JGreenwood

 

The Remarkable Story of Stephen Bates

 

     On October 3, 2021, the state of Vermont and the town of Vergennes honored Stephen Bates with a historic marker dedicated to the state’s earliest known Black sheriff. Born enslaved in 1842 on the Shirley Plantation in Virginia, Bates escaped to the Union Army in August 1862 as McClellan withdrew his troops in the  Peninisula Campaign. Bates made his way to Washington, DC, where Vermont Congressman Frederick E. Woodbridge hired him as a coachman. When Woodbridge left Congress in 1869, Bates accompanied him back to Vergennes.  In 1879, Bates was elected Sheriff, an office he held for all but six of the next 29 years, until his death in 1907. He also often served as the appointed Chief of Police of Vergennes. Bates appeared in newspaper accounts as the arresting officer in numerous cases that included murder, check forgery, and grand larceny.  His obituary described him as “almost an entirely self-taught man,” known for his “cool and self-restraint, rarely if ever acting hastily.” 

(for more information on Stephen Bates’s life, see https://vermonthistory.org/catalog?folder=56d15100-b0bc-11ea-8b9c-2d3a225c104e)

The Bullard Connection 

   The spark for research that led to the rediscovery of Stephen Bates  resulted from a meeting with brothers Larry and Nick Schuyler in September 2016 as we researched the Bullard portraits in preparation for the upcoming exhibition.  While sharing this beautiful portrait with them of their grandfather, Raymond Schuyler, and four of his children and learning more about this family from Nick and Larry, I mentioned that in my research I had come across information regarding Stephen Bates as Sheriff in Vergennes beginning in 1879.  Bates was the grandfather of these children and the father-in-law of Raymond. (Raymond was married to Rose Bates, the daughter of Stephen Bates.)        

   

     I passed along several newspaper articles to the brothers about their great-grandfather’s career as sheriff.  This information lit a fire in Larry and jogged his memory:  as a young man  he had heard family elders talk about Sheriff Bates. 

     In pursuit of more information, he and his wife, Lynn, made their way to Vergennes in August 2019.  Not only did Larry discover more about Stephen Bates in the archives of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, where the Bates’s were members, but he and Lynn also found themselves embraced by dedicated community members intent on telling Bates’s story. 

A team effort

     Along with Larry, Bo Price of St. Paul’s Church began researching Stephen Bates and wrote an extensive article documenting  his life for  the St Paul’s blog.  Soon after George Floyd’s murder and as Black Lives Matter protests erupted around the country,  Brian Peete was appointed as Chief of Police in Montpelier.  News sources stated that he was the state’s first Black police chief.  But Bo knew otherwise.  She and a team of Vergennes community members, committed themselves to telling the story of Stephen Bates.  The team included local historians, Voices in the Parks members,  librarians, educators, and others intent on incorporating Bates’s story into local, state, and national history.   Digging deeply, they soon referred to Bates’s story not as a discovery but as a “rediscovery.” Their research revealed that his career and contributions had been acknowledged as late as the 1930s and had even been taught in local schools.

     To guarantee that Bates’s story would not be lost again, the team applied for a historic marker, which was quickly approved in the summer of 2021.  The  unveiling of the marker on October 3, 2021, is a testament to an extraordinary life.   But it also attests to the power of a dedicated team of community members intent on telling a more inclusive story– not only of their town but of the nation. As Larry Schuyler says of his great-grandfather’s life, “It’s an American story, emphasis on American.” 

 

 

 

    

      

 

 

     

 

 

“Rediscovering an American Community of Color: The Photographs of William Bullard,” coauthored by Nancy Burns of the Worcester Art Museum  and Janette Greenwood of Clark University, was awarded Historic New  England’s 2018 Book Prize in November. 

