I've long been interested in railroads, and learning about the B&O's climb up the Appalachians to Oakland and thence to the banks of the Ohio was no exception. But a whole new chapter of understanding the history of railroading in the U.S. opened up when I discovered Theodore Kornweibel's Railroads in the African American Experience: A Photographic Journey. (Johns Hopkins: 2010) That this is history in photographs makes it all the more powerful—to me, at least. I mean, I've read about A. Philip Randolph and the organizing of the Brotherhood of the Sleeping Car Porters, but Kornweibel has found pictures that put faces to these stories and more.The book is encyclopedic: from the slaves—both men and women—who built the railroads, to the porters and Pullman maids, who babysat for and read bedtime stories to little white children on the luxury trains, to the recurrent use of railroad themes and imagery in popular song and folk art, to the role that the trains played in the Great Migration so thoughtfully described by Isabel Wilkerson in The Warmth of Other Suns (Random House: 2010): the railroads are an essential piece of this history.
So that was what clicked when I got home from the Garrett County Historical Museum: since the support staff of the great train lines were largely African-American, were these great railroad hotels in Garrett County also staffed by African-Americans? If so, where were they? What were their stories? I didn't recall seeing any sign of them anywhere in the exhibit.
I kicked the question around with my dear friend and neighbor, now the late Joy Jones.. She was in the end stages of clear-cell endometrial carcinoma, but hadn't lost her curiosity or her zest for life despite her pain. Besides, I had helped her look for a missing person of her own: her Aunt Bernice, but alas, we hadn't yet found her when Joy passed away.
Anyway, being African-American, Joy gave me an immediate response: "Of course they were there. And of course they're not in the pictures." I was, I guess, just being true to my naive white Amish Mennonite heritage in even asking the question; I'm grateful that Joy was patient with me.
I immediately repaired to our public library and pulled down Schlosnagel's Garrett County: A History of Maryland's Tableland (McLain: 1978), where I found the following descriptions:
"They were also the glory days of Oakland. Rebecca Harding, writing for Harper's New Monthly Magazinein 1880, spoke of the Garrett County seat as 'a drowsy little village, ramparted about with wooded heights.' She spoke of numerous hotels, fashionable Negro waiters, and 'women with dresses fresh from New York...promenading the weedy street past the station....'" (p. 283 [emphasis added])and
"'Deer Park,' [Harding] wrote, 'is a hotel perched on a lofty plateau...surrounded by a few picturesque cottages...The far-off peaks [are] hooded in clouds, and rivers of gray mist [sweep] through the valleys...Inside [are] found brilliantly lighted rooms, a corps of white-cravatted negro servants, elegantly dressed women, pianos, art, needlework, and gossip.'" (p.285 [emphasis added])
So there they are: our missing persons. And of course they are people of color.
And what of their lives? Where did they go to church? If they had children, where did the children go to school? What doctor treated them when they were sick?
At least we can, through the census, say some of their names. From the 1880 federal census for Oakland:
Banks, Baker 40 year old black male servant in the house of John Dailey (hotel keeper);
Born in VA; parents born in VA.
McGuire, Raisin 36 year old black male servant in the house of John Dailey (as above);
Born in MD; parents born in MD.
Dandridge, Coleman 65 year old black head of household; Coachman; born in VA;
parents born in VA.
-------, Caroline, 40 year old black female, wife of Coleman; washwoman; born in MD;
parents born in MD.
-------, May, 15 year old black female, daughter of Coleman.
-------, John, 12 year old black male, son of Coleman.
-------, William, 12 year old black male, son of Coleman.
-------, Hennie, 10 year old black female, daughter of Coleman.
Clark, Henry, 21 year old black male, step-son of Coleman. Waiter. Born in MD.
Banks, Baker 40 year old black male head of household; waiter; born in VA, parents born in VA. (Yes, he appears to have been counted twice.)
-------, Harriet 35 year old black female; wife of Baker. Born in VA; parents born in VA.
-------, Sarah 15 year old black female; daughter of Baker.
