History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II, Part 107

Author: Broadstone, Michael A., 1852- comp
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Indianapolis, B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1440

USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 107

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and his wife being representatives from the African Methodist Church in America to the Inter-racial Congress held in London in that year, both hav- ing places on the program of the meetings scheduled for that occasion.

Chaplain Steward has been twice married. On January 1, 1866, he was united in marriage to Elizabeth Gadesden, of Charleston, South Carolina, and to that union were born eight children, five of whom survive, namely: Dr. Charles Steward, a dentist, now practicing his profession at Boston ; Capt. Frank R. Steward, who commanded Company G, Forty-ninth Regi- ment, United States Infantry, during the Spanish-American War and is now practicing law at Pittsburgh; Dr. Benjamin Steward, who attended the medical department of the University of Minnesota and is at present employed by the United States government as assistant inspector in the Chicago stock yards; Prof. Theophilus B. Steward, instructor in English in the Lincoln high school at Kansas City, Missouri, and Gustavus Steward, present secretary to Archdeacon Russell, of St. Paul's (Episcopal) School at Lawrenceville, Virginia. The mother of these children died in 1893. She was a member of one of the old free families of Charleston and a woman

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of exalted character. It is doubtless to her teaching and example that Chaplain Steward and her sons now living owe much of their success in life. Although of a very affectionate nature she was nevertheless endowed with a large practical intellect and very sound judgment. Her family furnished one brother alderman of the city of Charleston, one assistant postmaster, and another, a prosperous butcher, who at one time commanded a troop of show cavalry composed of young colored men of the city who furnished their own horses and equipments. She is buried in the Gouldtown cemetery and over her grave stands a beautiful shaft on which is inscribed the just encomium: "The model wife and mother." On November 27, 1896, Chap- lain Steward married Dr. Susan Maria (Smith) Mckinney, widow of the Rev. William G. McKinney, an Episcopal minister at Charleston, South Caro- lina, and the mother of two children, the Rev. William S. Mckinney, a recently ordained minister of the Episcopal church, now a resident of Jamaica, Long Island, and Mrs. Anna Maria Holly, now a teacher in public school No. 109 at Brooklyn, New York. Mrs. Holly was graduated from the pub- lic schools of Brooklyn and later entered Pratt Institute in that city, where she took the full course, being the first colored graduate of the high school department of that institution.

Dr. S. Maria Steward, who, as noted above, died at her home at Wilber- force in the spring of 1918, was one of the best-known women of her race in the United States, and for years exerted a remarkable influence for good in and about Wilberforce, where she had been practicing her profession · for the greater part of the time since 1898, resident physician at the uni- versity since 1907 and a member of the faculty, giving lectures on hygiene and physiology to the girls. She was born at Brooklyn, New York, daughter of Sylvanus and Ann Elizabeth (Springsteel) Smith, the latter of whom also was born in Brooklyn and the former, at Little Neck, Long Island, and who were the parents of five daughters, Doctor Steward having had four sisters, the late Mrs. S. J. S. Garnet, who for years was principal of one of the public schools of Greater New York: the late Mrs. Emma Thomas, who also was a teacher ; Mrs. Clara T. S. Brown, a successful teacher of music in Brooklyn, and Miss Mary Smith, who became quite successful in business. Doctor Steward was given excellent educational advantages in the days of her girl- hood in Brooklyn and upon completing a normal course became engaged as a teacher at Washington. D. C. In the meantime she had been devoting her leisure to the study of medicine and two years later entered the New York Medical College, from which she was graduated in 1870, valedictorian of her class. She later attended clinics at Bellevue Hospital, in the meantime engaging in practice in Brooklyn, and in 1878 took a post-graduate course in the Long Island Hospital and College. After her first marriage she continued

