Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library/University of Georgia Libraries. Click to enlarge.
Pearl Reed
Mr. Homer Jarrett #9 Walnut St. Hot Springs, Ark.
2730 Kenwood Ave Ind, Ind. Jan. 2nd/05
Mr. Jarrett; Dear Homer,
Your letter was gladly received today.
I was very disappointed to find that the other one was for your mother instead of me. I would have sent it on to her but you never cared to tell me her address, but I shall send it as I send this to you. I wonder if she would be angry if she knew to whom it had been sent?
Homer you have no idea how much you are missed, of course you are not out very often, but, we knew that you were here.
Sorry you did not see Minnie and family they send their love to you. Did you see Wilson before you left? I heard that he was looking for you, but I did not see him myself.
Mother is very ill with tonsillitis. She is sorry that you left without telling her goodbye, and sends her love and best wishes to you.
I am growing sleepy Homer and I shall cease for this time. It is just 12:30 o’clock. All are asleep but me and mother.
O, Homer tell me all that happens will you? Remember nothing will be too trivial, for I shall be interested in all that you do and everything that happens to you.
Write very very soon. Yours ever sincerely, Pearl D. Reed
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Wilson Mullins was Mr. James Mullins younger brother. He was a chef and owned a cafe for several years. I found several news items about him.
Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library/University of Georgia Libraries. Click to enlarge.
Pearl Reed
Homer Jarrett 426 Muskingun St. City
230 Kenwood Ave City December 21, 1904
Mr. Jarrett, Homer your letter was received, gladly and I shall try to answer every question which you asked of me. I am very sorry to hear that you are leaving town so suddenly, we shall all miss you very much. You spoke as if someone could influence you in regards to leaving or remaining.
Just for an instant we will say that someone does care for a certain person, and that person wishes to visit his home and mother and friends, whom he has not seen for a long time. Do you think that she would be selfish enough to try to persuade him to remain here, and feeling that his heart is there? I do not think she is that kind of a girl. It is perfectly natural for one to turn homeward at Xmas tide.
Minnie, if she comes at all, will be here about Saturday at noon. Haven’t heard from her for nearly two weeks.
You think that you will not enjoying going to the entertainment alone Monday? I am sorry, for sure. Will you accompany us to Mrs. Rodger’s home and go from there to Church? If you will, be here at 6:15 or 6:00 o’clock if possible, if you are not here at 6:15 we shall go on alone.
Shall be pleased to see you Sunday afternoon. In regards to Xmas present, why anything that you get I shall like it. Do not worry about it for I should be pleased with anything.
Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library/University of Georgia Libraries. Click to enlarge.
Pearl Reed
Homer Jarrett 426 Muskingun St. City
230 Kenwood Ave. December 1, 1904
Mr. Jarrett;
Homer your sarcastic letter was received. I am glad the mistake was mine and that my poor letters give you something to laugh and make fun of. Will you please forget that errand of Mercy?
It is too bad that you have to work on Sundays. Do you mind it? If you do, I sympathize with you. Do you like this place better than the other?
If nothing happens to prevent it, I shall visit my church Sunday eve. We had a letter from Minnie yesterday. They are all well and send their love to you. The baby Arthur walks now.
I shall cease writing now for it is time to prepare supper.
Hoping to see you Sunday Eve, I remain
Yours Sincerely, Pearl D. Reed
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Arthur Mullins records say he was born September 6, 1904, 1905 or even 1901(marriage record), however if he’s walking in December of 1904, it’s unlikely he was born 3 months earlier or in the next year. His three older siblings were born in 1899, 1900 and 1901. His next sibling was born in 1906. Which just goes to show, records can be wrong.
Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library/University of Georgia Libraries. Click to enlarge.
Pearl Reed
Homer Jarrett 426 Muskingun St. City
2730 Kenwood Ave. November 11, 1904
Mr. Jarrett, Dear friend, your letter was received, of course and I was a little disappointed to learn that you would be unable to visit us for so long, but if McFadden advises it I am sure it is for the best. I shall expect to see a wonderful change in you, whenever we do meet, so much so that I shall feel like an insignificant, little minx beside you. I should so like to see you just as near perfection as is possible, Homer, truly.
