On the eve of Juneteenth
Newly uncovered information about the Hinton family
Juneteenth marks the day federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people were freed. The troops’ arrival came a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth honors the end to slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday. On June 17, 2021, it officially became a federal holiday.1
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Some of the most well-read stories on History Buzz are about the Hinton family of Andover. Today, I’ll share the first of two new pieces of information about the family, uncovered over the past few months.
First, some background…
Allen Hinton, born into slavery in North Carolina, came to Andover, married Mary Jane Johnson, and became a highly successful business entrepreneur. Hinton’s Ice Cream and catering was a fixture in town from 1874 to 1930. You can read more about Allen and Mary here.
After graduating from Punchard High School in 1889, Allen and Mary’s daughter Alice Hinton went on to the New England Conservatory of Music. She become an entrepreneur herself and was the owner operator of Hinton’s Lunch Box. You can read more about Alice here.
I have two new stories that shed more light on the Hinton family. One new Hinton family story came from going down a deep research rabbit hole. The other was a bit of serendipity. Today I’ll start with the serendipity…a lost book found. Tomorrow, on Juneteenth, I’ll share the research rabbit hole.
A lost book…found
In 1938, Alice Hinton donated a number of family items to the History Center. Among them were the family photographs we’ve shared in this and previous posts. Over the years, Alice also donated her Punchard High School diploma and the letter she received from former Confederate General William Ruffin Cox, the last person to enslave her father, whom she had invited to attend her high school graduation.
The History Center tracks the 50,000 items in the collection in our PastPerfect database. Every object, photograph, and document that comes into the collection is assigned a number. You’ll see those numbers in the photo captions. Alice’s donation of 8 items was the 15th donation in 1938. Each item has a unique number: 1938.15.1 through 1938.15.8.
A typical accession record looks like this. In the database, researchers can click on any item and a full record with location opens up. If we don’t have a number and a location, we don’t know an item exists.
While researching the Hinton family, I opened the family’s general research file. I’d been through the file before, but this time one piece of paper caught my eye. It mentioned a book that was given to Allen Hinton on his wedding day and gave the author’s name. That was news to me!
A book belonging to Allen Hinton was nowhere to be found in the database.
Searching for the author’s name, however, I found a few possibilities in our library and archives collections. Finally, after some searching, tucked between two larger books on a high shelf, I pulled out a small book,
And turned the page to read this,
On the right is Allen and Mary’s wedding certification,
This will certify that Allen Hinton & Mary Jane Johnson were united in marriage in Andover, Mass, on the evening of Jan. 26th 1867 by me.
Charles Smith
Pastor of the South Church
On the left Alice recorded a short family history that included Allen’s birthplace and how and when he arrived in Andover, and her mother’s birthplace, Elizabeth, New Jersey.
What a treasure!
The book was accidentally left off the original accession record (list of items that come in together), so the information wasn’t transferred into the database. It was re-discovered because of a piece of paper tucked into a research file. The book is now fully recorded in the database and available for researchers.
Tomorrow, to honor Juneteenth, I’ll share the second of the new Hinton family stories.
Would you like a closer look at the Hinton family’s story? You can join a virtual Close Encounter with the family’s story and artifacts Thursday, June 24th, at 7:00pm ET. Click here for more information and registration.
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Elaine
https://www.history.com/news/what-is-juneteenth
Wow. -fascinating! What a find...