Freeman Family

Alonzo Feadore Freeman (1889 to 14 Jan 1953)

Alonzo F. Freeman, Sr & Bessie Briggs Freeman

Alonzo Feadore Freeman, Sr was born on March 10, 1889, Stateville, NC to John (b. abt 1864) and Adeline Freeman (b. abt 1864). By the 1900 US Census, John, a day laborer, and Adeline were living with their three children, Nannie B. (June 1883), Earnest (Oct 1886), and Alonzo, Sr (July 1888).

On April 5, 1917 Alonzo married Bessie Virginia Briggs (1899-1976) in Cambria, Virginia. On July 31, 1917 their first son was born in Cambria, and named Alonzo Freeman, Jr. On the birth certificate Alonzo senior’s occupation was waiter and clothes presser at Mountain Lake resort, Virginia and Bessie was cook. They may have been living with Bessie’s mother and step-father who were living along the railroad tracks in Cambria during this time.

The couple was living in Blacksburg, Virginia by the 1920 US Census, on 1st Street, NE (Jackson Street) with their two children, Alonzo Jr and Nannie Bell (1919-1987). Bessie’s sister, Willie B. Muse and brother, Edward Muse were also living with them. Alonzo Sr owned his home and his own presser shop (cleaner) at this point. They were living next to Nellie Anderson.

A decade later, 1930s, we find the family living in the same home, now worth $1,600, surrounded by other African American neighbors on Jackson and Bennett Streets: Wade Sears, Charles Saunders, Lev Collins, John Stolt, Yola Young, Emmett Meade, William Turner, Floyd Meade, Louise Anderson, and Leonard Price. The Freemans are found in the 1932 City Directory, on 302 E. Jackson Street, proprietor of the Blacksburg Press Shop.

The family had added three more children – Ernest Linwood (b.1922), Haywood (1924-1984), and Beatrice (1926-2013) by this decade. Alonzo was running his own clothes cleaning shop, the first to open in Blacksburg. Bessie worked for the Episcopal priest, The Rev. Richard and Jean Martin (note of Bea Freeman, 2007, courtesy of the Blacksburg Museum).

Photo from the Martha Shupp Phillips thesis (1948) which someone unknown labeled.

The 1940s was the decade when all of the males in the family registered for the 1942 World War II Draft, which provided Alonzo’s middle name, Feadore, as well as the name of his shop, Modern Dry Cleaners (See the early 1950s map of Blacksburg below). Alonzo Jr was the principal of the Clay Street graded school, Linwood was working for the Radford Ordnance Works, and Haywood was working for Ray Taylor.

Freeman Family Home at the North/Eastern corner of Progress and Jackson Street (circled)

All the children were still living with their parents according to the 1940 census. Nannie Bell was listed as a private house maid and Linwood was a pin setter at the college bowling alley. Alonzo was running his cleaning business and Bessie was a private cook.

A shadow of the Freeman home behind Christ Episcopal Church, South East corner of Church and Jackson Streets.

On November 19, 1947 Nannie Bell, a beautician, married a mechanic from Radford, Sidney Grant Snell (1921-1975). The Snells raised 6 children and lived at 404 Jackson Street (house no longer standing), down the street from their grandparents, Alonzo & Bessie Briggs Freeman (202 Jackson St., also no longer standing but at the same corner of Jackson & Progress Streets as the firehouse).

By the 1950s census, Alonzo is in his 60s, working in Virginia Polytechnic Institute’s Cleaning Plant. Nannie Bell Freeman Snell and her daughter, Doris Ann are living with her parents. By this time all three sons are living in DC – Linwood is living with Haywood. Alonzo Jr was the principal of the Clay Street segregated school, married and became principal of an elementary school in Baltimore.

Notes on Bessie Virginia Briggs Freeman (1899 to 1976)

Bessie’s mother is Nancy Sweeney who was born in 1872 in Christiansburg. Bessie’s father is Noah Briggs, son of George and Jane Briggs. Noah and Nancy married on 14 February 1894. In the 1900 Census the Briggs, Greens, and Sweeney (several generations of the same family)were neighbors in Cambria. Nancy Sweeny Briggs then married Harvey (Harry) Muse of Cambria, VA by the 1910 Census (he was lime kiln laborer) and they had four Muse children, Willie B. (1902), Grace (1904), Connie (1906) and Edward (1909-1950). Edward Muse married Bessie Lynch (1911) and they settled in New Town, next to the Greens to raise their 5 children: Jean (1932), Constance (1934), Shirley Ann (1936), Edward Jr (1938) and Harold A. (b. abt. 1940). In 1940 Edward was working in the VPI Monogram Presser Plant with Alonzo Freeman, Sr as well as his neighbor, John Green.

In 2013, Beatrice Freeman Walker, the youngest daughter of Bessie and Alonzo, gave an insightful interview that is archived in the Virginia Tech University Libraries. In the interview, she discusses her mother’s work in the private homes of influential community members, her deep involvement with the Independent Order of St. Luke’s (St. Frances Council #235), which shared a hall in New Town with the Odd Fellows and the Household of Ruth, and her crucial role in coordinating the return of soldiers for family funerals through the Red Cross. The interview provides further information about her father creating a weekend retreat for African Americans on land he owned, called Paradise View, off of Grissom Lane, now Nellie’s Cave, as well as important history about Blacksburg.

Notes to Further Explore – Mountain Lake Connection

Patricia Givens Johnson in her book on page 53, (Kentland at Whitethorne, Walpa Publishing, Blacksburg, Va, 1995) mentions Mrs. Freeman who was a chambermaid at Mountain Lake Hotel soon after emancipation. She married Bob Jackson, who was enslaved by James Randal Kent (1792-1867) who owned Kentland Plantation. Some of their children took the Jackson name and others took her Freeman name. The children’s names that Mrs Johnson included: “Flemish Jackson, Bessie, Bob, Qu, and Irene Freeman”. She notes that the children were employed by the hotel for many years into the 1900’s. This will be further explored, but perhaps when Alonzo married he was working at the hotel because of family ties.

The Montgomery Museum of Art and History presented an exhibit, Women Who Changed Montgomery County. Nannie Bell Freeman Snell was featured. October 2022