A single 2000 National Register nomination, the Millwood Colored School form, is the source for nearly everything here: a Black teacher named in an 1868 report, a free school at Millwood in 1869, a teacher appointed in 1873 and the Courier's own comment on it, county school counts for 1871 to 1888, and an 1888 school lot. Each reaches us through the nomination, not the papers, reports and deed it describes.
Mrs. Jackson, 1868
The earliest named teacher in the record is Mrs. Sarah S. Jackson. The 2000 Millwood Colored School nomination quotes a report dated April 30, 1868, which the corpus records as a Freedmen's Bureau report by an agent named Ripley. Schools in the district, it said, were still open. The only change was in Berryville, where, in the quoted words, "Mr. Keys has been relieved by Mrs. Sarah S. Jackson (col'd) who is a very good teacher & will build up a good school." The report as quoted does not name the school, say where it met, or say when it opened or closed. About Mrs. Jackson it gives a name, a description in the agent's own word, and his hope. Nearly everything above and below comes from one document, the 2000 National Register nomination for the Millwood Colored School. It quotes and paraphrases older papers that this account has not seen, and where a fact reaches us that way, the text says so.
Source note: Virginia Department of Historic Resources, 2000
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
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 passageRipley 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 sourceSource 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
Source note: Virginia Department of Historic Resources, 2000
The 2000 Millwood Colored School nomination quotes the 1868 report as saying: "Mr. Keys has been relieved by Mrs. Sarah S. Jackson (col'd) who is a very good teacher & will build up a good school."
What the source supports
The exact words, as the nomination prints them, that the 1868 report used of Mrs. Sarah S. Jackson and of the change of teacher at Berryville.
Uncertainty
The quotation is the nomination's; the 1868 report itself was not read here. It names a teacher, a predecessor and an agent's hope, not the school, its location or its opening or closing. The Freedmen's Bureau, Ripley and April 30, 1868 attributions rest on the already-live claim C960, written from the extracted text of S435. "col'd" is the report's own abbreviation as quoted. The page was re-read as a rendered image for the evidence packet (PR #743), but no image crop or receipt is committed to this repository, so the segment is marked as not inspected from the original image.
Source
Evidence role: supports. Supports the claim at the nomination's own level; the underlying document was not read. See limits.
Millwood Colored School, National Register of Historic Places registration form (DHR 021-0192-0008)
Virginia Department of Historic Resources · 2000 (publication)
Locator: PDF p. 14, Section 8, quoting an 1868 report
Relevant passageMr. 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 sourceSource family: dhr-nominations. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Sonnet 5.5) · 2026-10-02. How this project checks its sources
John Holmes, 1869
In July 1869, the nomination says, The Clarke Courier reported "local results of state legislation" under the banner "Millwood Is In Possession Of A Sensation." In the nomination's paraphrase, John Holmes, "a colored veteran who had lost a leg in the war, had set up a free school in the village." That is the nomination's summary of the article. The 1869 issue itself has not been read here.
Source note: Virginia Department of Historic Resources, 2000
The 2000 nomination says that in July 1869 The Clarke Courier reported, under the banner "Millwood Is In Possession Of A Sensation," that John Holmes, "a colored veteran who had lost a leg in the war," had set up a free school in the village. The nomination summarizes the article in its own words; it does not quote it.
What the source supports
That the nomination reports an 1869 Courier article about a free school set up at Millwood by John Holmes.
Uncertainty
The 1869 Courier issue was not read; the passage is the nomination's paraphrase of it. Nothing here says where the school met, how long it lasted, who attended, or whether it is the school of the 1868 report or of Nancy Jones in 1873. The nomination gives no biography of Holmes beyond this sentence; "colored" is the nomination's wording. The page was re-read as a rendered image for the evidence packet (PR #743), but no image crop or receipt is committed to this repository, so the segment is marked as not inspected from the original image.
Source
Evidence role: supports. Supports the claim at the nomination's own level; the underlying document was not read. See limits.
Millwood Colored School, National Register of Historic Places registration form (DHR 021-0192-0008)
Virginia Department of Historic Resources · 2000 (publication)
Locator: PDF p. 13, Section 8
Relevant passage...the newspaper article reported that John Holmes, a colored veteran who had lost a leg in the war, had set up a free school in the village.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-nominations. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Sonnet 5.5) · 2026-10-02. How this project checks its sources
Nancy Jones, and the paper's own words, 1873
In 1873 the Courier announced the year's teaching appointments, among them "Nancy Jones, col'd," who would be the Chapel District teacher at the Millwood School. The nomination quotes the paper's comment on the list, in these words. "It will be seen that there are three colored teachers on the list, whose duties are confined to the instruction of colored children. The white man's government of Virginia, instead of making war upon the negroes, supplies the means and affords the opportunity for their education." The paper then closed with a taunt at Northern newspapermen it called "Radical." These are the words of a white local paper describing itself and the state government. They are not evidence of what the schools were like, or of what Black families wanted from them. Of Nancy Jones the quoted notice gives a name, a district and a school.
