USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 109
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On August 16, 1904, Professor Johnson was united in marriage to Castella Vivien Carr, who was born at Aberdeen, this state, a daughter of the Rev. George and Amanda (Reese) Carr, the latter of whom died in 1900 and the former of whom, a retired minister of the gospel, is now living at Lexington, Kentucky. Mrs. Johnson completed her studies in the state colleges in Alabama and in Kentucky, in which institutions her elder sister served as female principal, she having made her home with this elder sister after her mother's death and was a teacher in Kentucky at the time of her marriage to Professor Johnson.
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PROF. JOSEPH DELL MOORE RUSSELL.
Prof. Joseph Dell Moore Russell, postmaster at Wilberforce, a teacher in the academic department of Wilberforce University, formerly and for years superintendent of the colored high school at Richmond, Kentucky, and for some years past a resident of Greene county and owner of a farm in the immediate vicinity of Wilberforce, is a native of Kentucky, born in Logan county, that state, May 16, 1872, son of the Rev. Greene and Frances (Page) Russell, both of whom were born in slavery in that same county and who were married before the days of the Civil War.
The Rev. Greene Russell, a minister of the African Baptist church in the state of Kentucky, for years had charge of a church in his home county, but in those days did not preach for money, regarding his service as a labor of love. His work was largely evangelistic in character and during his long service of more than fifty-one years in the pulpit helped to establish no fewer than fifty churches of his faith in that section extending from Hopkinsville to Bowling Green in Kentucky and as far south as Nashville, Tennessee. He also had farming interests in Logan county, acquired after the war. He died in 1913 at the age of eighty-two years. His first wife and the mother of his children died in March, 1894, at the age of fifty-five years, and he later mar- ried Annie Bibb, after whose death he married again and his third wife, Amanda, also is now dead. The Rev. Greene Russell was the father of ten children, the subject of this sketch, the only one of these living in Greene county, having had seven brothers and two sisters. One of these brothers, Dr. Greene P. Russell, is president of the Kentucky State College for Colored People at Frankfort; another, the Rev. D. B. Russell, is pastor of a Baptist church at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ; another, Prof. Richard Russell, is prin- cipal of the colored high school at Nicholasville, Kentucky, and another, Isaac Russell. is a machinist now residing at Springfield, this state. Only one of the sisters is now living, Mrs. Olive Lewis Woods, of Russellville, Kentucky.
Joseph D. M. Russell was given careful training by his father in the days of his youth and later completed a course of instruction at Berea Col- lege, after which he entered Wilberforce University, from which institution he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1898. In that same year he was made superintendent of the colored high school at Rich- mond, Kentucky, and for seventeen years held that position, or until his re- moval to Wilberforce in 1915. In the meantime Professor Russell had taken a special course in pedagogy at Howard University, Washington, D. C., and since taking up his residence at Wilberforce has been engaged in teaching special courses in pedagogy in the academic department of the university. Upon moving to Wilberforce Professor Russell bought the old Kendall farm
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of one hundred and twenty-three acres on the Columbus pike and there estab- lished his home, the management of the farm being in the hands of his son, Greene P. Russell. The Professor is a Democrat and in May, 1917, was appointed postmaster at Wilberforce, which position he now occupies. He has written quite extensively for school journals and also was for some time an assistant editor on the staff of the Common School Journal, published at Lexington, Kentucky. Fraternally, he is a member of the order of colored Masons and of the Good Samaritans. He was reared in the Baptist faith and has ever adhered to the same.
On December 26, 1893. Prof. Joseph D. M. Russell was united in mar- riage to Carrie Turner, who was born in Madison county, Kentucky, daugh- ter of Cyrus and Esther ( Haines) Turner, who were born in slavery in that same county and further reference to whom is made in a biographical sketch relating to Mrs. Russell's brother, John Jackson Turner, a stockman at Wil- berforce, presented elsewhere in this volume. Professor and Mrs. Russell have four sons, Greene P., who married Mollie Corbin, of Xenia, and who, as noted above, is managing his father's farm, and John D., Cyrus and Joseph D.
HENLEY CALVIN PETERS.
