From Slave to State Legislator: John W. E. Thomas, Illinois' First African American Lawmaker

Notes

213 Notes Introduction: “A Representative of Its Colored Citizens” 1. Springfield State Journal, January 4, 1877, 4. 2. Illinois General Assembly, Journal of the House: 30th General Assembly, 11. 3. Ibid. 4. Keiser, Building for the Centuries, 180–214, 336–43. 5. Walch, “Construction of the Capitol of Illinois,” 11–13. 6. For a full discussion on Chicago’s African American community and its fight for political, social, and economic equality in post–Civil War society, see Drake and Cayton, Black Metropolis. 7. Branham, “Black Chicago,” 363. 8. Drake and Cayton, Black Metropolis, 45. 9. Kogan, First Century, 202–4. 10. Ibid., 201. 11. Reed, Black Chicago’s First Century, 264, 267–84, 382–90; Gatewood, Aristocrats of Color, 121–27; Drake, Churches and Voluntary Associations, 10. 12. 1873 Articles of Incorporation, Cook County Building Loan and Homestead Association, Record Series 103.112, Dissolved Domestic Corporation Charters (1849– 1979), Illinois State Archives. 13. Drake and Cayton, Black Metropolis, 46–56. Twelfth Census of the United States (1900), Chicago, Ward 4, Vol. 17, E.D. 83. Sheet 2, Line 1. 14. See, for example, Gosnell, Negro Politicians; Drake and Cayton, Black Metropolis ; Spear, Black Chicago. 15. Biographies do exist for Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, Dr. Charles Edwin Bentley, and socialite Fannie Barrier Williams. There are also biographies and an autobiography of black activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett, although her career began in the South and she did not arrive in Chicago to stay until 1895. There are no published biographies of Chicago African American politicians of the era, although there have been unpublished biographies and short articles on John Jones (1818–79), widely considered to be Chicago’s first African American political leader. 16. Spear, Black Chicago, x.; Reed, Black Chicago’s First Century, 479; Katznelson, Black Men, White Cities, 86. 17. L. Grossman, Democratic Party and the Negro, xi. See Thornbrough, Negro in Indiana, for a comparison of the African American experience in a state similar to Illinois. NOTES TO pAGES 6–8 214 1. “Let Us Come Out Like Men”: The Historic Election of 1876 1. Various sources place his birth anywhere from 1842 to 1849. The 1877 Illinois Legislative Manual, a privately published book, lists his birth date as 1842, but obituaries in both the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Inter-Ocean list it as 1847. Thomas’s death certificate places his age at time of death on December 18, 1899, at 54, which would place his birth in 1845. The 1880 census places his age at 35, which also would make his year of birth 1845. However, the census record for 1870 places his age at 27, meaning he would have been born in 1843. There are no records for the 1890 census. Thomas’s 1887 marriage certificate from his third marriage lists his age as 38, meaning he would have been born in 1849. 2. Phillips, Biographies of State Officers, 229. 3. Death Certificates of Edinboro Thomas, April 16, 1881, and Martha Thomas, March 10, 1881, Cook County Clerk’s Office; Probate Records for Edinboro Thomas, General Number 4–1563, filed April 1881, Cook County Circuit Clerk’s Office; Bailey, Chicago City Directory, 1865–1866, Halpin, Directory, 1867–1868, Edwards, Annual Directory for the years 1868, 1870, 1871. John W. E. Thomas’s entry in the 1883 United States Biographical Dictionary lists Edinburgh Thomas’s birthplace as North Carolina . 4. Chicago Tribune, October 16, 1876, 2. According to the Cook County records, Edinboro Thomas purchased the lot on December 18, 1865 for $1,250; see Cook County Recorder of Deeds, bk. 468, pp. 44–45, School Section Add’n. Sec. 16.39.14, block 127, lot 41). 5. City of Chicago Permit Reports, Book A (February 21, 1872–July 20, 1875), p. 68, line 2489. 6. Chicago Tribune, October 16, 1876, 2 and December 19, 1899; 7; Chicago InterOcean , December 19, 1899, 7. 7. Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Mobile, Ala., Ward 3, Roll M653-17, p. 305. Ibid., slave schedule, p. 42. Some in the Thomas family believe Dr. McCleskey may have been John W. E. Thomas’s natural father, due to Thomas’s light complexion and Dr. McCleskey’s interest in his advancement. Author’s interview with Jackie Rhodes, great-granddaughter of John W. E. Thomas. July 14, 2006. 8. Chicago Tribune, October 16, 1876, 2. 9. Author’s interview with Jackie Rhodes, July 14, 2006; Chicago Tribune, December 19, 1899, 7; Ninth Census of the United States (1870), Chicago, Ill., Ward...