YORKTOWN — Grace Episcopal Church Yorktown’s free speaker series continues this fall beginning with Elizabeth Drembus, genealogist with the William & Mary Bray School Lab, on Wednesday, Oct. 16.
The talk begins at 10:30 a.m. in Grace Church’s Parish Hall, 111 Church St., Yorktown.
Listeners will have the opportunity to learn about the history of the Williamsburg Bray School (1760-1774), one of the earliest institutions dedicated to Black education in North America, its connection to the Anglican Church, and the search for descendants of the enslaved and free students who attended the school, the church said.
Drembus is leading efforts to identify and document — from the 18th through the 21st centuries — the genealogical lines of all known Williamsburg Bray School students, according to the church, and will present an overview of the project and a two-page list of the names of the children who attended the school.
Drembus was formerly a genealogist for the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), specializing in patriots of color and the lineages of their descendants and was also a member of the research team for the Virginia Theological Seminary’s Reparations Research Project, where she researched the antebellum period to find the names of enslaved persons who worked at the Seminary and searched for their descendants.
Admission is free and no reservations are required. Visit gracechurchyorktown.org for more details.
