Author: cmb12

FindingthingsforU, LLC is owned/founded by Char McCargo-Bah. She is the author of two books, and you can find those books on amazon.com by putting a search on her name. She became a Living Legend in Alexandria, Virginia, in 2014.

Mount Jezreel Baptist Church 1908 Membership List

Mount Jezreel Baptist Church
Mount Jezreel Baptist Church, Alexandria, VA

Washington (Wash) Jackson is back on the scene again; he was one of the founders of Mount Jezreel Church.

In April 1890, several members of Shiloh Baptist Church, located at 1401 Duke Street in Alexandria, Virginia, left and founded Mount. Jezreel Baptist Church. Some of the members were Moses Stevens, Tilman Giles, Wash Jackson and Harriett Giles. The group met at a meeting place on King Street until Reverend Coleman and the founders secured a lot at 317 North Payne Street.

In 1908, Mount Jezreel Baptist Church was experiencing some leadership problems that led them to court. The Court asked the Congregation to settle their disputes by the ballot. Ninety-seven members of the church voted.

This 104-year old list contains some of the early members of the Church. Thanks go out to two members of Mount Jezreel Baptist Church who assisted with the church history: Deborah Ford Nelson and Barbara Williams. I obtained the membership list from the court case at the Alexandria Circuit Court.

The 1908 Voting Members of Mount Jezreel Baptist Church:

Irene Simms
Ada West
Estella Lewis
Moses Stevens
Thomas E. (T.E.) Arrington
Loula Spence
William Alexander
Susie Vass
William Sheppard
William Fortune
Melvina Hamilton
Lawrence Baker
Alice Hargrave “known as Alice Washington”
Alice Cashon
Christina Derrix
Estella Ferguson
Annie Carter
E. J. Anderson
Harriet Gyles
Louisa Vass
Lettie Palmer
Viney Green
Lizzie Moore
Ann Jackson
Amanda Williams
Mary West
Courtney Wilson
Jennie Williams
David Green
William Thomas
Irene Williams
Lemon Roy
Benjamin Morris
G.S.M Butler
Wash N. Jackson
John A. Wilson
David Shanklin
William Triplet
Sarah Green
Hallie Richards
Alberta Bryant
Delia White
Blanch White
Rose White
Cordelia Scott
Francis Dixon
Francis Simms
Emma Hall
Rebecca Anderson
Mary Snow
Alberta Anderson
Mary Fudd
Sarah Berry
Fannie Watson
Rachel Smith
Ella Braden
Eva West
Delcy Fane or Fare
Isabella Champ
Mary Sheppard
Thomas Beard
Maggie Baker
Richard Johnson
Missouri Baker
Chauncey Randolph
Blanch Parker
Pricilla Palmer
Anges Johnson
Fannie Butler
J.M. Frazier
Ida Triplett
D. Sadie White
Millie Grigsby
Daisy James
William Richardson
Frank Dorsey
Floyd Wise
John Harris
Susan B. Hall
William Robinson
Emma Jackson
Bessie Marshall “now Bessie Harding”
Lafayette Hall
Catherine Ford
Nora Wilson
Martha Butler
Loula White
Lucretia Vass
Andrew Lomax
James Churchill
Jacob Jones
Edward Snow
Nancy Derrix
Maria Roy
Sarah Jackson
Fannie Stewart
Christina Fultz

1940 Parker-Gray High School Teachers and Graduating Class

1940 Parker-Gray Teachers
PG 1939-1940 Teacher List

The Parker-High School year of 1939 to 1940 had one principal and seventeen teachers.

