THE McMASTERS FAMILY OF DADEVILLE MISSOURI Etta Geraldine West married Horace McMasters, 23 Apr 1934, at Cane Hill, Missouri. Horace was born 12 Aug 1911, in Dade County. Etta Geraldine (West) and Horace McMasters had four children, all born in Dade County. Dixie Lorene McMasters, born 22 May 1936, married Mr. Helvey. Harold Gene McMasters, born 2 Jul 1941. Richard Dean McMasters, born 16 Sep 1946 and Michael Keith McMasters, born 8 Apr 1948.

Upon adulthood, Gresham Choice was a successful plantation owner with over a hundred acres of land and ten slaves who helped with the production of cotton and coffee. In addition to his plantation, Gresham Choice operated a successful store on Snow Creek, in partnership with William Stockton.

It may prove helpful to recall that Tully Choice, Sr., Gresham's grandfather, owned a tract of 400 acres of land on Snow Creek where Tully, Sr., was buried. Gertrude (Casler) Mann said she has seen Tully's gravesite, but she did not pinpoint its location.

Gresham Choice married a widow, Cassandra (Barrow) Jones, 12 Jul 1833, in Henry County, Virginia. The performing minister was A. Walker

Cassandra Barrow, daughter of William Barrow, was born in Dinwiddie County or Henry County, Virginia, about 1808. Cassandra and her sister, Susan, spent their childhood in the Leatherwood section of Martinville, Henry County. Susan Barrow married William Stockton, business partner of Gresham Choice.

Cassandra Barrow's first marriage was to Armistead Jones, 21 Dec 1825, in Henry County, Virginia. Armistead Jones died. There was no issue from that marriage.

Cassandra (Barrow) Jones and Gresham Choice had at least eight children, and possibly more. Seven of their children were named in the 1850 U.S.Census for Franklin County, Virginia (GCM): John B., 1834; James I., 1836; William A., 1839; Pemberton, 1840; Julia, 1844; Mary C., 1847; and Marshall Choice, 1849.

Cassandra had at least one more child. This information was gleaned from a lawsuit filed by a black woman, Indiana Choice, who sued Gresham Choice for her freedom. Court testimony indicates that Cassandra was expecting another child in late 1851, or early 1852.

Here I shall digress briefly in order to present some particulars about that court case. The following account has been constructed from information forwarded by R. Rex Stephenson (RRS), Drama Director of BLUE RIDGE FOLKLORE-THE JACK TALES, Ferrum College, Ferrum, Virginia, based on actual court transcripts.

INDIANA CHOICE, FREE BLACK WOMAN, OF FRANKLIN COUNTY

A former slave named Free Fanny, and her husband Stephen, were the parents of Indiana, who later adopted the surname Choice. Steven was a slave on the Barrow plantation in Dinwiddie County, owned by Cassandra's father, William. We do not know what surname Indiana's parents used. When the Barrow family moved to Henry County, Virginia, Free Fanny and her children moved with them. It is not clear whether Stephen also moved.

Indiana was so named by her mother because she was born in 1816, the year in which the State of Indiana was admitted into the Union as a Free State. Free Fanny died when Indiana was only three years old. The baby was then placed, by William Barrow, in the care of his daughter Cassandra who would have been about 12 at the time. Indiana lived in the Barrow home and was well cared for by Cassandra. Over the years, Cassandra and Indiana established a strong bond of friendship, even though Indiana occupied a position of employment as Cassandra's servant.

When Cassandra married Armistead Jones, he accepted nine year old Indiana as his ward, and brought her to live with them. He repeatedly told Indiana that she was a "free" woman and could get her "papers" as soon as she was 21 years of age.

After Armistead Jones died, and Cassandra married Gresham Choice, Indiana who would have been 17 years old, continued in her capacity as maidservant to "Miss Cassie"; moved into the Choice household; and adopted their surname as her own.

By late 1847, Indiana had three small children and she wanted to leave Franklin County. She wanted to marry a man who was a slave at the Bernard plantation, not far from the Choice homestead. His surname is not mentioned in research material.

Gresham Choice refused to let Indiana leave his home on principle. He claimed that Indiana Choice was a slave and as such she belonged to him through his marriage to Cassandra.

Indiana insisted that she was a free woman and as such could live where she pleased. Gresham threatened to beat Indiana and to sell her as a slave at Lynchburg if she continued to defy him.

Indiana told Cassandra of Gresham's threats. Cassandra went to Indiana's aid by taking her to the legal offices of an old friend of the Barrow Family, Jubal Early. (Jubal Early in later years was to be known as General "Old Jube" Early of Confederate Forces fame during the American Civil War.)

By my reckoning, Indiana born in 1816, would have been 33 years old when she requested her release in 1847. Why had she not filed for her freedom when she was 21 years of age, as Armistead Jones had advised her to do? Then, she and her children would have both been free without any question.

Jubal Early advised Indiana to file a petition in the Circuit Superior Court of Franklin County, Virginia, which Indiana did. She sued for her own freedom and for the freedom of her three children, Washington, Ann Elizabeth, and Sandy. No surname was mentioned. Indiana, upon the advice of her lawyer, also asked for damages of one thousand dollars.