We wanted you with us Thanksgiving, but I suppose that is impossible also. I think that Minnie will be home Xmas and we should like to have you out then if you could come. You want news but I know very little just now. It is near nine o’clock and I am going to cease worrying you, for I know that you are tired of this stuff, are you not?
Listen! I do not wish to interfere with your Culture Laws, Homer, so if you think it best, I shall not expect an answer from this, for a long time. I am following the instructions in the book which you sent but I do not expect to be perfect for it is not in me.
Sincerely Pearl
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click to enlarge
To read all of MacFadden’s book, click this link ->Physical Culture
Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library/University of Georgia Libraries. Click to enlarge.
Pearl Reed
Homer Jarrett 426 Muskingun St. City
2730 Kenwood Ave., Aug 29, 1904
Mr. Jarrett; Dear Friend
Mother and I request your presence at our home Wednesday Evening. From eight till ten o’clock. Please do not find an excuse Homer, and I will promise not to run away this time. It is not formal and we shall look for you.
Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library/University of Georgia Libraries. Click to enlarge.
Pearl Reed
Homer Jarrett 412 Muskingun St. City (penciled in ##23 W. Ohio City)
2730 Kenwood Ave. City August 24, 1904
Mr. Jarrett; Friend I write to beg forgiveness for running away Sunday evening. You will forgive me when you learn that I went on an errand of mercy. When I returned Mr. and Mrs. Ewing were almost ready to go home. Did you attend the entertainment at Ninth Presbyterian Church last night?
Good by, Pearl Doris Reed
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What entertainment was happening at Ninth Presbyterian Church on August 23?
And what was a conundrum supper?
Looking around online, I found that a “conundrum supper” was a fund raising ploy used in the late 1890s and the early 1900s. Each menu item was presented in the form of a riddle.
I found this on Google Books, but can’t find it again and didn’t notate it!
Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library/University of Georgia Libraries. Click to enlarge.
Pearl Reed
Homer Jarrett #230 Bird St., City
2730 Kenwood Ave City April 7, 1904
Dear Homer; Forgive me for not writing sooner, but don’t you know I did write but tore up the letter a few hours after. Mother is very ill now and has been since Easter eve. I am having a terrible time. I could not go to church Easter Morn and have just received an invitation to a friends at her birthday anniversary but had to send her my regrets. Pity me. Your little friend
P.S. I am in an awful hurry, forgive this writing.
Your Pearl
P.S. Minnie’s address is #337 Colfax Ave. Benton Harbor Mich.
This year I am going through an alphabet of news items taken from The Emancipator newspaper, published between 1917 and 1920 in Montgomery, Alabama. Most are about my grandparent’s circle of friends. Each item is transcribed directly below the clipping. Click on any image to enlarge.
Charles Watkins was a friend of my grandfather Mershell C. Graham.
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Many Industrial Opportunities In California.
(Special to the Emancipator.) By Charles D. Watkins. Los Angeles, Cal. Aug. 15
Out here in Southern California the wages for colored help are very good, living conditions are fine and food cheaper than in many other sections. Cook women get from $40 to $65 a month in apartment houses and private homes; maids or house girls, from $40 to $60; janitors and porters (men) are paid from $60 to $80; and elevator men receive the same amount Chauffeurs receive from $75 to $150 a month. There is a greater demand for this kind of help here than can be supplied.
There are a number of colored business men here, including real estate dealers, grocers, druggists, merchants, physicians, clergymen, teachers and twelve lawyers. The colored population of Los Angeles is 35,000 and everybody works.
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“‘Hands Up’ Just a little desperato. You know why.” A photo of Charles Watkins he sent to my grandfather Mershell.
The Tulane building in 2004.
Here is a story my cousin Jacqui told me about her grandfather, Victor Tulane and his rescue of Charles Watkins in Montgomery, Alabama. This story was told to her by her mother, Naomi Tulane Vincent. It happened in 1917. The Tulane family lived above the store on Ripley and High Street. The Watkins family lived several blocks away on Union Street.
