The Family Home

Home, Sweet Home
 'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home; A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there, Which, seek through the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere. Home, home, sweet, sweet home! There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!
 -----John Howard Payne (1791-1852)

Although in my entire life I have lived in several places, there is really only one place that I call "home".  The year was 1964.  I remember the first time that I went to the Farralone house with my brothers.  We were living in a rental on Roscoe, but my father had purchased a house up the hill.  We decided to walk up the hill and visit our new home.  After climbing the hill, we were thirsty. So it made sense to us to get some water out of the hose.

Farralone Family House

We were clueless at the time, that our family was about the become the original "Hughleys" - a 1998 TV show about a black family moving to "West Hills, a predominately white neighborhood within the San Fernando Valley". Only this was 1964, and the part of West Hills where we moved was still called Canoga Park.

Back to the water hose.  So there we still in what would be our front yard after the landscaping got put in, when a loud booming voice yelled "You guys get out of here..."!  That booming voice belong to actor Mark Russell who was about the find out that his new neighbors were black.  "This is my daddy's house, I shot back." Mind you, I had lived in an interracial neighborhood in Westbury, New York.

Park Avenue Elementary School; Westbury, New York March  1965.  In December 1965, I would move to the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California and attend a school at which my brothers and I would be the sole black kids.  It was culture shock to say the least, because I had never gone to a school that wasn't integrated before that.BTW, Ms. Bennett was my favorite teacher.  A group of kids would meet up with her each day and walk to school together.  Today they call that a walking school bus

Yet I had not experienced the things I was going to experience while living in Canoga Park.  There someone called me a [N-word] for the first time in my life, and I had no idea what they were talking about. Soon, I would find out and thus the next kid to call me that got a punch in the mouth. Fifty years later, someone in my family continues to live in that house.  That's why I call it a family home.

My mother's family home was in Houston, Texas on Barbee Street.  According to my grandmother,   Sixty or more years later, someone from the family continues to live there too.

Barbee Street House; Green Building was the
garage with an apartment on top. 

Last time I was visiting there, I found a photograph of the original owner, a woman named Aline Cover.

Aline Cover is of the former owner of the house.
My grandparents purchased the house from Mrs. Cover 
in March of 1951. The Roulande Studio was operated by
Sonia and Kaye Marvins.

Ironically, my mother's family was one of the first or maybe even the first black family to move into that house.  The 1940 United States Census shows that the neighborhood was completely white.

1940 U.S. Census show the race of the persons
living on Barbee Street at the time.

Below are photos of some of the other Gibson/Washington family homes.

Another family home in Lockhart, Texas (That's my mom, Thelma, in front)

House on Buck where my Mom lived before the family moved to Barbee Street

Grand Mother Eliza's Childhood home on Ruthven
in Houston, Texas.  This was a Freedman Town
established after the Civil War.

Family Home in Rock Sound, Eleuthera, Bahamas Island

Savannah Sound, Eleuthera, Bahamas Island
What was left of the house that my Grandfather RCG
was born in 1893.

I believe my grandfather's sister Euleta was about 20 years old
in this photo.  In the background is what I believe is the family home
referenced in the photograph above!!!

"3021"   I wonder whose house this is.  Cornelia and Clarence Washington lived at 3605 Hare Street, Houston, Texas so I do not believe it's their house.

Related Links:

Information about Roulande Studio Photographer Kaye Marvins:
http://tulane.edu/news/tulanian/everyday_lives.cfm

Mason Barnett Patten (Sr.) and the National Alliance of Postal Employees

My great grandfather, Mason Barnett Patten (Sr.) was one of the founder of the National Alliance of Postal Employees. The organization still exists and is now known as the National Alliance of Postal and Federal Employees.

The NAPFE's history reveals why I always say that my personal black history is American history:

It begins in the late 1890's and early 1900's when the Railway Mail Service was the most important phase of the postal service outside the area of first-class post offices. Nearly every railroad which passed through or near sizable towns had a mail car. The clerk in the mail car was responsible for receiving and dispatching mail in accordance with official schemes, schedules and special instructions. A great majority of the railway mail clerks were black. The Railway Mail Service was operating with dangerous wooden cars which guaranteed casualty in train wrecks. As a result, competition for the hazardous positions was slight and blacks were more readily hired as railway clerks until the railways conversion from wooden to steel railway cars in 1913.

With the advent of steel cars, a concerted effort was made to eliminate black railway mail workers. Since the Railway Mail Association excluded blacks from its membership, black workers did not have the benefit of an industrial organization to appeal to for their defense. This was the situation facing black workers when a call went out to black railway mail clerks in August 1913 to convene in Tennessee in October for the purpose of joining forces to combat the discrimination they were encountering.

