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I was poring through online historic newspapers lately, trying to find stories on my ancestors that have not been indexed or transcribed properly.
I found a very short little blurb in the Philadelphia Inquirer, 9 June 1893 about the state of NJ admitting 26 new lawyers to the bar, including a George Jackson of Freehold, NJ, who is now the first "colored" lawyer in New Jersey.
Wow, how cool is that? I googled the guy and only found one hit, one brief mention of him in a google book, Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer 1844-1944. That's it.
The guy was a history making trailblazer and no one seems to have knowledge of him (at least via a google search).
Has anyone else ever found really cool little tidbits from history that have nothing to do with your own ancestors, but you came across it while doing ancestry research? Let's post about them here so they'll be "findable" to others.
....and guess what Mr. Jackson, Esq, you'll now have 2 google hits!
I think this is him on the 1910 census from www.familysearch.org
That book you mentioned said that George left NJ.
Can't find him yet on 1920 or later census.
At least we're giving him more Google hits !
Name: George Jackson
Age in 1910: 40
Birth Year: abt 1870
Birthplace: New Jersey
Home in 1910: Minneapolis Ward 6, Hennepin, Minnesota
Street: 13 Av
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Lodger
Marital Status: Single
Father's Birthplace: New Jersey
Mother's Birthplace: New Jersey
Native Tongue: English
Occupation: Attorney
Industry: General Practice Employer, Employee or Other: Own Account
Able to Read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes
Household Members:
Name Age Estelle Louis 28 Edward White 28 George Jackson 40
Last edited by daliowa; 05-19-2016 at 06:42 PM..
Reason: edit
I've found lots of interesting things about people not in our family while looking for info about our family.
Old newspapers are so interesting. A lot of the articles could be about today's news if you just changed the names. <g>
I read a lot of the old newspaper clippings when I'm researching Missouri outlaws and Missouri history. I get a kick out of the way they described things back then. I remember one article I was reading that took place in the 1800s about a tornado that was wreaking havoc in Missouri and this man coming from California on a train gave his eyewitness account, " I saw the whole thing from the window, it was horrible. That was the worst hurricane I had ever seen."
So George Jackson the black attorney is now showing up in a google search for this discussion thread!
Daliowa above found him in the 1910 census in Minneapolis.
Here's what I could find so far:
I found a better version of the mention on him in the Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer book. It says he was a resident of Camden NJ when he was the first black lawyer admitted to the NJ bar in 1893. He had done a clerkship in a law office of Samuel H. Patterson of Asbury Park NJ from 25 Feb 1886-1 July 1887. He did another clerkship under John W. Swartz of Freehold NJ, from 1 Oct 1887-1 Oct 1889. It saws little more is known about him except that he left NJ in 1906 and went to St. Paul, MN where he was admitted to the bar.
I found him in the 1904 Asbury Park NJ directory:
Jackson, George H. lawyer, 904 Second ave, West Park
Then in the 1905 Asbury Park NJ directory:
Jackson, George H. Lawyer, h 29 Atkins ave, West Park
Then in the 1907 St. Paul, MN directory:
Jackson, George, lawyer 412 Court blk, rms 378 Jay
(I have no idea what the abbreviations indicate)
Then in the 1908 Minneapolis, MN directory:
Jackson, Geo H, lawyer, 507 Boston blk b 1120 23d av NE
(maybe blk is for "black"? maybe b is for "business" address?)
Then in the 1910 Minneapolis, MN directory:
Jackson, Geo H, lawyer 506 Boston blk r 512 13th av S
(so maybe if b means business address, that Boston address, then r means residential address?)
The 13th Ave matches the 1910 census for his residence.
Then in the 1915 Minneapolis directory:
Jackson, Geo, lawyer rms 1008S 6th
Then in the 1917 Minneapolis directory:
Jackson, Geo H, lawyer, 818 Met Life bldg. rms 1008 s 6th
Can't find him in any more censuses.
He's a mystery, even the book above says little is known about him.
Last edited by Tracysherm; 05-20-2016 at 11:20 AM..
I was poring through online historic newspapers lately, trying to find stories on my ancestors that have not been indexed or transcribed properly.
I found a very short little blurb in the Philadelphia Inquirer, 9 June 1893 about the state of NJ admitting 26 new lawyers to the bar, including a George Jackson of Freehold, NJ, who is now the first "colored" lawyer in New Jersey.
Wow, how cool is that? I googled the guy and only found one hit, one brief mention of him in a google book, Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer 1844-1944. That's it.
