People Enslaved in Virginia by John James of Wythe and Smyth Counties

My 3rd great-grandfather, John James (1790-1875), was a slave holder in southwestern Virginia in the decades leading up to the Civil War. He is enumerated with enslaved people in each census from 1830 to 1860. 

In 1830 he was enumerated with 11 enslaved people.[i]

In 1840 he was enumerated with 6 enslaved people.[ii]

In 1850 he was enumerated with 8 enslaved people.[iii]

In 1860 he was enumerated with 15 enslaved people.[iv]

Eight children were born to women he enslaved in Smyth County during the years 1853-1866 when slave birth information was collected. 

·         Jane was born 28 May 1853.

·         Ballard was born 22 Jul 1853. 

·         Sanders was born to Eliza 16 Apr 1855

·         Emeline was born to Hannah 15 Sep 1855.

·         Rose was born 20 Mar 1857. 

·         Beverly R. was born to Hanner 26 Oct 1858. 

·         Thomas was born to Hannah 16 Aug 1860.

·         Charly was born to Eliza 15 April 1862. 

·         Stephen was born to Hanner 2 Nov 1862. 

After emancipation it is possible to identify some of the people and family groups enslaved by John James. The 1870 census shows a Saunders L. Bolden enumerated in 1870 living with Allen and Eliza Bolden in St. Clair, Smyth, Virginia. Both appear in the 1866 Smyth County Cohabitation List where Eliza names her last owner as John James. 

The children born to Hannah or Hanner are all named by Hannah Wadkins in the Cohabitation Lists. She does not appear to have a living partner, but names all her children and John James as the last man to own her. While Eliza Bolden and Lewis Madison appear in the 1870 census, I have not found Hannah. Nor her children. Yet.

Lewis Madison appears in the Cohabitation List, also naming John James as his last owner. His wife, Ada, named Levi Williams, another of my 3rd great-grandfathers, as her last owner. Their children were most likely owned by Levi. Another post. 

 Census Correlation

1830 Census	1840 Census	1850 Slave Schedule	1860 Slave Schedule	Possible Identity
			Male, 2 mos. old	Thomas Wadkins, born 16 Aug 1860[v]
			Male, 9 mos. old
			Male, 2 years old	Beverly Wadkins, born 26 Oct 1858[vi]
			Male, 5 years old	Sanders Bolden, born 16 Apr 1855[vii]
			Male, 7 years old	Ballard, born 22 Jul 1853[viii]
			Male, 8 years old
			Male, 10 years old
		Male, 2 years old	Male, 12 years old
	Male, under 10	Male, 7 years old
Male, under 10	Male 10-23	Male, 20 years old
Male, under 10	Male 10-23	Male, 34 years old	Male, 45 years old	Lewis Madison[ix]
Male, 24-35
			Female, 4 years old	Rose, born 20 Mar 1857[x]
			Female, 5 years old
	Female, under 10	Female, 16 years old	Female, 22 years old	Eliza Bolden[xi]
Female, under 10	Female, 10-23	Female, 24 years old	Female, 32 years old	Hannah Wadkins[xii]
Female, under 10
Female, under 10
Female, under 10
Female, 10-23	Female, 24-35
Female, 10-23
Female, 24-35		Female, 50 years old	Female 60 years old
Female, 24-35		Female, 60 years old	Female, 70 years old
11 People Enslaved	6 People Enslaved	8 People Enslaved	15 People Enslaved

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[i] 1830 U.S. census, Wythe County, Virginia, population schedule, page 336, John James; imaged in “1830 United States Federal Census,” Ancestry (1830 United States Federal Census - Ancestry.com : accessed 12 August 2026).

[ii] 1840 U.S census, Smyth County, Virginia, population schedule, page 396, John James; imaged in “1840 United States Federal Census,” Ancestry (Ancestry.com - 1840 United States Federal Census : accessed 12 August 2026).

[iii] 1850 U.S. census, Smyth County, Virginia, slave schedule, page 370, line 31, John James; imaged in “1850 United States Federal Census – Slave Schedules,” Ancestry (Ancestry.com - 1850 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules : accessed 12 August 2026).

[iv] 1860 U.S. census, Smyth County, Virginia, slave schedule, stamped page 258, line 11, John James; imaged in “1860 United States Federal Census – Slave Schedules,” Ancestry (Ancestry.com - 1860 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules : accessed 12 August 2026).

[v] Smyth County (Va.) Register of Colored Persons Cohabiting Together as Husband and Wife, 1866 Feb. 27, register page 1, Hannah Wadkins; imaged in “Cohabitation Registers Digital Collection,” Library of Virginia, Richmond, VA (Smyth County (Va.) Register of Colored Persons cohabiting together as Husband and Wife, 1866 Feb. 27 : accessed 12 August 2026. See also Slave Index to Births, 1853-1866, State of Virginia: Virginia. Birth Record Indexes 1853–1866: "Index to Births, 1853-1866, State of Virginia: Virginia. Birth Record Indexes 1853–1866", Image path: #008249760 > Item 1 > image 118 of 546, FamilySearch Image (accessed 12 August 2026).

[vi] Smyth County (Va.) Cohabitation Registers [register page 1, Hannah Wadkins]. See also Slave Index to Births, 1853-1866, image 118 of 546.

