11.02.08
Newark Connection
Researching family history is often unpredictable. I had no idea the first time I went to Newark, New Jersey, years ago for a job assignment that the city would yield so much pertinent information for me. As it turns out, my great-grandmother’s sister, Gertie, and her husband, Joseph Randolph, lived there for decades. They moved to Newark in the 40’s after Randolph retired as President of Claflin College in South Carolina. He and Aunt Gertie chose a house in Newark next door to Joseph’s brother, Oliver, on S. 13th Street. Joseph’s brother was well respected in his own right. Oliver was the first African-American admitted to the New Jersey Bar and was the state’s first African-American assistant U.S. attorney (old articles from the Newark Star-Ledger have greatly helped my research). My father recalls visiting Aunt Gertie and Uncle Joseph several times and meeting Oliver and his wife. Interestingly, neither Joseph nor Oliver had any children of their own. While the Randolphs have been deceased for decades, it has only been over the last few months that I have been able to locate some of their old friends who still live in Newark. In the process of trying to track down information about the cemetery where they are buried, I located a friend of theirs, a retired funeral home director I am anxious to meet. Another friend I found (with the help of a local minister, Dr. Lloyd Terrell) told me by phone of how she loved to sit at Joseph’s knee and be regaled by old stories of his days at Claflin. She wants to meet me in person and even has some books that belonged to Uncle Joseph. I can’t wait to see what I discover next.
