Kicha's photos with the keyword: Entrepreneur

William C. Goodridge was born enslaved in Baltimore, Maryland. Eventually he became a prominent businessman in York, Pennsylvania and an activist on the Underground Railroad. William C. Goodridge was born to an enslaved African American mother in Baltimore, Maryland in 1806. It is not known who his father was, but it is generally assumed he was a white man. In 1811 he was indentured to the Reverend Michael Dunn who operated a tannery in York. Goodridge received his freedom in 1822 when Dunn went bankrupt. Goodridge then moved to York, Pennsylvania, where he opened his own barber shop. In 1827, he married Evalina Wallace who also became his business partner. The two had seven children, five of which survived to adulthood. Goodridge then opened an employment agency, began to invest in commercial and residential real estate, and in 1842 opened his own freight service, the “Reliance Line of Burthen Cars” on the railroad line between York and Philadelphia. Cementing his position in York, he in 1847 built Centre Hall, a five-story commercial property in the center of town. The same year they were married, the Goodridges moved into a well-built brick home along Philadelphia Street and William lived there until the mid-1860s. The couple quickly expanded their barber business to include the sale of various items, to include a baldness cure known as Oil of Celsus. Goodridge then opened a freight service, the Reliance Line, in 1842 which operated primarily between York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. In 1847 he built the tallest building in York, Centre Hall, a five-story commercial property located in central York. Goodridge operated an employment agency from Centre Hall and rented out space to various businesses, to include a tavern and York’s first newspaper, The Democrat. One of Goodridge’s sons also operated a photography studio within Centre Hall. As a mixed race businessman in a town and state where many vehemently opposed the abolition movement, Goodridge kept a low profile, especially after passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 made aiding escaped slaves a federal crime, so we will never know the extent of his activities. His name, however, is associated with two major events in the struggle against slavery. In the aftermath of the Christiana riot in neighboring Lancaster County, some of the black men who had participating in that deadly firefight made the first leg of their trip north to safety in Canada concealed in a special freight car of Goodridge’s Reliance Line. In the aftermath of John Brown’s failed raid on the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry in October 1859, Osborne Perry Anderson, one of Brown’s trusted lieutenants, fled to York, where Goodridge arranged his safe passage by railroad to Philadelphia. By 1856, Goodridge owned 12 properties in York and was one of the wealthiest African Americans in south central Pennsylvania. However, things began to go awry after his wife died in 1852 and most of his properties were sold at auction after he went bankrupt just prior to the start of the Civil War. Goodridge remained a barber in York until 1864 when he moved to East Saginaw, Michigan to live with family. He then moved on to Minneapolis to live with his daughter, Emily, where he died in 1873 at age 66. In 1998, the Goodridge home in York became one of the first Underground Railroad sites designated by the National Park Service as a National Historic Landmark. There the Goodridge Freedom House and Underground Railroad Museum is working towards opening a museum in his honor. Until recently, the only known image of William C. Goodridge, was a grainy one published in a York newspaper in 1907. In September of 2015, an original ambrotype believed to be of Goodridge was sold on ebay. The photograph, which is not marked, is small but clear. The buyer, Robert Davis of Sacramento, contacted Carol Kauffman at the Crispus Attucks Association in York to share his discovery. The association had been working on the restoration of the Goodridge Freedom House & Underground Railroad Museum in York for several years. "It's an amazing picture for the time," Kauffman said. Davis loaned that photograph as well as three tintypes of Goodridge's descendants to the Crispus Attucks Association for a reception that took place in 2015 in honor of William C. Goodridge. The event was held at the York railroad station. It was also part of a fundraiser for the renovation of his former home in York. Sources: Enterprising Images: The Goodridge Brothers, African American Photographers, 1847-1922 by John Vincent Jezierski; Michigan Historical Museum; York Daily Record, Teresa Boeckel (staff writer); theclio

