{"id":1643,"date":"2011-11-07T09:10:38","date_gmt":"2011-11-07T09:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.lib.utc.edu\/archivist\/?p=1643"},"modified":"2013-09-13T20:07:14","modified_gmt":"2013-09-13T20:07:14","slug":"the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/2011\/11\/07\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Plantation<\/a>Photo from the cover of Mr. Baker’s book<\/em>, The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation<\/p>\n

Just back from the Society of Tennessee Archivists<\/a> conference, I’d like to highlight a particularly interesting session I attended. At the conference I was privileged to hear the story of John F. Baker, Jr.<\/strong>, who has spent nearly his entire life researching his enslaved ancestors (enslaved on a plantation in Robertson County, Tennessee). The short description of his presentation from our conference program is as follows:<\/p>\n

A descendant of Wessyngton<\/strong> slaves, John F. Baker Jr., has written the most accessible and exciting work of African American history since <\/em>Roots. Using photographs and documents gathered through his extensive archival research, Baker tells the story of his ancestors Emanuel and Henny Washington, who were enslaved on Wessyngton Plantation owned by the Washington family as well as the story of the hundreds of other African Americans connected with the plantation for more than two hundered years.<\/em><\/p>\n

I would like to add that in addition to traditional archival research (using photos, documents, oral histories, etc), he constructed his family’s story by information found through field research such as excavations at slave cabin sites<\/strong>, and facilitating extensive DNA testing<\/strong> in order to trace his enslaved ancestors’ African origins. I was blown away by Mr. Baker’s commitment to his research- he has a “day” job and conducted all of his research in his off time on evenings and weekends. His story is not just important to him and his family however, but also to our understanding of time and place and family.<\/p>\n

Though I admit that I chuckled when Baker’s book was compared to Roots<\/em> in our conference program, I’m not laughing now. It is a different type of story than Roots, but is all the more valuable for it. I urge you to read the story of the Washingtons. Visit the Wessyngton website<\/a> for more information. The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation<\/em> can be purchased at many bookstores including amazon.com<\/a> in hardback, paperback, or ebook or check with your local library.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo from the cover of Mr. Baker’s book, The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation Just back from the Society of Tennessee Archivists conference, I’d like to highlight a particularly interesting session I attended. At the conference I was privileged to hear the story of John F. Baker, Jr., who has spent nearly his entire life researching… <\/p>\n

Continue Reading <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":414,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4922],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1643","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-special-collections","7":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nThe Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation - UTC Library Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation - UTC Library Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Photo from the cover of Mr. Baker’s book, The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation Just back from the Society of Tennessee Archivists conference, I’d like to highlight a particularly interesting session I attended. At the conference I was privileged to hear the story of John F. Baker, Jr., who has spent nearly his entire life researching… Continue Reading\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/2011\/11\/07\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UTC Library Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-07T09:10:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-09-13T20:07:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.lib.utc.edu\/archivist\/files\/2011\/11\/wessyngton-cover-download1-e1320423983468.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chapel Cowden\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chapel Cowden\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/07\\\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/07\\\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chapel Cowden\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e2801f5426e52aa6a2ba99edb2409029\"},\"headline\":\"The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-07T09:10:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-09-13T20:07:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/07\\\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":350,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/07\\\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blog.lib.utc.edu\\\/archivist\\\/files\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/wessyngton-cover-download1-e1320423983468.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Special Collections\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/07\\\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/07\\\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/07\\\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation - UTC Library Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/07\\\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/07\\\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blog.lib.utc.edu\\\/archivist\\\/files\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/wessyngton-cover-download1-e1320423983468.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-07T09:10:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-09-13T20:07:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e2801f5426e52aa6a2ba99edb2409029\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/07\\\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/07\\\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/07\\\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blog.lib.utc.edu\\\/archivist\\\/files\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/wessyngton-cover-download1-e1320423983468.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blog.lib.utc.edu\\\/archivist\\\/files\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/wessyngton-cover-download1-e1320423983468.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/2011\\\/11\\\/07\\\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/\",\"name\":\"UTC Library Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025\",\"description\":\"Your Scrappy UT Chattanooga Library\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e2801f5426e52aa6a2ba99edb2409029\",\"name\":\"Chapel Cowden\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3a0c811067daadb41be5513a5d9fdac7c200f515e4049527539e7619abefc6d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3a0c811067daadb41be5513a5d9fdac7c200f515e4049527539e7619abefc6d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3a0c811067daadb41be5513a5d9fdac7c200f515e4049527539e7619abefc6d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Chapel Cowden\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/library\\\/author\\\/pgd128\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation - UTC Library Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation - UTC Library Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025","og_description":"Photo from the cover of Mr. Baker’s book, The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation Just back from the Society of Tennessee Archivists conference, I’d like to highlight a particularly interesting session I attended. At the conference I was privileged to hear the story of John F. Baker, Jr., who has spent nearly his entire life researching… Continue Reading","og_url":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/2011\/11\/07\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\/","og_site_name":"UTC Library Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025","article_published_time":"2011-11-07T09:10:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-09-13T20:07:14+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.lib.utc.edu\/archivist\/files\/2011\/11\/wessyngton-cover-download1-e1320423983468.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Chapel Cowden","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chapel Cowden","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/2011\/11\/07\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/2011\/11\/07\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\/"},"author":{"name":"Chapel Cowden","@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/#\/schema\/person\/e2801f5426e52aa6a2ba99edb2409029"},"headline":"The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation","datePublished":"2011-11-07T09:10:38+00:00","dateModified":"2013-09-13T20:07:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/2011\/11\/07\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\/"},"wordCount":350,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/2011\/11\/07\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.lib.utc.edu\/archivist\/files\/2011\/11\/wessyngton-cover-download1-e1320423983468.jpg","articleSection":["Special Collections"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/2011\/11\/07\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/2011\/11\/07\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\/","url":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/2011\/11\/07\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\/","name":"The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation - UTC Library Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/2011\/11\/07\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/2011\/11\/07\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.lib.utc.edu\/archivist\/files\/2011\/11\/wessyngton-cover-download1-e1320423983468.jpg","datePublished":"2011-11-07T09:10:38+00:00","dateModified":"2013-09-13T20:07:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/#\/schema\/person\/e2801f5426e52aa6a2ba99edb2409029"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/2011\/11\/07\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/2011\/11\/07\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/2011\/11\/07\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.lib.utc.edu\/archivist\/files\/2011\/11\/wessyngton-cover-download1-e1320423983468.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.lib.utc.edu\/archivist\/files\/2011\/11\/wessyngton-cover-download1-e1320423983468.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/2011\/11\/07\/the-washingtons-of-wessyngton-plantation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/","name":"UTC Library Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025","description":"Your Scrappy UT Chattanooga Library","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/#\/schema\/person\/e2801f5426e52aa6a2ba99edb2409029","name":"Chapel Cowden","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3a0c811067daadb41be5513a5d9fdac7c200f515e4049527539e7619abefc6d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3a0c811067daadb41be5513a5d9fdac7c200f515e4049527539e7619abefc6d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3a0c811067daadb41be5513a5d9fdac7c200f515e4049527539e7619abefc6d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Chapel Cowden"},"url":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/author\/pgd128\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/414"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1643"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7737,"href":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1643\/revisions\/7737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}