Genealogical Gems

Did you know today - 1 February - is National Freedom Day? I had no idea, to be honest, until I was searching for an article for Black History Month (which is February by the way). It was on 1 February 1865 that President Abraham Lincoln signed the joint resolution - the 13th Amendment - abolishing slavery. How did National Freedom Day come about then? According to the Weekly Review, in Birmingham, Alabama, from 31 July 1948, Major R. R. Wright, Sr. organized the National Freedom Day Association in 1941. The purpose of the association was to establish a national Freedom Day. Wright was born a slave in 1853 in Georgia to Richard Wright and Harriet Lynch. The 1880 Census shows a R.R. Wright living in Cuthbert, Randolph County, Georgia. He was 27 at the time and an editor. He lived with his 23 year old wife and two children. According to the census, both his parents had been born in South Carolina. Other sources confirm his name is Richard Robert Wright and his wife's is L...

A teen was sent to the House of Refuge On This Day in 1881. Samuel Herbert Wright, just 17, was sentenced to the House of Refuge at the request of his uncle James Wright!    Samuel has lived at the poor house for the last two years and is uncontrollable. The superintendent and other officers at the poor house simply can not control the teen. Samuel appeared before Judges Livingston and Patterson who ordered him to the House of Refuge.   Samuel formerly resided in Little Britain.    Source: Lancaster daily intelligencer. ( Lancaster , Pa. ), 18 April 1881. Chronicling America : Historic American Newspapers . Lib. of Congress.   On This Day is a prompt I started this month to further explore historical events.                  © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015