Henley Calvin Peters, colored, head of the firm of H. C. Peters & Sons, dry-cleaners and dyers, at Xenia, is a native of Virginia, but has been a resi- dent of Ohio since he was ten years of age, the greater part of that time hav- ing been spent in Greene county. He was born in Rockbridge county, Vir- ginia, December 19, 1860, son of Henry and Lucy Jane (Clark) Peters, and was ten years of age when his parents came to Ohio in 1870, the family driving through. There were three families in the party that thus came over here from Virginia, Henry Peters and his family being accompanied by the families of James Clark and Wesley Cooper. Upon their arrival in Greene county, the Peters family remained a month at Stringtown and then located at Cedarville, but two years later moved down into Clinton county and settled on a farm south of Wilmington, where Henry Peters spent his last days. His widow survived him for some years, her death occurring at Dayton, Ohio, about 1891. Henry Peters and his wife were the parents of seven children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fourth in order of birth, the others being the following: Virginia, wife of Louis B. Brown, of Chicago; Susan, of Chicago, Illinois: Anna, unmarried, who is now living at Alto, Virginia ; Sarah, deceased: Stewart, who was accidentally drowned in childhood, and Dr. John H. Peters, a physician at Danville, Kentucky.
As noted above. H. C. Peters was but ten years of age when he came
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to Ohio with his parents and he was reared in Greene county and in Clinton county. In Greene county he learned the carpenter trade under the direction of James Collins, who afterward became his father-in-law. He married at Xenia, where he continued working at his trade, presently becoming a build- ing contractor on his own account, and was thus engaged for twenty years, or until compelled to retire from that form of labor by reason of failing health. In 1911 he became associated with his sons, James H. and Howard A. Peters, in the dry-cleaning and dyeing business at Xenia, under the firm name of H. C. Peters & Sons, aud has since been thus engaged, with office at 29 Greene street and cleaning and dyeing plant at 529 East Main street. H. C. Peters is a member of the local lodge of the colored Knights of Pythias and he and his family are affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal church.
On December 24, 1883, H. C. Peters was united in marriage to Hattie . Collins, who was born in the vicinity of Wilberforce, in this county, daugh- ter of James and Nancy Collins, both now deceased, the former of whom was a carpenter who had served as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War. James Collins and his wife were the parents of six children, of whom Mrs. Peters was the last-born, the others being Mrs. Sarah Matthews, who lives at Defiance, this state; the Rev. George Collins, now deceased, who was a minister of the African Methodist Episcopal church : Charles, a carpenter, now living at Dayton; Elizabeth, who married Jordan Robb and is now de- ceased, and Josephine, now living at Xenia, widow of James Kelly. To H. C. Peters and wife two sons have been born, James H., born on November 13, 1884, and Howard A., October 15, 1886, the latter of whom married Myrtle Merritt and has one child, a daughter, Martha. Howard A. Peters is a graduate of the Xenia high school and is treasurer of the local lodge of the colored Masons.
James H. Peters was born at Xenia and there received his schooling. He became employed in the undertaking establishment of Johnson & Dean at Xenia and was thus engaged for eighteen months, at the end of which time he took employment in Hutchinson & Gibney's dry-goods store and was there employed for three years. He then went to Indianapolis and for more than two years thereafter was employed in the drapery department of the Taylor Carpet Company in that city, later going to St. Louis, where he became employed as a window decorator in the department store of Scruggs & Van- derwort. continuing thus engaged at that place for ten months, at the end of which time he returned to his home in Xenia. On February 28, 1910, he became engaged in the dry-cleaning business at Xenia, in partnership with Charles H. Tate, of Richmond, Indiana, an association which continued for a year or more, or until the time in 1911 when his father and brother bought
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Tate's interest in the business, which since then has been conducted under the firm name of H. C. Peters & Sons, James H. Peters being in charge of the office and Howard A. Peters in charge of the cleaning and dyeing establish- ment.
REV. THOMAS PERKINS.
