Virginia Bremser’s Cumberland County (and English) Roots
My mom’s paternal grandmother, (Etta) Virginia (Christian) Bremser, who was called “Mum”, came from a long line of English settlers living in Cumberland County, VA.
Image 1 - John Christian’s 1955 death certificate
Image 2 - 1880 census
Mum was the daughter of John T. Christian (1871-1955) and Etta Serene Barker (1872 - 1949). John’s death certificate, from 1955 in Richmond, VA (Image 1).
Maternal (Barker) Side
Mum’s mother Etta’s parents were Joseph McGhee Barker (1824-1907) and Lucy Jane White (1834-1917). The Barkers were from Cumberland County and the Whites seem to be from Fluvanna.
Paternal (Christian) Side
Mum’s father John’s parents were James L. Christian (1842 - 1884) and Sallie Cook (1840 - ?).
The 1880 census (Image 2) shows James and Sallie having been born and living in Virginia, with son John, 9, and daughter Mattie, 6.
Image 3 - Confederate pension document, 1908.
A 1908 Confederate pension document submitted by “Sallie C. Christian”, age 59, seeks funds relating to the military service of her husband, “James L. Christian”. She lists her birthplace as Cumberland County, and her current residence as Richmond, VA, as of 1901. (Image 3)
James Christian, Mum’s grandfather, seems to have been a Confederate soldier and to have died in 1884. A state marriage record shows James and Sallie having been married in Cumberland County on December 19, 1867. It lists James as being born in Buckingham county, VA, to David and Mary Christian. That is where we will leave James’s side for now.
There is much more of a record of Sallie’s roots. The 1867 marriage record (FHL: 30774; ID: p9 N42) lists David and Mary Christian as household members, along with James E. and Sarah H. Cooke, Sallie’s parents.
James E. Cooke, overseer
James E. Cooke is found on the 1850 census, at age 39, living in Cumberland County with his wife, Sarah Cooke, and children including a daughter, also Sarah Cooke, who was 10 years old.
He is listed as living in Powhatan, VA, and his occupation is listed as “overseer” of a plantation.
The “Barker-Cooke Papers, 1809-1889”, held at the College of William & Mary’s Swem Library, consist of “letters and business papers, chiefly 1848-1866, of James E. Cooke of Powhatan, Virginia and the Barker family of Fluvanna County, Virginia including letters relating to the hiring out of slaves, plantation operations and the Civil War.”
It seems that Mum’s parents were a union from two families with history together! Before her parents, her great aunt from the Barker side - Joseph’s sister Mildred, (1845-1929) had married her great uncle from the Cooke side - James H. Cook!