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Female African American factory workers pose for a group portrait, circa 1920. Image created with the assistance of AI.

 

 

Harrisburg's African American Community Moves Through the Twentieth Century

 

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Rev. J.Q. Adams, Once Slave, Dies

 

An aged African American man sits on a front porch facing the viewer. Image created with the assistance of AI.

Significant numbers of formerly enslaved African Americans made their homes in central Pennsylvania in the 19th and 20th centuries. Some escaped enslavement and traveled north via the Underground Railroad before 1865. Many more found themselves no longer enslaved by war's end and looked north for job opportunites or to escape the harsh poverty and crushing racism of southern Reconstruction. The first few decades of the 20th century saw large numbers of southern Blacks moving north to take advantage of the plentiful jobs in northern industries.

Their presence in northern cities enriched each African American community. Their shared first-hand stories of lives enslaved broadened the historical perspective and served to counter the "Lost Cause" myths. Knowing which citizens were formerly enslaved is invaluable for modern historians and persons researching their family histories. Small connections can often add up to bigger stories. The news items below represent snippets in the lives of these persons.

 

News Item, January 13, 1917, The Patriot News, Harrisburg, PA

Death notice for Harrisburg preacher and community leader Rev. John Quincy Adams.

 

Text of news article:
REV. J.Q. ADAMS, ONCE SLAVE, DIES

Retired Colored Preacher Was Formerly Coachman to Judge Pearson, and for Years a Conspicuous Figure Here
The Rev. John Quincy Adams, retired local colored preacher of the Wesley Union connection, former slave and known to all the older families of the city during the many years when he was the family driver for the late Judge Pearson, died last night at his home, 102 Cherry street, following an operation undergone five weeks ago. He was about 80 years old.

The Rev. John Quincy Adams was born in Winchester, Va., and lived there until about the time of the Civil War, when he came north and took service with the late Judge Pearson, for whom he acted as coachman. He was a local preacher and held many charges throughout this district and retired several years ago, following the death of his wife. He was a conspicuous figure for years on Harrisburg's streets. He wore long grey "sideburns" and in recent years hobbled about with the aid of a stout hickory cane.

Funeral services have not yet been arranged, though the body will be buried in Elmira, N.Y. A sister, living in Berrysville, Va., is the only surviving relative, according to statements of friends last night.

Notes

The brief news item above only hints at the accomplishments of a remarkable leader of Harrisburg's African American community in the later half of the nineteenth century and into the first two decades of the twentieth century. The Rev. John Quincy Adams was a minister in the Wesley Union African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, a preacher at the Harrisburg Second Baptist Church and at Capital Presbyterian Church, a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows fraternal organizations, an agent for William Howard Day's newspaper Our National Progress, and an organizer for significant celebrations and commemorative events in Harrisburg involving civil rights.

Adams, unlike many of the other formely enslaved persons profiled here, left a detailed account of his life in Virginia and in Harrisburg. Published in 1872, his autobiographical Narrative of the Life of John Quincy Adams not only tells his life story, but makes stark comparisons between the moral values of his enslavers with those of his employers in the north. Most of the following details are drawn from his book.

Adams begins his book by describing his large family in Virginia:

I was born in Frederick county, Virginia, in 1845, and was the slave of Mr. George F. Calomese. My father and mother were both slaves, and belonged to the same family. My mother was seventeen years old when she was married, and my father eighteen. . . . In my father's family there were twenty-five children, fifteen boys and ten girls. There were four pairs of twins, and I am one of them. (Narrative, p. 5)
Adams describes the Calomese farm as about 450 acres, located six miles from Winchester. The Calomese family, in addition to the husband and wife, conisted of three sons and three daughters. At a young age, John was taken as a house servant and therefore separated from his twin brother Aaron, who remained a field hand. They could still play together in the few leisure hours given them, but in 1857 George Calomese took Aaron and John's sister Sally Ann into Winchester where the siblings were sold. John wrote that he was heartbroken and "suffered day and night for months and years." John later learned that his brother had been sold and re-sold seven times, eventually ending up as a house sevant in Memphis Tennessee. He never learned the fate of his sister Sally. (Narrative, pp 28-30.