Lucretia Marchbanks was one of the most interesting and most beloved people in Deadwood, South Dakota’s pioneer days. She was born into slavery on March 25, 1832, in Putman County, Tennessee, the oldest of eleven children. She was the bondswoman of Martin Marchbanks, whose father had settled near Turkey Creek east of Algood, Tennessee. Her father, of mixed racial heritage, was a half-brother of Martin Marchbanks. Prior to the enactment of the 13th Amendment, before the firing of the guns at Fort Sumter had announced the opening of the U. S. Civil War, her liberty-loving father had purchased his freedom with $700 which he had saved over the years. Lucretia Marchbanks, who acquired her father’s frugal industrious habits, grew to womanhood on the master’s estate where she was fully trained in housekeeping and the culinary arts. Her master, Martin Marchbanks, gave Lucretia to his youngest daughter whom she accompanied to the Western frontier, reputed a land of gold, fortune and romance. They traveled and lived for a period time in California, and later, a free woman, she returned to her old home in Tennessee. Once again, Lucretia set out again for the untamed west where she remained for the rest of her life. Like many others, she was lured into the Black Hills by reports of gold. Lucretia joined the “Black Hills Gold Rush,” arriving in historic Deadwood Gulch, a bustling mining camp, on June 1 1876, where she secured a job, working as the kitchen manager in the Grand Central Hotel. Soon, the hotel, which really wasn’t that grand, was better known for the great food served by Lucretia in the frontier hotel’s restaurant. “Aunt Lou,” as she was known, labored hard to make her way in a sometimes unforgiving boomtown of the West. Except for “Aunt Sally” Campbell, who came with the George Armstrong Custer Black Hills Expedition in 1874, most believe that Lucretia Marchbanks was the first black woman to live in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory. After she left the kitchen, Lucretia worked for four successive mine superintendents for the small sum of $40 per month. That was a small price, a real bargain for anyone who could afford to employ a woman with her ability and training. Two years later she was offered a better position as a cook for the Golden Gate Mine in nearby Lead. Her work ethic, loyalty to duty and fine character were evident to all who knew her. She then left Deadwood to become the manager of the Rustic Hotel at the DeSmet Mine. Gossip of her culinary skills spread like a wildfire and she was soon hired away again as a cook and housekeeper for a boarding house owned by Harry Gregg in Sawpit Gulch, also in Lead. They catered to the DeSmet Mine workers. One historical account tells that when she was late getting back from a meeting, she was still able to fix an evening meal for the miners in 25 minutes, plus lunch buckets for all on the night shift. Contrary to what was seen on the HBO series “Deadwood,” Lucretia Marchbanks was never an employee of George Hearst, the owner of the world famous Homestake Mine. Her final employer was Harry Gregg, with whom she worked until 1883 when she resigned and opened her own establishment, the Rustic Hotel at the mouth of Sawpit Gulch located just down the road from Deadwood. She was considered to be the finest cook in the Black Hills at that time. She has been regaled for her excellent plum puddings, among other culinary delights. A Mr. William A. Reamer, who boarded with her, asked her for the recipe and she replied, “Oh, just a handful of this and a handful of that.” Lucretia was more commonly known throughout Deadwood and the Black Hills as “Aunt Lou.” She was also lovingly known to some people of the area as “Mahogany Lou” Marchbanks. For example: The New York Stock Exchange in discussing a Black Hills Mining News article asked “Who is Aunt Lou?” The Black Hills Daily Times answered in an article entitled “We’ll Tell You Who She Is” - Aunt Lou is an old and respected colored lady who has had charge of the superintendent’s establishment of the DeSmet mine as housekeeper, cook and the 'superintendent of all superintendents’ who have ever been employed at the mine. Her accomplishments as culinary artist are beyond all praise. She rules the house where she presides with autocratic power by Divine right brooking no cavil or presumptuous interference. The mine superintendent may be a big man in the mines or the mill but the moment he sets foot within her realm he is but a meek and ordinary mortal. “She is a skillful nurse as well as a fine cook and housekeeper, her services to the victims of mountain fever never received an even part of the praise to which they are entitled.” There was a festival in the City Hall of Golden Gate in 1880 for the purpose of the raising of funds for the Congregational church, a prize of a diamond ring was raffled off and then given to the most popular woman in the Black Hills. Her competitors for this high honor were a sizable number of popular white women. Many men and women, citizens of all walks of life voted with their money for their favorite woman: “Aunt Lou.” She easily won and was awarded the coveted prize. She was however, was more than just a kind friendly woman with great cooking skills; she was also a tough and demanding kitchen manager and stood no intimidation from her rowdy patrons. It is said that on one day she proved that when a Mexican man came into the restaurant boasting that he had killed an Indian and acting as though he’d like to do the same again … kill someone else. While nervous customers looked on, “Aunt Lou” confronted him while brandishing a large knife and in no time, the stranger was quick to take his leave. Lucretia finally decided that she had cooked long enough. She retired from the Rustic Hotel business in 1885 and sold the hotel to a Mrs. A.M. Porter. “Aunt Lou” purchased a ranch at Rocky Ford, Wyoming, (between Sundance and Beulah) from A. C. Settle. She moved to the ranch that same year and was very active in raising cattle and horses. She with the help of a hired hand named George Baggely, who worked for Lucretia for 20 years and managed the ranch. Various historical records show that she conducted her ranch in the very businesslike manner everyone would have expected. She died in 1911 and is buried in Beulah Cemetery. Black Hills Pioneer, Destination Deadwood, by David K Whitlock

The National Cyclopedia of the Colored Race (Vol. 1), 1919. In recent years the Negro woman has begun to find herself. Time was when both by herself and in the minds of the general public it was decided, yea determined, that her place was in the home, in the school room and in the Sunday School. Gradually she got into founding institutions, schools, social settlements and the like. She went on the lecture platform. She traveled in America and in Europe as a singer. In all these places she found herself a complete success. Then a few ventured into unheard of fields ... into politics and in business. Again success is crowning their endeavors. Why should they not enter any and all branches of work? One of the leading Negro women in business, and general social work is Mrs. Lula Barnes of Savannah, Georgia. Though an Alabamian by birth and education Mrs. Barnes is a Georgian by adoption and achievement. She was born in Huntsville, Alabama, August 22, 1868, she had many difficulties in getting an early education. However, Huntsville Normal and Industrial Institute was near at hand; and so after several years she entered here and gained her life training. Soon after her school days she was married and set about to make a happy home and to aid her husband in every possible way. Providence deemed it otherwise. Spurred by adversity, she now began to cast about a livelihood. Living in Savannah, she thought she saw an opening for a Negro grocery. She thought also that a Negro woman should just as well conduct this business as could a man. Hence she launched forth into the business. She opened a store on Price Street, and by courtesy, fair dealing and shrewd business tact made her store one to be reckoned with in the business world. For ten years she was a grocer, and gave up, or sold out, only to enter other fields. She closed her grocery books in 1893. During her ten years in business Mrs. Barnes had practiced economy. She now made several paying investments. She bought a handsome residence, which is her home, on East Henry Street. She bought twelve rent houses, which in themselves provide her with a pretty comfortable income. She also owns five vacant lots in Savannah. Having made these investments, which were safe and which would protect her in case of inability, she felt safe in placing money in several worthy enterprises. She owns stock and is a director in the Wage Earner's Bank of Savannah, in the Standard Life Insurance Company, in the Afro-American Company and in the Union Development Company. Mrs. Barnes was married to Mr. Richard Barnes of Savannah on August 16, 1884. He died in 1911.