Page 132 - Jefferson County AR 1889 History (Goodspeed)

*b- HISTORY O F ARKANSAS.

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later to New York, going thence to Windsor, Can- 1866, in Troup County, Ga., of course as a slave

ada. He there negotiated with his master for his boy, his mother, Cynthia Middlebrooka, being the

freedom, after which he returned to the States, slave of Mrs. Mahala Middlebrooks; his fatherwas

engaging as steward on board of a Mississippi a white man by the name of Isaac Totom, who

steamer during the summer, and at blacksmithing came south and engaged in the cotton business,

during the winter, which trade he had learned. or as a cotton factor at Griffin, Ga. He died when his

a t anything he could get to do. I n the meantime son Aaron was only three weeks old. At the

be had, together with his mother and sister, saved emancipation 1\11the slaves on tbe old county farm,

enough to purchase their freedom, and then moved where Mr. Middlebrooks lived, had to sign a con-

to St. Louis with them. Iu 1856 he was engaged trnct and remain on the farm wit,h the old nlave-

as a servant by a Mr. Valley, of St. Louis, who owners until the following Christmas, in 1866;

was going to Eumpe, traveling with him throngh wheu they were d l called to make the cross mark

Norway, Denmark, Sweden. England, France and none were able to do so but the subject of this

Italy. After his return to America he located in skehh, who stepped up to the desk and readily

1856 in Quincy, Ill., and laterworked for a farmer a e i d the pen and made his own mark. Upon

in Lewis County, Mo., for several years. Mr. this manifestation to wield the pen, his master told

Laporte was married during Fremont's campaign him he could soon learn to read and to write, and

in 1856, in Quincy, Ill., to Miss Clara Howard, keenly realizing the thought he seized his oppor.

daughter of J . B. Howard. They were the par- tunity and got hold of a Webster spelling book.

ents of two children: Emmitte (a resident of Ed- I n less than six months he had mastered that little

wardsville, Ill.) and William (who died a t the age but oldvolume, one which has contributed to make

of twenty-four). During the war he was a t Gales- more men and women intellectual athletes than

burg, Ill., until he joined the Fifty-fourth MBssa- any other b w k ever written by an American

chusetts Infantry, and went with them to Buford, authbr. I n 186649 Mr. Middlebrooks remained

8. C. He was in the battles of Fort Wagons and on the farm and studied hard by the aid of pine

Stony Hill. At the close of the war he returned knot light. He attended night school and recited

to Galeeburg, Ill., and in 1865 left for Memphis, his lessons in orthography, grammar, geography,

Tenn., where he was engaged as a plasterer, corn. reading and history, with other studies, to Mrs.

ing thence to Little Rock in 1810, where he con- Luoy Davenport. the wife of a Southern planter.

tinned in the plasterer's bminess. He came here Having shown his earnestness by his studious and

without a dollar, but by hard work and close econ- energetic habits, and indicqtiug tbat he w s g~reatly

omy, assisted by his worthy companion, has saved imbued with the idea of education, the planter's

a sum aggregating $20,000, and now owns nine wife persuaded the boy toleave the farm and enter

houses in this city. Mr. Laporte married his seo- the sohool, which advice he heeded and attended

ond and present wife in 1871, Miss Margie Robin- the grammar school under an eminent Southern

son, who was born in Mississippi in 1847, the slave tutor. From here he became a student at the

of Dr. William Ellis. They have one son who lives Atlanta University, at Atlanta, Ga., where he re-

in St. Louis and is engaged in aflonring-mill. Mr. mained for a number of years, gaining the love

and Mrs. Laporta took a trip tbrough Canada in and sincere respect of both pupils and teacher.

the summer of 1889, stopping a t Windsor, where When he entered the college at Atlanta, he was

Mr. Lapvrte, so many years before had obtained poor and penniless, but his energy, his "pluck,"

his freedom. his bright recitations, his studious habits and his

A. M. Middlebrooks, a resident of Jefferson manly conduct, soon brought him financial assist-

County, and worthily identified with Arkansas' in- ance from both North and South. One among hi8
terests as a citizen only less than in an official "hobbies" is that the negro can never he a race,
capacity, hst saw the light of day, February 19, if if, depends upon other races for succor, but it

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