When the Civil War began, John "was taken into the army for some months," most likely as a body servant for either George Calomese or one of his sons. He became ill and was sent back to the plantation to help his father's family care for the "old mistress and young misses," remarking that the enslaved family protected the white women "many times from outrages that would have been committed upon them." (Narrative, p. 35.)

War, however, also brought opportunity. Winchester was a highly contested town during the war, changing hands between the Union and Confederate armies multiple times. During Union occupations of the town, slaves from the surrounding countryside would flock into town to be under the protection of northern soldiers. Upon the withdrawal of the Union troops, however, returning Confederate soldiers would sweep into the town and round up any freedom seekers they found and return them to slavery. This was the situation that John Q. Adams' family found themselves in near the end of June 1862. On the night of June 27th, John, along with "Father and mother, four brothers and two sisters" fled the Calomese plantation and took refuge in Winchester. Finding the military situation there tenuous, and knowing that Confederate troops were nearby, John's father approached the Union commanders there and requested a pass for the family to travel to Pennsylvania. John Q. Adams later wrote that the general issuing the pass was John White Geary. (Narrative, pp 36-37.)

Adams remembered "Two days after that the Rebels came for us." But they were on their way north, arriving across the Mason-Dixon line first in Greencastle, where they stayed "a few weeks" then travelled to Chambersburg, Carlisle, and finally arrived in Harrisburg, where, feeling safe, they remained. Unlike many fleeing slaves, the Adams family had some resources, as John recorded "My father bought property in Harrisburg and settled here. Then we all got places to work." Through the Civil War years, John found employment at the Herr House hotel, later at the Jones House on Market Square, and then at the Bolton House. He also made trips to Cincinnati, Ohio and Elmira New York, seeking opportunities, but always returned to Harrisburg. (Narrative, pp. 40-43.)

Although his employment in Elmira did not work out, he met his future wife, Fanny Frances Stover, in that city. On June 21, 1866 they were married and the couple set up housekeeping in Harrisburg, where John found employment with Dauphin County President Judge John J. Pearson as a carriage driver, a position he held until the death of Judge Pearson in 1882. John Q. and Fanny Adams quickly integrated themselves into the social and political circles of Harrisburg's growing African American community. In 1870, they were on the Committee of Arrangements to plan celebrations around the ratification of the 15th Amendment. John rode at the head of the parade as aide to parade Chief Marshall William R. Dorsey. They also involved themselves with local Republican political events and local fraternal organizations.

As noted in his 1917 death notice, the Rev. John Quincy Adams was deeply involved with Harrisburg's Wesley Union A.M.E. Zion Church, preaching and doing missionary work. In 1891, he and Fanny celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary with friends and family. Fanny died in 1914, and John Q. passed in 1917. Both are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira, New York.

Sources

Harrisburg Telegraph, 24 June 1891, page 4.

Harrisburg Telegraph, 13 January 1917, page 5.

Harrisburg Telegraph, 13 January 1917, page 6.

The Courier (Harrisburg, PA), 14 January 1917, page 5.

Harrisburg Daily Independent, 13 January 1917, page 5.

The Patriot News (Harrisburg, PA), 13 January 1917, page 1.

Narrative of the Life of John Quincy Adams, When in Slavery, and Now as a Freeman, John Quincy Adams, Sieg, Harrisburg, PA, 1872.

One Hundred Voices: Harrisburg's Historic African American Community, 1850-1920, Calobe Jackson, Jr., Katie Wingert McArdle, David Pettegrew, editors, Grand Forks, ND, 2020.

Find a Grave, "John Q. Adams," https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/99720279/john-q-adams.


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