I am a descendant of the postwar Black Mosbys in the Virginian counties Cumberland and Powhatan looking to prove or confirm my relation to the prewar free Black Mosbys in the area.

My great grandmother (the mother of my paternal grandfather) is Josephine Mosby, born 1903 in Cumberland, Virginia.

Her parents were Sallie Foster (1878-aft. 1940) and Henry Mosby, born 1855 in Cumberland OR Powhatan Co., died ca. 1918 in Cumberland Co.

Henry Mosby (my 2nd great grandfather, 1855-1918) is the son of Henry and Susan (surname probably Mosby).

This concludes what I know to be fact, and then I have a few other hunches regarding my Mosby ancestry.

There is a Richmond record of a free Black woman named Susan Mosby who had wandered into the city in 1861 from her home in Powhatan County. I suspect this to be the same Susan Mosby who is my 3rd great grandmother. This Susan was living in 1850 in Powhatan County with her mother Harriet Mosby and her siblings. This Susan has a brother named Wade, suggesting a connection between her family and the prominent White Mosby family of Powhatan County, for whom Wade was a popular name.

I suspect this Susan and my ggg grandmother to be one and the same because of another trend in names. I've noticed Harriet to be a common female given name in my family. My great grandmother Josephine had a half sister named Harriet or Hattie, so the connection with Susan Mosby as the daughter of Harriet Mosby (Josephine's grandmother and great grandmother, respectively) seems to make sense.

Are there any others who may be able to help connect my Black Mosby family from Cumberland County with the free Black Mosbys of the next door Powhatan County? I am open to collaboration and any other methods we can use, including genetic testing.

(For any potential relatives out there, Josephine Mosby married John Freeland and gave birth to my paternal grandfather, James Earlie Freeland.)