Lesser Known Legends of Wheeling: African American Leaders
by Seán Duffy and Erin Rothenbuehler
On February 2, 2021, we presented a Lunch With Books Livestream program exploring the lives, times, and achievements of nine leaders of Wheeling’s African American community during the era of “Jim Crow” segregation, including: barber Henry Boose Clemens; police officer William Alexander Turner; firefighter Ashby Jackson; attorney Harry H. Jones; medical doctors Boswell Henson Stillyard, Julia Katherine Pronty Davis; Robert Maceo Hamlin; and Alga Wade Hamlin; and musician Will H. Dixon.
This post will serve as the penultimate supplement to our livestream video. A profile of Will H. Dixon will follow.
We Need Your Help
While we published back in 2016 a rather complete biography of Officer Turner HERE. one recently about Dr. B.H. Stillyard HERE, another about barber Henry Boose Clemens HERE, and yet another about musician Will H. Dixon, we include the other five, rather incomplete biographies below.
The information we have comes mostly from newspaper accounts. Most of these stories are, therefore, very limited. There just isn’t a lot of information readily available. We do not claim to be experts on this subject. But, we believe these people deserve to be remembered and we would like to help. So, if you happen to be a descendant or know people who have information and photos and are willing to share, please contact us. Our goal is to create and keep as a complete a record as we can of the accomplishments of these and other key personalities from Wheeling’s past. And, largely because of the lingering effects of segregation, the history of Wheeling’s black community has been neglected.
A City Within a City
These nine accomplished people were among the leaders in Wheeling’s African American community during the period of segregation known as “Jim Crow,” that system of laws, polices, and traditions in many southern US states, including West Virginia, that kept black and white people legally separate. The system was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case called Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1896, which held that that such laws were constitutional, so long as public facilities were “separate but equal.”
Of course, the reality was that separate facilities for African Americans, such as Wheeling’s Lincoln School, were underfunded and inferior in quality.
One of the people we’ve profiled, an attorney and educator named Harry H. Jones gave a speech on WWVA radio in 1936, titled, “Wheeling’s 20th Man,” in which he detailed how black people in Wheeling had been barred from employment in local factories, mills, shops, and stores. You can read and listen to the full text of the speech on the OCPL’s website.
Jones went on to describe an entirely distinct black community – one with its own doctors, dentists, restauranteurs, shop keepers, barbers, hairdressers, movie theaters operators, hoteliers, and even funeral directors. Wheeling in 1936 was actually two cities, side-by-side but completely separate. And black people were not welcome in white Wheeling.
So, many Wheeling black-owned businesses were listed in the Negro Motorist Green Book, a guide for African American travelers to hotels, restaurants, and other public facilities where they could be served and not experience the embarrassment of being told they weren’t welcome. This was Wheeling under Jim Crow: separate, but not equal.
The primary black neighborhood in Wheeling during this era ran mostly along Chapline Street as the western border, as far north as Lincoln School as far south as 12th Street, and east up the hill to Grandview Street.
And this is the Wheeling in which the people we are profiling worked, flourished, prospered, and inspired, despite all of these obstacles.