[vii] 1870 U.S. census, Smyth County, Virginia, population schedule, page 95B, dwelling 10, Eliza Bolden and Saunders L. Bolden; imaged in “1870 United States Federal Census,” Ancestry (1870 United States Federal Census - Ancestry.com : accessed 12 August 2026).

[viii] Slave Index to Births, 1853-1866, image 118 of 546.

[ix] Smyth County (Va.) Register of Colored Persons Cohabiting Together as Husband and Wife, 1866 Feb. 27, [register page 2, Lewis Madison].

[x] Slave Index to Births, 1853-1866, image 118 of 546.

[xi] Smyth County (Va.) Register of Colored Persons Cohabiting Together as Husband and Wife, 1866 Feb. 27, [register page 2, Eliza Bolin]. See also 1870 U.S. census, Smyth County, Virginia, population schedule, page 95B, dwelling 10, Eliza Bolden and Saunders L. Bolden and Slave Index to Births, 1853-1866, image 118 of 546. Eliza Bolin’s children listed in the Cohabitation Register are Lloyd (b. abt 1853), Sanders (b. abt 1856), Jackson, (b.abt 1859), and Sarah, (b. abt 1861).

[xii] Smyth County (Va.) Register of Colored Persons Cohabiting Together as Husband and Wife, 1866 Feb. 27, [register page 1, Hannah Wadkins]. See also Slave Index to Births, 1853-1866, image 118 of 546. In addition to the children named in the Birth Index, Hannah Wadkins also names children Lee (b.abt 1845), Allen (b. abt 1847), Martin (b. abt. 1848), Daniel (b. abt 1849) and Jane (b. abt 1854).

My Grandfather "Pysta"

My father's father died in 1948 when Daddy was 19 years old. He was known in the United States as Stephen Popp. His background was confusing to me. He was well educated. Spoke Hungarian, a Ruthenian/Rusyn dialect, some Italian, and English. He may have spoken Romanian, as well. His mother's family were Greek Catholic priests, and he was raised in a primarily Rusyn village. Because of his religion and the village he was from, I decided he was likely an ethnic Carpatho-Rusyn. 

But. Always buts. Lots of things didn't fit. The family were landowners and wealthy by Carpathian standards. His surname and his mother's were common Hungarian surnames. He and several brothers had government positions. They were sent away to school. His father's family had migrated to the Carpathian region from Romania sometime in the early 19th century when the Hungarian government was trying to send Hungarians to settle in the borderlands. None of these are common to Carpatho-Rusyns.

My father's DNA tests suggested a lot of Balkan ancestry. Also known as Romanian or Hungarian. A puzzle that I let sit. For decades.

My inheritance from that side of the family included boxes and boxes of photographs, letters, notebooks, address books, my grandmother's needlework, candles, icons, and a packet of letters my aunt handed to me stressing that these were important. They were from a brother in Europe, concerning land my grandfather had left in his brother's charge. And she shared a whispered story that my grandfather had also left a child in Europe. He hadn't married there. But he had a mistress and a child. He never told his wife or children, but another brother living nearby knew and they spoke of it some. Usually in Hungarian so their wives wouldn't understand, but my great-uncle's wife heard enough to let my grandmother know what they were discussing. My grandmother was a great one for keeping secrets. Fortunately, she shared them with her daughter before she died. Including the fact that her husband had a pressed flower in his prayer book that had been there since before they were married.

I scanned the letters and documents she gave me, made a couple attempts at having them translated, but no one locally could read the handwritten early 20th c. Hungarian. So they sat. 

The AI translation of telegram yesterday naming my grandfather as Pysta was my first attempt in decades to examine the papers. AI made the difference. Today I uploaded 18 years of letters and legal documents. Gem (my nickname for Gemini) proved worthy of the name, revealing the story we never knew. Gem titled the timeline "The Two Lives of István Pap". Slightly dramatic, but not wrong.  

The first dated document according to Gem was a 6 November 1920 Certified Public Notary Deed (Hiteles kiadvány) recording a land sale of 10 acres in Satu Mare, Romania from brother János Papp to his brother István Papp for the sum of 5,000 crowns (Hungarian currency). I am going to have to go over the rest of the documents carefully to determine how much of this transaction actually happened, for what my grandfather was doing was leaving assets in charge of his brother to provide for his son, living in Ukraine. A son his brother called "a kis Pista" or little Pista, likely named Stefan or István as his father was. This all becomes clear in the later letters and documents. 

On the back page is a handwritten accounting of items my grandfather Pysta left with his brother. It appears they were sold, yielding almost 4,000 lei. Gem translated it thus:

"There is a fascinating informal addendum written in a different hand, dated November 7, 1920 (the day after the notary meeting). It looks like a receipt for "moving costs" or a final settlement of accounts between them.

It lists items and their value in Lei (the Romanian currency):

• 3,000 lei cash (készpénz)

• 450 lei for a pair of shoes (pár czipő)

• 250 lei for boots and trousers (csizma nadrág)

• 200 lei for a fur coat/sheepskin cloak (bunda)

• 27 lei for house money (ház pénz)

• 16 lei for an advertisement (hirdetés)

• 1,050 Hungarian Crowns were also exchanged.

• Total: 3,943 lei"

Again, I need to go over this more carefully to figure out if these were funds my grandfather took and used to travel to the United States or funds left with his brother for support of the child. 

To say that I am a fan of using AI in family history research would be an understatement.