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- From VSBGR News, The Virginia Society for Black Genealogical Research, Spring, 1993:
Semple Farm Road, By Celestine Carter
I am Celestine Wynder Carter, born in Elizabeth City County, Virginia and grew up on Semple Farm Road in the county. That's spelled SEMPLE.. There were times when the kids at school had fun with this word!
Back in 1988 when I finally became motivated to discover my past, I began talking to older family members and in general, just mentioning that I wanted to find out something about my ancestors, and someone asked me if I knew a young man whose name is Russell Hopson on Cary's Chapel Road. I was told that he would be just the person that I should talk with. I did know Russell, and when I expressed my interest, he told me about this organization and invited me to attend your seminar with Sylvia Cooke Martin, which was just a few weeks away. I attended the seminar, came to some meetings...and I am still here!
It's wonderful that this organization is here because I have learned a lot from the group and several of you have helped me on an individual basis. I am very grateful to you for all of the help that you have given me. To this point, all of my research has been in Hampton, York County and Williamsburg. Elizabeth City County was originally formed in 1619 as the corporation of the Colony of Virginia, named after the daughter of His Majesty King James I. At that time, it encompassed the cities of Norfolk, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach and the former Nansemond County. Because of the population growth, the county was divided several times and in 1952 the remaining part (and this is where I grew up) was consolidated into what is now the City of Hampton.
As a youngster, I can remember there were relatively few houses, but lots and lots of people in the community...most of them kin folks! I remember running the chickens, seeing my uncle shoe the horse and milk the cows... I loved to go with my dad to feed the hogs and watch them eat and grunt. There were fields of corn and other vegetables, all kinds of fruit trees, plenty of beautiful flowers (many of them wild) with bees and butterflies everywhere! Oh yes, there were frogs and green snakes to play with! And I can never forget the country fresh air and the most beautiful rainbows! The two room schoolhouse which included grades 1-5 was about 1 1/2 to 2 miles from my house; and of course, the black kids walked to school while the whites were bussed to another school outside of the neighborhood. We were bussed starting with grade six. Aside from our families, the school and the Ebenezer Baptist Church, organized in 1884 and built right on Semple Farm Road were the centers for community activities.
Since none of the people that I questioned could tell me where the name Semple Farm Road came from, I thought, well, I'd better try to find out. I talked to Hardy Cash in the city zoning office and also went to the Hampton Arts Commission where Mike Cobb, the curator, helped me a great deal. He spread out an old map that showed the layout of the entire area of interest. I learned that much of the land in Elizabeth County was actually farm land.
In my area, referred to as Back River, this land was divided into large sections. Some of the sections were named: Chesterville Farm, Downey Farm, Butler Farm, John Winder Farm and Semple Farm. Semple Farm was named for Edward Amistead Semple who was a county surveyor in the late 1800's.
I never knew there was a Winder Farm out there, so since this is my family name, I became very excited and expanded my research. I found that this land was named after a descendant of John Henry Winder, who was a confederate General from Summerset, Maryland. John Henry Winder's father was an outstanding attorney in the 19th century and his uncle was governor of Maryland. The excitement was increasing because somewhere in the past, I had heard that there were some Winders on the Eastern Shore and that they may be in our family. My sister remembers that there was a Winder from Eastern Shore in college when she was there. Any of my relatives who might have known these Winders have long passed away. Mr. Cobb told me that the Winders were a powerful and rich family in Maryland. Two of them bearing the names of their family members, John Winder and Levin Winder came to Virginia.
This information suggests to me that as I continue my research, I will probably learn that this powerful and rich family owned slaves, and that perhaps my family was among them. It was suggested to me to visit and/or contact the Hall of Records in Annapolis, Maryland. Also to try to read one of the few available copies of "Winders of Summerset County, Maryland". This book may possibly be found in the Kern library in Norfolk, or the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond. While I have done some research on my maternal grandparents, the Banks and Combs of York County, at this time, I am researching on the paternal side of the family. The surname is Winder.
Since I knew almost nothing about my ancestry, I have used many of the tips and techniques learned from the monthly meetings. To this point, I have traced back to my Great, Great-Grandmothers. On my father's father's side, Lucy Winder who was born in Elizabeth City County, Virginia and on my father's mother's side, Lucy Banks, who was born in York County. It was interesting to see that both of them were named Lucy!
My father, Mcallister Winder, better known as "Jack" Winder, was a talented and crafty man. He was called upon by many people to straighten out problems with their cars and other things around the house. One of 15 siblings, he was employed in the Riggers Department at the Newport News Shipyard and passed away at age 44 in 1957.
My research has revealed the answer to a question that I recently asked and no one seemed to have the answer to... What was my great grandmother's name? And where did she come from? I had been hearing different accounts as I grew up. She was Maria Winder from Elizabeth County, Virginia, and years after my grandfather was born, she married Edward Wray, Jr, which made a lot of other things clear to me. Just recently, I was referred to Mrs. Nannie Belle Batten in Hampton who gave me the names of several Winders, most of them are now deceased; years ago she would hear some of the referring to some cousins that lived "out in Back River". One of the names that Mrs. Batten gave me was Maria Winder, but this was not my great-grandmother Maria. There was a Charles Allen Winder, and my brother's name is Charles Allen Winder. Another area to research.
My hope is that further talking and looking will tell me how my great-grandmother, Elizabeth Smith, learned how to become an outstanding midwife! There are still many people, some of the White, who say that she delivered them. My parents told me that she delivered each of them and that she also brought me here. The excitement of discovering new family connections and learning the facts about certain things is getting greater and greater!
The following resources were used for my research: Interviews, Histories found in the Virginia Room at the library, Land Books, Indexes and books for marriage licenses inn the courthouse, and maps / files at the Arts Commission. As a footnote, my first cousins have been asked to search for pictures, etc., and to secure copies of birth, marriage, and death certificates of their family members. We will get together in June to share what we have found.
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- Yes, date unknown
d. Aug 1957, Hampton, Hampton City, Virginia, USA