In presenting the award, Carl R. Nold, President and CEO of Historic New England, cited two members of the book selection committee: “One wrote: ‘This book meets the Historic New England criteria exactly. It deals exclusively with New England; it presents entirely new scholarship; and it offers fresh perspectives on major themes in American history; perhaps most important, the book speaks to diverse audiences.’ A second member of the committee wrote: ‘I was obsessed with this book and congratulate the Worcester Art Museum and Clark University and the authors for achieving every important goal that exhibitions and their catalogues should aim for: collaboration, outreach, permanence, innovation, and scholarship.’” 

“Rediscovering an American Community of Color,”  the catalogue for the Bullard exhibition held at the Worcester Art Museum from October 2017-February 2018, is still available at Amazon.  A second edition will be published in the coming year. 

Thank you to Historic New England for this honor!

 

     In mid-March I had the pleasure of returning to Camden, South Carolina,  to present a talk on the Camden-Worcester migration and to do some additional research on the historic Knights Hill community.  My week in Camden was filled with many unexpected and moving experiences thanks to my gracious hosts.

     On Sunday, March 11, I attended services at the historic St. Paul United Methodist Church on Knights Hill, the home congregation of many of Worcester’s Camden migrants.  Founded in 1868, only a few years after emancipation, the church has been the bulwark of the Knights Hill community since that time.  Participating in worship and learning more about the many activities of this church, I could see even more links between Camden and Worcester of which I previously had  been unaware.

     Beginning in 1869,  former slaves, including the King Perkins family (see earlier blog posts, “Chasing Ghosts in Camden, SC” and “The Camden-Worcester Connection”) began purchasing tracts of  the Knights Hill plantation, once the property of Johnny Chesnut, Mary Boykin Chesnut’s favorite nephew. The plantation was put up for auction after Chesnut’s death in 1868 and former slaves purchased tracts of land.   They built the foundations of a community which they themselves shaped and defined and which thrives to this day.   Rooted in their Christian faith and values,  the freedpeople of Knights Hill  emphasized self-sufficiency and care for one another.  One-hundred and fifty years later, those same values are evident in the many programs of the St. Paul Church and the community it serves.  When some Knights Hill families, like the Perkinses, migrated north to Worcester in the late 19th century–having lost their land in the aftermath of Reconstruction–they carried those values with them.  Worcester’s “Little Camden,” in Worcester’s  Beaver Brook neighborhood, replicated Knights Hill in its emphasis on community and self-sufficiency.   

On Sunday afternoon, March 11,  I presented a talk on “Migration and Home Ties: The Camden-Worcester Connection Through the Portraits of William Bullard.”  Thanks to Joan Inabinet and all of the work that she did to publicize and prepare for this event,  we had a wonderful turnout.   And I was especially pleased when the Rev. James Smith, pastor of St. Paul,  invited me to present my talk again at the church on Wednesday evening. 

 

 

 

 

 

     Before the Wednesday evening service, the Rev. Smith made arrangements for a visit to the slave cemetery on Knights Hill.  Both the Chesnut family cemetery and the slave cemetery on are on land that is now privately owned and not accessible to the public. But the St. Paul congregation maintains rights to visit.   On a cool, clear, almost-spring  afternoon, about  20 of us, including members of St. Paul and the Kershaw Historical Society, met at the church.   Church member Arthur Robinson led a caravan of 10 cars and trucks to the cemetery.   Enveloped in silence punctuated only by occasional bird calls, this peaceful spot sits atop a hill that overlooks the Wateree River and contains the graves of many Chesnut slaves as well as some Knights Hill community members, interred here as late as 1968. 

 

      Walking through the cemetery, one could only imagine the lives of the nameless men, women, and children buried there.  Many slave graves are unmarked, with indentations in the landscape the only sign of their final resting places; others are marked by a simple field stone or an outline of brick. 

The anonymity of  the slave graves served as both a literal representation and a metaphor for the loss of history, of the stories of generations of people who labored as slaves for the first 256 years of American history.  And their silence implored us to remember them.  A few graves bore small items, such as cups–a favorite item of the deceased or the last thing that they touched–and even a seashell, perhaps a symbol of “crossing over” the sea to the next world. 

