Thomas Morris Chester (1834 - 1892)

Born 11 May 1834 in Harrisburg, Dauphin, Pennsylvania, United States

Husband of Florence Evelyn (Johnson) Chester — married 29 Aug 1879 in Orleans, Louisiana, United States

Descendants

Died 30 Sep 1892 at age 58 in Harrisburg, Dauphin, Pennsylvania, United States

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Biography

Thomas Chester is Notable.

Thomas Morris Chester was an American educator and lawyer, and a militia captain for the Union Army in 1863. He was also the only Black war correspondent for a major newspaper during the Civil War.^[1][2]

T. Morris Chester was born in 1834 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the fourth child of George Chester (abt.1785-abt.1859) and Jane (Morris) Chester (1803-1894). The 1850 U.S. Census of "Free inhabitants" shows him at age 16 in the home of his parents in the East Ward of Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.^[3] He attended The Allegheny Institute, later known as Avery College in Allegheny City, (now part of Pittsburgh) Pennsylvania,^[4] completing his secondary education in Liberia at Alexander High School in the city of Monrovia. He returned to the United States in September 1854 and entered the junior class of Thetford Academy in Vermont, graduating in 1856. He then returned to Liberia to teach freed and free-born expatriate Black Americans and Afro-Caribbeans.^[4]

He returned to the United States, arriving in Baltimore in 1858. The passenger arrival record shows his occupation as "school teacher,"^[5] but by 31 December 1859, his occupation was "editor."^[6] The 1860 U.S. Census shows him at age 30 in the home of his mother, with a brother and a sister, in Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.^[7]

At the start of the Civil War, he returned to the United States by way of England. He assisted in the enlistment of colored soldiers in the 54th and 55th Massachusetts regiments. In the last years of the Civil War, he was known as the first African-American war correspondent for The Philadelphia Press, which was a major daily newspaper at that time.^[8]

After the war, he traveled extensively in Europe, and studied law at The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple in London, and was called to the Bar on 30 Apr 1870.^[9] According to the Middle Temple he was the first African American to practice at the English Bar.^[9]

The 1870 U.S. Census,^[10] enumerated on 26 Jul 1870, shows him at age 36 in the home of his mother in Ward 3 of Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. His occupation is "Barrister."

He returned to the U.S. in 1871 and settled in Louisiana, where he practiced law and where he was the brigadier-general of the militia and the superintendent of schools in 1875.^[8]

He married Florence Evelyn Johnson on 1 Sep 1879 in Orleans Parish, Louisiana.^[11] They had three children. Two are known:

1. Thomas Morris Chester (1878-bef.1910)
2. Morris B. Chester (1880-1949)

Thomas Morris Chester has not yet been found on an 1880 Census. His wife and son are listed at his mother's house in Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.^[12] He may have been traveling overseas. However, he is listed in the 1880 New Orleans city directory as a U.S. Commissioner.^[13]

He died in 1892, and is buried at the Lincoln Cemetery in Penbrook, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.^[14]

Statue of T. Morris Chester

Legacy

There is a memorial on the grounds of the Capitol building in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania that consists of a pedestal inscribed with "one hundred names of change agents who pursued the power of suffrage and citizenship between 1870 and 1920." ^[15] Around the pedestal, there are statues of four great abolitionist orators. Thomas Morris Chester is one of these four.^[16] See the 100 Voices Project.

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Thomas Morris Chester WikiPedia.
2. ↑ Jean Huets, "A Black Correspondent at the Front," The New York Times, February 8, 2015.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4H4-1TR : 22 December 2020), Thomas Chester in household of George Chester, Harrisburg, Dauphin, Pennsylvania, United States; citing family , NARA microfilm publication (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} William J. Simmons and Henry McNeal Turner, Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising, (GM Rewell & Company, 1887) pp. 113–117, 671-676.
5. ↑ "United States Index to Passenger Arrivals, Atlantic and Gulf Ports, 1820-1874," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KD5D-1N5 : 19 February 2021), Thomas M Chester, 1858; citing Immigration, NARA microfilm publication M334 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 418,187.
6. ↑ "Maryland, Baltimore Passenger Lists, 1820-1948," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK6L-TFK1 : 19 February 2021), Thomas M Chester, 1859; citing Immigration, Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, NARA microfilm publications M255, M596, and T844 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL film 1,376,181.
7. ↑ "United States Census, 1860," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9BSX-C5D?cc=1473181&wc=7QTM-933%3A1589434177%2C1589434607%2C1589434893 : 24 March 2017), Pennsylvania > Dauphin > 2nd Ward Harrisburg > image 47 of 67; from "1860 U.S. Federal Census - Population," database, Fold3.com (http://www.fold3.com : n.d.); citing NARA microfilm publication M653 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.) Thomas Chester in entry for [illegible] Chester.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} WikiPedia: Thomas Morris Chester
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} https://www.middletemple.org.uk/archive/history/notable-middle-templars?category_1=All&date_of_joining_3=4
10. ↑ "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZGN-BK7 : 29 May 2021), Thomas Chester in entry for Jane Chester, 1870.
11. ↑ "Louisiana Parish Marriages, 1837-1957," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKJW-24JS : 17 February 2021), Thomas Morris Chester and Florence E Johnson, 01 Sep 1879; citing Orleans, Louisiana, United States, various parish courthouses, Louisiana; FHL microfilm 907,694.
12. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWF9-VVR : 20 February 2021), Florence Chester in household of Jane M Chester, Harrisburg, Dauphin, Pennsylvania, United States; citing enumeration district ED 85, sheet 167D, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm 1,255,123.
13. ↑ "United States City and Business Directories, ca. 1749 - ca. 1990", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZCP-GPHY : 13 April 2021), T Morris Chester, 1880.
14. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #104758885, page for Thomas Morris Chester (11 May 1834–30 Sep 1892), citing Lincoln Cemetery, Penbrook, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, USA; accessed 2 August 2021; Maintained by Find A Grave.
15. ↑ https://digitalharrisburg.com/commonwealth/100names/
16. ↑ https://digitalharrisburg.com/commonwealth/

• Civil War Draft Registration for Thomas M. Chester, 8 Jul 1863, found on Ancestry.com Ancestry Sharing Link

See also:

• WikiTree: 100 Voices Project.

• Avery College Historical Marker, found on ExplorePAhistory.com

• Blackett, R. J. M., ed. (1989). Thomas Morris Chester, Black Civil War Correspondent: His Dispatches from the Virginia Front. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 9780306804533.

• https://www.pacivilwartrails.com/stories/tales/thomas-morris-chester

• Wikidata: Item Q22017415, en:Wikipedia

• Elizabeth R. Varon, Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South, First edition. (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2023), 441.

Photo of statue of T. Morris Chester, courtesy of the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission