A Cherished Old Grave Site at River Creek

A Cherished Old Grave Site at River Creek

By Joe Motheral

In 2002, a resident of River Creek, a gated community located between the Potomac River and Goose Creek, found a tombstone resting near a tall tree.

The inscription on the stone tablet read, “Bazil Newman departed this life July 8, 1852 at the age of 72 years nine months.”

According to information at the Balch Library in Leesburg, Newman had been the boatman on Edwards Ferry and his family cemetery, as shown on the County Cemetery Map, was located within what is now the River Creek community Bazil Newman gravesite at along Olympic Boulevard. The River Creek in Leesburg. River Creek Homeowners Association maintains the historic cemetery.

The U.S. Census of 1850 recorded “Bassell (sic) Newman, black,” and as “head of the household Basil (sic) Newman in 1835 purchased 119 acres of land along Goose Creek.” According to a staffer at the Balch LIbrary, “that meant he couldn’t have been a slave. He had to have been free to have owned land.”

Bazil Newman gravesite at River Creek in Leesburg.

Marc Montgomery, the developer of River Creek, had the headstone set in concrete, put up a plaque and sponsored a dedication ceremony in February, 2008.

Pauline Singletary, the chairperson of the Loudoun County Black History Committee, was in attendance that day and said, “We think that Bazil Newman was part of the underground railway, transporting escaped Black slaves across the river into Maryland where they went on to points north.” There also is evidence that Philadelphia abolitionists listed names of former Loudoun County slaves then living in that city.

Bazil Newman eventually owned 186 acres, within the 500-plus acres of the present day River Creek community. He farmed the land, apparently raising wheat, and also operated the ferry. In 1839, he ran an ad in Leesburg’s Genius of Liberty weekly newspaper announcing that he “may always be found at his post and the most careful.”

Along Goose Creek, according to records from the Balch Library, William Shreve, a White man, owned a warehouse back then that was constructed on the other side of Goose Creek from the land Newman had purchased in 1835.

Shreve also placed several ads in Genius of Liberty.

“Bazil Newman, well known as an old and experienced boatman, who will attend at the warehouse to receive and forward goods.” At some point, Newman later joined two others in the ownership of Elizabeth Mill located along Goose Creek.

This being the period before the advent of railroads, goods were often transported via waterways. Just downstream from where Goose Creek enters the Potomac are the remnants of locks that were used to hoist boats on to the C&O Canal. It afforded opportunities for the warehouse to send grain into the Washington, D.C. area.

Records at the Balch Library indicated Newman was born in November, 1779 and by 1820. He had three sons, Basil, Benjamin and Robert. Benjamin carried on the family tradition by operating Edwards Ferry after his father’s passing.

More than 170 years after his death, efforts are still ongoing trying to locate present-day relatives of Bazil Newman.