Source note: Virginia Department of Historic Resources, 2000
The nomination says that in 1873 The Clarke Courier announced the year's teaching appointments, including that of "Nancy Jones, col'd," who would be the Chapel District teacher at the Millwood School.
What the source supports
That the nomination reports a named teacher, her district and her school from the Courier's 1873 list of appointments.
Uncertainty
The 1873 Courier was not read; the notice is known only through the nomination's quotation and paraphrase. It gives a name, a district and a school, not a biography, a start date or an end date. "col'd" is the Courier's abbreviation as quoted. The page was re-read as a rendered image for the evidence packet (PR #743), but no image crop or receipt is committed to this repository, so the segment is marked as not inspected from the original image.
Source
Evidence role: supports. Supports the claim at the nomination's own level; the underlying document was not read. See limits.
Millwood Colored School, National Register of Historic Places registration form (DHR 021-0192-0008)
Virginia Department of Historic Resources · 2000 (publication)
Locator: PDF p. 14, Section 8
Relevant passagein 1873 when The Clarke Courier announced the teaching appointments for the year, including that of "Nancy Jones, col'd" who would be the Chapel District teacher at the Millwood School.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-nominations. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Sonnet 5.5) · 2026-10-02. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Virginia Department of Historic Resources, 2000
The nomination quotes The Clarke Courier's own comment on the 1873 list in these words: "It will be seen that there are three colored teachers on the list, whose duties are confined to the instruction of colored children. The white man's government of Virginia, instead of making war upon the negroes, supplies the means and affords the opportunity for their education." It adds a closing sentence, which this record paraphrases rather than quotes, taunting Northern newspapermen the paper called "Radical."
What the source supports
How the 1873 Courier, a white local newspaper, described its own county's Black teachers and the state government, in the words the nomination quotes.
Uncertainty
These are the newspaper's words about itself and the state government. They are not evidence of what the schools were like, of what Black families wanted from them, or of whether the paper's claim was fair. The first two sentences are quoted by the nomination; the third is only paraphrased here, with one word in quotation marks. The 1873 Courier was not read. The page was re-read as a rendered image for the evidence packet (PR #743), but no image crop or receipt is committed to this repository, so the segment is marked as not inspected from the original image.
Source
Evidence role: supports. Supports the claim at the nomination's own level; the underlying document was not read. See limits.
Millwood Colored School, National Register of Historic Places registration form (DHR 021-0192-0008)
Virginia Department of Historic Resources · 2000 (publication)
Locator: PDF p. 14, Section 8
Relevant passageIt will be seen that there are three colored teachers on the list, whose duties are confined to the instruction of colored children. The white man's government of Virginia, instead of making war upon the negroes, supplies the means and affords the opportunity for their education.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-nominations. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Sonnet 5.5) · 2026-10-02. How this project checks its sources
It will be seen that there are three colored teachers on the list, whose duties are confined to the instruction of colored children. The white man's government of Virginia, instead of making war upon the negroes, supplies the means and affords the opportunity for their education.
Four schools, then ten
The nomination also offers numbers. Drawing on the Virginia School Reports for 1871, 1873, 1874 and 1888, it says that only four years after the public school system was established Clarke County supported eighteen schools for white children and four for Black children. By 1888, it says, there were twenty-four schools for white children, and the Black schools had "more than doubled, to ten." The nomination's own synthesis is all that was read; the reports were not.
Source note: Virginia Department of Historic Resources, 2000
Drawing on the Virginia School Reports for 1871, 1873, 1874 and 1888, the nomination says that only four years after the public school system was established Clarke County supported eighteen schools for white children and four for Black children, and that by 1888 there were twenty-four for white children and the Black schools "more than doubled, to ten."
What the source supports
The county school counts, by race, that the nomination reports from the Virginia School Reports.
Uncertainty
Only the nomination's synthesis was read; the 1871, 1873, 1874 and 1888 reports themselves were not, and the figures are not checked against them. The nomination does not say what counted as a school, or how pupils or teachers were counted. "Black" is the corpus's usage; the nomination's own word is "blacks." The page was re-read as a rendered image for the evidence packet (PR #743), but no image crop or receipt is committed to this repository, so the segment is marked as not inspected from the original image.
