Legacy List with Matt Paxton

(upbeat music) - [Male Narrator] Coming up on "Legacy List" with Matt Paxton.

Matt helps two sisters downsize a farmhouse that has been in their family for over 100 years.

- [Matt] Look at this.

- [Male Narrator] And while the heirlooms may be small.

- Need a shave.

- [Male Narrator] The job of preserving this family homestead looms large.

- Our great-aunts who fought for this land, their fight was worth it.

- [Matt] Moving into a new home is exciting, but decluttering and downsizing can be an emotional journey.

- We need your help.

- I can see, I see a lot of collections already.

- It's paralyzing.

- [Matt] That's why it's important to start with a legacy list.

It's a list of a few cherished items with high emotional value that help tell your family's story.

- Oh.

- Oh.

- My name is Matt Paxton, and I have the best job in the world.

Me and my team of experts help people downsize their homes and move.

But we also help them find their legacy list.

- You made my dream come true.

- I can't believe it.

- This is why we do this.

- [Female Narrator] Funding for "Legacy List" is provided by Bekins band lines.

is provided by Bekins band lines.

At Bekins, our goal is to provide a smooth and simple moving experience no matter the size or distance of your move.

Bekins is ready to help you get there.

You can find us at bekins.com.

Bekins, this is moving.

First Light Home Care, committed to providing safe and compassionate home services for you and your family.

First Light believes personal relationships and engagement are as important as mobility, bathing, and personal hygiene.

Details at firstlighthomecare.com.

(upbeat rock music) - This week we're in King William County, Virginia, to meet Carol and Cordenia Paige.

Two sisters that need our help clearing out their family home.

No one's lived in it for a long time, so they need our help to make space for future generations to enjoy.

Hello, hello.

- [Cordenia] Hi, Matt.

- Hey, Matt.

- Good to see you.

Thanks for having me.

Cordenia, good to meet you.

- Good to see you, Matt.

- Carol, good to meet you.

- Nice to meet you.

- This is beautiful.

- Thank you.

- Thank you, thank you.

- Tell me what you know about this house.

- We were always told that it was built during the Great Depression.

- Okay.

- My great-grandfather, we call Papa, he and his son, our great uncle George, purchased it together.

- So about five generations.

- Yeah.

- So five generations y'alls family been here.

- [Carol] Yep.

- [Cordenia] Yes.

- All right, well let's get into it.

I got lots of questions.

(upbeat guitar music) I mean, I can imagine what it was like back in the day, but now we got... Man, you got like five rugs down here.

- [Cordenia] Exactly.

- [Matt] Is this more of a, something broken, we cover it up?

Or is this just, they kept everything?

- A mix of both.

There was a period of time where the old homes were broken into, and so this rug is actually covering where vandals came in and started a fire.

But thank goodness our father had the foresight to have a fire extinguisher.

- What's the goal of this house?

What do you want to happen for your generation and then the following generations?

- Well, we'd like to restore it so that we can enjoy it again.

- [Cordenia] Have a retreat place to come.

- Come back down from the city.

- Yes.

- Exactly.

- Okay.

What other spaces are there for me to clean out?

- Well, there's a bedroom that was used for storage because the storage shed got destroyed in a storm.

- [Matt] Okay.

Let's go check it out.

(upbeat guitar music) - This is the storage room, used to be a bedroom.

- [Matt] Okay, so this was a bedroom?

- Was a bedroom, but now, as you can see- - [Carol] Lots of storage.

- [Cordenia] Storage items.

- [Matt] I mean, this whole space, we need to clear out.

- [Carol] Yeah.

- [Cordenia] Oh yeah.

- Because we'd like to make it a bedroom again.

- Okay, what's the last space?

You said there were three spaces when you called me.

- Yeah, there's a dining room, we'd like to be a dining room again.

- Straight ahead in the dining room here.

- Straight ahead.

Look at this.

- [Carol] So this is where my dad put a lot of stuff from the storage also.

- Okay.

All right, what was this like in its heyday?

- Oh, wow.

The whole family would sit around here for dinner, breakfast, and tell stories.

And my dad would always be at the head of the table.

