Ironically, it was called the “Bray School”.What was also interesting was that Dr. Thomas Bray (one of the main financial contributors of the school) established a colony in South Carolina. The Brayboys (my heritage) hail from North Carolina. Brayboy is a name that originated from the Lumbee Indian tribe.
“We have several lists of the children. In the Van Horne edition I mentioned, thirty are listed in 1762, with their owners’ names—everyone from the wife of the President of the College to high-ranking individuals involved in the affairs of the Colony of Virginia like Peyton Randolph, John Randolph, and Robert Carter Nicolas, to more middle class folks. Three of the children, Mary Anne, Mary Jones, and Elisha Jones, are listed simply as “a free negroe” or “free.” In 1769 we have another list of some thirty children, again a list pretty varied by owners’ class. Two of these children, John and Mary Ashby, are described as “free”—I’m told that their parents were local free blacks. These were perhaps the students who became “the first black teachers in Virginia” that I mentioned. There is a William and Mary masters thesis on the Williamsburg Bray School by Jennifer Oast, who was able to follow through on the children and develop more information about them and their subsequent appearances in colonial records.”
