Biographical sketches of former slaves

FORMER SLAVE OBITUARIES AND OTHER STORIES

STORIES UPLOADED JUNE 20 2020

Feb. 12 23 1912

“Granny” Hafford, a former

slave, said to have been 116 years old died she was the Mother of seventeen children ten were lost during slavery.

Her owner was George Hafford who owned a place near Monticello Kentucky

(CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION)

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MARCH 30 1950

Alexander Willis, Former Slave, Admits He’s ‘Pretty Old’ at 111

Alexander Willis, who remembers when the Civil War cannonading “sounded like Judgment Day,” is 111 years old today.

•That’s , pretty old,” he says. But it doesn’t really seem very long, he says, since he, was a former slave, who was carrying

“the young master” to church on his shoulders.

Mr. Willis, a Washing ton resident since 1928, lives at 1816 Eleventh He was born near Orange, Va„ and served as butler and coachman for a Confederate captain.

“After the war our masters had to go to the courthouse and write down our birth date and say we were free.” he recalled. That Is how he learned his age.

It is difficult not to think of today’s war talk when listening to! Mr. Willis’ wartime memories,”They said there wouldn’t be any

war, but war came,” said Mr. Willis, who lived in .the woods during the fighting. “You could see the cannons take the tops off trees. I was crying to

myself, wondering why they were’ killing all those people.”

Mr. Willis, still strong, spry says men and women of today aren’t what they used to be—“no muscle.”

“Today they run all day and all I night and they’re no account,” he I declared. “In my day, when night! came we went to bed. In the morning you heard the plantation bell

ring and rolled out of your cabin before dawn—ready to do some real work.”

Mr. Willis said he was sick once—about 40 years ago. “I never bothered with sickness,”

he said. “I guess that’s why I’ve lived so long.”

Mr. Willis has a pension and is‘“watched out for” by friends in

the Vermont Avenue Baptist Church

the church as it is today.

Vermont Ave Bapt Church and Family Life Center

(FULL STORY INFORMATION ON REQUEST)

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March 2020 entries

September 28, 1907

Ricmond Planet

Great Longevity in Slave Family.
W. Harris, a former slave,
this w r Powlandsvllle, at
age of 113 years, one month and
fourteen days. The birth record of
W larris family is said to have
been accurately kept by the owners
of these colored people who lived
In Hartford county, Md. According
to the record Harris’ maternal grand
mother died at 117 years old when she
died, while his mother died at the
age of 121 years.

New York Times – Jun 29, 1897
Mrs. Priscilla ,, a colored woman, formerly a ‘slave in Viroinia, died at the home of her son here to-day, aged 115 years. IVfrs. …

Hartford Courant – r – Sep 8, 1930
William Thomas Fought For North and South in Civil War–Was Father of 20 Children. William Thomas, 86, born into slavery on a Virginia plantation

Former Slave Dies in Georgia at Age of 110

– Chicago Tribune – – Jan 9, 1950
Former Slave Dies in. Georgia at Age of 110.

WR CALLOWAY, FORMER SLAVE, DIES AT AGE 104

Chicago Tribune – Nov 13, 1950
W. R. CALLOWAY,. FORMER SLAVE, DIES AT AGE 104. Services for William Rutherford Calloway, 104, of 4828 South Park way, once a Negro slave, …

Former Slave Dies at 105

New York Times – Dec 20, 1949
Wade Evans, former slave, died last night at the age of 105. Born on a Louisiana plantation, he came here in 1929. He died at the home of his only surving child…

Former Slave Dies

Los Angeles Times — Sep 18, 1957
N O R T H WILKESBORO. N.C., Sept. 17 tM-Mrs. Jane. Denny, a former slave, died here yesterday at the age of 103

FORMER SLAVE DIES; EX-CONGRESSMAN; Major John Roy Lynch Served …

New York Times – Nov 3, 1939
Major John Roy Lynch, a Negro slave before the Civil War who later served three terms in Congress as a Representative from Mississippi in the Eighteen …

Former Slave Dies at 109.

New York Times – Apr 11, 1927
“Uncle” Ad- Idison Day, 109 years old, a , Es dead and his body has been[cremated He was born[in 1818 on a plantation …

FORMER SLAVE DIES AT 105.; Martin Sawyer, Active to End, Was Last of …

$3.95 – New York Times – Jul 22, 1928
NASSAU, Bahamas, July 17.-Martia Sawyer, aged 105 years, is dead in . Sawyer was brought here from Africa as a boy by a slave s trader and sold in the public auction

Former Slave Dies at 117 Years.

New York Times – Feb 13, 1923
PaCHSIOND HILL., Ont., Feb. 32.u Mrs. Susan Augusta Maxwell, Canada’s oldest citizen, and one of the most pic. figures in York County, ‘is dead at her- home …

FORMER SLAVE DIES.