Several church members took the opportunity to visit the graves of ancestors and some left flowers.  We ended our walk through the cemetery by joining hands and saying a prayer, to remember and honoring the men, women, and children laid to rest in the cemetery.

     

 

After a visit to the Chesnut family cemetery, just down the road, Mr. Robinson pointed out the site of the Knights Hill “big house,” destroyed by fire early in the 20th century.  Recalling his life on Knights Hill, Mr. Robinson explained, “We had everything we needed here. ” Wildlife and fish from the Wateree, berries from the woods,  and garden plots sustained this community for generations.  

Then, led by Ms. Sue Jones, we visited the King and Rose Perkins properties on Knights Hill.

Like the cemetery visit, this was an unexpected and powerful moment for me, to see the property that meant so much to this former slave and his family, a tangible symbol of their freedom.   Ms. Jones told us how her grandfather attained 3 1/4 acres from King Perkins in exchange for an ox.  Across the road the house of Rose Perkins, King’s daughter, still stands in a wooded area that once looked out on open fields. This was the land that in the 1930s Rose proudly explained had been her father’s since “about the first of freedom.” 

 

 

 

 

 

My visit to Knights Hill was an extraordinary experience, one that I will never forget: to see and feel this landscape so rich in history, to meet and speak with members of the community who generously shared stories and memories, to touch the land that meant so much to the Perkinses and other  families.  I am deeply indebted to everyone who made this day as well as my entire week in Camden an indelible memory, especially the Rev. Smith and his congregation and Joan Inabinet of the Kershaw Historical Society.  And thank you to Glen Inabinet for many of these photos.

 

 

 

The exhibition, “Rediscovering an American Community of Color: The Photographs of William Bullard,” opened at the Worcester Art Museum on October 14 and will continue through February 25, 2018.   A special preview, held for descendants, the Community Advisory Board, and other supporters occurred the day before–and we had an attendance of roughly 100 people.  Descendants converged from all over the country to view the exhibition. It was a joyous day, filled with reminiscences and family members reconnecting and in some instance, connecting for the first time. 

     The next day, the official opening of the exhibition, featured a beautiful concert by the descendants of Professor David T. Oswell, musician, composer, and teacher photographed by Bullard.  Professor Raymond Jackson, of Washington, DC– internationally-known concert pianist and great-grandson of Professor Oswell–and cousins Emma (age 14)  and Joshua (age 12) Boyd of  Madison, Alabama, great-great grandchildren of Oswell –performed a stunningly beautiful  concert in honor of their ancestor.  Those lucky enough to attend will likely never forget this emotional tribute.  Bullard’s photograph of Professor Oswell actually brought these members of the Oswell family together for the first time and they came up with the idea for this concert, which was an invaluable contribution to a very special day. 

Thanks to all who made this exhibition possible!

 

 

The past year has been a highly successful one, as our project continues to move forward in exciting ways. First and foremost, we have a date for the exhibition.  “Rediscovering an American Community of Color: The Photography of William Bullard,” will open at the Worcester Art Museum on Saturday, October 14, 2017 and continue through February 28, 2018.   Last month the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities awarded WAM a major grant to support the exhibition.   Clark University continues to be an active partner in this project.  Clark  is providing financial support  for  the exhibition and the accompanying catalogue and will help us develop and maintain  a website to supplement the exhibition and guarantee an ongoing  virtual life for the Bullard exhibition after it closes at the museum.  This spring, Nancy Burns of WAM and I will  co-teach a seminar at Clark, “Public History: Race, Photography, and Community,” in which Clark students will  play an active part preparing the exhibition by researching and  writing text for the photographs and  helping to develop the website.  We’re very grateful to Dean Matt Malsky  for his enthusiastic support for this class and project.

