If possible, I'm hoping to find further information about Rachael Mann, born about 1780 in VA. Rachael is said to be the child of an Algonquin parent and a white parent. I don't know the names of her parents, or all of her children, or where in Virginia she was born. I'm supposing she was born free, but I'm not certain. Rachael's son-in-law John F. Cook, his nine siblings, and their mother Laurena Browning Cook were bought out of slavery by their relative Alethia Browning Tanner of MD & DC.

Rachael Mann is counted in DC census 1850-1880 in households of the African-American family of Rev. John Francis Cook (1810-1855). Rachael's son-in-law Rev. J.F. Cook was active in the antislavery movement as the first African-American Presbyterian minister in DC and a pioneering educator.

This may or may not be the same Rachael/Rachel Mann who is identified as the mother of VA-born Reuben R. Strange (c. 1815-1889) in Warren County, OH. Reuben R. Strange served in the Union army and navy during the Civil War. Reuben's father is identified as David Strange, perhaps same as a free person of color in Frederick County, VA, 1830.