A Faithful City Employee: Ashby Jackson, Wheeling’s First Black Firefighter
Ashby Jackson was born in 1873 in Haywood, Virginia. He came to Wheeling in about 1896 at age 23 and became Wheeling’s first black firefighter in 1897 when he started working shifts on February 22 at the Chemical Engine House #7 on 11th Street. He would eventually ascended to the rank of Captain there, a position he held for “many years.” [1]
In November of 1904, Captain Jackson was connected to a case that really illustrates the evils and abuses of power common during Jim Crow Wheeling. Police interfered in black voting at the election polls near the Upper Market House. The newspaper concluded that “Deliberate Methods [were] Used.”[2]
Policemen reportedly gathered around polls and began making arrests for trivial matters claiming some men came from out of state, while other though living in Wheeling could not claim it as their permanent home. The Intelligencer that day headline indicated that “A Determined Effort to Overawe the Colored Voter was Made Throughout the Day.” [3]
Democratic Chief of Police John S. Ritz and Republican Prosecuting attorney Frank W. Nesbitt clashed over the matter with Nesbitt working to help the men who had been wrongfully charged – some while in the police buggy – and threatening to have policemen arrested. One of the men targeted was Ashby Jackson’s brother. Even though there was proof that he was 22, police claimed Jackson’ brother was underage making it illegal for him to vote. He was arrested and locked up during the debacle. [4]
In 1915, Ashby Jackson was one of six black city employees to present Dr. Thomas M. Haskins a gold-headed cane to when he retired from the City’s Board of Control. The other men were Tom Arrington (police patrol driver); Russell Williams (janitor at City Hall); Isaac Jones (employee with the City Water Works); John Doffmeyer (city light trimmer at the time — he would join the Wheeling Fire Department in 1919); and William Turner (policeman). [5] Dr. Haskins had been a Democrat until 1893, at which time he “adhered to the Republican party… He is a man of broad views, unfailing courtesy, genial presence, deep humanitarianism spirit and abiding human sympathy, so he naturally has gained and retained the staunchest of friends among all classes and conditions of men.” [6]
In the October 1917 edition of the NAACP’s national publication, The Crisis, Jackson was featured as one of the Men of the Month. The Crisis noted Jackson, “the only colored man on the Fire Department at Wheeling, W. Va., has served twenty years.” [7] He would serve twenty-two and a half years before another African-American man was hired with John Doffmeyer joining Engine Company No. 8 on September 16, 1919 and Archibald Johnson joining Hose Company No. 7 on July 1, 1920. [8] Captain Jackson retired from the Wheeling Fire Department in 1935, having served on the force for thirty-eight years. [9]
In addition to being a fireman, Mr. Jackson was also a bail bondsman and was in the newspaper frequently in that capacity. [10] Most notably, in 1918, he went to Pittsburgh and arrested two alleged murderers — the Hodge brothers — and brought them back to Wheeling. The Intelligencer article about the arrest states that Jackson “not only has a record for being a faithful city employee but he has perhaps assisted more colored people — also hundreds of white men — than any one negro in this city.” [11]
In 1938, he became bailiff to Federal Judge William Baker. [12] Judge Baker would later be involved in some of the early trials of Wheeling mobster Bill Lias. [13]
In addition to being active in local politics, Ashby Jackson was a member of the Black Elks and also of the Odd Fellows. He died the day after the Pearl Harbor attack, Dec. 8, 1941. [14]
Like Bill Turner before him, he was buried at Peninsula Cemetery. [15]
A True Renaissance Man: Attorney Harry H. Jones
Harry H. Jones was a true Renaissance man. Born November 7, 1887 in Wheeling, he graduated of Lincoln School and Lincoln High School, then Oberlin College in 1914. [1]
He became a teacher of history and civics at Lincoln School, earning the nickname “professor” before completing his law degree at Howard University in 1929.
Jones married Edith Walker Redman on Dec. 10, 1942. [2]
Mr. Jones was editor of a Wheeling African American newspaper in known as The Advocate until resigning in September 1923. “While [Jones was] on the staff,” The Pittsburgh Courier wrote, “[he] made the paper felt with his strong dissertations regarding race questions in the community.” [3] Indeed, his writing reveals an eloquent spokesman regarding such issues.
