"Reg Pitts"
2008-02-12 18:39:36 UTC
PING PERFESSOR BILL
Being that it is February and Black History Month, it is time for the
Ragtime Genealogist to once more strut his stuff--a little music,
please...
Lucian Porter Gibson of St Louis, the author of "Jinx Rag" (1911) and
"Cactus Rag" (1915), has been largely lost to history, so to
supplement Bill Edwards's biographical study of Gibson at his
wonderful site ( http://www.perfessorbill.com/ragtime4_alt.shtml ),
herewith some updated information that I do hope he will use!
I started looking for information about Lucian's mother, Nellie
(Porter) Gibson Agee (1862-1944). She was a pioneer school teacher in
St. Louis, having been employed in the segregated school system for
well over a half century. She was also involved in a number of
charitable activities and was one of the first social workers in the
black community. Here's a picture of her in a group of her fellow
social workers around 1920 (she's third from the left in the back)
http://contentdm.mohistory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/MHS-PP&CISOPTR=586&CISOBOX=1&REC=15
Nellie was teaching school soon after she graduated from college--here
is a picture showing her as part of the staff of Charles Sumner High
School in St. Louis when she was only twenty--she's seated at the far
right--and you'll also note the short gentleman with the sloping
shoulders third from the left in the rear--the one that looks like a
cross between Sammy Davis Jr. and Don Cheadle--he is William Henry
Gibson, born Kentucky around 1854, according to the 1880 Census, who
taught in the school system for some time, and I would guess was
probably Lucian's father
http://books.google.com/books?id=u3hiBmjR98oC&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19&dq=%22nellie+agee%22&source=web&ots=6ZluNe8330&sig=BOAkgK7wpeiAcbmYLsDQb7Hs7IU
I don't know what happened to Mr. Gibson--he looks tubercular and he
may not have long survived the birth of his son--but Nellie married a
barber and real estate agent named John A. Agee (d. Dec. 15, 1912,
aged 61) in 1908; they both appear to have owned a number of
properties in the city--the 1910 Census showing Lucian and his wife
Sadie also shows John and Nellie--they were living in the same house
(4203 West Finney), but in separate apartments.
BTW, Sadie was born Sarah B. Dunbar in October 1888 somewhere in
California, the only daughter of Henry and Annie E. Dunbar; all three
are in St Louis by the 1900 Census--Henry was a janitor in an office
building, a job he held for at least thirty years.
Lucian and Sadie divorced sometime before 1920 and by that census she
remarried--to a fellow named William H. Barrett--the census has her
back home with mom and dad Dunbar, along with the son she had with
Lucian--Dunbar Porter Gibson, or "Gipson" as the census return has it;
born (according to Social Security records) April 22, 1911; he died in
Detroit July 29, 1989. His wife, Lina (Sparks) Gibson, according to
available information, just died in April of '06 in Detroit, but there
are children, at least three daughters and a son--more information
when I get it
Nellie Agee and her parents bought a large cemetery plot in St.
Peter's Cemetery in St Louis--and here they all lie--Nellie, her
parents James and Lucy Porter, her maternal grandmother Jennie
Anderson, a couple of other folks that I don't know anything about and
her son and someone who I assume to have been his last wife--
interestingly enough, Lucian Porter Gibson is buried in the same
cemetery that holds Tom Turpin and John Stark!
http://www.stpeterschurch.org/cemetery/cemetery_SearchResults.php?S=2&L=92.00&LO=1
According to the website, he died twenty days past his sixty-ninth
birthday, although the cemetery records say that he was sixty-seven.
That's pretty much it; I don't know much else about it all--maybe his
grandchildren may have some information. Hopefully.
So for now, I think that should hold us--a little travelling
music--"Cactus Rag" would be nice-- as we close, ladies and germs, as
I remain
very truly yours,
Reg Pitts
The Ragtime Genealogist
(cites supplied upon request, as always)
Being that it is February and Black History Month, it is time for the
Ragtime Genealogist to once more strut his stuff--a little music,
please...
Lucian Porter Gibson of St Louis, the author of "Jinx Rag" (1911) and
"Cactus Rag" (1915), has been largely lost to history, so to
supplement Bill Edwards's biographical study of Gibson at his
wonderful site ( http://www.perfessorbill.com/ragtime4_alt.shtml ),
herewith some updated information that I do hope he will use!
I started looking for information about Lucian's mother, Nellie
(Porter) Gibson Agee (1862-1944). She was a pioneer school teacher in
St. Louis, having been employed in the segregated school system for
well over a half century. She was also involved in a number of
charitable activities and was one of the first social workers in the
black community. Here's a picture of her in a group of her fellow
social workers around 1920 (she's third from the left in the back)
http://contentdm.mohistory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/MHS-PP&CISOPTR=586&CISOBOX=1&REC=15
Nellie was teaching school soon after she graduated from college--here
is a picture showing her as part of the staff of Charles Sumner High
School in St. Louis when she was only twenty--she's seated at the far
right--and you'll also note the short gentleman with the sloping
shoulders third from the left in the rear--the one that looks like a
cross between Sammy Davis Jr. and Don Cheadle--he is William Henry
Gibson, born Kentucky around 1854, according to the 1880 Census, who
taught in the school system for some time, and I would guess was
probably Lucian's father
http://books.google.com/books?id=u3hiBmjR98oC&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19&dq=%22nellie+agee%22&source=web&ots=6ZluNe8330&sig=BOAkgK7wpeiAcbmYLsDQb7Hs7IU
I don't know what happened to Mr. Gibson--he looks tubercular and he
may not have long survived the birth of his son--but Nellie married a
barber and real estate agent named John A. Agee (d. Dec. 15, 1912,
aged 61) in 1908; they both appear to have owned a number of
properties in the city--the 1910 Census showing Lucian and his wife
Sadie also shows John and Nellie--they were living in the same house
(4203 West Finney), but in separate apartments.
BTW, Sadie was born Sarah B. Dunbar in October 1888 somewhere in
California, the only daughter of Henry and Annie E. Dunbar; all three
are in St Louis by the 1900 Census--Henry was a janitor in an office
building, a job he held for at least thirty years.
Lucian and Sadie divorced sometime before 1920 and by that census she
remarried--to a fellow named William H. Barrett--the census has her
back home with mom and dad Dunbar, along with the son she had with
Lucian--Dunbar Porter Gibson, or "Gipson" as the census return has it;
born (according to Social Security records) April 22, 1911; he died in
Detroit July 29, 1989. His wife, Lina (Sparks) Gibson, according to
available information, just died in April of '06 in Detroit, but there
are children, at least three daughters and a son--more information
when I get it
Nellie Agee and her parents bought a large cemetery plot in St.
Peter's Cemetery in St Louis--and here they all lie--Nellie, her
parents James and Lucy Porter, her maternal grandmother Jennie
Anderson, a couple of other folks that I don't know anything about and
her son and someone who I assume to have been his last wife--
interestingly enough, Lucian Porter Gibson is buried in the same
cemetery that holds Tom Turpin and John Stark!
http://www.stpeterschurch.org/cemetery/cemetery_SearchResults.php?S=2&L=92.00&LO=1
According to the website, he died twenty days past his sixty-ninth
birthday, although the cemetery records say that he was sixty-seven.
That's pretty much it; I don't know much else about it all--maybe his
grandchildren may have some information. Hopefully.
So for now, I think that should hold us--a little travelling
music--"Cactus Rag" would be nice-- as we close, ladies and germs, as
I remain
very truly yours,
Reg Pitts
The Ragtime Genealogist
(cites supplied upon request, as always)