W&M Bray School Lab

05/24/2026

Bray School Scholar Molly was named in the codicil to William Prentis’ will.

Molly attended the Williamsburg Bray School in 1765. She was enslaved by the William Prentis family. Molly along with her mother Judith were to be given to William’s daughter Elizabeth upon his death.

👉To hear more about Molly’s story, see Bray School Stories from December 2023: https://go.wm.edu/VxB5sn

📖Source: York County, Virginia, Wills and inventories, No. 21-22 1760-1783, page 245. Available at FamilySearch.org.

05/18/2026

We are thrilled that the The TODAY Show highlighted both the Williamsburg Bray School and First Baptist Church! And they took time to meet and talk with Descendant Community members: https://www.today.com/video/see-the-black-history-at-the-heart-of-colonial-williamsburg-263381061817

The research continues in the W&M Bray School Lab to uncover, document, preserve, and disseminate the history and legacy of the Williamsburg Bray School.

Colonial Williamsburg played an important role in America’s Black history so NBC’s Priscilla Thompson visited some of the sites that were central to Black life there. She went to the Williamsburg Bray School that educated enslaved Black students, rang the freedom bell at the First Baptist Church...

05/15/2026

05/13/2026

🔎“After months of transcribing tax lists and digging through vital records and the Library of Virginia’s *Virginia Untold* collections, I finally encountered a research breakthrough.”

✨ New Blog Post Up! ✨

Keaton Drennan ’26 is the author of the newest blog post for "A Reasonable Progress." Entitled "Searching for Lydia and Polly Bee," Keaton shares her experience conducting genealogical research in the Bray School Lab. Keaton used a combination of online records searching for descendants of Bray School scholars Isaac, Joanna, Clara Bee.

Hearty congratulations to Keaton on her graduation from William & Mary. We will miss you in the Lab!💚💛

👉 You can read Keaton's blog here: https://brayschool.pages.wm.edu/

If you think you may be descended from a Bray School student or have questions regarding descendant research, please email us at [email protected].

05/08/2026

ICYMI 🌟Recording of April’s Bray School Stories is up on our YouTube channel! 🌟

On April 27th, the Lab was thrilled to highlight the genealogical research of two of our Student Thought Partners – Keaton Drennan ’26 and Ashiya Lawrence ’27. Together they talked about the research to find descendants of Williamsburg Bray School Scholars Isaac, Joanna, and Clara Bee.

👉Checkout the recording here: https://go.wm.edu/l8KxNr

If you think you may be descended from a Bray School student or have questions regarding descendant research, please email us at [email protected].

05/07/2026

✨New Batch of Oral Histories Now Available! ✨

The W&M Bray School Lab is proud to work with descendant community members, W&M staff and students, and The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation staff to preserve their stories and histories through oral history interviews. The collection, hosted by Swem Library, now holds 59 oral history interviews. Whose story will you listen to first?

👉Link to Research Portal: https://digital.libraries.wm.edu/solr-search/content/grid?

📸Photo credit: Grace Helmick

05/01/2026

📣Two New Blog Posts Up!📣

This semester, two freshmen joined the Lab through the Sharpe Community Scholars program at W&M. Bailey Kim, a public policy major, was interested in exploring the topic of play and how that may have applied to the Bray School students. Evan Trost, an international relations major, was curious about The Child’s First Book as the entry point to literacy for many Bray School students. Both Bailey and Evan have written for "A Reasonable Progress." They each bring new and unique perspectives to the research of the Williamsburg Bray School.

👉Check out their blogs here: https://brayschool.pages.wm.edu/.

✨And we are so excited that Bailey will continue her research with the Lab this summer through the Sharpe Action Research Internship!✨

05/01/2026

Mourning, the daughter of Easter, was baptized at Bruton Parish in 1763. Mourning attended the Williamsburg Bray School in 1769. She and her mother were enslaved in the household of James Cocke.

For more information about the names of the students who attended the Williamsburg Bray School, see the Compiled Student Attendance for 1762, 1765, & 1769.

📸 courtesy of https://heritagecenter.brutonparish.org/

04/30/2026

The recording Bray School Stories from March is up on the Lab's YouTube channel! Check it out 👀

👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYvUOsKutj8&t=1648s

Many thanks to Elizabeth Klaczynski (Virginia Museum of History and Culture) and Jennie Davy (Special Collections Research Center) for a terrific conversation!

W&M Bray School Lab presents a monthly Zoom series by Genealogist Elizabeth Drembus, detailing her ongoing search for the descendants of the Williamsburg Bra...

04/29/2026

And if you want to learn EVEN MORE, visit the W&M Bray School Lab website: https://www.wm.edu/sites/brayschool/. There you will find the NAMES of the known students who attended the Williamsburg Bray School found on attendance lists from 1762, 1765, & 1769.

📜Read the correspondence between the local trustees in Williamsburg to the Bray Associates in London https://digital.libraries.wm.edu/bray-school-records-project-williamsburg

🔎And explore Story Maps like Adam & Fanny’s World and the Standing In The Gap Timeline to learn more about the Bray School scholars and their world! https://www.wm.edu/sites/brayschool/research/. There is so much more to the story of the Williamsburg Bray School!

04/29/2026

This past weekend, members of the Bray School Lab were thrilled to attend the W&M Traditions Weekend luncheon hosted by the Class of 1971. Genealogist Elizabeth Drembus, along with Bray School Lab Student Thought Partners Ashiya Lawrence ’27 and Angela Gyawali ’29, were privileged to hear stories from an incredible group of W&M alumni and learn from their collective wisdom!

They talked about changes they witnessed (and in some cases were responsible for) on campus during their four years at W&M, and they talked about lessons in resilience learned during such a tumultuous time in our nation’s history.

Elizabeth, along with Dr. Jajuan Johnson, gave presentations about the work of the Bray School Lab and The Lemon Project: A Journey of Reconciliation. Elizabeth then accompanied the alumni group for a tour of the Williamsburg Bray School. Many thanks to the Class of ’71! 💚💛