The guy was a history making trailblazer and no one seems to have knowledge of him (at least via a google search).
Has anyone else ever found really cool little tidbits from history that have nothing to do with your own ancestors, but you came across it while doing ancestry research? Let's post about them here so they'll be "findable" to others.
....and guess what Mr. Jackson, Esq, you'll now have 2 google hits!
FWIW, just wanted to mention that black genealogists (I am black) use a LOT of newspapers in our genealogical searches due to many times our ancestors not being put in vital statistics records or ledgers in many locales (especially in southern states).
I am a member of a forum called Afrigeneas and there is a subforum specifically about newspaper research for black genealogy.
I'll share what you've found there in the near future, maybe someone is looking for a Jackson family.
FWIW, I also found via a newspaper article that one of my distant relatives (a 2nd cousin) was the first black realtor in my city. That doesn't seem like a big thing, but it was at the time and our local newspaper (not the black newspaper) did a write up about her that I found. Oddly enough I knew her daughter but didn't know that that was her mom or that we were related lol.
She has since shared a lot of other stuff with me about her mom.
I also found via a reference to a newspaper an account of my 4th great grandmother being nearly kidnapped into slavery in Harrisburg, PA in 1860, prior to the Civil War. She was born a free person of color and was nearly abducted with another woman walking home from her job as a domestic. "Negro" men in the neighborhood heard the cries of the women and came out and fought off the two white men who were subsequently caught and who tried to claim that the women were their property. They both had documentation of their free status.
I've found a ton of interesting stuff in newspapers. They are rather fascinating to me and are a major source of research for me right now. I am writing a piece about black owned saloons (whorehouses lol) in our city in the late 1800s/early1900s right now so am using some local newspapers.
Oddly enough, while researching this topic, I found someone else had also researched saloon culture in general in Toledo, OH (someone at UC Davis of all places) and found this snippet, which was interesting and gave me some dates for further newspaper research.
Quote:
African Americans were also saloonkeepers. Of the five African American families in Toledo identified in 1860, John B. Tilton becomes the first black saloonkeeper in 1868. In order to remain in business, his clientele must have incorporated all races. By 1869 there were four African American saloons, amounting to four percent of Toledo’s 116 saloons. Of the four, William Carter and B. W. Mayo operated boarding saloons, John H. Douglas -- a billiard saloon, and C. Thompson -- a general saloon. From 1880 to 1899, the number of black operated saloons decreased (or were no longer identified in the city directory) and relocated. This geographical shift reflected the resettlement of poor white, black, and ethnic neighborhoods out of the urban core and by 1919 Canton Street was popularly referred to as the badlands and had the highest concentration of African Americans in the city (Toledo Blade 8 January 1915). Mr. Pearl L. Barber operated a high profile saloon with a bad reputation and political connections
In an early morning raid in 1904 on Barber’s “Negro gambling joint and resort,” police found thirteen men at various gambling tables. The men were charged with being in a saloon after midnight and fined $10 plus court costs while Barber was charged with keeping his saloon open after midnight and permitting gambling in a saloon. In return for his guilty plea he was given a twenty-day sentence and a $30 fine plus costs. Brand Whitlock (Mayor of Toledo, 1906-1913) appeared in Barber’s defense to request imposition of a fine instead of a workhouse sentence (Toledo Blade 6 August 1904). The mayor’s appeal was unsuccessful and Barber served his full sentence. In a previous conviction and workhouse sentence, Barber had enough influence to obtain a release on parole (Toledo News Bee 8 August 1904).
I initially had come across information about a black female saloon keeper and found information on Pearl Barber (Pearl was a man) who I had not known about before. I wonder what Pearl had on the mayor in regards to the bold!!
FWIW, my maternal ancestors lived off of Canton Street mentioned in the snippet. That neighborhood was known to be..."colorful" and my great grandma said all the gangsters hung out over there lol. She moved away form the neighborhood as soon as she got married.
I find a lot of interesting "firsts" in my research but I actually also study local history and specifically black American history of the Great Lakes area and NW Ohio specifically so when I come across something interesting I am always excited.
Please share the info on Mr. Jackson in your other forum. I don't want him to be lost to history! I don't know if this is the case with him (but in his 40s he's still single and living in a rooming house) but sometimes I feel like people who don't have children and who were not famous (but still very interesting) get lost to history because no one today is digging up genealogy info on them.
I just searched extensively in newspapers on genealogybank.com and newspaperarchive.com and couldn't find anything else.
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