- [Matt] I'll say, this is not a big enough table for the family y'all had.

- [Cordenia] Yeah.

- [Carol] Right.

- So really every space I've looked at, we need to find someplace for all the shed stuff to go.

- [Cordenia] Yes.

- [Carol] Yes.

- [Matt] And then clean it up and just get it back to its regular form and make it the space that you want it to be.

- [Cordenia] Exactly.

- Exactly.

- Alright, so talk to me about the big thing here, the legacy list.

What are some of these items that I'm gonna be looking for in the house?

- You know, our dad was an artist.

He actually was a syndicated cartoonist for "Ebony" magazine.

- Man, that's a big deal.

- [Cordenia] Yeah.

- That's really cool.

- And so we would love to find some of his art drawings.

- Was he always drawing?

- Always.

- Always.

He always had sketchbooks, so we know that there are sketchbooks in this house somewhere.

- All right, what's another thing on the legacy list?

- Maybe a shaving kit that we know our dad used, and we'd like to find that.

We wanna know how old it was.

- Okay.

All right, so what's another item?

- Our great-aunt was a trained opera singer, so if we could find one of her diplomas 'cause education was pretty important.

- [Matt] Okay.

- [Carol] But we know she was trained 'cause she loved opera.

- [Matt] Okay.

Did she tell you all the time?

- All the time.

- Okay, I like it.

- She would sing too.

- It is a gradient, right?

- Yes a gradient.

- Yes, the gradients tend to tell you how much they've done, yes.

- We called her Edie, but you know Edith.

- Edith, okay.

What's the next legacy list item?

- Another thing we really need to know about is the land itself.

We know that Papa bought the land, but we don't know who he bought it from.

- How much it costs.

- All right, I can get my team on that.

Are there grandkids yet in the- - Yes.

Yeah, we have grandkids.

Not mine, but my sister, other sister, yeah.

- Okay, so as that generation starts to come visit, we wanna make sure we know the full story to tell.

- Exactly.

We want to let our great-aunts who fought for this land know that their fight was worth it, and we're gonna keep fighting for them.

- Yes.

- The pride that this family has for this property is really contagious.

I mean, it's awesome to hear how much they loved it growing up here, but what really sets it apart is how dedicated they're gonna be to keeping it this way.

(upbeat music) - A beautiful property.

- Avi spends a lot of his time on social issues in his community, and he grew up 30 minutes down the road.

That's why he's the best person to call.

- [Avi] Hey, Matt.

- What's up, man?

- Oh, there you go.

- [Matt] Come on back.

How are you?

- How's it going, man?

- Good.

- Oh man, you started the party without me.

- Good to see you, man.

This is kind of the main first room we're gonna pick.

- These are my favorite kind of houses like just the generational houses, right?

Like, you know, it started in one place and passed on and passed on.

- Yeah, their southern family and the northern family would all come together here.

Right, and she start- They've told me a lot, "Well, we lost touch with our Richmond family, we lost touch with the Carolinas".

So I think they want to get this place back so everybody can meet.

- Now that'd be great.

Cordenia and Carol, I mean, they have a real vision for this space.

To have a opportunity to be on a space owned by black Americans, been passed down through generations, I was thrilled.

Ooh, a phone book.

- Phone book.

(Avi laughing) Pull that out, I wanna see the phone book.

- [Avi] Jeez.

- I was literally just telling my sons about this.

I was like, "Yeah man, we used to have to like pull a book out to find someone's phone number".

- Did they laugh at you?

- They looked at me like I was crazy, they didn't know what I was talking about.

And they're like, "I wouldn't want anyone to know my phone number".

Like they got into the privacy issue.

It was so funny.

- Oh my goodness.

- They didn't have a clue what I was talking about.

Would your parents be in there?

- That's what I was thinking.

Oh my God.

(Avi laughing) - [Matt] Who's that?

- There it is.

To be able to find my parents' phone number from a place where they lived for 30 plus years is really cool.

There's just something to be able to flip the pages and find the things you want.

- Hey, here's some family stuff.

So this says for Braxton Pollard, and I can't name who it's from, but this is for the guy that bought this house.

