08.22.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 6:11 am by Administrator
Dr. Edward B. Ramsey. That was my great-great-grandfather’s name. Although he’s been dead for more than 80 years, his life is just now unfolding before my eyes. With the help of some Houston historians, I’ve been able to find out a lot about him over the past few weeks. The most recent finding was the discovery of his obituary. It was also new to my father who has long had a great interest in our family’s history. Of course, as with most obituaries, my great-great-grandfather comes across sounding like a saint. Isn’t it funny how people remember the dead that way? Now there were some revelations. My father and I had no idea he moved to Kansas City briefly before settling in Houston. We’d never heard he accidentally shot himself as a young boy resulting in a reported “stiff leg” which plagued him for the rest of his life. Also, who knew he contracted smallpox in the 1880’s during some type of epidemic? Naturally, my interest is now peaked. Needless to say, I’ll be investigating some of these claims myself. We’ll see what I find out…
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08.03.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:10 am by Administrator
It’s been an interesting week. It’s so rewarding when I make progress in my research. The more work I do, the more I realize how little my father and I know about my great-great-grandfather, Dr. Edward Ramsey, in particular. My father was told a few stories about him growing up, but most of the information we’ve learned about him has been gleaned from public records. My dad and I have both seen Edward Ramsey’s class photo from medical school: Meharry Medical College’s Class of 1880. I have a copy of his marriage license, evidence of his marriage to Henrietta Southall a year later. We have known for years that he was the first African-American doctor in Troup County, Georgia. He only practiced there for two years before moving to Texas. But after that, the picture gets blurry. Besides having a son who died at birth and a second daughter, Gertrude (my great-grandmother, Mollie, was his first child), we knew little else until this week. Researchers at the University of Houston helped determine something we never knew: he was the first African-American doctor in Houston. He died there in his office on his 75th birthday while seeing patients. The year was 1927. We still know so little about what happened during the years leading up to his death, but I am determined to find out…
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