In June, we held the first  of several meeting of the Community Advisory Board.  Originally  organized to help us connect with family members and to help spread the word about the project, the board has taken on new responsibilities in helping shape programming around the exhibition as well as long-term projects that will continue after the exhibition closes.   Members include Benetta Kuffour, George Smith, Maureen Carlos, Yvette Tolson, Thomas Doughton, and Frederick Freeman.  We appreciate their dedication and many contributions!

Frank and I continued to meet with descendants last year.  Among our meetings was a delightful day  in June spent with Doris Oswell Brunot and Dr. Raymond Jackson in Washington, DC, great-grandchildren of David T. Oswell.  We have long been fascinated by David Oswell, whom Bullard photographed holding his viola, not long before his death in 1902.   Known as “Professor Oswell,” for his long, distinguished career as a teacher of violin and guitar in Worcester,  Oswell was born in Boston in 1834 and moved to Canada in the 1850s–likely seeking safety from the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act that placed all northern blacks, free born or not, in danger of being kidnapped into slavery.  Oswell married Adeline Watson of Portland, Maine, in 1855, and they had five children. Daughters Addie,  Jennie, and  Sylvia often accompanied their father in musical performances in Worcester, Boston, and other parts of New England. Professor Oswell, who was also a barber, also had his own orchestra and wrote several operettas.   At the time of his death, the Boston Guardian noted that “it can truthfully be said of him that he never had an enemy in the world.”

 

Advertisement for Prof. David T. Oswell, March 3, 1884, New York Globe

Dr. Raymond Jackson, great-grandson of Professor David T. Oswell

Dr. Raymond Jackson, and his lovely wife, Inez, hosted our meeting at their home in Sliver Spring.  We were thrilled to meet two of his descendants and to share the photograph of their great-grandfather with Raymond, Inez, and Doris, especially as they had never seen his image.   Doris also provided us with valuable information about the Oswell family. To make the day even more special for us, Dr. Jackson  played a piece for us on  his beautiful Steinway grand piano. Musical talent runs very deep in the Oswell family! Like his great-grandfather, Dr. Jackson has had a distinguished career as a music teacher. He is  retired Professor of Piano at Howard University.  Moreover, he has had an outstanding career as a concert pianist and has played all over the world.  We thank him for sharing his remarkable talent with us!

 

 

I also had the privilege of meeting with Larry and Nick Schuyler.  Frank recently found a photograph of their grandfather, Raymond Schuyler, on a sled with his children, taken on John Street.  Raymond,  a native of Troy, NY,  came to Worcester in the 1880s and was married to Rose Bates of Vergennes, VT.  Raymond worked for the railroad and the family lived at 51 John Street, a house that remains in the family to this day.  He and his family were members of All Saints Episcopal Church and Raymond was a Mason and was the oldest member of Worcester’s NAACP chapter when he died in 1956.

I had a pleasant surprise when Brian McClain of Florida,  called me phone in November.  A descendant of George Ringels,  Brian came up on ancestry.com several months earlier as author of a family tree that included George Ringels.  Although we did not meet in person, we connected through Skype and had a wonderful conversation and I was able to show him the photograph of Ringels.  As noted elsewhere in this blog, we cannot post the photographs until after the exhibition in October. But I’ve learned that Skype is a good way  to give you a view of your ancestor’s photograph, especially if you live far from New England.

Two dedicated Clark students deserve a big shout out for their help with this past year.   Gabrielle Seligman first began her research with us as a student in my Public History seminar in Spring 2015.  She then continued as a LEEP fellow over the summer and continued her research in her senior year, investigating  the history of the Beaver Brook neighborhood.  Digging in to city planning records, real estate records, city directories, and other sources, she wrote a compelling narrative of the neighborhood’s history and constructed a website http://www.thebeaverbrookneighborhood.com that invites former Beaver Brook residents to post their memories.   Joe Viola was our LEEP fellow in the summer of 2016 and greatly added to our research archive.  Working through city directories and the Boston Guardian, he compiled an extensive list of Worcester’s black organizations and their officers, from 1890 to 1910; found out a great deal about the fraternal organization, the Knights of Pythias (a Knight is featured in the Bullard photographs); and researched the history of revival meetings in the city as well as the revival meetings at the Sterling Campground.  Thanks, Joe and Gabby!

