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By Richard Lykes
Special to the Rappahannock News
A warm welcome awaited 23 descendants of Catherine “Kitty” Payne on Tuesday when they came to Rappahannock County to see where their great-great-great grandmother was born and lived as a slave on the old Maddox plantation near Huntly.
Encouraged by the descendants, the visit was jointly planned by author and historian Debra McAusland of Pennsylvania and Judy Tole, executive director of the Rappahannock Historical Society.
All ideas have their genesis and this one was principally the dream of two of the sisters: Sandra Kasabuske and Maribeth Staples. Although the tour began in Pennsylvania where Kitty Payne lived for a short time in freedom, the real pilgrimage was to “discover their roots in Virginia.”
The group was warmly welcomed by Judy Tole, for the Historical Society, and by John McCarthy, County Administrator. Speaking on behalf of the citizens of the county, the Board of Supervisors and chairman Bob Anderson, McCarthy welcomed the Payne descendants by pointing out, “This is a place where your families perhaps have some legitimate mixed feelings [but] we have grown into a place that treasures its history—the good days and the bad, and perhaps those memories of which we are ashamed are outweighed today by the great goodwill shown by Kitty P&yne’s descendants in coming back here with open hearts and open minds, and we greet them with the same.”
Speaking on behalf of the descendants, Maribeth Staples graciously responded: “We are very grateful for the outpouring of goodwill you’ve shown us and we want you to know that our visit here today has nothing to do with the sins of our fathers. It is our wish only to come and visit the sites where our great-great grandmother lived in Virginia so many years ago.”
On their agenda for the day were three important events: visit the county jail, attend a luncheon hosted by the
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