Blackwell Family History
The Blackwell family has been traced back to the slave auction block when, in 1735, an African woman named Amar and her daughter, Tab, were purchased by white plantation owner James Glenn Blackwell.
The African woman and her daughter became our ancestors.
Amar and Tab left the Gold Coast (now Ghana) aboard the slave ship Doddington (voyage ID #92347) on October 1, 1734 and arrived in Yorktown, Virginia, on June 18, 1735. Their native land was the location of the great Ghana, Mali, and songhay Empires of West Africa. Their tribe is believed to be the Soninke ethnicity of Bakel, Senegal, West Africa.
Tab became an efficient chamber maid, cook and housekeeper under the apprenticeship of her mother, Amar, on the plantation in Yorktown, Virginia. Tab was separated from her mother, Amar, and the then-familiar plantation in Yorktown, Virginia, in circa 1753 when she was given to Robert Blackwell of Lunenburg County, Virginia, by his father, James Glenn Blackwell. (The inventory of Robert's estate affirms that Tab was a woman in his household in Lunenburg County, Virginia, valued at $30 in 1787. (Will Book 3, pp. 349 and 360, Lunenburg Court House, Virginia).
Odofo [Jack], an African of the Ashanti ethnicity in West Africa, was brought to Virginia in the mid-18th Century. He was bought by James Goodwin of York County, Virginia, from a man named Burras. Odofo was hired out to Robert Blackwell of Lunenburg County, Virginia, in circa 1753. Robert took Odofo to his plantation in Lunenburg County where he lived and worked and married Tab. Odofo was a Christian
gentleman, moralist and preacher who believed in the family altar.
Tab was left without a husband when James Goodwin died in 1757, and willed Odofo to his son, Peter Goodwin, who took Jack to King William County, Virginia.
Odofo died in Prince Edward County, Virginia, and Tab died in Lunenburg County, Virginia. They had four children: Harry, Lucy, Will, Siller, and Lucky (Sucky).
The story continues through our trees which show the family’s growth.