It’s exciting to have the exhibition in sight.  Frank and I continue to be grateful for the opportunity to research these photographs and look forward to their presentation in October 2017 at the Worcester Art Museum.  Thanks to all who have helped us along the way!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday, June 25th, we had the pleasure of presenting the Bullard photos at the Juneteenth Festival in Worcester.  What an incredible day!  Not only did we enjoy sharing the collection with all  who stopped by our table, but we also met many people whose families are represented in the photos.  We look forward to following up with you soon!

Thanks to the Black Heritage Juneteenth Festival Committee for this opportunity and to the many people who visited our table on Saturday.

 

We had so many wonderful meetings with family members in the last several months and want to thank all of you for the time you spent with us and the stories and memories that you shared.. In September, Yvette Tolson organized a gathering at Clark

University where we met with representatives of the Perkins, Shropshire, Tolson/Johnson/Clark family, all of whom are descendants of people photographed by Bullard. We shared the Bullard photos, heard many wonderful stories about the Beaver Brook neighborhood, and gathered valuable family information from those present.

We also met in September with Eleanor and Bill Hawley and Stanley Gutridge who shared their memories of Worcester and Beaver Brook.

In October, we had the pleasure of meeting with Laura Pearson and her daughter,  Benetta Kuffour, descendants of Bethany Veney. If you have never read the remarkable story of this former Virginia slave who came to Worcester in the 1860s, do it now! http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/veney/veney.html

 

Veney and her family lived in the Beaver Brook neighborhood, where she owned several homes.  While Bullard did not photograph her, he did  take photos of  two children that he listed as  “Jackson Children.” Veney’s daughter, Charlotte, was married to Aaron Jackson.  And while the ages of the children do not match the ages of their children, Benetta Kuffour has suggested that they may be relatives of the family as family members regularly visited from Virginia.

 

I also had the pleasure of meeting with Abdul Muwwakkil, a descendant of New Bern migrants as well as the Hazard family,  who passed on valuable information about his family roots and growing up in Worcester.

Also in October, we made a presentation of the photos after Sunday services at the Belmont AME Zion Church. Thank you to the Rev. Talley for hosting us, to Yvette Tolson for making arrangements, and to the congregation for our warm welcome and your interest in this project.

Elizabeth Hill, a descendant of Anna Lovett Latham, a migrant from New Bern, North Carolina, and her nephew welcomed us to her home in November.  Bullard photographed both Mrs. Latham and her mother.  Mrs. Hill told us about Anna Latham’s involvement at John Street Baptist Church, her wish to be a missionary,  and the mission society at the church that still bears her name.   She also shared memories of the Harra sisters, photographed by Bullard.

 

Thanks to all of you for your invaluable contributions!

 

 

In my last post, about my research on the Perkins family, I promised to reveal what I believe is the link between Camden and Worcester–the connection that brought about the migration not only of the Perkinses but also likely influenced other Camdenites, such as the Brevard,, Rhodes, Carlos, and Boykin families, to come to Worcester in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.   Like the migration links between New Bern and Worcester (see my book, First Fruits of Freedom), the Camden-Worcester connection was also forged in the Civil War.  In this case,  the initial connection between South Carolina and Worcester came about through the personal relationship between  a sympathetic white minister and two freedpeople, Mary and Jacob Stroyer

In 1862, the Rev. T. Willard Lewis,  pastor of Worcester’s Laurel Street Methodist Church,  departed for Beaufort, South Carolina, as a missionary to newly liberated African Americans. (Some sources claim he was the first Northern missionary among black Carolinians.)  When Charleston fell to Union forces in 1865, Lewis moved to that city to organize black Methodists under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, North.  As early as 1867, Mary Stroyer, Celia Perkins’ sister (see previous post), worked for Lewis as a cook and laundress. That year, she opened an account at the Freedmen’s Bank in Charleston.  Her application notes her employment with the Rev. Lewis, who signed her application and to whom she gave the right to deposit and withdraw money from her account.  Mary’s application also lists her birthplace as Camden; Celia Perkins and Kitty Hudson as her sisters; June McCray as her father (with the designation “sold away”) and Pleasant as her mother.