Walking distance between the Tulane’s and the Watkin’s was about 3 minutes following the route suggested on Google Maps for pedestrians.
It was the middle of the night when the Tulane family woke up to car
lights shining in the windows. They got up and looked out into the
yard. It was full of white men in cars and trucks. Victor Tulane told
his wife, Willie Lee and his daughter, Naomi to go back to bed,
everything would be all right.
He let the white men in and they told him they were looking for the
Watkins boy. Charles Watkins was 28. Watkins, they said, had insulted
one of their wives and they wanted him. Was he there, they asked?
Victor told them that nobody was there except his wife and daughter,
they could look for themselves. They went through the whole building,
looking everywhere. Finally, satisfied that Watkins wasn’t there, they
left.
As dawn approached, Victor brought Charles Watkins out from his
hiding place beneath the floor. He put him in the car, piled produce on
top of him, drove him out in the country where his nephew, Roscoe
McCall had arranged to put him on a train heading north to Chicago.
Stella: they got stopped on the road.
Louise: The police, the posse, don’t they call it a posse? Or whatever.
Stella: Yes.
Louise: came after him and then when they shined the light on Daddy. They were in a field and they saw that it was Mr… your grandfather McCall’s son and they said “Oh Rossie…”
Stella: Because his father, not cutting you off, Ross’s own, father had worked at the jail and had charge of the colored prisoners…
Margaret: So this incident of Uncle Ross in the field, what happened?
Stella: They stopped him, right at that field.
Louise: No mother, start with how they were standing outside the drugstore… he and that other one, that Watkins boy and the white girl came by and she told her boyfriend that they had, that this Watkins fellow had winked at her and that started a riot in the city.
Roscoe McCall
Stella: Winked at her.
Margaret: Is that right?
Stella: A riot.
Margaret: Well, how did Uncle Ross get him out of the city?
Stella: Out of the city?
Margaret: You said that they were in the field and the police came and said…
Stella: Now all before this started, Ross had a friend out in the country. This man was a good friend of his and they would go hunting out there. And that’s why he knew the man… his name… I can’t think of his name… what was his name…anyway, well he had a home down in the country and he would go down there every summer you know, just take a week off and hunt and…
Louise: A good place to hide out.
Stella: To hide out. Yes.
Margaret: That’s all?
Stella: And there was a railroad train coming out of Montgomery going on to Atlanta and Ross got this man out of Montgomery and had this porter on this train to stop at this little station down there in the country and nobody would ever think a train would stop there and he stopped just like he got him to do and he put this man on this train in the back and had a place for him to stay and stay shut up and he did that until he got to Atlanta and he was safe.
Margaret: And did he stay in Atlanta or did he leave Atlanta?
Stella: Oh he left Atlanta. We didn’t hear any more of him. But Ross saved his life! They were going to lynch him uh huh, oh yes. Ross had some narrow escapes in that time.
Margaret: He did?
Stella: Yes, because you see this one was taking him for that and that one was taking him for this and it was terrible.
************
Before he left Montgomery, Charles Watkins was a grocer, operating a grocery store near the family home on Union Street. In 1917, he lived in Chicago with his wife and children and worked in the stockyards. By 1920 he was living in Los Angeles, which he described as the land of opportunity. He worked as a carpenter and made a good life for himself and his family there.
Naomi married Dr. Ubert Vincent in May of 1920 and moved to New York City.
Rosco McCall moved to Detroit in 1919. His family followed in early 1920. They later settled in Chicago where he worked as a Pullman Porter.
My grandfather Mershell Graham had moved to Detroit and was working there in 1917.
I found some of William Watkins extended family on Ancestry.Com and was able to see some photos of the family. Unfortunately they had never heard this story.
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Most of the information for this post is from family oral history. I found corroborating information on Ancestry.com in Census Records, Directories, Death Records, Military Records and Marriage Records. News items were found on Newspapers.com. I also used Google Maps. The photographs are from my family photos.
This year I am going through an alphabet of news items taken from The Emancipator newspaper, published between 1917 and 1920 in Montgomery, Alabama. Most are about my grandparent’s circle of friends. All of the news items were found on Newspapers.com. Each item is transcribed directly below the clipping. Click on any image to enlarge.