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in practice in Brooklyn, her practice not being limited by color or creed. She was a member of the Kings County Homeopathic Society and of the New York State Medical Society. In addition to her knowledge of medi- cine, Doctor Steward was also a musician of skill and for twenty-eight years served as organist of the Bridge Street African Methodist Episcopal church and for two years, of the Bethany Baptist church. Her removal from Brook- lyn was the outcome of her marriage to Chaplain Steward. After that mar- riage in 1896 she was for a time stationed with the Chaplain in the West and in 1898, when it became known that he would have to go with his regi- ment to the Philippines, she located at Wilberforce, where she resumed the practice of her profession and was thus engaged there until her husband's return in 1902, when she rejoined him and was with him in Western army posts, still practicing, however, until his retirement and return to Wilberforce in 1907. Upon her return to Wilberforce she resumed her practice and in that same year was made resident physician and member of the faculty of the university, both she and her husband thus devoting their energies to that insti- tution. In addition to her membership in the New York medical societies noted above, Doctor Steward was a member of the Ohio State Medical Society. She took an active interest in the work of the Red Cross Society and of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and proved a strong force for good among the young women of the university community. She had written and read numerous papers before the various medical societies with which she was affiliated; in 1911 read a paper on "Colored Women in America" before the Inter-racial Congress held in London in that year, and in 1914 read a paper. "Woman in Medicine." before the meeting of the National Associa- tion of Colored Women's Clubs at Wilberforce. This latter paper was pub- lished in pamphlet form and has had wide circulation. She was buried in Greenwood cemetery, Brooklyn, New York.

JOHN JACKSON TURNER.

John Jackson Turner, proprietor of "Turner's Dairy and Stock Farm" in the neighborhood of Wilberforce and one of Greene county's colored farmers and stockmen, is a native of the Blue Grass state, but has been a resident of Ohio and of Greene county for the past twenty years and more. having come here in order that his children might have the benefit of the educational advantages offered by Wilberforce University in behalf of the young people of his race. He was born in slavery on the Haines plantation in the vicinity of Richmond, county 'seat of Madison county, Kentucky, February 27, 1855, son of Cyrus and Esther (Haines) Turner, both of whom also were born in slavery on that same plantation and the former of whom

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spent all his life there, his death occurring in 1907, he then being seventy- five years of age. His widow is still living, now a resident of Richmond, Kentucky, and is past eighty-four years of age. During the Civil War Cyrus Turner served as a soldier of the Union and for years before his death re- ceived a pension from the government, his widow continuing in receipt of a pension granted for that service. After the war Cyrus Turner continued to make his home on the Haines plantation, a place of fifteen hundred acres of blue-grass land owned by the Misses Katie and Margaret Haines, the survivor of whom left at her death a legacy of fifteen hundred dollars apiece to Cyrus Turner and his wife and each of their then nine living chil- dren. Cyrus Turner and his wife were Baptists and their children were reared in that faith. There were ten of these children, the subject of this sketch having had one brother and eight sisters. All of the younger daugh- ters attended nearby Berea College.

Being the eldest in the family of ten children born to his parents, John J. Turner was required to work hard in the days of his youth and thus did not receive the educational advantages that were given his younger sisters, although he was able for a while to attend Berea College. After his marriage in 1877 he continued to make his home on the Haines plantation, helping to work the place. Upon receiving the legacy of fifteen hundred dollars above referred to he bought a part of the Haines place and began farming on his own account, remaining there until 1897, when he sold his farm there and came to this county with his family and bought the Alton farm of sixty-seven acres in the vicinity of Wilberforce. A year later he bought the Samuel Stevenson farm of one hundred and eighty-three acres adjoining and later bought the adjoining Leffel farm of sixty-five acres on the Columbus pike, where he makes his home, calling his place "Turner's Dairy and Stock Farm." For ten years he kept a herd of thirty dairy cattle, but of late years has been giving his special attention to the buying and selling of live stock and hay.

