Ellen “Nelly” VanVactor
Free Black Female Landowner
Nelly and her family lived on the northwest corner of Summer and Irish streets. Her daughter, Erie, and Erie’s two sons were emancipated in 1822. Nelly’s son, Alfred VanVactor Thompson, was born free in 1818. Well educated, he was trained as a tailor by Andrew Johnson (1808-1875), who later became the seventeenth president of the United States. Alfred emigrated to Liberia in 1842, subsequently returning to the U.S. and becoming a successful Ohio tailor. Nelly lived in Greenville until 1856.
Marker is on N. Main Street (U.S. 321), on the left when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
