HIRAM RHODES BEVELS

(1827-1901)

Born in Fayetteville, Cumberland
County, N. C., September 27, 182?. At-
tended the Quaker Seminary, Union
bounty, Ind., and Drake County Sem-
inary, Ohio, ft as
graduated from
Knox College Bloom-
ington, Ill., and was
ordained a minister
in the AME Church
at Baltimore in 1845.
Accepted a pastor-
ate in Baltimore in
1860 During the
early stages of the
Civil War, he assist-
ed in organizing the
first colored regi-
ments of soldiers in Maryland to help
sen e the Union and served in Vicks-
burg, Miss., as chaplain of a colored
regiment in 1864. He settled in Natchez,
Miss., in 1868; elected a member of the
State Senate in 1870.

Upon the readmission of the State of
Mississippi to representation in the
Federal Union, he was elected as Re-
publican to the United States Senate,
served from February 23, 1870, to March
3, 1871 After his retirement from the
Senate, he returned to his State and
was appointed secretary of State ad-in-
terim in 1873.

Served as president of Alcorn Agri-
cultural College, Rodney, Miss, 1876-
1882. Appointed district superintendent
of the AME Church at Holly Springs,
Miss., 1873.

Died in Aberdeen, Miss., January 16,
1901, while attending a church confer-
ence.

JOSIAH T. WAULS

(1842-1905)

Born in Winchester Va, December 30,
1842, leceived a limited education there
ud moved to Florida where he became
a farmer A member
of the Constitutional
Convention of Plori
da in 1868, State
Senator 1869-1872.
Elected to the Forty-
second Congress
March 4, 1871; serv-
ed until 1873; re-
elected as a Republi-
can to the Forty-
third and Forty-
fourth Congresses,
served from March
4, 1873, to March 3,
1877.

Upon retirement

he engaged in a successful truck-farm-
ing business and died in Tallahassee in
1898.

BENJAMIN STERLING TURNER

(1825-1894)

Born near Weldon, Halifax County.
N C, March 17, 1825, received a pri-

mary education;
adopted State: Ala-
bama. Elected tax
collector of Dallas
County, Ala., in 1867
and in 1869 elected
councilman of the
city of Selma. Elect-
ed as a Republican
to the Forty-second
Congress and served
from March 4, 1871
to .March 3, 1873;
unsuccessful candi-
date for re-election
in 1872 for the For-
ty-third Congress.
After his retirement from Congress he
engaged in agricultural pursuits

Died in Selma, Dallas County, Ala.,
March 21, 1894; interment in Live Oak
cemetery He has the distinction of be-
ing the first colored man elected to the
U. S House of Representatives from
Alabama

GEORGE HENRY WHITE
(1852-1918)

Born in Rssindale. Bladen County,
N, C., December 18, 1852; attended pub-
lic schools and was graduated from
Howard University,
Washington in 1877
Studied law, admit
led to the bar in
1879 and commenced
his practice in New
Bern, N. C. Was
principal of N. C.
State Normal School,
served in the State
House of Represen-
tatives in 1880;
member of the State
Senate, 1884; solici-
tor and prosecuting
attorney for the Sec-
ond Judicial District of North Carolina.
Elected as a Republican to the Fifty-
fifth and Fifty-sixth Congresses and
served from March 4, 1897, to March 3,
1901. Resumed the practice of law and
also engaged in banking

Died in Philadelphia, December 28,
1918. Interment in Eden Cemetery.

He was the last of the group of twen
ty-two colored men who for thirtyone
years (1870-1901) kept almost continu-
ously one of their race in halls of Con-
gress.

He was a member present when
Congress declared war on Spain, April
25, 1898.

— 29 —