Blocktown

A historic Black community in Montgomery County, MD

Thompson A. Jackson House, Blocktown. (McDaniel, Black Historical Resources, p. 67)

Founded by Thomas A. and Jennie Jackson in 1884, when they bought 12 acres of land on Slidell Road near Rt. 117 in Boyds, MD. An industrious couple, neither Thomas nor Jennie had been able to find an opportunity to learn to read or write. They couldn’t read the mortgage agreement they were signing, or even sign their own names to the agreement. (1)

In the 1910 U.S. Census the Jacksons are listed as owning their own home, and as having a mortgage. In 1900, 40% of Maryland householders owned their own homes, and as a day laborer, Mr. Jackson may not have had a steady source of income, so owning his home is particularly notable. (U. S. Census Bureau 2000) (HUD Office of Policy Development & Research 2025, #) However, mortgages usually had a large downpayment–as much as 50% of the loan, and a short repayment period of 3-6 years. (HUD Office of Policy Development & Research 2025, A History of the Rise of Homeownership in the United States) The amount of the Jacksons’ downpayment and monthly mortgage payment is not available.

In the 1910 U.S. Census, Thomas A. Jackson was noted as being 68 (so he would have been born in 1842, but a lot of people in those days weren’t sure about their birth year) and Jennie P. Jackson was 60 years old. Thomas was a day laborer. Thirty-five years after emancipation, this census noted that he could neither read nor write; she could read but not write. It wasn’t uncommon in local Black communities for adults not to learn to read or write – their children would have been put into school as soon as possible, but the parents did not have many opportunities to learn, or perhaps, have the time. (McHenry 1995, 32-56) (Note: Stewartown elders have said that when they were children in the 1940s and 1950s there were Black literary societies that were used to encourage reading, share books, and build community. These societies began before the Civil War, but it is not clear how common they were in Montgomery County, MD. )

There is a Thomas Jackson listed in the 1867 Slave Statistics as enslaved by Dr. William Brewer of Aix la Chappelle in Poolesville about seven miles from Blocktown. (Montgomery County Bureau of Slave Statistics 1867)

BREWER, WILLIAM, DR., hrs. of per his adm., DR. N. BREWER

Jackson, Thomas

M

26 (b. 1838)

Mr. Jackson had been married three times and Mrs. Jackson had been married twice. They live next door to their daughter-in-law Mary Florence Jackson, widowed, with six children–Daniel, George, Harry, Florence, Gladis and Julius.

(1) Although Maryland did not make it illegal to teach the enslaved to read or write, as many other states had, social pressure and fear of the power of the written word meant that most adult Black citizens in the early post-Emancipation years were not able to read or write. In the early years of Reconstruction (1865-1867), if a person in the community could read and write they would be put to work educating the children. Over time a teacher would be found and would live with one of the local families. Some of the adults were able to learn to read and write, possibly by candlelight after a long day of labor, but some were not able to find a teacher or did not have the time.

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References

HUD Office of Policy Development & Research. 2025. “A History of the Rise of Homeownership in the United States | HUD USER.” PD & R Edge Magazine (HUD), July. https://www.huduser.gov/portal/pdredge/pdr-edge-housingat250-article-071025.html

McHenry, Elizabeth. 1995. “‘Dreaded Eloquence’: The Origins and Rise of African American Literary Societies and Libraries.” Harvard Library Bulletin 6 (2): 32–56. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstreams/791b7608-cff7-4b0e-87dd-323643b614a9/download&ved=2ahUKEwi88vuE6s6QAxUEEVkFHeQoCb4QFnoECB0QAQ&usg=AOvVaw2tn_w8jI9Ie2aGAhltTBym

Montgomery County Bureau of Slave statistics. 1867. “Volume 812 Index - Montgomery County Slave Statistics, 1867-1868.” Maryland.gov. 1867. https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000812/html/index.html

U.S. Census Bureau, 1910, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2FB-M76 : Wed Aug 13 16:13:31 UTC 2025), Entry for Thomas A Jackson and Jennie P Jackson, 1910.

U.S. Census Bureau. 2000. “Historical Census of Housing Tables: Homeownership Rates 1900-2000.” Census.gov. 2000. https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/dec/coh-owner.html

This article is part of MoCoLMP's project mapping our historic Black communities and their relationship to sites of enslavement during the Civil War. The map also shows the locations of the three known lynchings in 19th century Montgomery County, MD.