- Oh my gosh.

(easy-going music) Matt.

Need a shave?

- They were asking about their dad's shaving kit.

- [Avi] That's pretty cool.

- Look at that.

All right, well this is depression era glass and he loved birds.

And that's got birds on it, man.

He was a member of the Audubon Society.

He would sit in his chair, look out that front window and look at the birds.

Oh, this is super cool, this is a legacy list item.

(upbeat music) - [Male Narrator] Shaving has come a long way over the years.

In ancient Rome, wealthy citizens had their own personal barbers and a well groomed face was a sign of social status.

And according to legend, Alexander the Great advised his soldiers to shave before battle so their enemy couldn't pull on their beard in hand to hand combat.

After many hair raising attempts to make shaving easier, a Frenchman by the name of Jean Jacques Perret came up with a brilliant idea in the late 17 hundreds by attaching a wood guard to hold a razor in place, one could shave their face without getting a bad cut.

It was the beginning of modern shaving.

Advancements in shaving grew faster than a five o'clock shadow.

Early in the 20th century, an American by the name of King Camp Gillette patented a best-selling safety razor with a thin double-edged blade that could be thrown away when it got dull.

It was a huge hit, especially with American soldiers going to fight in World War I.

Today, shaving is a billion dollar business, and there's a blade to fit every type of face.

- All right, I got something over here.

Come here, help me with this, this looks like this is something.

- Oh, that looks important.

- I'm not really sure what it is.

This is- Oh, it's his sketchbooks, man.

- [Avi] Man.

- [Matt] Look at this.

- [Avi] Oh my God.

- Wow dude.

Look at this.

Einstein said, physics is a free invention of the mind.

I thought he like did cartoons.

- No, this is drawings.

- Incredible drawings.

- Amazing.

- And then amazing stream of conscious stuff.

I mean, this dude is another level thinker.

All right man, this is yet another legacy list item.

So where we at?

We got two already.

- Got two, we're at two.

(upbeat music) - [Matt] Yep, right here.

- Oh, man.

- [Matt] Another catchall room.

- [Avi] The catchall.

- [Matt] Definitely a lot of mouse traffic up here.

- Yeah.

Empty houses.

Lots of plumbing stuff over here.

- Yeah, so this was the other room that they brought all the stuff from the storage shed.

Hand me that blanket behind you.

The aunts made that, I wanna make sure we keep really good care of it.

They were telling us that's what they would do on Sunday afternoons.

Three great-aunts would all crochet this, and then they would make a big blanket.

Got some trading cards.

- Michael Jackson trading cards.

- Michael Jackson trading cards.

- [Avi] That is insane.

- Look at that.

I love it.

I actually don't remember those.

- The "Beat It" jacket.

That's crazy.

All right, let's see.

Lemme get some of this stuff outta here.

Matt.

- What?

What'd you find?

Oh, look at that.

- The diploma.

- Let me see this.

Turn that around.

- That is amazing.

- Look at that.

- Yeah.

- Commonwealth of Virginia.

What we got here?

Commonwealth of Virginia, this diploma is awarded to Edith... - [Avi] Pollard, yeah.

- [Matt] Pollard.

- [Avi] Edith Pollard.

Yeah, that makes sense.

- [Matt] Edith Pollard.

Who has completed the course of instruction in the King William County training school.

1936.

- I mean, education would've been so important in 1936.

- Yeah, that's a big deal.

- It's framed and was likely hung up by this family in the house somewhere.

You know, because they're very proud.

- Absolutely.

- Of this achievement.

You say it all the time, every house is a museum.

Like to be able to have this on a wall somewhere, where every time the family comes in, they see it and reminded.

- So this has gotta get out of the bucket and get hung because if the third or fourth generation doesn't know it was hard to get an education, they don't realize how important it is.

- So that story is just as important as the piece.

- [Matt] Oh man, I love it.

- If not more.

- Dude, you're killing it on the legacy list items, I love it.

(bell dings) (easy-going music) - Now that Matt and I have gotten through the house, I really want to learn more from Carol and Cordenia about their life experience here on this property.

Cordenia and Carol, I've had such an amazing experience.

