'Chatham' Jack Alston |
I find myself fixating on this name -- how it connects us, how it separates us, and what it all means.
My great great great great great Uncle, Joseph John Alston, owned so much land and so many slaves in Chatham County that everybody called him Chatham Jack. That's probably why there are so many Alstons in this area.
Pittsboro, the biggest town in Chatham County, is a one-name town. I'm starting to look at everybody and think, "you're an Alston -- either a long lost cousin or the decendants of slaves that my family once owned."
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Rev. Primus Priss Alston |
Reverend Primus Alston, was born around 1850 in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Pittsboro, the one-name town. It's possible that Primus was a slave and got the Alston name from one of my ancestors...
In an archive in Raleigh, finally, i find my first real lead. An obituary says Primus was born on the banks of Rocky River just outside of Pittsboro -- land once owned by my great great great great great Uncle, Chatham Jack Alston...
When Primus died, he left an estate worth forty thousand dollars, the equivalent of three-quarters of a million today. Did he inheret some of his wealth?
How do we break the silence and build something new?
Visit "Is something a secret...?"
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