Jones wrote, for example, for the Wheeling Majority, a popular socialist newspaper during Wheeling’s union heyday, for whom he crafted an insightful and prescient article about the 1919, post WWI race riots and how the experience of the European war opened the consciousness of America’s black soldiers, a view that has become widely accepted. [4] Jones, then a 32 year old teacher at Lincoln School, wrote in part:
“…the development of race consciousness among Negroes during the war has tended to spur their demands for consideration at the hands of their fellow Americans. Prior to the war the Negro was wont to confine his agitation for justice to restricted channels on this side of the Atlantic. Today, following the example of other oppressed peoples, he is carrying on an international propaganda. Formerly, when he was attacked by mobs, he ran; today he stands and defends himself. He is conscious of having rendered efficient service to his government during the war, and now he asks that his government reward him with the rights and privileges of American citizenship. The war broadened his views. It brought him in contact with many races of mankind. Either on the battlefield or through the press, he found that France was willing to accept him at his worth. He has faced death many times more horrible than a Georgia mob could inflict on him. He has lost the fear of death…the civilian Negro, having given his best in manhood, means and brawn to ‘make the world safe for democracy,” having had sounded repeatedly in his own ears that all mankind is entitled to self-determination, has formed the opinion that Democracy ought to begin at home, and that he ought to share in the fruits of victory. He cannot appreciate our championing the right of weak people in Europe and Asia to self determination and our remaining silent on his right to enjoy it at home.” [5]
Jones also wrote for The Pittsburgh Courier, a nationally respected black newspaper, and for the The Crisis, the official publication of the NAACP, edited by W.E.B. Du Bois himself, for whom he wrote articles under the title, The Negro Before the Courts. [6]
In March 1920, Jones contributed a rather important article to The Crisis, titled, “The Crisis in Negro Leadership,” in which he discusses the visions of the right (Booker T. Washington), center, and new left or radical wings of that leadership. Building upon his thesis from the 1919 article about black soldiers, Jones dismissed the conservatives as having surrendered to the white South, and eschewed the socialist left out of a fear of alienation from “fair-minded whites” and reprisal by “white workers.” Concluding that the middle ground was the best path forward, Jones wrote:
“The majority of intelligent and active Negroes belong to this [center] class. Its methods call for agitation, education, legislation, and law enforcement. It has a definite program … The Centre has these points in its favor: the spirit of equality running through American legislation; the capacity of the nation to respond to high ideals in national crises; the active support of many high-minded whites in their fight to secure justice for the Negro … It has fought against moving picture plays that fostered race feeling; it has carried on strong propaganda against lynching and mob violence … The two races must find a common ground to work out their differences in a friendly fashion and in mutual good will. Shall they work according to American customs, standards, and traditions? Or shall they follow European State Socialism? To every Negro who prizes his racial inheritance and believes in its possibilities, I suggest in all candor that he think seriously upon which wing he will follow, for upon his choice will hinge the future of his race and, perhaps, the nation’s.” [7]
As President of the Wheeling branch of the NAACP in 1919, Jones praised West Virginia Governor Cornwell for the latter’s stand against a “double lynching” in Huntington and in support of federal the anti-lynching Curtis and Dyer bills, which were never not passed. [8]
Jones served as the West Virginia field supervisor of the “Civilian Defense for Negro Activities, held the federal position of Clerk, Office of Recorders of Deeds, Wheeling, and was a member of both the Wheeling Zoning Commission and the West Virginia Human Rights Commission. [9]
In 1936 he delivered a speech titled “Wheeling’s Twentieth Man,” on WWVA Radio, a very important document about black life in Wheeling in the Jim Crow era.
In 1960, he was appointed Librarian of the Ohio County Law Library, remaining in that position until his retirement in 1971. [10] Jones was not the first black law librarian in Ohio County. That distinction belongs to Elijah J. Graham, Jr., who was named to the position in 1917. [11]
Harry H. Jones died in 1974 at the age of 87 and is buried at Greenwood Cemetery. [12]
A Memorable Physician: J. Katherine Pronty Davis, MD
