Enslavement to
freedom

 
  An African American woman in circa 1930s attire sits at a desk typing a letter on an old mechanical typewriter.

 

 

Notes, observations, historical hints, tidbits and stories from the community.

Study Areas

Enslavement

Anti-Slavery

Free Persons of Color

Underground Railroad

The Violent Decade

US Colored Troops

Civil War

20th Century

Year of Jubilee

Old Mail

2002 Mail
2003 Mail
2004 Mail
2005 Mail
2006 Mail
2007 Mail
2009 Mail

 

2006 Mail

Tolliver Family History, Reply to Calobe Jackson

From Harryette Mullen, January 25, 2006

Dear Mr. Jackson,

In a previous exchange [click here to read that letter], you mentioned that a man named "Toliver" or "Tolliver" was a member of the Harrisburg Giants baseball team in 1906. I wonder if he could have been Henry Tolliver, born about 1888 in Caroline County, VA. In 1900 he lived at 1407 James Street in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with his family: father Rev. Walker Tolliver, stepmother Hattie Wise Tolliver, and sister Lula Tolliver. As I've learned from Afrolumens, several residents of this neighborhood were associated with early African-American baseball. Some also belonged to a church pastored by Rev. Walker Tolliver.

By 1910 Henry apparently had moved to Philadelphia where he possibly worked for the railroad. In 1910 "Henry Toelafero" was a lodger in Philadelphia's 20th Ward. His occupation was "laborer, freight." In 1920 he might have been a railroad worker rooming and/or boarding in Philadelphia and/or Washington, DC.

Henry was the third child (elder son) born to Walker and Nancy Taliaferro. In 1880 Walker and Nancy lived in the town of Madison, Virginia. After the death of his wife (between 1888-1890), Walker moved from Virginia to Pennsylvania with their three children Julia, Lula, and Henry. Walker Taliaferro (Tolliver) married Hattie Wise of Chambersburg in 1893. In 1895 Walker became the first full-time pastor of Zion Primitive Baptist Church (now Greater Zion Missionary Baptist Church) in Harrisburg. With his second wife, Hattie, Walker Tolliver had three more children, all born in Pennsylvania (Harrisburg or Chambersburg): Joseph, Beatrice, and Harryette.

You were kind enough to send me high school yearbook pages for my grandmother's brother Joseph and sister Beatrice. Recently I have found the yearbook for my grandmother (b. 1913) as well as her diploma from William Penn High School. I also have several letters that my grandmother received from her mother Hattie Wise Tolliver in Harrisburg. Hattie's generation was the first in her family to acquire formal education. Her parents, Hannah and Uriah Wise of Chambersburg, were born into slavery in Virginia, arriving in Chambersburg between 1870 and 1880. Neither could read or write.

My grandmother turned ninety-two in November, 2005. She never met her half-brother Henry, although she recalls visits with her half-sisters Julia (in Pittsburgh) and Lula (in New York City).

Best wishes,
HM

[Editor's note:  click here for an article about the Harrisburg Giants baseball team.
Click here for an article about Zion Primitive Baptist Church.
Click here for an autobiographical sketch of Rev. Walker Tolliver.]

Afrolumens Project Home | Letters Index

Original material on this page copyright 2024 Afrolumens Project
The url of this page is https://www.afrolumens.com/letters/060125a.htm