Source
Evidence role: supports. Supports the claim at the nomination's own level; the underlying document was not read. See limits.
Millwood Colored School, National Register of Historic Places registration form (DHR 021-0192-0008)
Virginia Department of Historic Resources · 2000 (publication)
Locator: PDF p. 14, Section 8
Relevant passage...Clarke County supported eighteen schools for white children, and four schools for blacks. By 1888, there were twenty-four schools for white children, and the number of black schools had more than doubled, to ten.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-nominations. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Sonnet 5.5) · 2026-10-02. How this project checks its sources
A school lot, 1888
The same nomination records a land transaction from that year. In April 1888, it says, Beverly Randolph and Mary, his wife, conveyed a 1.25-acre school lot to the Chapel District School Board for $162.50. Mary, the nomination says, had received the property through the will of her uncle, Nathaniel Burwell, and his wife, Elizabeth Randolph, in 1884.
Source note: Virginia Department of Historic Resources, 2000
The nomination says that in April 1888 Beverly Randolph and Mary, his wife, conveyed a 1.25-acre school lot to the Chapel District School Board for $162.50, and that Mary had received the property through the will of her uncle Nathaniel Burwell and his wife Elizabeth Randolph in 1884.
What the source supports
That the nomination reports an April 1888 conveyance of a school lot to the Chapel District School Board and an 1884 will as the source of the grantor's title.
Uncertainty
Neither the deed nor the will was read, and the nomination is the only source for the chain. The passage as read does not itself say "Millwood": it calls the parcel "the school lot" in the Chapel District, and this record says no more than that the same nomination reports it. The page was re-read as a rendered image for the evidence packet (PR #743), but no image crop or receipt is committed to this repository, so the segment is marked as not inspected from the original image.
Source
Evidence role: supports. Supports the claim at the nomination's own level; the underlying document was not read. See limits.
Millwood Colored School, National Register of Historic Places registration form (DHR 021-0192-0008)
Virginia Department of Historic Resources · 2000 (publication)
Locator: PDF p. 14, Section 8
Relevant passageBeverly Randolph and Mary, his wife, conveyed the 1.25 acre school lot to the Chapel District School Board in April 1888 for $162.50. Mary had received the property through the will of her uncle, Nathaniel Burwell and his wife, Elizabeth Randolph in 1884.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-nominations. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Sonnet 5.5) · 2026-10-02. How this project checks its sources
Where this account stops
That is where this account stops. The Clarke County Training School building of 1930 is told in the Training School story, linked below. The sources used here do not trace a line from any school named above to the Training School, or to any other later school. This account does not say whether the school of 1868, the free school of 1869 and the school Nancy Jones taught at in 1873 were one school or several, and it gives none of the three teachers a biography beyond what is quoted. It uses no image: the nomination's reproduction rights are unclear.
About the evidenceWhat the evidence says
One 2000 nomination, read for what it quotes and paraphrases from sources this account has not seen.
Every claim on this page rests on the Millwood Colored School National Register nomination (Virginia Department of Historic Resources, 2000). It quotes an 1868 report, two Clarke Courier items and a Courier editorial of 1873, summarizes the Virginia School Reports and cites an 1888 deed and an 1884 will. None of those was read here, so each claim is marked qualified: the chain stops at the nomination. The Courier editorial is a white local paper speaking about itself, and is not evidence of what the schools were like. No continuity from any school named here to the Training School is claimed.
- An account exists✓ Supported by a source
The 2000 Millwood Colored School nomination quotes the 1868 report as saying: "Mr. Keys has been relieved by Mrs. Sarah S. Jackson (col'd) who is a very good teacher & will build up a good school."
See the evidence
✓ Supported by a sourceAn account existsThe 2000 Millwood Colored School nomination quotes the 1868 report as saying: "Mr. Keys has been relieved by Mrs. Sarah S. Jackson (col'd) who is a very good teacher & will build up a good school."
What the source supports
The exact words, as the nomination prints them, that the 1868 report used of Mrs. Sarah S. Jackson and of the change of teacher at Berryville.
Uncertainty
The quotation is the nomination's; the 1868 report itself was not read here. It names a teacher, a predecessor and an agent's hope, not the school, its location or its opening or closing. The Freedmen's Bureau, Ripley and April 30, 1868 attributions rest on the already-live claim C960, written from the extracted text of S435. "col'd" is the report's own abbreviation as quoted. The page was re-read as a rendered image for the evidence packet (PR #743), but no image crop or receipt is committed to this repository, so the segment is marked as not inspected from the original image.