J. (Julia) Katherine Pronty was born January 25, 1889 in Roanoke Va. [1]
She graduated from Meharry Medical College, one of the nation’s oldest and largest historically black academic health science centers located in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1910. The school was founded in 1876 as Meharry Medical Department of Central Tennessee College. [2]
Pronty sat for her medical exams in Charleston and Morgantown between July and November of 1910, receiving news of passing them in Jan. 1911. [3] Shortly thereafter, she came to Wheeling in 1911 via Brownsville, PA where her family had settled. [4] Upon her arrival in Wheeling, Dr. Pronty was one of four black doctors listed in the City Directory along with Dr. Stillyard (see above), Dr. E. S. Kennedy, and Dr. J. T. Sawyer. [5]
Dr. Pronty kept office in her home at 64-11th Street and frequently saw patients at Ohio Valley General Hospital. [6]
In 1915, the City of Wheeling celebrated a “Health Week,” with City Solicitor, J. Harold Brennan commenting, “No one connected with the city government can fail to take an interest in the health week celebration… and of the different departments of health which will be discussed from the standpoint of the state, county and city by eminent physicians.” Among those physicians was Dr. Pronty, who delivered an address on the “Side Chain Theory of Immunity.” [7]
Dr. Pronty’s sister, Mattie, came to Wheeling in 1918 and taught at Lincoln School. Unfortunately, three years later she passed away on January 25, 1921 at Ohio Valley General Hospital and is buried at Greenwood Cemetery. [8]
Dr. Pronty delivered many babies over her career. In our interview with Everett Lee in October of 2016, Mr. Lee, a noted African American conductor of classical music born in Wheeling, and one-hundred years old at the time, recalled: “A few days ago I remembered the doctor who delivered me and her name was Dr. Katherine Pronty… she’s the one who delivered me.” She delivered him in 1916. Lee’s century old recollection says a lot about the lasting impact of having, not only a female doctor, but a doctor from one’s own community. [9]
In 1913, Dr. Pronty was involved in an incident that further illustrates the inequity and racism of Jim Crow Wheeling. She was assaulted on Market Street by a Caucasian man named George Breiding and another man. Breiding put his hands in her pockets, arms around her, and refused to let go. He was released on his own recognizance by Squire Hobbs. [10] The day after Dr. Pronty filed charges, a police officer came to her office and tried to intimidate her into dropping the charges, claiming the men were incapable of knowing what they were doing because they were drunk and Breiding thought she was another woman. [11] A resolution was placed by Dr. W.P. McGrail before city council for a committee to investigate. It was passed. The jury found Brieding guilty but asked the judge for no jail time. Breiding was fined $10 and released. [12]
Around 1919, Dr. Kathrine Pronty married John H. Davis, a druggist at North Side Pharmacy on Chapline Street. [13] When Wheeling Hall of Famer James S. “Doc” White first came to Wheeling, he started out as an associate of Davis at the North Side Pharmacy, later becoming a partner in 1928. [14] Davis and Doc White were both incorporators of The Advocate newspaper that Harry H. Jones had edited (see above). [15] Between 1925 and 1930, he was arrested several times on the narcotics act violation, with charges in at least one case being dismissed on grounds of speculation. [16] Despite the hits to his reputation, he ran for City Council for the Second Ward seat on the Democratic ticket in 1933 and 1935. [17] And in 1935, when the newly formed Wheeling Civic League had been “organized to promote and advance the civic, economic, political, educational, religious and moral welfare of the Negro in Wheeling,” both Davis and Harry H. Jones (see above) were appointed members of the organization’s Civil Rights committee. [18] A member of the US Marine Corp in WWI, Davis was active in Wheeling’s African-American American Legion Post 89, serving for many years as Adjutant and elected Commander in 1948. [19]
Dr. Pronty Davis was a member of the Ladies Auxiliary of Post 89. She died on September 6, 1949. Mr. Davis continued to live at 64 11th Street until his death in 1965. [20]
They are buried side by side at Stone Church Cemetery. [21]
A Revered Leader: Robert Maceo Hamlin, MD
When interviewed for the 2008 book, The Wheeling Family Vol. 2: More Immigrants, Migrants, and Neighborhoods, Wheeling’s first black nurse and civil rights pioneer, Ann Thomas, recalled life in the segregated black community where she grew up. “We had black physicians,” she remembered. “We had a black dentist. Wade Hamlin, who was a classmate of mine – his father was a dentist and his mother was a physician, M.D., but if any of her patients had to be put in the hospital, she had to get her white colleague to admit them, because she had no hospital privileges.” [1]
