Hi Linda,

You are not joking when you say the Mason line runs deep in that area. There were a plethora of Jesse Mason's in Petersburg alive during the timeframe I'm researching. Also, I'm not even certain if Milly was a slave in Dinwiddie or if she migrated there after being freed. It appears as if Petersburg was the "happening" place for free blacks prior to the Civil War. People could have come from anywhere to settle and make a life for themselves. We both have some digging to do. Well, I guess this is where the fun begins