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Victor Tulane was my grandmother Fannie’s uncle by marriage. He was the husband of Willie Lee Allen, my great grandmother Jennie Virginia Allen’s sister.
The Emancipator 23 Mar 1918 Sat pg 3
Victor Hugh Tulane
I thought his obituary summed up his life pretty well.
Victor H. Tulane Dead
Montgomery, Ala., Jan, 16., 1931
Transcribed from The Chicago Defender Jan 17, 1931 via ProQuest Historical Newspapers online database.
Victor H. Tulane, a leader of his Race here for many years, died at his home, 430 S. Union St., at the age of 57. His rise to affluence, through his own industry and native shrewdness, was little short of remarkable. Prior to his death he owned a mercantile business and operated a real estate agency of considerable scope. Tulane first came to Montgomery when he was 15 years old, having walked here from Wetumpka, where he was born. His first job was porter in a saloon, but later he opened a store at the corner of High and Ripley Streets. which he operated for about thirty years. He later rented his store and entered the real estate business, and before his death had accumulated a comfortable estate.
For many years Tulane served on the board of trustees of the Tuskegee Institute. He was also chairman of the board of trustees of the Hale infirmary. He was widely known for his generosity and willingness to serve in charitable movement. He was actively connected with the community chest and was one of the first to donate toward the Y.M.C.A. building for colored persons.
Surviving are his widow, Willie L. Tulane of Montgomery, and his daughter, Naomi Tulane Vincent, New York city. Funeral arrangements will be announced later by the Loveless Undertaking company.
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Victor Tulane wrote this letter to my grandmother Fannie as her mother and sisters were in the process of moving up from Montgomery to join her in Detroit. This was soon after Fannie and my grandfather, Mershell, bought their house on Theodore, where they lived for over 40 years. They had two children under five and the third, my mother was on the way.
Letter to Fannie Graham from Victor Tulane
V. H. Tulane Real Estate and Insurance
Scott Building 123 Monroe St
Telephones 388 555
Rents Collected Homes Bought Loans Negotiated And Sold Estates Managed
Dear Fannie, I am enclosing check from this M.R. & Ins. Co; for ten dollars which the sec’y should have mailed you some time ago.
We are winding up the affairs of this company and will send you another payment on stock acct. pretty soon. I think that the company will be able to pay off it’s stock holders dollar for dollar.
I trust this will find all well and getting along nicely.
Your mother’s things were shipped yesterday. Trust they will arrive on time and in first class condition. Remember me to all the folks. Tell the kids hello! Let us have a line from you when convenient.
Your Uncle, Victor
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Other posts about Victor Tulane
I found this information on Ancestry.com in Census Records, Directories, Death Records, Military Records and Marriage Records. News items were found on Newspapers.com. I also use Google Maps. Photographs and correspondence from my family archives.
This year I am going through an alphabet of news items taken from The Emancipator newspaper, published between 1917 and 1920 in Montgomery, Alabama. All of the news items were found on Newspapers.com. Each item is transcribed directly below the clipping. Click on any image to enlarge.
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Ubert C. Vincent married my grandmother Fannie’s first cousin, Naomi Tulane. You can read about their wedding under “N” for Naomi.
The Emancipator (Montgomery, Alabama) · 27 Dec 1919, Sat · Page 3
Dr. U.C. Vincent Visits Montgomery
Montgomery, Ala., Dec. 23.
Dr. U.C. Vincent of New York City is spending the holidays here as guest of Mr. and Mrs. V.H. Tulane. Dr. Vincent is an intern at the noted Bellevue Hospital of New York. He also holds a responsible position as Medical head of one of the departments in the hospital. He is the only colored man that has ever held this special post at Bellevue and in a recent meeting of the physicians held in New York, Dr. Vincent gave a demonstration of a new operation which he invented. A creditable article concerning his brilliant future as a physician appeared in a recent issue of the Crisis Magazine.
Dr. Ubert Conrad Vincent
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I think this obituary gives a good over view of his life.
To Bury Dr. U.C. Vincent From Mother A.M.E. Zion Church
Dec. 22nd at 1 P.M.