Thirteen states were represented at that first meeting on October 2, 1913 at the foot of Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee when the National Alliance of Postal Employees was founded. The major concerns of that founding meeting were: to provide a beneficiary department and an insurance department to enable black railway clerks to make suitable provisions for their families; to launch a national journal dedicated to the interests of black railway mail clerks; and to establish means to effectively present their grievances and petitions to the Post Office Department.

In 1923, the National Alliance became the first industrial Union in the United States when it opened its membership to any postal employee who desired to join.

M B PATTEN IN POSTAL UNIFORM

As reported in the THE RED BOOK OF HOUSTON [a compendium of social, professional, religious, educational and industrial interests of Houston's colored population which was published in 1915]

"The National Alliance of Postal Employees, an organization designed to protect the rights and privileges of Negroes in the Postal Service, was originally projected and fostered by the Negro Railway Postal Clerks in Houston, Texas. As soon as the Democratic administration of President Woodrow Wilson went into power, an agitation began among some persons in the postal service having for its object the curtailment of the privileges of the Negroes employed in this service. The agitation became so strong till it was thought that many Negroes would be summarily dismissed from the service, others reduced in grade, and still others humiliated by practices which were suggested to the officials by certain organizations of white employees, such practices designed to place Negroes in the smaller and less important assignments."

"To offset this agitation and take steps to protect their interests, a meeting was held in Houston composed of the best thought amongst the Negro clerks of this city. The meeting was suggested by Clerks Mims, Patten, Sweatt, Young and others, who finally got the men together for the first time in the office of T. H. Fairchild, a former clerk who had resigned and was in the real estate business. This meeting was held May 12, 1913, at 7 :30 p. m., and was attended by Clerks Mims, Sweatt, Brown, Taylor, Keeling, Young, Dod.son, Robinson, Glover, Rutledge, Southwell, Smith, Jessie, Sloan, Jones, Ayres, Patten."

"From this meeting grew the Progressive Postal League, which concern projected the Chattanooga convention which founded the National Alliance of Postal Employees. Henry L. Mims was elected temporary president of the first meeting in Houston; T. R. Brown, secretary ; J. L. Sweatt, treasurer. At the Chattanooga meeting Henry L. Mims was elected national president; R. L. Bailey of Indiana, secretary; A. H. Hendricks of Georgia, treasurer; C. B. Shepperson of Arkan.sas, vice-president; B. H. Holerman of Louisiana, editor. H. L. Mims and M. B. Patten of Houston and J. R. Thomas of San Antonio were delegates to the Chattanooga meeting. The same clerks with G. N. T. Gray of Ft. Worth and J. M. Richardson of Denison, Tex., were representatives to the St. Louis convention in 1914, which re-elected Mims president for a second term. The organization is now in a prosperous condition and is recognized as the spokesman for the Negro railway postal clerks by the Postoffice Department."

It would turn out that my great grandfather, Mason, who die from injuries sustained in a railroad accident.

The monies from the accident were spent to send my great aunt, Thelma Patten Law, to medical school.

His Redbook entry stated:

"Patten, Mason B." 1871; Railway Postal Clerk, 1018 RuthvenStreet; phone Preston 6243. Graduate of Prairie View Normal 1896. Owns home and other property in Houston and San Antonio. Formerly principal of Huntsville public school for 14 years. Member Wesley Chapel A. M. E. Church, M. B. 0 " R. M. A. Ry., N. A. P. E. ; Associate Editor N. A. P. E.; President Postal Inv. Association. Married Miss Pauline B. Garza in 1899."

For more information about Mason Barnett Patten click here.

Eliza Patten Washington's Life in Pictures

My grandmother's life was documented in various photographs. This is my first attempt to present some of those pictures as a short film.

"Cornelia Bellinger Chiles" meet Photo Investigator

Who is this woman?


I have a ton of family photos. The problem is that many of them are not marked as to identification. Some of them offer clues as to who they maybe. For example, if a photograph has a printed post card back, it is known that the first photographic postcards were introduced around 1900. Thus any photo with such a back must have been taken after 1900. Unfortunately, this one does not have a back. In fact it is a photograph of two different photographs of what appears to me to be the same person taken about 20 years or more apart. I have blended the two pictures together to see if the features sort of match. Since the photos were not the same size, they sort of line up. Oh well.

Potential Photographs of Charlotte

Although I might be able to match an earlier photograph, the earliest photo of the same person, in my opinion, is here:





Any one paying attention might notice that I have previously identified this picture was being one of Cornelia Chiles Washington. I was told that was the case, but after careful consideration, I have decided that is NOT the case.






Another is here:












The next photograph is here:






What I believe to be the latest version is here:


In my next post, I will discuss my clues and why I believe these are pictures of Charlotte Bellinger Chiles. More to be revealled!

Charlotte Bellinger's Brother, Charles

Charles Bellinger, was born in Caldwell County, Texas, on April 15, 1875. He was the younger brother of Charlotte Bellinger. His sister, Charlotte Bellinger, married John Childs and was the mother of Cornelia Childs Washington, my great grandmother.