William H. Pitts, Sr. – Principal
A.W. Adkins – Ninth Grade
Susie Anderson – Eighth Grade
Ferris Holland – Tenth Grade
Louis Johnson – Industrial Arts
Edith W. Keys – Ninth Grade
Sarah Michie – Ninth Grade
Dorothy Pierce – Eleventh Grade
Ruby F. Smith – Home Economics
Marie T. Butler – First Grade
Bernice W. Diggs – Second Grade
Laura M. Dorsey – First Grade
Ellen C. Goods – Third Grade
Evelyn Johnson – Fourth Grade
Alma P. Murray – Second Grade
Julia Prichett – Third Grade
Helen L. Robinson – Fourth Grade

Parker-Gray High School had 15 students that graduated in 1940.

Rutherford Adkins
Alma Arrington (King)
Bernice Arrington (Evans)
Mary Baker (Odom)
Alice Bell (Lewis)
Christine Charity (Johnson)
Clarence Cooper
Urguart Dixon
Vivian Edwards (Putman)
Melba Gamble (Bond)
George Lewis
Theola Martin (Chambers)
Ora Roberts
Collia Strong (Rivers)
Samuel Taylor

Alice Wootton, Civil Rights Organizer

Alexandria Activist
Alice Wootton (Wooton)

Alice Wootton (Wooton) was one of Alexandria, Virginia’s forgotten community leaders. She was a dynamic civil rights leader that was instrumental in advocating for Parker-Gray School to become a high school.

Mrs. Wootton was born in Culpeper, Virginia. She and her husband, Joseph A. Wootton who was a prominent religious, fraternal and labor leader, migrated to Alexandria after 1900. They lived at 610 South Asaph Street. The Woottons had four children, Joseph L, Ruth, Florence and Rose, and they adopted Bertram T. Robertson. Joseph, her husband died around 1920. Alice continued to live in Alexandria, Virginia doing community services until her children migrated to Philadelphia. The family had relatives in Philadelphia.

In 1927, Mrs. Wootton migrated to Philadelphia and continued her community services in civic organizations there. She became very active in her church, Mt. Olive Holy Church in Philadelphia.

On February 14, 1953, Mrs. Alice Wootton died from complications of surgery at the age of 73. She was buried in a family plot at Mt. Lawn Cemetery, Darby, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Alexandria’s African American history is made richer by the contributions of Mrs. Alice Wootton.

Colored Hospital Ward

Alexandria Colored Ward
Alexandria, VA Colored Hospital Ward

In order for African Americans to have access to medical facilities, the African American citizens of Alexandria, Virginia felt they had to raise money to contribute to the new hospital. In 1917, the Colored Citizens Association contributed to the new Alexandria Hospital to set aside two Colored hospital wards for their needs.

They raised and contributed the sum of $357.30 to the trustees of the new Alexandria Hospital. This money was for furnishing two wards in the building for the accommodation of colored patients. The Association hoped to increase the total amount to $500 if possible. The contributions were:

City Churches:
Alfred Street Baptist $34.20
Third Baptist $31.52
Roberts M. E. Chapel $31.15
Meade P.E. Chapel $18.60
Zion Baptist $17.35
Ebenezer Baptist $13.25
Shiloh Baptist $12.50
Mount Jezebel(Jezeel) Baptist $5.00
Beulah Baptist $2.00

Rural Churches:
Gum Spring Baptist $36.00
Woodlawn M.E. $10.00
Gunston Baptist $7.90
Franconia Baptist $5.57
Seminary Baptist $5.50

Lodges:
Elks $10.00
Naomi Household of Ruth $10.00
Lancaster Lodge Odd Fellows $10.00
Lincoln Lodge of Masons $5.00
Acacia Lodge of Masons $4.00
W.N. Jackson (Business Mens League) $5.00

District Solicitors:
Mrs. Maria V Simpkins $33.00
Mrs. Rachel Truatt $7.45
Mrs. Effie Tancil $1.05
S. A. Tucker and Marcellus White $40.10
B.F. Watson $5.75
F.H. Rich $4.90
Public Col. March 6, 1917 $.61
Public Col. March 13, 1917 $.70
Total: $368.10

Disbursements:

Printing, stationery and postage $10.80

Net balance $357.30