Berryville Freedmen's Bureau-era school

✓ Supported by a sourceAn account exists

The 2000 Millwood Colored School nomination quotes a Freedmen's Bureau report of 30 April 1868 in which the agent Ripley wrote that schools in the district were still open, the only change being one in Berryville where Mr. Keys had been relieved by Mrs. Sarah S. Jackson, described in the report as coloured, whom he called a very good teacher who would build up a good school.

What the source supports

That a Black woman was teaching a Freedmen's Bureau-era school at Berryville by April 1868, named in the agent's own report.

Uncertainty

The report is quoted by the nomination, not read here. It names a teacher and a change of teacher; it does not name the school, give its location, or say when it opened or closed. No continuity with the Josephine City School of 1882 is claimed by the nomination or here. The register row that led to this record cited a Smithsonian Freedmen's Bureau record which returned HTTP 403 on 21 September 2026 and has no Internet Archive snapshot, so that record was not read.

Source

Later historical account

Evidence role: supports. The nomination's quotation of Ripley's report of 30 April 1868.

Millwood Colored School, National Register of Historic Places registration form (DHR 021-0192-0008)

Virginia Department of Historic Resources · 2000 (publication)

Locator: Section 8, quoting a Freedmen's Bureau report of April 1868

Relevant passage

Ripley reported that as of April 30th, 1868, schools in the district were still open, the only change being one in Berryville where "Mr. Keys has been relieved by Mrs. Sarah S. Jackson (col'd) who is a very good teacher & will build up a good school. "

Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.

Open source ↗

Source family: dhr-nominations. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.

AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-21. How this project checks its sources ↗