Jester Joseph Hairston (1901 - 2000)

Born 9 Jul 1901 in Belews Creek, Forsyth, North Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Died 18 Jan 2000 at age 98 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States

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Biography

Jester Hairston is Notable.

Jester Hairston was an American composer, songwriter, arranger, choral conductor, and actor. He was an expert on Negro spirituals.^[1]

Jester Hairston was born in Belews Creek, North Carolina. He was the son of Lewis Hairston and Nannie Raimey.^[2]

Jester was an actor, an educator, a researcher and a family man. He held degrees from several universities and yet found time to mentor young musicians. He also appeared in many films which have become classics, and promoted early Blues songs which otherwise might now be forgotten. He was a composer as well. Jester worked tirelessly to identify members of his far-flung family and establish their genealogical ties without regard to their identified race. In this regard, he pioneered the concept of "one family tree.' His grandparents were slaves.

Jester Hairston died just before his 100th birthday, a life well lived.^[3][4] He is interred in Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, Los Angeles.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jester_Hairston
2. ↑ "North Carolina Birth Index, 1800-2000," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VC7P-3PX : 8 December 2014), Jester Joseph Hairston, 09 Jul 1901; from "North Carolina, Birth and Death Indexes, 1800-2000," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2005); citing vol. 2, p. 352, Surry, North Carolina, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh
3. ↑ "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J5X9-M5M : 20 May 2014), Jester J Hairston, 18 Jan 2000; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
4. ↑ "United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVTS-7N5N : 20 July 2016), Jester Hairston, , ; from "Recent Newspaper Obituaries (1977 - Today)," database, GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : 2014); citing Associated Press Archive, born-digital text.
5. ↑ "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVVS-XN41 : 13 December 2015), Jester Joseph Hairston, 2000; Burial, Inglewood, Los Angeles, California, United States of America, Inglewood Park Cemetery; citing record ID 6426716, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.

• 1910 Census: "1910 United States Federal Census"
  Year: 1910; Census Place: Homestead Ward 5, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T624_1294; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 0099; FHL microfilm: 1375307
  Ancestry Record 7884 #101777419
  Jestif Hairston (9), single grandson, in household of Mellie Raimey (70) in Homestead Ward 5, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, USA. Born in Virginia.
• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K9Z9-Z13 : accessed 9 July 2017), Jester J Hairston, Councilmanic District 8, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Township, Los Angeles, California, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 60-555A, sheet 61A, line 32, family 125, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 414.

see also:

• http://articles.latimes.com/2000/jan/21/local/me-56224
• The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White by Henry Wieneck, St. Martin's Press. NY, 1999. Excerpts available at Google Books.
• Jester Hairston, Concise Encyclopedia of Tufts History, Tufts University Digital Library.
• Fearn-Burns, Kathleen, ed. (2005). Historical Dictionary of African-American Television (Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts). The Scarecrow Press. p. 584. ISBN 0-8108-5335-3. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
• "Alumnus Jester Hairston Dies at 98: Actor-Composer Helped Preserve Negro Spirituals," The Campus Chronicle [University of Massachusetts], 28 Jan 2000; archived at the Wayback Machine:
• pedigree resource file, caution, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:3Z5J-KBQ : accessed 2017-07-10), entry for Jester Joseph /Hairston/.