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Archiver > PABRADFO > 1999-07 > 0930972423


From: "Roland Elliott" <>
Subject: Re: [PABRADFO-L] John R Jeter
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 1999 20:27:03 -0700


A library passed on.R
----- Original Message -----
From: George & Cynthia Geder <>
To: <>
Sent: Friday, July 02, 1999 20 21
Subject: [PABRADFO-L] John R Jeter

> Much of my family history lies in Towanda, PA.
> I'm interested in the stories. Can anyone help?
> A big question: why Towanda?
> Thanks in advance; and thanks to BCHS for unearthing the newspaper
accounts.
>
> Bradford Republic; March 21, 1893
> -Death of a Venerable Colored man.
> Some twenty-five or thirty years ago, soon after the proclamation of
> emancipation was issued by Abraham Lincoln, there came to Towanda, we
think
> from Virginia, John R. Jeeder, a colored man, formerly a plantation slave.
> He was a tall, boney man of powerful physique, with the habits, manners
and
> dialect of a regular plantation negro. He was a good humored, inoffensive
> man, inclined to garrulity in describing his experience of a life of
nearly
> seventy years as a slave before coming to this place. His principal
> employment here was doing chores about town, and occasionally he was
> utilized in standing at the door of auction rooms and crying in a
stentorian
> voice "Auction! Auction! Auction here genmun and ladies, walk right in.
> Auction! Auction!" John R. Jeeder soon became noted and known to every
one,
> and the good will of every body, children as well as adults, was extended
to
> him. This aged man for the past two or three years, enfeebled by age, has
> been unable to support himself, has been supported by charity contributed
by
> his colored friends to some extent and also by the Ladies Aid Society and
> citizens of the borough. On Saturday evening last at about 6 o'clock, the
> subject of this sketch died at the residence of John Street, on Lombard
> Street, at the age, as given by himself, of 99 years. Funeral services
were
> observed from the M.E. Zion church, on state street, at 2 o'clock
yesterday
> afternoon. Thus passes from our midst a long time conspicuous character on
> the streets of Towanda.
>
>
>
> ==== PABRADFO Mailing List ====
> Any family tree produces lemons, nuts, and a few bad apples.
>
>

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