The Rev. Thomas Perkins, of Wilberforce, a retired minister of the African Methodist Episcopal church and the owner of a large plantation in the state of Mississippi, is a striking living example of the amazing accomplishments of the Negro race since the days of emancipation. Born a slave, he was eighteen years of age when by that divinely-directed stroke of the immortal Lincoln's pen he became a freeman. Slavish servitude, however, had not crushed within him that strong native sense of industry that later was to bring him so large a measure of success, nor had his instinctive aspirations for something beyond such servitude been stifled thereby. Exercising a sense of proportion and a keenness of judgment that can not be commended too highly, he remained on the plantation on which he was born, a rich Mississippi cotton plantation of nearly one thousand acres ; saved the greater part of such wages as came to him after he became "his own man," improved such opportunities as he could seize in the way of education and mental development, applied his native common sense to the task in hand and in time became the owner of the plantation on which he had labored as a slave. In the meantime, in the pursuit of the material things of life, he had not been neglecting the cultivation of the spiritual side of his nature, and after a powerful conversion turned his attention to the spread of the gospel message, in due time was ordained a minister of his church and became the presiding elder of his district. Upon his retirement from his plantation he came North, joined the Wilberforce settlement, erected there a comfortable residence and has since been living there, very properly possessed of a sense of accomplishment that might profitably to the race be set out in a much more ample tale than the limitations of this brief bio- graphical sketch will permit.
Thomas Perkins was born on a plantation in Leflore county, Missis- sippi, November 15, 1845, son of Rufus and Isabella Perkins, who were slaves on adjoining plantations in that county and who continued to make their home there after emancipation. Rufus Perkins lived to be seventy years of age. His widow survived him until 1902, she being eighty years of age at the time of her death. She was the mother of eight children, seven sons and one daughter, of whom but two are now living, the Rev. Thomas . Perkins having a half-brother, John Robinson, who is still living
REV. THOMAS PERKINS.
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in Leflore county, Mississippi. When Lincoln's emancipation proclamation freed the slaves Thomas Perkins was a husky young slave boy on the plantation on which his mother was held. He had had practically no oppor- tunity to acquire a knowledge of letters, such lessons as he had received along those lines having been but occasional Sunday lessons delivered to the youngsters on the plantation by one of the kind-hearted women in the "big house," but from the days of his early youth he had felt a longing for that form of learning that comes out of books and after emancipation he and some of the other young folks of his race in the neighborhood formed a group, employed a teacher and set up an "independent" school in which he was able to advance somewhat farther than the knowledge of the mere rudiments of learning and his mind was thus opened to the possibilities of self-study which he later improved to the great advantage of himself as well as to the advantage of those with whom he came in close personal touch. Upon his release from bondage he received for his labor the sum of fifty cents a day, paid by' the owner of a nine-hundred-acre cotton planta- tion, but so simple were his needs that he was able to save the greater part of even this meager wage. He married when twenty-one years of age and after that his wife helped him save. It was his custom to have his employer reserve his wages until the end of the year, when he would receive the pay for his year of toil in a lump sum. Before his marriage he made an old tool chest his bank, there being no bank within sixty miles of the place, but after his marriage he found his wife's "bustle" a safe and ample receptacle for his accumulating wealth. After a while he branched out on his own account and sub-rented a portion of the plantation on which he had been employed. His industry and excellent methods of farming produced their rewards and as he prospered he extended his operations, still successfully, until in 1892 he was enabled to buy the whole of the plantation of nine hundred acres on which he had so long labored, and six hundred acres of which he still owns, having sold three hundred acres of his place upon his removal to Wilberforce. In 1885 he was converted at a revival meeting being held in the African Methodist Episcopal church in the neighborhood of his home and felt a powerful call to turn his talents in the direction of the ministry of his church. He presently was admitted to the conference and for two years served as an itinerant preacher, this service proving so acceptable to the conference that he was ordained and not long afterward was made presiding elder of his district, in the mean- time, however, continuing to carry on his farming operations. After a while his health began to fail and he was advised to come North. In 1897 he arranged his affairs in Mississippi so that he could leave his big farm in the charge of a responsible tenant and moved to Wilberforce, the fame
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of which active center of race education had long been dear to him, and there has ever since made his home. In 1899 he erected there the twelve- room house in which he and his family reside. He owns a tract of seven acres surrounding the house and there enjoys comforts and advantages that he hardly could have even dreamed of in the days of his boyhood when a slave down on a Mississippi cotton plantation. Though long retired from the active ministry he continues to take an interest in church work and is a member of the board of stewards of Holy Trinity church at Wilberforce. Politically, he is a Republican.