-------, Lewis 14 year old black male; son of Baker
-------, John 12 year old black male; son of Baker
-------, Annie 10 year old black female; daughter of Baker
-------, Mary 9 year old black female; daughter of Baker
-------, Daniel 8 year old black male; son of Baker
-------, Lucy 7 year old black female; daughter of Baker
-------, Alice 5 year old black female; daughter of Baker
-------, Sidney 3 year old black female; daughter of Baker
-------, Georgie 1 year old black female; daughter of Baker
Ely, James 28 year old black male, head of household; ostler; born in MD; parents born in MD.
-------, Billi 21 year old black female; wife of James. Keeping house. Born in MD; parents
born in MD.
Denmark, Harriet 50 year old black female; head of household; washwoman; born in VA; parents
born in VA.
-------, James 20 year old black male; son of Harriet; laborer; born in VA; parents born in VA.
-------, Ida 15 year old black female; daughter of Harriet; servant; born in VA; parents born in VA.
-------, Mary 12 year old black female; daughter of Harriet; born in VA; parents born in VA.
-------, Addie 6 year old black female; daughter of Harriet; born in MD; father’s birthplace
unknown; mother born in VA.
Jackson, Noah 23 year old black male; boarder; barber; born in VA; parents born in VA.
Scott, Lottie 3 year old black female; boarder; born in WV; parents born in VA.
And in bold script in the middle of the 1880 census page:
“Oakland Hotel”
Green, Margaret 50 year old black female; servant; born in VA; parents born in VA
Johnson, Tilly 29 year old black female; servant; born in MD; parents born in MD.
Lee, Lizzie 17 year old black female; servant; born in MD; parents born in MD.
Cooper, Otho 20 year old black male; servant; born in MD; parents born in MD.
Brazlon, George 28 year old black male; servant; born in VA; parents born in VA.
Lane, Margaret 30 year old black female; servant; born in VA; parents born in VA.
------, Mary 22 year old black female; servant; born in VA; parents born in VA.
Brown, William 18 year old black male; servant in the household of Halbert Paine; born in MD;
parents born in MD.
Bowser, James 30 year old black male; servant in the boarding house of Sarah Sherman;
born in MD; parents born in MD.
-------, Sarah 40 year old black female; servant in the boarding house of Sarah Sherman;
born in MD; parents born in MD.
Boutley(?), Maria 20 year old black female; servant in the boarding house of Sarah Sherman;
born in MD; parents born in MD.
These names are from the 1880 census and, even so, the list likely doesn't include everyone, as the census takers sometimes missed counting people, especially people who were habitually relegated to the background anyway.
Oakland's African-American community grew: the 1900 census for East Oakland shows a black minister, the Rev. William H. Walker, living in East Oakland with his wife, Virginia, and his mother-in-law. Because the 1880 census didn't show a minister, the presumption is that by 1900, there were enough African-Americans to have formed at least one congregation.
And the on-line archives of the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper confirm that there was indeed an A.M.E. church in Oakland around this time: Bethel A.M.E., part of the Baltimore District, along with Frostburg and Westernport. Preliminary indications are that Bethel A.M.E. was located near the corner of 5th and E. High Streets in Oakland.
My search for these missing persons almost inevitably led me to the ground-breaking work of Lynn Bowman, professor at Allegany Community College. She's been documenting African-American history in western Maryland, but primarily along the northern edge of the state, i.e., following the old National Road a/k/a U.S. Rt. 40.
The real eye-opener for me from her work was learning that Frostburg, about 40 miles north of Oakland, had a thriving African-American community called "Brownsville" that was started right after the Civil War by a former slave, a woman named Tamer Brown. Brownsville was very much alive until Frostburg State University embarked on an expansion plan. More missing persons—or more properly, persons who were simply pushed aside, out of the picture. I'll say more about Lynn's work in my next post.
I do wish I had been able to share these names from Oakland with Joy. Of course we neither of us knew or were related to any of them: Joy was from Boston and I....well....you know who I am. But at least we could have celebrated the fact that these names have been found and thus, a small piece of their stories has been restored. It's not much, but it's a start.
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