have his own special fondness towards African women.). Tension for slavery fastened itself in a peculiar manner on the southern part of the country.
The history of' the "Underground Railroad" is coincident with all the history of slavery. It was a fine to assist a runaway slave and anyone could arrest him and bring him to his master. This is the reason the slave did not know who might capture him and while on his journey would prefer to crawl into cave-brakes or thickets and other secluded places and there remain during the day, resuming his journey at night.
The operators of the "Underground Railroad" were called all kinds of names such as: "wicked Quakers," "abolitionists", and "nigger stealers." But they were real philanthropists who had witnessed the suffering and heard the cries and moans of those that were sold on the auction block separating father, mother and children.
Such events as John Brown's Raid at Harper's Ferry, and the publication of Uncle Tom's' Cabin, Eliza with her baby in her arms, crossing the Ohio river on floating cakes of ice were causes that angered the south so much that they rushed into war to maintain slavery and stopped the work of the "Underground Railroad." The harriers of slavery were so strong on the part of the south and the spirit of freedom which swept over the north was SO aggressive that an irrepressible conflict was waged for years. Not until the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation did the "Underground Railroad" go out of-existence.
May 16, 1905
ANGELICQUE MCQUEEN AND OSCAR DE LA HOYA HAVE A SON NAMED DEVON...HE WANTS TO TALK TO HIS DAD