By the time Mary worked for the Rev. Willard, she was married to  Jacob Stroyer.  Jacob had been a slave of Col. M.R. Singleton, and raised on his large plantation 28 miles southeast of Columbia, South Carolina.  In 1879, Stroyer published a narrative of his life as a slave, My Life in the South, that historians have cited extensively. [You can read it at http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/stroyer85/stroyer85.html. For more on Stroyer and the other Worcester Slave Narratives, see McCarthy and Doughton, From Bondage to Freedom: The Worcester Slave Narratives (2007).]

Mary and Jacob Stroyer  built a close and trusting relationship with the Rev. Willard.  The minister seems to have been especially impressed with the couple  and likely used his Worcester connections to help further  Jacob’s education.  In 1870, Jacob arrived in Worcester and after attending evening classes for several years enrolled at  Worcester Academy where he completed a two-year course in 1874. (McCarthy and Doughton, From Bondage to Freedom, pp. 176-77).  Mary  probably arrived in Worcester sometime in this period.

According to the 1880 census, Mary and Jacob Stroyer lived at 3 Lilly Street.  Jacob listed his occupation as “book agent” and Mary worked as a domestic servant.  But by that time, Jacob had been ordained a minister and founded and pastored the Colored Mission in Salem. Moreover, in 1878, Mary  commenced legal proceedings against Jacob, accusing him of desertion.  Jacob continued to be listed in the Worcester City Directory until 1881 and by 1883 Mary had a separate listing.

In 1880,  Mary purchased a house at 3 Bath Street in Worcester. Edward and Celia Perkins lived with Mary in 1882 and then moved nearby, living at 36 Abbott and 1 Winfield Street.  Mary  was active in the AME Zion Church and Good Samaritan Lodge until her death, at age 35, in 1888.  In her will she left the Bath Street property to her sisters, Celia Perkins and Kitty Hudson. Celia appears to have purchased Kitty’s half of the property and she and Edward lived there until their deaths in the 1920s.    The Bath Street property remained in the Perkins family for approximately twenty more years. The family had photographer Bullard photograph the house around 1900 and the property served as backdrop for numerous Perkins photos in the Bullard collection.

As for the Rev. Lewis, the minister died of yellow fever in 1871 in Charleston, still ministering among the freedpeople.  His tombstone on Sullivan’s Island describes him as “The Freedman’s Champion, Counselor, and Friend.” Little did he know that his support of one couple–Mary and Jacob Stroyer– would help pave a path to Worcester for many South Carolina families seeking opportunities unavailable to them in the South.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Down here chasing ghosts, are you?”  “Yes!”  I happily answered the greeting of a fellow researcher at the Camden (SC) Archives and Museum.  The Perkins family, represented in  35 photos in the Bullard collection, has intrigued me since I first laid eyes on their photos. This summer I got the chance to research their place of origin.

Research in the census, SC digital newspaper collections, and Worcester records raised many questions that drew me to Camden.  How had Edward and Celia Perkins managed to become landowners as early as 1870, only five years after emancipation? What, if any, was their connection to the prominent Chesnut family, from whom they purchased their land? Why had they lost their land and migrated to Worcester in 1879? Why and how did they end up in Worcester, the first of several Camden families that settled in the Beaver Brook neighborhood?