I'm just wondering, what was your childhood like?

- It was fun.

'Cause our cousins live all up and down the road.

- Oh, wow.

Okay, okay.

This is a family road.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, this is a family road.

And that driveway there, was all sand.

So we could play sandcastles in that driveway.

It was so much fun.

- What are you feeling right now, about us as we move things in and outta the home?

- I'm feeling a mix of emotions.

- Same, same.

You miss them but it's nice that we're continuing their legacy.

- We know that their memories aren't in the things, the things just trigger those memories.

They want us to do this, even though we're sad about having to do it.

And wishing they were here with us while we were doing it.

- I would say that your ancestors are still here with you and, you know, what you're doing is a way to honor them.

(gentle music) The truth is, it's so difficult for black Americans to hold on to pieces of property.

I mean, there are so many reasons why they should have lost it.

You know, mobs that came in to push 'em off the property, tax liens, eminent domain.

And so I've called in a local expert to help us fill in some of those gaps about the story.

- When we talk about black ownership in the Commonwealth of Virginia, we have to go back 403 years.

When Africans stolen from Angola were brought here on the promise of indentured servitude where they would be given land.

That promise was never kept.

Those who were freed from bondage in 1865, in many ways were in slavery by another name.

And so they were forced into what was called sharecropping.

Problem was there was no sharing.

At the end of the season, the black families were in arrears and owed the property owner.

But land ownership here is so meaningful because as the sisters know, passing it through generations is important.

The demand for land is increasing, while families such as this own the property, but may be in the way of development.

- So Gary, we're curious as to any tips you have for us on how to maintain it and hold onto it for generations to come.

- There should be a land ownership session of every family gathering.

Where is our homestead?

You can't teach what you don't know, and you can't lead where you don't go.

And so we have to be intentional on preserving what our ancestors left us.

- [Male Narrator] As the Civil War came to a close, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman met with black leaders and asked them what they needed most.

The answer was as obvious as the ground they were standing on.

Land.

Land formerly held by Confederates, would be redistributed to newly freed people.

That plan became known as 40 acres and a mule.

But the promise was soon broken.

Abraham Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, overturned the order.

All the confiscated land was given back to its former Confederate owners.

Instead, a new system overtook southern agriculture, sharecropping.

While some were able to obtain land and even thrive, most black farmers rented plots from white landowners in exchange for a share of the harvested crop.

Without money for equipment, black farmers had to borrow from landowners at excessive interest rates.

Historians have called sharecropping slavery by another name.

In search of better opportunities, millions of black families joined the great migration heading north for factory jobs.

Others stayed and started to organize.

Land ownership was about more than income.

For the lucky few, owning property meant a shot at economic independence.

(upbeat music) - Now that Avi and I are done picking, we can get the movers in here and see how much space we can get cleared out.

(upbeat music) (glass rattles) We promised Cordenia and Carol that we would get one room cleaned out, but they were able to make such good and fast decisions, we were able to donate over 2000 pounds and clear out two rooms.

(truck door closing) Thank you guys for having us.

- Love having you, thank you.

- Definitely.

- After learning your family's story, it really is an honor to be here.

- My father told us that butterflies are starting to disappear.

They used to always see butterflies in this yard, but we haven't seen as many.

These few days, we've started seeing butterflies again and that makes me feel happy, I feel like the ancestors are visiting and approve of this.

- Well, you are correct.

(Cordenia and Carol laughing) All right, let's get into the legacy list.

This is your great-aunt Edith's diploma.

Tell me about your great-aunts first before we go through this.

- [Carol] They were our anchors.

They would send back money to maintain the land.

- So they didn't just emotionally support this land, they wrote some checks.

- Oh, yes.

- Yes.

- Yes, yes.

It was important for them.

- And what's really just so special about this, the King William County Training School.

This was supported financially by the Rosenwald schools, created by Booker T Washington, and a white Jewish president of Sears.

- Oh my, wow.

- [Cordenia] Oh my god.

- Specifically for rural black children to have access to more education.

- Wow.

That's amazing.

- This is much deeper than a piece of paper.

- [Cordenia] Yeah.