– Los Angeles Times – ProQuest Archiver – Aug 6, 1909
Man Who Was Born in Bondage on Missouri Plantation Passes Away. at Monrovia. MONROVIA, pug. B.-Thomas Dor aey died last night at hlr on Chestnut avenue. …

FORMER SLAVE DIES

Chicago Tribune – ProQuest Archiver – Oct 25, 1945
Dave N.IItri, INegro who was born Into Closlk y tl4 agO In ‘ t. t., died ?”I’. 1y 1 Inh of hII% . Mrsn. IisloIa Tilflmlas, 44, of 405I . aI.

I Former Slave Dies at 106

$New York Times – Jun 1, 1955
PATERSON, N. J., May 31 U . Mary Elizabeth Miller, 106-year-old former slave, died herd yesterday. She was born and reared on a plantation in Maryland. ^

Former Slave Dies. at 120 X/ears.

$3.95 – New York Times – Jan 20, 1925
Judle Dean. a former slave, agea 120 years, is dead in the home of her

Former Slave Dies at 104

– New York Times – May 15, 1951
Abram M. Lee, a slave in Albemarle County, Va., before the Civil War died here yesterday in the Brooke Convalescent Home at tha age of 104. …

Former Slave Dies at 107

$3.95 – New York Times – Dec 4, 1959
DETROIT, Dec. 3 (AP) – Mrs. Almeda Hudson died yesterday at the age of 107 and left 187 descendants. Mrs. Hudson was born into slavery at Shuqualak, lV[iss. …

Former Slave Dies at 110 Years.

New York Times – Mar 17, 1926
Annie Morton, resident of $Veir, near here, died yesterday at the age of 110 years. A slave more than half a century, she vas freed during the Civil V,-ur. …

Former Slave Dies at 111New York Times – Jun 2, 1955
MOUNT VERNON, Ind., June 1 (DP)uA Negro woman who was born in slavery in Winchester, Ky., died yesterday at the age of 111. Mrs. Mary Webb outlived three … children

Former Slave Dies at 96.

New York Times – Jun 19, 1934
Edward Bell, one of the few former slaves surviving in this country, died today at Rodgers Forge, near here, i the home of John F. Symington. …

Former Slave Dies at 110 Years.

New York Times – May 17, 1929
GRANDE, Brazil, 16 i:P!.-~inria Carlota Wilson, a former alace, died in the poorhouse here today at the age of 110 years. She born in Africa.

Former Slave Dies at 104

New York Times – Jan 23, 1944
Charlotte Ann Vinborne, born in slavery on a North Carolina plantation 104 years ago, died here today in her home. A slave worker in cotton fields

Former Slave Dies at 93

– New York Times – Feb 18, 1953
EUa Bass, a Negro born in slavery, died yesterday at the age of 93. A daughter, Mrs. E. H. Lee, said that as a young woman her mother worked for the parents …

FORMER SLAVE DIES AT 109.; Mrs. Mary Casewell of Harlem Fatally …

– New York Times – Jul 30, 1929
Mrs. Gasewell, who was born a slave 109 years ago in Richmond, Va., and is believed to have been the oldest dweller in Harlem, died in. …

Former Slave Dies at 113 Years.

New York Times – Apr 9, 1925
She is said toI have been a slave of General Polk ] the close oi tile Civil %Vat. According] to authentic information obtained here, ] she %vas born about …

Former Slave Dies at 109

– New York Times – Feb 17, 1944
I Henry Johnson, one-time slave onI I a Richmond (Na.) plantation andI Ibelieved to be Rhode Island’s l inhabitant, died here last night atI the age of 109.

Former slave dies in Dallas at 122

– Chicago Tribune – – Jun 2, 1973
Peterson, a former slave, died yesterday in Baylor Medi. cal Center after amputation of both legs. He had a history of

Former Slave Dies At 109 .

News Archive – May 3, 1962
Former Slave Dies at 109 . BOULDER. Colorado, May 2. James Winn, one of the last of the former slaves In the United States, has died here at the age of …

Former Slave Dies at 126

New York Times – Dec 22, 1950
UP>- Uncle Jerry Ebbenson, a former slave who made the claim that he was 126 years old-born on Christmas Day-died Tuesday in a West Tennessee poorhouse. …

Former Slave Dies At 124 .

Virgin Islands Daily News – Google News Archive – Jul 13, 1968
NEWARK, New Jersey— A funeral was held yesterday in Newark, New Jersey for a former slave who died at the estimated age of A grandson says Hardman Brown was …

Former Slave Buried 124 Years After Birth – Hartford Courant – ProQuest Archiver (Pay-Per-View)
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Former Slave Dies at 103

$3.95 – New York Times – Jun 7, 1950
MIDDLETOWN, N. Y., June 6 (fP)-Daniel W. Bailey, a former slave from Macon, Ga., died yesterday at the age of 103. Mr. Bailey, who formerly lived on Staten …