On April 5, 1877, John J. Turner was united in marriage to Mary Eliza Arthur, who was born at Richmond, in Madison county, Kentucky, on March 28, 1857, daughter of Anderson and Sophia (White) Arthur, both of whom were born in slavery in that same county and there spent all their lives, the latter dying in August, 1865. Anderson Arthur later married Angeline Tribble and died in 1877, he then being sixty-five years of age. Sophia (White) Arthur, mother of Mrs. Turner, was a daughter of George White, a slave, born in Madison county, Kentucky, who bought his own freedom and then in turn bought the freedom of all of his six children and their families, all then making their home on a bit of land he had purchased in the vicinity of the village of Cleveland, in his home county. To John J.

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and Mary Eliza (Arthur) Turner have been born five children, namely : Arthur, who married Susan Harris and is now engaged in the government employ, an agent of the agricultural department in the University of Florida at Tallahassee; Cyrus, who married Mildred Burnett, of Canada, and is living on a farm in Xenia township, this county; Mayme, who is now teaching at Lewisburg, West Virginia : Pattie Norine, wife of H. L. Allston, a landowner and lawyer at Asheville, North Carolina, and Caroline, who supplemented the schooling she received at Wilberforce by attendance at the University of Michigan, from which latter institution she was graduated in music, and is now taking special post-graduate work at Fiske University. All of these children were graduated from Wilberforce University. Arthur Turner at- tended Berea College. In 1902 he completed a commercial course at Wilber- force University and entered the dairy and live-stock business with his father. Feeling a need of a scientific knowledge of the business, he took a special dairy course at Ohio State University at Columbus. The Turners are mem- bers of Zion Baptist church at Xenia.

PROF. BRUCE H. GREEN.

Prof. Bruce H. Green, chair of chemistry and physics at Wilberforce University and a well qualified young Negro educator, has been connected wtih the work of the university since 1902. He was born in the city of Charleston, South Carolina, June 8, 1879, son of Nelson J. and Anna (Dart) Green, both of whom were born in that same state, in slavery days, and who were the parents of two children, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Bessie, who is a teacher in the state college at Orangeburg, South Carolina. Nelson J. Green was for years employed as an inspector in the customs house at Charleston. He died in 1902 and his widow is still living at Charleston.

Upon completing the course in the public schools of his home city, Bruce H. Green entered Exeter Academy, in New Hampshire, and was there pre- pared for college, receiving there a scholarship as a reward for diligence and for the high grade he attained in his studies. He then entered Brown Uni- versity at Providence, Rhode Island, and was graduated from that institution in 1902 with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. Later he took summer courses of study in the graduate school of Chicago University and is still working for his Doctor degree. During his attendance at Brown, Professor Green was a member of the 'varsity track team and possesses some silver cups won at the broad jump and in other forms of athletics. He is a member of the Kappa Alpha Xi college fraternity.

In September, 1902, following his graduation at Brown University, Pro- fessor Green was employed as a teacher at Wilberforce University and has

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been connected with that institution ever since. In 1909 he was given the chair of chemistry and physics and still occupies that position. In 1916, the year of his marriage, Professor Green built a house on the Columbus pike in the vicinity of the university and he and his wife are residing there.

On September 6, 1916, Prof. Bruce H. Green was united in marriage to Suni P. Steele, who was born at Georgetown, Kentucky, and who was grad- uated from Wilberforce University in 1908. The Professor and his wife are members of the African Methodist Episcopal church.

SUPT. WILLIAM A. JOINER.

The following brief paragraph of official data presents in a nutshell the essential details in the career of William A. Joiner, superintendent and financial officer of the Combined Normal and Industrial Department of Wilberforce University and long recognized as one of the most forceful and energetic figures in Negro educational circles in the United States: "S. B., Wilberforce University, 1888; LL. B., Howard University, 1892; LL. M., ibid, 1893: graduate Teachers College, ibid, 1896; S. M., Wilberforce University, 1909; graduate student, University of Chicago; instructor in Latin, high school, Washington, D. C., 1898-1904; director, Teachers Training School, Teachers College, Howard University, 1904-10; present position since 1910." But there is much that ought to be told to make complete the above meager bio- graphical details.

