As I dig for my roots, I add another relative to my family tree: my second great-aunt, Malinda Method.

I gathered several documents, including her marriage registry, census records, death announcements, and death certificate, to develop a brief sketch of her life.

Malinda is the second-oldest of Solomon’s children. Recently, I learned about her passing in my hometown. The earliest document I have is her marriage registration in 1876. Matilda Methodist, 22 years old from Virginia, married James W. Galloway, 24 years old from Maryland, in Piedmont, West Virginia. The registry says her parents are unknown.

How do I know that this bride is my aunt if her parents are unknown and her last name is different?

According to Matilda/Malinda’s age at the time of the marriage registration, her birth year is 1854. West Virginia was not a state during this time. Emancipation liberated enslaved people in 1863, and West Virginia abolished slavery in 1865. Unfortunately, she was born in bondage. It is not unusual for formerly enslaved people to forget their parents’ names if they experienced separation.

Solomon married his wife, Mildred, in 1869. Antebellum laws prohibited enslaved people from legal marriages. Newly freed people experienced financial hardships, and a couple postponing to make a union legal is understandable due to registration fees.

Finally, the name Matilda may have been a clerical error by the registrar. All the supporting evidence recorded after her marriage indicates that her name is Malinda and that she is the daughter of Solomon Method.

The 1870 Federal census was the first to include African Americans counted by name, and Solomon’s family members are together except for Malinda in Moorefield, West Virginia.

Solomon	53
Mildred	52
Amanda	20
Phebe	16
Charles Clinton	12
Mary Alice	10
Mary Jane	6

Table 1: Abbreviated and Derived Table from the 1870 Federal Census.

James and Malinda Galloway thrived in Westernport, Maryland. Initially, he worked as a blacksmith. They owned their homes. Her husband retired as an engineer from the local Paper Mill located in Piedmont. The couple experienced child loss. Malinda became a widow in 1928 when James died two years after he retired. Therefore, Malinda lived alone. Most of her immediate family members had passed around this time as well.

_{Look at the vintage postcards linked below to see how Westernport looked like when Malinda lived there.}

Method Family Vitals
Mldred	1818 – 1875
Solomon	1817 – 1881
Amanda	1850 – 1894
Phebe	1854 – 1930
Charles Clinton	1858 – 1933
Mary Jane	1860 – 1933
Mary Alice	1864 – 1900

Later in life, she regularly visited her grandnephew during the holidays in Columbus, Ohio.

Click the link to see how Malinda Galloway may have traveled to Columbus in 1941.

Charles Arthur Method was the grandson of Reverend Charles Clinton Method. In the 1920s, Charles Clinton became the assistant pastor of Mt. Vernon A.M.E., located in the historical Bronzeville community on Mt. Vernon Avenue in Columbus. Family members are still active in this church. Rev. Method’s son, Dr. William Arthur Method, co-founded the Alpha Hospital in the same area. Dr. Method died a few years after his father in 1936. William’s son, Charles Arthur, lived with his wife on the East side of Columbus, in Bronzeville. During Malinda’s visit in December of 1941, she passed on the 17th.

My grandmother migrated to Columbus in the later phase of the “Great American Migration” in the 1950s, following her older sisters, who relocated there in the 1940s. She became a member of Mt. Vernon A.M.E. I discovered our connection to the local historical figure, Dr. Method, years ago.

My cousins and I asked each other, Did they know about us?

Sources:

West Virginia Counties Marriage Registry

Federal Census records

Allegany County Voters’ Registration

Franklin County, Ohio Vital Records

Piedmont Herald Newspaper

Cumberland Times Newspaper

Tag: west-virgina

Solomon’s Daughter

_{Look at the vintage postcards linked below to see how Westernport looked like when Malinda lived there.}