Wade Hamlin’s father was Dr. Robert Maceo “R.M.” Hamlin, who was born in Charleston, West Virginia in 1898, and graduated West Virginia State College, earning his dentistry degree from Howard University. [2]
Dr. Hamlin settled in his hometown and started practicing Dentistry in 1924. [3]
He became active in politics, and was elected President of Negro Republican Club of Ohio County. [4] In an August 1944 article in the Intelligencer, Dr. Hamlin stated: “The Negro doesn’t want to be a Democrat. The very name ‘Democrat’ is distasteful to him because of the harsh treatment by the Democratic South. It wouldn’t take a lot to make him a loyal Republican, but he must have something more than a pat on the back and a drink of liquor just before election day.” [5]
In the same piece, Dr. Hamlin pushed for better housing; better training for industrial jobs; and lamented the fact that there were no entertainment or recreational facilities for African Americans, while “white foreigners” (by which he meant immigrants) were treated much better. [6]
Dr. Hamlin married Alga Myrtle Wade (see below) in 1937. [7]
He ran unsuccessfully for Wheeling City Council in 1943. [8]
A WWII veteran, Dr. Hamlin was elected Commander of American Legion Post 89. [9] In 1949, local veterans, both white and black, petitioned city council to name a segregated swimming pool for black residents — that apparently was never built — in his honor, calling him “a revered leader in civic, veteran, and other bodies.” [10]
Dr. Hamlin died on April 15, 1953 and is buried alongside his wife Alga at Mt Rose Cemetery in Moundsville. [11]
A Prominent Woman’s Specialist: Alga Myrtle Wade Hamlin, MD
Alga Myrtle Wade was born in Moundsville, West Virginia in 1900. [1]
Like J. Katherine Pronty (see above) before her, she graduated (in 1931) from Meharry Medical College, one of the nation’s oldest and largest historically black academic health science centers located in Nashville, Tennessee. [2]
After Interning at Lincoln Hospital in Durham, North Carolina [3], Dr. Wade moved to Wheeling and married Robert M. Hamlin (see above) in 1937. [4]
Dr. Alga Wade Hamlin was known as a “prominent woman specialist” and conducted clinics on the health of babies, children, and women throughout the Ohio Valley. [5] In 1937, she gave an address with her husband for “National Negro Health Week,” an event sponsored by the segregated Blue Triangle Branch of the YWCA in recognition of an observance created by Booker T. Washington. [6]
She died in 1983 and is buried next to her husband in Mt Rose Cemetery in Moundsville. [7]
End Notes
Jackson
[1] “Captain Ashby Jackson, Former City Fireman, Dies at Island Residence,” Wheeling Intelligencer, Tuesday, December 9th, 1941, p. 4.
[2] Wheeling Intelligencer, Wednesday, November 9th, 1904, p. 10.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Wheeling Intelligencer, Wednesday, June 23rd, 1915, p. 8.
[6] Miller, T.C. West Virginia and its People, Volume 1. 1913, pp. 493-495.
[7] The Crisis, October 1917, p. 300.
[8] Plummer, R. and Handlan, W. A History of Fire Fighting in Wheeling. 1925, p. 83. Special Collections, Ohio County Public Library Archives.
[9] Wheeling Intelligencer, Tuesday, December 9th, 1941, p. 4.
[10] “Robert Clark, Bond Jumper, Captured After 6 Year Hunt,” Wheeling Intelligencer, Monday, October 7th, 1929, p. 10.
[11] “Fireman Arrests and Brings Alleged Murderers to Wheeling,” Wheeling Intelligencer, Friday, January 4th, 1918, p. 8.
[12] Wheeling Intelligencer, Tuesday, April 19th, 1938, p. 11.
[13] “U.S. Judge Defers Lias’ Sentence After Guilty Plea to 1 Fraud Count,” Wheeling Intelligencer, Wednesday, November 10th, 1948, p. 1.
[14] Wheeling Intelligencer, Tuesday, December 9th, 1941, p. 4.
[15] Ibid.
Jones
[1] Wheeling Intelligencer, Thursday, November 21st, 1974, p. 20.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Pittsburgh Courier, Sept. 15, 1923, p. 13.
[4] See for example: Bryan, J. “Fighting for Respect: African-American Soldiers in WWI.” armyhistory.org. Accessed Feb. 20, 2121. See also: Barbeau, A. The Unknown Soldiers: African-American Troops in WWI. 1996.
[5] The Crisis. Vol. 18. 1919. p. 304.
[6] The Crisis. Vol. 4. 1933. p. 173.
[7] The Crisis. Vol. 19. 1920. p. 256.
[8] Wheeling Intelligencer, Thursday, Dec. 18, 1919. p. 2.
[9] Wheeling Intelligencer, Thursday, November 21st, 1974, p. 20.
[10] Wheeling Intelligencer, Saturday, July 23rd, 19. p. 3.
[11] The Crisis. April 1917. p. 300.
[12] Wheeling Intelligencer, Thursday, November 21st, 1974, p. 20.
Davis
[1] West Virginia, U.S., Deaths Index, 1853-1973. See Findagrave.com entry.
[2] The Nashville Globe, April 15, 1910. p. 1.; See also: graduation program and class photo, class of 1910. Meharry Medical Library and Archives.