When Superintendent Joiner entered upon the exacting duties of his present important position as superintendent of the Combined Normal and Industrial Department at Wilberforce University in August, 1910, he found there a most deplorable condition. That department had been created by legis- lative enactment in 1877. the Legislature appropriating six thousand dollars annually for the maintenance of the same. In 1896 a new law made the department an entity under the general jurisdiction of the university, but under control of the state acting through a board of trustees the majority of whom are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate. Under this system the department struggled along with a fluctuating fund for main- tenance, the annual appropriations depending upon the varying decisions of each successive Legislature, the average yearly appropriation for maintenance ranging around thirty thousand dollars; in consequence of which the depart- ment had confessedly not been keeping up with the expectations of those in charge. When Superintendent Joiner was put in charge of the department in 1910 as superintendent and financial officer of the same he discovered this condition and at once set about to repair it. Appropriations had gradually become lower and the standards of the department had deteriorated accord-

WILLIAM A. JOINER.

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ingly, so that when Superintendent Joiner took charge he found neither ade- quate books nor a clerk that could give him a proper insight into the previous operation of the department. On coming in touch with the state auditor's office he found not only that there were no funds with which to carry on the department but that there was a deficit charged against it. Dr. W. A. Galloway, of Xenia, at that time was president of the board of trustees and Superintendent Joiner and Doctor Galloway, upon their own credit, arranged a loan of twenty-five hundred dollars with which temporarily to take care of the deficit and to permit the new superintendent to inaugurate the system he had in mind and under the operation of which there has never since been a deficit. Superintendent Joiner also found the physical condition of his plant much run down, due to long continued lack of funds, the dormitories and school buildings out of repair and the equipment wholly insufficient. Because of the unfortunate physical conditions the school government also was in bad shape. Here was enough to stimulate the energies of an even less energetic man than Superintendent Joiner. The latter, however, had his plans well in hand and he proceeded along the lines he had outlined until presently he began to see order growing out of chaos and in due time he had his department well on the way to its present successful state of operation, a matter of pride on the part of the university and a distinct credit to its superintendent and financial officer, whose success has won for him not only a state-wide but a nation-wide reputation as a school administrator.

When the legislative visitation committee reached Wilberforce on its first trip after Superintendent Joiner had been placed in charge of the normal and industrial department, the superintendent had his budget all ready for them, showing in comprehensive detail just exactly what was necessary for the proper maintenance of the department, each item of prospective expense be- ing brought down to the penny. This was something new for the contempla- tion of the committee, previous demands having been made in lump sums, and careful inquiry was made into the merits of budget, the superintendent being called on to explain explicitly each item. This he did so satisfactorily that the sub-committee reported to the committee on visitation with a recommenda- tion that every penny asked for should be provided. The committee rejected this report and sent another sub-committee of eight to investigate. This latter committee concurred in the report of its predecessor, but the main committee. was even then unconvinced and sent for Superintendent Joiner to appear personally before it and explain on what grounds he based what the committee was pleased to regard as a "ridiculous" increase in the appropriation for his department. The superintendent previously had placed in the hands of each member of the committee a printed statement of his grounds and when he ap- peared in person to explain the items therein his address was so business-like.

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and so convincing in its tone that the hearing ended by the committee adopting the previous reports of its sub-committees and securing an appropria- tion of one hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars for the succeeding bien- nial period, this being the first time in the history of the state of Ohio that a state institution received exactly the amount asked for in its appropriation bill : and not only that, but Superintendent Joiner's effective method of itemizing his budget was so highly commended by the committee that afterward by legis- lative enactment his method was made compulsory upon all state institutions in making up their respective budgets for legislative appropriations.

