Repairing Nancy Jackson’s Gravestone

Lecture
Written By John Mills

In 1835, James and Martha Bulloch, the grandparents of Theodore Roosevelt, traveled from Roswell Georgia to Connecticut. They were there visiting their son who was in College. Martha was pregnant, so they brought along their enslaved woman, Nancy Jackson, to act as "Mammy" to their newborn in the event she was born while in Connecticut, which occurred… Martha Bulloch Roosevelt (Theodore Roosevelt’s Mother) was born. This caused the family to remain in Connecticut much longer than expected. In 1774, Connecticut had passed the Nonimportation Act, a state law that prohibited the Importation of enslaved people. Given the time the Bulloch's had been in Connecticut, they could be considered residents, which would put them in conflict with this act. Due to this, Nancy Jackson filed a case for freedom in 1837 and won.

This story is told often in Connecticut… but when told, it commonly leaves out the alignment to Theodore Roosevelt’s family. I also discovered through research that on their return to Georgia, Mr. Bulloch used the parents and siblings of Nancy Jackson to support the raising of Teddy Roosevelt’s mother. Nancy’s parents were Luke and Charlotte Monroe… both mentioned in the 1921 book, “My Brother Theodore Roosevelt,“ written by Corinne Roosevelt Robinson (Theodore’s sister). Two of Nancy Jackson’s siblings (Grace and William) are pictured in an image captured when Theodore returned to the Bulloch Mansion in 1905.

All of Nancy's family was enslaved in Georgia... her mother, father, brother, and sisters. So, while Nancy was freed, her family was not. I imagine this created incredibly complex emotions for both Nancy and her family, now living apart.

Sometime after Nancy Jackson won her freedom in 1837, she moved to New York. She lived out her life there, dying in 1906. I recently discovered that she is buried in a plot at The Evergreens Cemetery in Brooklyn. Buried in her plot along with her is her formerly enslaved sister, Rachael Monroe, along with Rachael’s daughter Charlotte and her husband William.

Sadly, Nancy’s gravestone is no longer standing. At some point, it fell over, and now lays flat on the ground. I would like to repair Nancy’s gravestone. I’ve reached out to The Evergreens Cemetery, and they agreed to allow me to hire and fund the repair. We are tentatively planning to have this work done in late Spring, 2025

This entire family needs to be celebrated for their strength and endurance. Please consider supporting us in funding this effort. You can do so at https://alexbreanne.org/donate.

Thanks and God Bless.

John

John Mills

Originally from San Diego, John Mills is a technologist by trade, but an equity advocate and independent scholar by passion. The descendant of both southern and northern enslaved, John focuses on unearthing little known people and stories of this country’s history in slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. John presents research through the lens and perspective of a descendant, with intent to inspire understanding and empathy, a means to inspire good, God fearing people, now armed with information, to look into whether they may be unwittingly aligning to biases resulting from the reverberating effects of a past time. John is a member of the Connecticut Freedom Trail and a member of the Webb Deane Stevens Museum Council. John is also working with an international team funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) in an effort to deliver transformational impact on digital methods in cultural institutions...a means to decolonize museums. Finally, John is working with the state of Connecticut, business leaders and scholars in Middletown, CT to honor and memorialize a former enslaved individual by the name of Prince Mortimer.

https://alexbreanne.org
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John Mills Lecture at Henry James Memorial School in Simsbury