These were just a few of the questions that drew me to the Sand Hills of South Carolina.  And within the first hour of my research at the archives, I knew that this trip was worthwhile.  Through digitized South Carolina newspapers that I accessed before my trip,  I found a tiny blurb that stated that King Perkins, Edward’s father, died in 1912 at the age of 110.  And sure enough, the Camden Chronicle, available at the archives, featured two stories–with photos of the ancient King–on the front page when he died.  Full of all kinds of valuable information, the articles revealed that King had been a slave of “General Chesnut”–that is James Chesnut, husband of the famous Civil War diarist Mary Boykin Chesnut.  (Chesnut resigned his seat as U.S. Senator from SC when SC seceded in 1860 and served as a close advisor to Jefferson Davis during the Civil War. ) As the archives had Chesnut’s plantation account book, I was able to find King and Tish, King’s wife, as well as “King’s Edward” listed among Chesnut’s numerous slaves.  Land records at Kershaw County’s Registry of Deeds and Probate Office revealed more details about how both King and Edward managed to acquire land from the Chesnut plantations on Knight’s Hill after the Civil War. Edward lost most of his land during Reconstruction when he was unable to pay taxes. He and Celia migrated to Worcester soon after, in 1879. (I recently learned why they chose Worcester–I will reveal this in a later post!) Additional family members followed in Edward and Celia’s wake: two brothers, Abraham and Thomas; sister Rose; niece Patsy, nephew Isaac, to name a few, all of whom Bullard photographed.

Land records also revealed that many of the Perkins family kept strong links to Camden, purchasing land there after moving to Worcester and having their bodies interred on Knight’s Hill.  On a beautiful, late spring evening I made my way to St. Paul’s Methodist Church Cemetery in Knight’s Hill and found the Perkins plot where, I suspect, several of the Worcester Perkins, Patsy and Isaac, were buried in plots that are now unmarked.

I came home with a treasure trove of information about the Perkins Family of Camden that has allowed me to further piece together their fascinating family story and has lead me to new information here in Massachusetts (More on that soon).

I want to thank Lon D. Outen, Research Assistant at the Camden Archives and Museum for helping me access so many records in my week there. Thanks also to W. Guerry Felder, who took time off from his own research and generously guided me to numerous sources and helped me navigate land and probate records at the Kershaw County Courthouse.

Learning more about the life and death of William S. Bullard, the photographer, allows Janette and I to add one more piece to the century old puzzle that we are constructing.  Having spent a number of  days walking cemetery grounds in Worcester, MA in search of the final resting place for some of the people of color that we have been studying, it was a slight deviation of research today as I drove to Putnam, CT to find the grave of their photographer William S. Bullard.  William committed suicide in 1918 very shortly after the death of his mother, Ellen (Barrett) Bullard.  Records indicated that he was buried next to his mother at Putnam Heights Cemetery and that is exactly where a fellow researcher, Katie Richards, and I found him.

There  was much more to learn this day, however, as we observed a small gravestone next to his and his mother’s.  On one side of this tiny stone was the word “Georgie” and on the other  side was “George B. son of C.E. and E.M. Bullard, Died Mar. 25, 1876 aged 11 ms 16 ds”.  There it was: one critical part of William’s family puzzle.  We have one glass negative of an early tintype photo that shows William’s parents, Charles and Ellen, surrounded by six youngsters, all boys.  All our investigations, however, could only account for 5 boys about whom there was much information and here was the answer: the oldest son, George, died in infancy and never made it to the 1880 Census.  We had thought for the past year that William, born in 1876, was the eldest son.  While this may seem to be of small consequence it is another “piece of the puzzle” that allows us to look back 100+ years at an portrait that is gradually bringing into focus the life and family of this unknown itinerant white photographer who, for reasons unknown at this time, captured unique and dignified images of people of color in his community.

We have located two grandchildren of William’s brother Marcus.  A trip to visit with these two very elderly ladies is in the planning stage and will be be reported in this blog after the visit.  They may have family stories to share that could possibly give us some insight into William’s life but if not we surely have many photos of their father and grandparents that will be new to them.  These kind of visits with descendants make all the work so very meaningful.