Such a lawsuit was unheard of in those days of the Old South: a black woman, possibly a slave, suing a respectable white man who was a pillar of the community. Not only that, but Gresham's wife was siding with Indiana, and against him.

Indiana's suit was repeatedly delayed in the hopes that she would reconsider and drop the legal action. Part of the delay was caused by the fact that Gresham Choice served as a member of the Grand Jury for the entire year of 1850. Other delays were contrived through some of Gresham's political and business connections. Nevertheless, all parties did attempt to settle the unusual case out of court. All during this time, Indiana continued to live, and serve, in the Choice household. This legal case could not have upset family harmony between Cassandra and Gresham too greatly, because Cassandra was expecting a baby at trial time.

Gresham would not relent in his contention that according to the laws of the State of Virginia when a man married a woman her property became his property. Indiana argued that she had been a free woman before Cassandra had married Gresham, therefore she was never a "property" to be transferred.

Attempts to settle out of court did not meet with success. Three years after Indiana filed her suit, it was accepted for the docket of the semiannual circuit court of Judge Norborne Taliferro.

Incidentally, Judge Taliferro had studied law under Jubal Early. On the other hand, Judge Taliferro and Gresham Choice were close personal friends who belonged to the same political party.

The trial finally took place in October of 1851 at the Court House on Main Street, Rocky Mount, Franklin County, Virginia. All of Franklin County and more, turned out for the trial. Gresham Choice was represented by attorney Andrew Edmunson who held a state-wide reputation as an attorney who had never lost a case.

The trial lasted three days and was the most exciting event the county had experienced in many years. Testimony concerning Indiana's threatened beating was not permitted because "disciplining" a slave was a "personal matter between master and slave if less than 39 strokes were involved."(RRS).

Cassandra was the key witness in the case. By the time of the trial she was pregnant with Gresham's eighth child. Although it must have been painful to testify against her husband, she made it clear in her testimony that the freedom of Indiana, and Indiana's children, was a much larger issue which she could not ignore.

The jury deliberated for over three hours. When they returned, they offered a verdict in favor of Indiana. The jury had agreed that Indiana and her children were free.

However, instead of the one thousand dollars in damages that Indiana had asked for, the jury awarded her only one cent. It would appear the jury felt that justice would be accomplished for black Indiana, but there was no need to add insult to injury for the white gentleman. (I assume this was an all-white jury.)

This entire trial had been thoroughly researched by members of the Blue Ridge Folklore Drama Department of Ferrum College, with the added assistance of Gertrude (Casler) Mann (GCM). This is how Gertrude came to be so knowledgeable about the Choices, and why she was so interested in helping me with my research.

R. Rex Stephenson sent me a playscript which his drama club had written, based on this trial. The play makes fascinating reading. Mr. Stephenson says the play is performed on a fairly regular basis by the Ferrum College Drama Club. It is titled, "Too Free for Me." (see Bibliography). The following item appears in the playbill:

Janet Foard, researcher, stumbled across the trial of Indiana Choice. In January, 1979, R. Rex Stephenson and Roy Talbert conceived the idea to use this material in developing a play centering around the trial of Indiana, alleged free woman of color that would explain race relations of this area in the 1850s.

Mr. Stephenson, offered some Choice genealogical material presented here, and explained some of the sociological background of Franklin County, Virginia, during the mid-1800s. He says that most of the slave owners had only two or three slaves, who worked side by side with their owners in the fields. Under those circumstances, there was no master/slave relationship. Friendships often developed between the white man and the black man. Mr. Stephenson says there were about 40 free blacks in Franklin County between 1850 and 1865. He said slaves were not beaten and slave codes were not enforced. There is much more sociological background evident within the text of the play. One of the characters in the play sums up the jury's decision as saying, "I guess they were saying that a free black couldn't be kept in bondage, but they weren't yet free enough to have their masters fined or imprisoned."

According to the playscript, after the conclusion of the trial Indiana Choice moved from the home of Cassandra and Gresham Choice to the nearby Bernard property where she married. She was still living there in 1876 "with one of her daughters... and a passel of grandchildren." She would have been 60 years old.

The level of stress these three years of legal battles presented in the Choice household could not have been too great. Gresham Choice went on to pursue his goal in politics: he became a member of the Virginia House of Delegates in 1853: and served two terms. Perhaps the family had moved to Richmond, Virginia, during his terms of service?

Sometime after 1860, Cassandra (Barrow) Jones and Gresham Choice, moved to the State of Texas. The circumstances which compelled them (enticed them?) to make such a move, has yet to be discovered. It is not known for sure how many of their children went with them.

I have been told that Gresham Choice had been involved as a witness in another lawsuit concerning a murder, but I have not been able to isolate the case (but then, I have not really expended much effort). Perhaps the reference was to the case, GEORGIA vs. CHOICE, in which his first cousin once removed, was convicted of murder. (See segment in this chapter for William A. Choice, presented earlier.)

Gresham Choice's main family was lost to me after their move to Texas. Mr. Stephenson says that Gresham died sometime before 1867 but offers no date of death for Cassandra.