- [Carol] Yes, for sure.

- The next item is the shaving kit.

- Now you watch men shave driving like electric shavers and just quick.

Well, this is a process.

- [Matt] Oh yeah.

- Yeah.

- It took some powder and whatever else they had to put in it and mix it up.

They had to sharpen the razor.

So the processes of things, they took care in everything they did.

- Tell me about your father.

- This picture always reminds me of the Sterling Brown poem.

There's a line that my dad always said, "Corn for Sarah, butter beans for Grace, something for somebody, and for the little fella, running space".

He was the little fella that had the running space.

And that's why I love that picture.

And you took that picture.

- He would always say, "There's no better place than where I came from and knowing these people who took care of me".

He always thought about home and this was his home.

He cherished this place so much.

So when Cordenia just read the poem, I thought of that because when he passed he said, "I'm still that little boy".

When he was sick, he was our best friend.

- Yeah.

He was definitely our best friend.

- [Cordenia] Yeah.

- I know this is hard, what did he teach y'all?

- To follow your dreams.

- Follow your dreams and love life.

Love learning and love life.

- He was a dad, but he was also an artist.

These are his sketch pads and his notebooks.

Look at this.

- [Carol] Oh, man.

- [Cordenia] Oh, that's a- - This is the one that blew me away.

- [Cordenia] That is really to life.

- [Carol] This was downtown DC, he was near the courthouses.

My (inaudible) for last.

- Yeah, this is his.

This is other artists, but my dad's at the bottom has his name Con and it says, "You had the wrong number, but thanks for the gossip".

She's talking to her son.

He just was a jokester.

He like, you know- And that was from the 1982 "Ebony".

- So the last thing on your legacy list was more information about this property.

This is the deed that y'all know about.

All right, 1928.

- [Carol] Okay.

- All right, I believe that is your great-grandfather, Braxton Pollard, selling the land to his son, George.

- Oh.

Oh, he sold it to his son.

- By selling it to family, you guarantee that the family has it.

They intentionally did this to leave no chance of it leaving the hands of the family.

- If he deeded it in 1928, how long ago did he really get it?

- So he didn't really get it.

- So I wanna let you know that.

- [Cordenia] Okay.

- [Carol] Yes.

Oh my gosh.

- So this is what we found.

Okay.

So this is the original deed from 1912.

- We thought cursive was hard to read now.

- I've got it translated here for you, lemme pull this away.

- Okay.

- It's beautifully written.

- Yeah.

- Your great-grandfather, Braxton Pollard, bought it in 1912 for $255 from a white family in New York.

- [Carol] Wow.

- This house has been in your family for well over a century.

What do you want for this family and this property 20 years from now, 50 years from now?

- To carry on this legacy, like it still needs to be a land that is used.

- I agree.

Make it alive again.

All the wonderful things that you showed us about Dad, some of those things I never knew.

And so that right there sparks me to say, I gotta keep going.

I gotta make sure my sons have a great legacy, that they would look back and say, "Wow, mom did this, with just this little bit".

Look at what I can do.

- I can't wait to see what this property becomes.

- Thank you.

- We thank you.

- Yeah.

- We really do.

- Thank you for taking an interest and helping us learn even more.

- I hope you are already feeling the excitement of just having a full house.

- Yes.

- This house is not meant to be empty.

- True.

Come together Ooh, come together You and me Come together right now The joy in unity - [Female Narrator] Funding for "Legacy List" is provided by Wheaton Worldwide Moving.

Wheaton's number one goal is to help you, your loved ones, and your belongings get to your new home quickly and safely.

You can find us at wheatonworldwide.com.

Wheaton Worldwide moving, we move your life.

First Light Home Care committed to providing safe and compassionate home services for you and your family.

First Light believes personal relationships and engagement are as important as mobility, bathing, and personal hygiene.

Details at firstlighthomecare.com.

(easy-going music) (easy-going music continues) - [Male Narrator] Visit mylegacylist.com to learn more about the tips, tools, and professionals to help make your own big life move easier.

Learn more about this episode or submit your story to be featured on the show at mylegacylist.com.

(upbeat theme music)