During the seven years in which Superintendent Joiner has been in charge of the normal and industrial department of the university that department has received from the state more than six hundred thousand dollars and the wise and judicious use of this fund has raised that once badly depleted depart- ment to a plane where it has come to be recognized as one of the most efficient departments of the kind in any of the colored institutions of learning in the country and has thus done much to add to the fame of Wilberforce. Dur- ing the period of Superintendent Joiner's administration of the affairs of the normal and industrial department the entrance standard has been raised so as now to include only high school graduates and those of the graduates ask- ing for license to teach are placed on the standard of the state accredited list. The courses also have been reconstructed so as to give students who go from that department to other schools full credit for the work done in the former, and the courses also have been so amplified that the student ivho goes out from the institution may be reasonably assured of success in teaching or in the several departments of vocational training there conducted, such as printing, ' carpentering, blacksmithing, shoemaking, mechanics and the like. Superintendent Joiner also has established a series of teachers' conferences in the department, the object of the same being a free and full discussion of the needs of the several branches, and by this means has created in his staff an esprit de corps that has been wonderfully effective in securing that unity of effort that has done so much to elevate the general standards of that useful department, all the branches thus working together for the common end of giving the student the best possible preparation for the prospective work of teaching. The sup- erintendent also issues a series of bulletins setting forth the progress being made in the school and by this means keeps the alumni and other schools in touch with the work being done there. Since taking charge he also has kept a complete. and permanent - scholarship record of each pupil and has had marked success with the movement he early inaugurated for the purpose of creating a more genial relation between the school and student body and the community at large. It was he who inaugurated the present well-defined

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system of physical training in the school as well as the system of medical in- spection of students preparatory to their acceptance in the school, and he also established the local hospital in connection with the school, the same having a resident nurse permanently attached. As another health measure he also secured the establishment of the present modern waterworks system at the school and also installed a preceptress in charge of the woman's department, with a special charge to teach ethics, etiquette, deportment and the like. For the benefit of the student teachers he has created actual working conditions under which they may secure real experience as teachers of the under classes and has also arranged matters so that the students from differ- ent departments may have actual experience in practical work; for example, the printing classes do all the printing required by the university, such as printing catalogs, bulletins and the like, and the classes in the various build- ing and mechanical trades do similar practical work, the boys in those classes having actually built several of the new buildings on the campus, five of which have been erected under the administration of Superintendent Joiner, besides a number of cottages for the teachers. As a fitting final commentary on the work done at Wilberforce by Superintendent Joiner, it is notable that the en- rollment in his department has more than doubled under his administration. He recently has inaugurated an extension department for co-operating with the government in food conservation by having agricultural co-operation with farmers in this county in seed testing and other aids to good crops.

William A. Joiner was born at Alton, Illinois, son of the Rev. Edward C. and Frances (Badgett) Joiner, the former of whom was born in that same state and the latter in the state of Iowa. The Rev. Edward C. Joiner, a min- ister of the African Methodist Episcopal church, died in 1888, he then being forty-six years of age. His widow survived him for many years. her death occurring in 1916, she then being sixty-eight years of age. Due to his father's ministerial itinerary, young Joiner received his early schooling in the schools of such towns as the family was called to reside in and was graduated from the high school at Springfield, Illinois, in 1886. Thus qualified, he entered Wilberforce University with an advanced standing in that same year and was graduated from that institution in 1888 with the degree of Bachelor of Sci- ence. He then returned to Illinois and for two years and a half was engaged as a teacher in the public schools at Jerseyville, that state, resigning that posi- tion to accept an appointment in the war department at Washington, D. C. He continued thus engaged in the government service for four years, at the end of which time he opened a confectionery store at the national capital. In the meantime he had also been rendering service from time to time as a teacher in the capital and during the period 1898-1904 was engaged as the teacher of Latin and English in the M street high school. In 1904 he was ap-

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pointed director of the training school of the Teachers College at Howard University, Washington, D. C., and was there thus occupied until he resigned in the summer of 1910 to accept the position of superintendent and financial officer of the normal and industrial department of Wilberforce University, which position he since has occupied, with the very gratifying results above set out.

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History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II, Part 107

Author: Broadstone, Michael A., 1852- comp Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Indianapolis, B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1440

Author: Broadstone, Michael A., 1852- comp
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Indianapolis, B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1440