Source
Later historical account Evidence role: supports. Supports the claim at the nomination's own level; the underlying document was not read. See limits.
Millwood Colored School, National Register of Historic Places registration form (DHR 021-0192-0008)
Virginia Department of Historic Resources · 2000 (publication)
Locator: PDF p. 14, Section 8, quoting an 1868 report
Relevant passageMr. 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 sourceSource family: dhr-nominations. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Sonnet 5.5) · 2026-10-02. How this project checks its sources
- An account exists✓ Supported by a source
The nomination quotes The Clarke Courier's own comment on the 1873 list in these words: "It will be seen that there are three colored teachers on the list, whose duties are confined to the instruction of colored children. The white man's government of Virginia, instead of making war upon the negroes, supplies the means and affords the opportunity for their education." It adds a closing sentence, which this record paraphrases rather than quotes, taunting Northern newspapermen the paper called "Radical."
See the evidence
✓ Supported by a sourceAn account existsThe nomination quotes The Clarke Courier's own comment on the 1873 list in these words: "It will be seen that there are three colored teachers on the list, whose duties are confined to the instruction of colored children. The white man's government of Virginia, instead of making war upon the negroes, supplies the means and affords the opportunity for their education." It adds a closing sentence, which this record paraphrases rather than quotes, taunting Northern newspapermen the paper called "Radical."
What the source supports
How the 1873 Courier, a white local newspaper, described its own county's Black teachers and the state government, in the words the nomination quotes.
Uncertainty
These are the newspaper's words about itself and the state government. They are not evidence of what the schools were like, of what Black families wanted from them, or of whether the paper's claim was fair. The first two sentences are quoted by the nomination; the third is only paraphrased here, with one word in quotation marks. The 1873 Courier was not read. The page was re-read as a rendered image for the evidence packet (PR #743), but no image crop or receipt is committed to this repository, so the segment is marked as not inspected from the original image.
Source
Later historical account Evidence role: supports. Supports the claim at the nomination's own level; the underlying document was not read. See limits.
Millwood Colored School, National Register of Historic Places registration form (DHR 021-0192-0008)
Virginia Department of Historic Resources · 2000 (publication)
Locator: PDF p. 14, Section 8
Relevant passageIt will be seen that there are three colored teachers on the list, whose duties are confined to the instruction of colored children. The white man's government of Virginia, instead of making war upon the negroes, supplies the means and affords the opportunity for their education.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-nominations. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Sonnet 5.5) · 2026-10-02. How this project checks its sources
- An account exists✓ Supported by a source
Drawing on the Virginia School Reports for 1871, 1873, 1874 and 1888, the nomination says that only four years after the public school system was established Clarke County supported eighteen schools for white children and four for Black children, and that by 1888 there were twenty-four for white children and the Black schools "more than doubled, to ten."
See the evidence
✓ Supported by a sourceAn account existsDrawing on the Virginia School Reports for 1871, 1873, 1874 and 1888, the nomination says that only four years after the public school system was established Clarke County supported eighteen schools for white children and four for Black children, and that by 1888 there were twenty-four for white children and the Black schools "more than doubled, to ten."
What the source supports
The county school counts, by race, that the nomination reports from the Virginia School Reports.
Uncertainty
Only the nomination's synthesis was read; the 1871, 1873, 1874 and 1888 reports themselves were not, and the figures are not checked against them. The nomination does not say what counted as a school, or how pupils or teachers were counted. "Black" is the corpus's usage; the nomination's own word is "blacks." The page was re-read as a rendered image for the evidence packet (PR #743), but no image crop or receipt is committed to this repository, so the segment is marked as not inspected from the original image.
Source
Later historical account Evidence role: supports. Supports the claim at the nomination's own level; the underlying document was not read. See limits.
Millwood Colored School, National Register of Historic Places registration form (DHR 021-0192-0008)
Virginia Department of Historic Resources · 2000 (publication)
Locator: PDF p. 14, Section 8
Relevant passage...Clarke County supported eighteen schools for white children, and four schools for blacks. By 1888, there were twenty-four schools for white children, and the number of black schools had more than doubled, to ten.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-nominations. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Sonnet 5.5) · 2026-10-02. How this project checks its sources
Each statement above is assessed on its own evidence. Nothing here is averaged, scored or voted on, and a well-attributed account can be documented while what it describes stays unconfirmed.
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Go deeper: every source under this story Follow another threadClarke County Training School: a dollar a year
The Clarke County Training School building of 1930 and the school that followed it, told on its own terms; the sources here do not link it to the schools of 1868 to 1888.