Category: Hallowell

Sarah A. Gray

Behind the scenes of the article titled, “Sarah A. Gray: Principal of Hallowell School.”

Sarah A. Gray was one of two people that Parker-Gray School was named after. She was a remarkable woman who was educated as well as a talented pianist and an organist.

Sarah A. Gray

Due to the death of her father, William Gray and two lawsuits, Sarah started experiencing health issues. Her father, William Gray died in 1891.

Sarah filed two lawsuits against Reverend Robert H. Robinson’s son, Reverend Robert B. Robinson, for slander. The other lawsuit was against her stepmother and relative, Alfred Peters concerning her father’s estate. Due to these heavy burdens, Sarah died in 1893 – just two years after her father.

A detailed article is available in the Alexandria Times dated, September 9, 2021 on, “Sarah A. Gray: Principal of Hallowell School on pages 17 and 18 at

https://alextimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/September-9-2021.pdf. A small correction in the article is that Sarah’s father died in 1891 not 1892. In addition, the above article incorrectly had Sarah teaching at the public school in 1871. She started in the 1870 school year.

Beating The Odds: Patrick H. Lumpkins

Patrick H. Lumpkins had beaten the odds, he had a disability due to slavery but he excelled after the civil war. Besides being a teacher and a music director, he raised a family. His daughter, Helen Lumpkins Robinson Day, became a well-known teacher, choir director and community activist. In 1950s, Patrick’s son Patrick II was working for Virginia Electric and Power Company (VEPCO).

You can read more about Patrick H. Lumpkins in the Alexandria Gazette newspaper dated November 20, 2019 at http://connectionarchives.com/PDF/2019/112019/Alexandria.pdf.

Ellen Elizabeth Carter-Goods – A Special Teacher

Ellen Carter-Goods
1937 Honeymoon Cruise

Behind the scene of the Alexandria Gazette’s story on Ellen Carter-Goods dated September 12, 2018.

Ellen Elizabeth Carter was born on September 21, 1907 in her parents’ home at 614 South Washington Street. Her parents were Douglas Robinson Carter and Elizabeth Campbell. By 1910, the family had moved to 603 South St. Asaph Street. In 1916, the family was living at 821 Gibbon Street. Her father was a skilled carpenter, his occupation was listed in the City Directory as a contractor/builder. He built his own house at 911 Princess Street between the years of 1916-1917. The family was living at the house in 1918.

Ellen was the oldest of ten siblings, only seven lived until adulthood. Between Ellen and her youngest sibling, Alfred Dubois Carter, there was a twenty-year gap. She taught several of her siblings, especially her youngest brother, Alfred. He was in her class at Parker-Gray School.

During the early 20th Century, many women stayed home until they married. Ellen was one of those women. She stayed home until she married Moses Goods, Sr. Also Moses Goods was living at home with his mother in Washington, D.C., when he married Ellen on June 7, 1937. They were married at Roberts Chapel Methodist Church. For their honeymoon, Moses and Ellen went on a cruise. The picture with this blog shows the thirty-year old Ellen on the ship.

Although Ellen’s parents were Methodist, Ellen converted to Catholicism. She was a member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. After Ellen and Moses’ honeymoon, they moved to 318 Hopkins Court in Alexandria, VA. After sometime, they moved temporarily to 2719 Sherman Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. In 1950, they moved to 2460 South Lowell Street, Arlington, VA and finally to 420 East Custis Avenue, Alexandria, VA.

You can check out the article, ‘A Special Teacher’ in the Alexandria Gazette Newspaper on pages 12 and 30 at http://connectionarchives.com/PDF/2018/091218/Alexandria.pdf.

Miss Laura Missouri Dorsey

Behind the Alexandria Gazette story on Laura Missouri Dorsey dated January 11 – 17, 2018.

Several years ago, I visited and interviewed Miss Laura Missouri Dorsey’s second cousin, Mrs. Fayrene Lyles-Richardson in Maryland. In talking with Fayrene, she shared many family pictures of the Lyles and Dorsey families. One particular picture was of two cars in the Lyles family in the early 20th century.

Very few people of colored (African Americans) owned automobiles at that time, but the

Lyles Family with their Vehicles

Lyles not only had one vehicle, they had two in the family. Also in Fayrene’s collection were many pictures about the family life style. There were summer homes up north, post cards from their vacations in the 1900s – 1950s. There were pictures of their homes in Alexandria, Virginia and in Prince William County, Virginia. In the collection were professional pictures of the Lyles’ brothers at a photographer’s studio and pictures of Laura and her sister, Mary and their mother, Hannah.

As Fayrene and I pored over the pictures, we went back in time to a period when the Lyles and Dorsey family flourished. The public records have documented the life style of the Lyles and Dorsey families in the censuses, tax records, newspaper articles, marriages, death records, church records and pre-civil war documents. Laura Missouri Dorsey and her uncle, Rosier Lyles were educators in the Alexandria Public school system. Laura’s grandfather, Reverend Richard H. Lyles was the pillar of Alexandria’s African American’s Society. He was born free in 1834. Reverend Lyles was a minister at Roberts Chapel in the 19th Century; he taught private school prior to the Civil War; he worked for the Federal Government at the Freedmen Bureau; he was active in Alexandria’s Republican Party; he was a caulker on ships; he owned a business on the wharf; and, he owned a number of properties in Alexandria. He afforded his family many pleasures of life that was found among the white middle class.

The heyday for the Lyles family started prior to the Civil War through the middle of the 20th Century. They regained all their property losses during the Civil War. The Lyles and the Dorsey families left a positive history that will make many Alexandrians eager to learn more about them. Read the article on “Laura Dorsey” in the Alexandria Gazette Packet for January 11 – 17, 2018. You can sign up for a digital copy of the paper at http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/subscribe.

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