Side A: Through the terms of his will, British absentee landowner Samuel Gist (c. 1723-1815) freed his 350 Virginia slaves and provided funds for their relocation, the purchase of land, and the establishment of schools and homes. The executors of Gist’s will acquired over 2,000 acres of land in Ohio, including two large tracts in Scott and Eagle townships in Brown County in 1819. In 1831 and 1835, an agent of the Gist estate purchased 207 acres in Highland County and divided the acreage into thirty-one lots. This Gist settlement in Eagle Township was the first to be purchased and settled. It was recorded at Brown County on August 4, 1819 as 1197 acres of land divided among “150 Negroes who were emancipated by the will of Samuel Gist”. In 2009, descendants of the freed Gist slaves still inhabited part of the original settlement.
Side B: The Black people’s land from Goochland and Amherst counties situated on the waters of Brush and White Oak creeks, in Eagle Township, Brown County Lot 1. York 2. Mountain Jim 3. George 4. Jacob Cumberland 5. Parson Jim 6. Jacob Johnston 7. Old Dick 8. Sylvia 9. Ben 10. Milley 11. Dolley 12 Glasgow 13. Cato 14. Jack Davis 15. Samuel Hudson 16. Fanny 17. Harry 18. Rose 19. Violet 20. Sam Moss (Mop) 21. Chloe 22. Betty 23. Franky Woodson 24. Mourning 25. Esther Cumberland 26. Dick 27. Hezekiah 28. Solomon Hudson 29. Meredith 30. Pompey 31. Paul Cumberland 32. David Davis
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.