New York Amsterdam News Dec 24, 1938 pg. 1; ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Funeral services for Dr. U. Conrad Vincent, well-known Harlem surgeon who died of a kidney ailment Sunday at his home, 251 West 128th street will be held in Mother A.M.E. Zion Church, 140-6 West 137 street, Thursday at 1 p.m. The Rev. B.C. Robeson, pastor of the church and the Rev. Adam Powell, Jr., pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church, will conduct the services. Burial will be in Woodlawn Cemetery.
Although ailing since June and often suffering much pain, Dr. Vincent carried on his practice until a late hour Saturday. He took a sudden change for the worse Sunday morning and died at 2:45 p.m.
Dr. Vincent was born in Raleigh, N.C. forty-five years ago, and was the son of Dr. Andrew Vincent, a former professor in Shaw University. He studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in 1918.
After receiving his medical degree, Dr. Vincent served in internship in Bellevue Hospital in 1919. During that year he was resident surgeon under Dr. E.L. Keyes. He was reputed to be the first Negro to enter Bellevue Hospital as an intern.
Dr. Vincent started the practice of medicine in June 1920 with the ambition of establishing in Harlem a modern sanatorium for the hospitalization of the community’s well-to-do. He set to work on his ambition, which became an obsession in 1927, and his dream was realized on March 17, 1929, when the institution was opened to the public.
The New York Age Sat_ Mar 23, 1929
Vincent’s Sanatorium, as it was named, was a fifty-bed fireproof five-story structure at 2348 Seventh avenue, said to have been built and equipped at a cost of $150,000.The building is now being used to house a WPA music project.
With the failure of the hospital undertaking in September 1930, Dr. Vincent’s health and spirit received a severe blow, from which he never recovered. It is believed. He enjoyed a large practice, specializing in genitourinary diseases.
Dr. Vincent was married in 1920, and is survived by his widow, Mrs. Naomi Tulane Vincent; a son, U. Conrad Vincent, Jr., 15; three daughters, Sylvia, 9; Jacqueline, 4, and Barbara, 18 months; three sisters, Mrs. Pearl Morton, Mrs. Reba Ragsdale, Misses Ruth and Bernice Vincent and a brother Alfred Vincent, all of New York City.
Wainwright & Sons, undertakers, of 162 West 136th street, are in charge of the funeral arrangements.
“The Harlem Surgical Society regrets deeply the death of one of its esteemed members. Dr. U. Conrad Vincent.” a letter from that group states. “Dr. Vincent by his scientific work, reflected great credit on the entire Negro profession, and Dr. Vincent also directed alone the finest private hospital that this community has ever had, and it probably would have been open today had it not been for the fact that he became ill about that time.
“In addition to being a very able surgeon, Dr. Vincent was always interested in the general welfare of all the people of this community. He rendered great service to the poor of Harlem as a member of the Surgical Staff of Harlem Hospital.”
Signed:
Dr. Louis T Wright, President
Dr. Joel V. Holden, Secretary
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I want to add this –
“In 1918, Bellevue accepted its first African-American resident, Dr. Ubert Conrad Vincent. This was an historic event. He was one of the ew African Americans to become an intern at a major U.S. hospital during that time, and so his appointment received national attention. Dr. Vincent had graduated from the University of Pennsylvania earlier that year. His matriculation at Bellevue Hospital was temporarily delayed because the offer was recinded after his picture was forwarded. Dr. Deaver, a professor from the University of Pennsylvania, played a role in ensuring that he could start his urology residency, albeit three months late.
Dr. Vincent had a successful tenure at Bellevue Hospital. He trained under Dr. Edward Keyes, the founder of the American Association of Genito-Urinary Surgeons in 1888, and it’s first president. Gr. Vincent introduced and improved a procedure for surgical relief of varicoceles known as the “Vincent Operationn”, described in Keyes’ urology textbook.” from The Journal of the National Medical Association Vol. 96, No. 3, March 2004 pg. 373
I found this information on Ancestry.com in Census Records, Directories, Death Records and Military Records. News items were found on Newspapers.com and Genealogy Bank.