[3] “Medical Board Now In Session.” Bluefield Evening Leader, July 13, 1910. p. 1; “Woman Is Succesful.” Uniontown Morning Herald, January 11, 1911. p. 1.
[4] Wheeling Intelligencer, Wednesday, September 7th, 1949. p. 4.
[5] Callin’s Wheeling City Directory, 1915. OCPL Archives.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Wheeling Intelligencer, Monday, March 22nd, 1915. p. 14.
[8] Wheeling Intelligencer, Wednesday, January 26th, 1921. p. 13.
[9] Rothenbuehler, E. “Wheeling-born Maestro Celebrates 100th Birthday.” ArchivingWheeling.org. Accessed Feb. 20, 2021.
[10] Wheeling Intelligencer, Friday, November 21st, 1913. p. 8.
[11] Wheeling Intelligencer, Wednesday, December 10th, 1913. p. 6.
[12] Wheeling Intelligencer, Thursday, December 4th, 1913. p. 8.
[13] Wheeling intelligencer, December 23, 1919. p. 16.
[14] “James ‘Doc’ White,” Wheeling Hall of Fame. ohiocountylibrary.org. Accessed Feb. 21, 2021.
[15] Wheeling Intelligencer, Monday, July 9th, 1923. p. 4.
[16] Wheeling Intelligencer, Wednesday, October 22nd, 1930. p. 2.
[17] Wheeling Intelligencer, Saturday, May 6th, 1933. p. 7.; and Wheeling Intelligencer, Tuesday, April 9th, 1935. p. 11.
[18] Wheeling Intelligencer, Wednesday, November 27th, 1935. p. 4.
[19] Wheeling Intelligencer, Friday, June 25th, 1948. p. 3.
[20] Wheeling Intelligencer, Wednesday, September 7th, 1949. p. 4.
[21] Ibid.
R. M. Hamlin
[1] Duffy, S. The Wheeling Family, Volume 2: More Immigrants, Migrants, and Neighborhoods. Creative Impressions. 2012. p. 28.
[2] Wheeling Intelligencer, Thursday, April 16th, 1953. p. 27.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Wheeling Intelligencer, Tuesday, April 16th, 1940. p. 9.
[5] “Dr. Hamlin Says Negroes Prefer Republican Party.” Wheeling Intelligencer, Saturday, August 26th, 1944. p. 3.
[6] Ibid.
[7] West Virginia Marriages Index, 1853-1973. Ancestry.com. Accessed Feb. 21, 2021.
[8] Wheeling Intelligencer, Monday, May 31st, 1943. p. 4.
[9] Wheeling Intelligencer, Monday, January 24th, 1938. p. 2.
[10] Wheeling Intelligencer, Wednesday, November 23rd, 1949. p. 1.
[11] Wheeling Intelligencer, Thursday, April 16th, 1953. p. 27.
A. M. Wade Hamlin
[1] “Dr. Alga Myrtle Wade Hamlin.” Findagrave.com. Accessed Feb. 21, 2021.
[2] Graduation program and class photo, class of 1931. Meharry Medical Library and Archives.
[3] Pollitt, P.A. African American Hospitals in North Carolina: 39 Institutional Histories, 1880-1967. McFarland. 2017. p. 74.
[4] West Virginia Marriages Index, 1853-1973. Ancestry.com. Accessed Feb. 21, 2021.
[5] Wheeling Intelligencer, Friday, April 5, 1935. p. 10.; and Wheeling Intelligencer, Wednesday April 4, 1938. p. 13.
[6] Wheeling Intelligencer, Thursday, April 8th, 1937. p. 2.
[7] “Dr. Alga Myrtle Wade Hamlin.” Findagrave.com. Accessed Feb. 21, 2021.
Harry H Jones was my grandfather. It was refreshing to read this article.
It is gratifying and a pleasant surprise to see your comment about your grandfather, Harry H. Jones, a truly great man. We would love to speak with you and perhaps other family members to see if we can get more biographical info about Mr. Jones. Please get in touch with me if this is a possibility. lunchwithbooks@yahoo.com. Best, Sean
The speech is now at the center of a new exhibit at the Library. More here: https://www.ohiocountylibrary.org/history/what-is-the-civic-empathy-through-history-project/7663