The Rev. Thomas Perkins has been twice married. In 1866 he was married to Lulu Fisher, who was born in a county adjoining that in which he was born in Mississippi, and to that union were born eleven children, those living being Alice, wife of L. Baker, superintendent of construction of United States government buildings, first colored man to have that place, now stationed at Detroit, Michigan; Lizzie, wife of Dr. John Fehrs, a physician of South Bend, Indiana; Charlotte, wife of Fred McGinnis, in- structor in printing in Wilberforce University; Eliza, wife of Gilbert Allen, of Wilberforce, the two making their home with Mrs. Allen's father, and Bryan, who is married and lives at Centralia, Illinois, where he is engaged in the railroad shops. The mother of these children died in 1897, and on March 2, 1909, Reverend Perkins married Ella Irvin, who was born in Kentucky.
CLARENCE A. LINDSAY, M. D.
Dr. Clarence A. Lindsay, a young colored physician at Xenia, was born in that city on June 11, 1891, son and only child of Dr. Frank T. and Flor- ence A. (Kirk) Lindsay, the former of whom died in the summer of 1910 and the latter of whom is still living, now performing the office of matron of the girls department of Wilberforce University.
Dr. Frank T. Lindsay, who for years was a physician at Xenia, was born south of the Mason and Dixon line and as a young man came North. After a course in Oberlin College he entered Howard Medical School and upon his graduation from the same, in 187.5, located at Xenia, where he spent the rest of his life engaged in the practice of his profession, his death occurring there on June 2, 1910, he then being at the age of fifty-eight years. His wife was born at Van Wert, this state.
Reared at Xenia, Clarence A. Lindsay received his early schooling in the schools of that city and was graduated from the high school there in 1909. He then entered Wilberforce University and was graduated from
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that institution in 1911, after which he entered the Ohio State Medical School at Columbus and was graduated from that institution in 1916. Upon receiving his diploma Doctor Lindsay returned to Xenia and entered upon the practice of his profession there, occupying the residence and office of his late father at 537 East Main street.
On July 20, 1916, Dr. Clarence A. Lindsay was united in marriage to Margaret V. Smith, who also was born in Xenia. The Doctor and his wife are members of St. John's African Methodist Episcopal church at Xenia.
PROF. LUTRELLE F. PALMER.
Prof. Lutrelle F. Palmer, former principal of the academic department of Wilberforce University and present librarian of the university, is a native of Alabama, born at Snow Hill, that state, September 25, 1888. His parents, Aaron and Anna (Johnson) Palmer, also were born in Alabama and the latter died there in 1904. she then being forty-nine years of age. Aaron Palmer is a carpenter and is following that vocation at Birmingham, Ala- bama, where he has made his home for years. He is a member of the African Methodist Episcopal church and has for years been a class leader in the same. To him and his wife were born five children, of whom Professor Palmer was the fourth in order of birth, the others being the following: D. G., who is a railroad fireman, living at Montgomery, Alabama; Alexander, a machinist, also living at Montgomery; Ella, widow of Charles Hamilton, now keeping house for her father at Birmingham, and Mrs. Lola Huston formerly of Birmingham, deceased.
Lutrelle F. Palmer was but a lad when his parents moved from Snow Hill to Selma, Alabama, and in the public schools of the latter place he re- ceived his first schooling. In 1905 he entered the academic department of Wilberforce University, he then being seventeen years of age, and he contin- ued his studies through the academy and then through the university until he was graduated from the latter in 1911 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He then entered the senior class of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and in 1912 received his Bachelor degree from that institution. He then accepted a call to the chair of ancient languages in Paul Quinn College at Waco, Texas, and was there thus engaged for years, or until 1914, when he was called back to Wilberforce to take the position of assistant professor of Latin in the university. A year later he was made professor of history and two years later was made the principal of the academic department, a position he occupied for a year, at the end of which time, in June, 1917, he resigned in
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order to accept the position of librarian of the newly completed Carnegie library at the university, which position he now holds.
On June 30, 1915, Prof. Lutrelle F. Palmer was united in marriage to Myrtle Hathcock, who was born at Bellefontaine, this state, and who was graduated from the commercial department of Wilberforce University in 1912, and to this union one child has been born, a son, Edward Nelson, born on January 30, 1917. Professor Palmer is a member of the African Meth- odist Episcopal church and is the present superintendent of the Sunday school. He is a member of the college fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha.
HECKMAN BINDERY INC.
MAY 87 N. MANCHESTER, INDIANA 46962
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