Charles Bellinger became active in San Antonio Texas city politics during 1918 when he joined African American ministers to organize black voters for several successful candidates for mayor and other local offices.



Bellinger's house in San Antonio Texas circa 1928


These city leaders responded with water and sewers, street paving and lighting, a library and auditorium, and better schools and playgrounds in African American neighborhoods.

Charles Bellinger

In the 1930s, he was charged with income tax evasion, afterwhich he was sent to Levensworth Federal Prison in Kansas. A attorney, C.K. Quin (who was purportedly was also a Klu Klux Klan member, when he wasn't acting as Mayor of San Antonio), sought a presidential pardon for him.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt granted Bellinger a parole because of illness, and pleas from San Antonio leaders and his family.

Franklin D Roosevelt

The Pardon papers cited Charles Bellinger's rallying of black voters on behalf of Democratics, and such black voters voting for the Dems in any significant numbers for the first time since reconstruction as a reason to grant the pardon.

Charles Bellinger died June 14, 1937.

Additional References
Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/QQ/fqu15.html (accessed January 16, 2009).

Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/BB/fbe74.html (accessed January 16, 2009).

Clarence Washington, Sr.

BIG PAPA

Clarence Washington, Sr. was the husband of Cornelia Chiles Washington. He was on May 22, 1885 in Wharton Texas to Aleck Washington,Jr. and Emma Grey. His Grandfather was also an Aleck. He married Cornelia Chiles and had several children, one of whom was my grandfather.

Instead of continuing the Aleck tradition, Clarence named his son Clarence who in turn named his son Clarence, etc.



Big papa as we knew him, was a handsome man. He worked as a cabinet maker in a lumberyard. He died on July 23, 1958 from cancer at age 73.


Big Papa and Helena and his car

Although Big Papa died when I was only two years old, his having cancer is what I remember most about him. It was a very big secret. My mother told me that she and her siblings were told that they could not tell a single soul that Big Papa had cancer.

Cornelia Chiles Washington

This is my grandfather Clarence's mother.

CORNELIA CHILES WASHINGTON

I used to have this reoccurring dream. I was a small child playing in a Church pew. My mother was sitting in the pew near me, letting me play. Various people were milling around the room. All of a sudden, the organ started to play and the wailing began. It scared the shit out of me. I ran into my mother's arms crying. Then I would wake up.

Sometime during my late twenty's early thirty's, I overheard my mother telling a friend about her grandmother, Cornelia Washington's funeral. Her story was my dream. Turns out that it wasn't a dream, but instead an early memory. Cornelia died when I was five, and I was actually remembering her funeral.

Cornelia was born in May 30, 1887 in Caldwell, Texas, although on her death certificate her birthday is listed as May 30, 1901, and only 60 years old. In fact, she was 73 years at her death.

Cornelia's Parents
Her parents were John Chiles and Charlotte Bellinger Chiles. I have also seen this name spelled as "Childs" and therefore am not clear about the spelling. John was born in Missouri in 1854. The records indicate that his parents were from Virginia. Charlotte was born in Texas in 1855. John and Charlotte married in Caldwell Texas on December 29, 1873.

Charlotte was a housewife whose brother was the infamous Charles Bellinger. John Chiles was a policeman in San Antonio. When Charles Bellinger died in 1936, John Chiles purported when around smashing the cameras of reporters because the gangsters attending the funeral did not want their pictures taken.

Charlotte and John had the following kids:
Louvenia Chiles b: 1875 in Lockhart, Caldwell County, Texas
Blick John Chiles, Jr. b: 4 AUG 1877 in Lockhart, Caldwell County, Texas
Aleck Chiles b: 1879 in Lockhart, Caldwell County, Texas
Birdie Chiles b: 10 DEC 1880 in Lockhart, Caldwell County, Texas
Florence Chiles b: 10 APR 1883 in Lockhart, Caldwell County, Texas
Cornelia Mae Chiles b: 30 MAY 1887 in Lockhart, Caldwell County, Texas

Lex Bernice Chiles b: 4 JUL 1889 in Lockhart, Caldwell County, Texas
Nora Chiles b: 25 JAN 1892 in Lockhart, Caldwell County, Texas

Nora Chiles Todd

Myrtle Chiles b: 29 JUL 1894 in Lockhart, Caldwell County, Texas

Cornelia has several sisters and two brothers. One brother, Aleck, died as a teenager. The other was named Blick.




Cornelia (upper left) and her sisters.

Her sisters were: Louvenia, Birdie, Florence, Lex, Nora and Myrtle.


Married Life

Cornelia married Clarence Washington, Sr.





They had three sons: Harold, Clarence, and Chiles.

My mother middle name is Cornelia and she was named after her grandmother. They were very close.



Thelma, (unknown), Cornelia



Clarence's Nephew, Hamilton Hughes, also lived with the family.


Hamilton Hughes (born 1909 in Texas)