Mystery, curiosity, diligence, determination and a splash of creativity led Joyce A. Gills from a seemingly un-owned parcel of land, to an abandoned town, to a female ex-slave land owner and finally to the creation of “Rushon of Pineville- a story of creative non-fiction.”

In 1986 Dewey and Joyce Gills bought a 104 acre parcel of land offered at auction on the Powhatan Courthouse steps. The parcel, located just above the James River at Maidens, in what is now known as Michaux, sat without a tenant for just over a century. The new Gills tract was situated between two large tracts once owned by two families named Wilkinson and Michaux. This could be and was verified by a diligent title search by the Gills. The Wilkinson title could be traced back to 1730, but a mysterious 10 acre plot floated between the three sections and appeared to have no owner. Digging around in Powhatan County archives Joyce Gills discovered a November 30th 1869 deed in which one Daniel Wilkinson assured “a colored women” named Rushon Jasper a 10 acre parcel of land. 

Now even more curious, Joyce Gills dug even deeper into County archives. In another Wilkinson file she found the actual Bill of Sale, dated 1854, transferring the slave girl Rushon to Wilkinson. U.S. Census records located Rushon’s mother, father, grandfather and her sisters and brothers. “The Wilkinson and Jasper families were brought to life,” Joyce Gills said.

Understanding the significance of a woman, much less a black woman and an ex-slave, owning property in the middle of the 19th century, Mrs. Gills set out to find out all she could about the Jasper family. In the process she uncovered the derelict town of Pineville, which once thrived as a way station on the James River. “What I learned about previous owners of this land, the community of Pineville and how they interacted with the Michaux family became of such interest that I began writing down everything I discovered,” Joyce Gills recalled.

The process of discovery included business partnerships between the Wilkinsons and the Michauxs, the thriving Swann’s store, and the craftsmen and tradesmen associated with a successful way station on the James. Saint James Chapel cared for much of the community’s spiritual needs and postmistress Mabel Adkins took care of the mail and served as a conduit for local news. And Joyce Gills also discovered Elizabeth Holman Ford Jasper, a second cousin by marriage to Rushon Jasper. Elizabeth Jasper was a veritable gold mine of information about the Jasper family and the town of Pineville and provided the final impetus for the book.

Rushon of Pineville is now a completed work and awaits an appointment with a printer. “My story follows Rushon’s life in the heyday of Pineville and intimately portrays her struggle to free her spirit of the past,” said the first time author. “I based her daily life on historical books written at the time, using a great deal of creative license to fill in the missing spans of time.” But one amazing fact that required no license and revealed the true character of the ex-slave took place in 1872. Rushon Jasper approached William Michaux with a request to trade the unsatisfactory 10 acres deeded to her by Wilkinson for a 14 acre parcel owned by Michaux. “It must have taken great strength for Rushon to approach a man like William Michaux with her dilemma when the land left to her by Wilkinson turned out to be unsuitable,” Joyce Gills concluded.

The following is an excerpt from “Rushon of Pineville: A story of creative nonfiction” by Joyce A. Gills. The book is based on the life of Rushon Jasper, a slave who lived in Powhatan County.

The township of Pineville, Virginia has vanished. This hub of activity thrived for decades at Michaux Crossroads in Powhatan County. It was a village of constant commotion, where neighbors and strangers congregated around the community-well. Like the mighty James nearby, which carried the flow of every spring, branch and creek along with it; this convergence drew from every traveler within its vicinity.

The route of many travelers would bring them to Pineville at a time when information was also a valuable commodity. Word of a scandal could come from Powhatan Courthouse or as far west as Lynchburg. The ferryman who carried people north and south across the James River would learn a bit of news from the Goochland side and bring it safely to the south bank. An itinerant worker arriving by pack boat from the port town of Richmond was always welcome at harvest time. Any bit of gossip traveling with him or worthy news he picked up along the way would be eagerly passed along.

The locals exchanged news at the well-house even more freely. When Gallio Wilkinson purchased a half-dead slave in Richmond the news spread so quickly the whole town knew about it before he arrived. Naturally, Doctor Tucker would stop at Swann’s store for his apothecary order and there he could learn which patients were doing better or worse. He also heard how well the ailing Miss Parmillia Wilkinson was doing in the care of her new slave girl, Rushon Jasper. It is a shame that such a lively town fell into ruin. Precious little is left of Pineville today. No carriage house, no Swann’s store, no icehouse or community-well remain.

The homes, which stood beside the St. James Chapel, have disappeared, leaving only a garage surrounded by daffodils and the memory of postmistress Mabel Adkins. Former slave, Rushon Jasper lived out her life here. She married William Holman and they raised his nephew, James. After the First World War, James returned to Pineville and lived on the corner of Michaux Crossroads with his wife Lizzie and daughter Elizabeth. The house they lived in is also gone, but Elizabeth remembers their lives here. She is a member of the First Antioch Church near Pineville as were her parents. In the churchyard her fathers World War I service is displayed on his headstone, where he rests beside her mother.

When life in Pineville was limited to buzzards roosting in the attics, the relic hunters found the town and dug through the remains of the old home places. With irreverent abandon they scoured the rubble with their tools. They uncovered stoves and andirons, barrel rings, horseshoes, frying pans, bits and buckles. They dug up enamel pots, broken dishes, canning jars, medicine bottles, crocks and jugs. Any coveted evidence of life was carried off.

But did they find the smiling brown eyes of Rushon, whose braids turn up at the ends?

Did the scavengers endure the sting of the whip felt by Rushon’s father or know the healing power of her mother’s hands?

No. Nothing of real value from the life of Rushon Jasper was ever carried away from here. It is impossible to remove what belongs to the history of the land. As if removing arrowheads left by the Indians who lived here in the past would alter their existence; Rushon lived in another time on that same land. She lived two lives here; her first as a slave child and her second as a free woman.