This collection of 42 family photographs and documents focuses on Media resident Sam Lemon’s great-great-grandparents, who escaped slavery in Virginia during the Civil War and made their separate ways to Media. They likely had the assistance of the Underground Railroad and different Friends groups along the way. This collection was given to Mr. Lemon by his grandmother, Maud Ray Ridley, who also shared the stories behind the photographs in the oral history tradition. He retains the original images but has allowed the MHAC to post scans on this website. A longer document at this link, by Dr. Lemon, shares a more detailed family history. Thanks to volunteers Karen Glynn and Adeline Ciannella for helping scan and catalog this collection.
Birth records from the Ridley family bible, with information about George Washington Ridley, Rachel Ann Ridley, William Henry Ridley, Rosa Ann Ridley, and Bessie L. Nicholson.
Birth records from family bible, with information about George Washington Ridley, Rachel Ann Ridley, William Henry Ridley, Rosa Ann Ridley, Bessie L. Nicholson, Alma Ridley White, Maud Ray Ridley, Everett Cornelius White, Casper Miller White, Swithin Sterling White
They purchased their home at 308 North Olive Street in 1872, 10 years or so after escaping Virginia. Their descendants continued to live in the house until about 1972, when it was sold and torn down.
Born a slave on Bonnie Doon Plantation in Southampton County, Virginia, he lived from 1839-1922. His father, Col. Thomas Ridley III, owned the plantation. Cornelius never knew his mother, and he ran away by himself in the spring of 1861. He made his way to Media, Pennsylvania, probably with the help of the Blackwater Quakers of southeastern Virginia. On his arrival in Media, Isaac and Elizabeth Smedley Yarnall, members of Providence Friends Meeting, took him in and helped him get settled.
Pictured with son Eddie and daughter Lily. George escaped slavery as a child with his mother, Martha Jane Parham, his sister Rachel, and his uncle, Andison Parham.
Portrait when she was about age 18. She was born in St. Croix to a local laundress and George A. Philips, a wealthy white New Yorker who owned businesses and plantations in the West Indies. She was educated and cared for in St. Croix while her father resided in St. Thomas. She left St. Croix as a young woman and sailed to New York. By then George Philips had died and her white relatives did not welcome her. She moved to Washington, D.C. where she lived until she married William Henry Ridley.
She lived from 1840 to 1919. She escaped from John Y. Mason's Fortsville Plantation with two of her children and her brother Andison Parham and his daughter. They fled to the Union army as it passed Fortsville plantation on the way to Petersburg in 1864. Martha Jane and Andison Parham worked for the Union army at the siege of Petersburg before continuing north to the Arlington Heights refugee camp on the outskirts of Washinton, D.C.
Postcard portrait taken at age 17 and addressed to her father. Text on reverse: "Taken July 22, 1908, Age 17 years 2 months 22 days. Your Only Child, Maud."
