Interracial marriage wasn’t legal in Virginia until 1967, but Stafford had several mixed-race families living in Stafford.

Nancy Ross (1839- 1924) was enslaved in Stafford County. At some point, she came to live with Alexander Morson Green (1827-1904), the son of Falmouth industrialist Duff Green (1792-1854). The 1870 Stafford census listed Nancy as Alex’s cook. Nancy and Alex had a family of at least nine children. One of these, William Carter Ross (1856-1915), became a Buffalo Soldier in Oklahoma where some of his descendants still reside. Alexander M. Green owned farms on both sides of Potomac Run. For many years before and after the war, he and his family resided on a farm on the outskirts of Brooke. His land on the south side of Potomac Run, standing in the White Oak area of the county, was devastated by the Union encampments. Census and court records suggest that Alex and Nancy may have separated after the war. As an older man, he lived for some years in Oklahoma with his son, but eventually returned to Virginia. He spent his last few years in Prince William County where he died and was buried. Nancy seems to have remained in Stafford. She purchased part of Alex’s property just south of Brooke and she and some of her family are buried at the end of Bexley Lane there.