Words on page of, "Who's Who Among North Carolina Negro Baptists':

Words on page of,  "Who's Who Among North Carolina Negro Baptists':

Rev. Andrew Joshua Jackson was born on the 25th day of December, 1830, in the town of Hempshire, Amherst County, Virginia. 

He was born a slave. At the age of four years his master, a Mr. Jackson, sold him and his mother on the auction block in Richmond, Virginia to the highest bidder, a Mr. Benelton, who carried them with others to New Orleans to sell them.

 

His mother was stricken with smallpox. Her dying request was that the sales agent, Mr. George Washington Barnes, take the child "Jackson" as he was called. Mr. Barnes bought him and brought him to Halifax, North Carolina, where he grew up under the care of his new master, who apprenticed him to a blacksmith, where he learned the trade. 

After the Emancipation, Jackson "Barnes" dropped the "Barnes" from his name and prefixed "Andrew Joshua." 

He became interested in the education of the Freedmen, and used his money and influence in securing teachers in Halifax, N.C. 

Andrew Joshua Jackson was ordained in the First Baptist Church in Wilson, N.C., where he pastored. 

His wife, Caroline Garrett, and their children who attained maturity--Casca, a teacher; Andrew Thomas, a lawyer and graduate of Howard University (both deceased), and Leonora T. Jackson, a graduate of Shaw University, were all born enslaved. 

The latter, Miss Leonora T. Jackson, taught for many years in the public schools and colleges in North Carolina and Missouri. The children born after Emancipation died in infancy. 

Rev. Andrew Joshua Jackson died at  his home in Halifax, N.C. July 20, 1924. 

.

From the Historic Site entry about Rev. Andrew Joshua Jackson which is not included in the information about him in the publication, "Who's Who..." entry above:

"Barnes agreed and took him home with him to Halifax and had him apprenticed to a blacksmith. 

After some years learning the blacksmith trade, Jackson ran a blacksmith shop in Halifax, North Carolina and worked on the Confederate Ram Albemarle while it was anchored in the Roanoke River in Halifax during the Civil War.

 Iron plates had been shipped to the depot in Halifax from the Tredegar Iron Company in Richmond, Va. by way of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. 

They were then hauled by wagon down Dobbs Street, which led by Jackson’s shop, straight to the Navy Yard on the west side on the Roanoke River.

-End-

.