one of the prominent older children, second child, first son of the syphax, is william syphax. we know that he was probably educated in alexandria, arlington area as well as georgetown. he ultimately went to work for the department of the interior in the 1850s. he worked for a number of secretaries of the interior and actually became head messenger for the department of the interior and went on to become the first president of the -- of colored trustees of the colored schools in washington, d.c. there are a number of ancestors and descendents of these folks, the syphaxes, that have made a prominent impact on our country. one example would be credits stin gleed, a tuskogee air man. we have probably about 30 syphaxes that we know that attended howard university, several of which turned around and became teachers at howard university. we have a well-known surgeon, mickey syphax, who died just a couple of years ago, near the age of 100, who was a very prominent surgeon, professor, teacher at howard university. and we also have julian dixon who was a congressman from california who

william syphax was born. they decided to sell mariah. the folklore in our family always suggested he simply freed mariah and her children and gave her 17 acres of property. quakers as you may recall were really evolution is in terms of war and slavery so it was their goal to try and help free slaves in the area. 1845,he deed we had from we know they actually freed mariah and all her children. but this dvd back to a previous father, edward stabler, the apothecary shop iner in alexandria, struck 1820 52 free them. 1825 to free them. if you were freed and couldn't support yourself, you needed to leave the state. but george washington parke custis wanted mariah to be close by. , wasusband, charles syphax not free. but overall you and her children were free but were giving set -- given 17 acres of property at the south end of arlington estate where they lived free the rest of their lives and as a result, all of those children were born free as well. there were a couple children prominent in the syphax family. once these children were free, th

one of the prominent older children, second child, first son of the syphaxs is william syphax. we know he was probably educated in alexandria arlington area as well as georgetown. he ultimately went to work for the department of the interior in the 1850s, he worked for a number of secretaries the interior and actually became a head messenger for the department of the interior and went on to become the first president of the colored trustees of the colored schools in washington, d.c. >> there were a number of ancestors and descendents of these folks, the syphaxs, that have made a prominent impact on our country. one example would be creston gleed, a tuskegee airman. we have a number of women who taught around the country. we have 30 syphaxs that we know that attended howard university. several of which turned around and became teachers at howard university we have a well known teacher who was a very prominent surgeon professor teacher at howard university. and we have jewel i don't know d -- julian dixon, a congressman from california, who passed away in 2000 but served in the u