Clifton's African American Lodges

 

This is hopefully the beginning of a series of posts looking at African American lodges in some of Tennessee’s smaller towns.

 

Clifton, Tennessee, is a town in Wayne County, Tennessee. It is situated on the Tennessee River, and is sixteen miles north of the county seat of Waynesboro. The town flourished in the decades following the Civil War. By 1876, it was described as “a flourishing little town of five or six hundred inhabitants, situated on the Tennessee River. It has five dry goods stores, two drug stores, two saloons, one saddler’s shop, one hotel, one foundry . . .”1 Despite its location on the Tennessee River, by 1920 the town’s growth slowed, and it was no longer considered as a bustling town.

Close up of Colton's Map of Tennessee (1876) showing Wayne County. Clinton is circled in red. Image from Library of Congress.

It may come as a surprise, but in the first two decades of the twentieth century, Clifton was home to a thriving African American community with at least 3 different African American lodges, 2 churches, and a school. The churches in the community were St. James M.E. Church, an A.M.E. church, and Mt. Tabor Baptist Church.

The Knights of Tabor had a lodge in Clifton. The Knights of Tabor was a fraternal group originally established in Independence, Missouri in 1871 by Rev. Moses Dickinson, an A.M.E. pastor. Both men and women were allowed to join the organization, with men meeting in “temples” and women meeting in “tabernacles.” The group paid sick and death benefits.2  In 1942, a Knights of Tabor hospital was started in Mound Bayou, Mississippi (http://knightsanddaughtersoftabor.com/taborian-hospital). In Clifton, the Knights of Tabor did things such as give a grand concert in 1910 and hold a picnic in 1912.

"Clifton Notes," from Nashville Globe, April 22, 1910

The United Brothers of Friendship and Sisters of the Mysterious Ten (also referred to as the U.B.F. and S.M.T.) were also a part of the African American community in Clifton. The U.B.F. started as a men-only benevolent organization in Louisville, Kentucky in 1861 and was made up of both the enslaved and freedmen. After the Civil War, the group reorganized and began to spread to states that bordered Kentucky. Women were allowed to join the group in 1878 when the Sisters of the Mysterious Ten were added to the U.B.F. There may have been as many as 250,000 members of the organization in 1906.3

Information on the United Brothers of Friendship from the Nashville Globe, December 29, 1911

In Clifton, members of the U.B.F. and S.M.T. held annual picnics and sermons. Local members of the U.B.F. were also active in both the Grand Lodge and in furthering the interests of the of the U.B.F. by setting up lodges in other towns. For example, in August 1911, it was noted that A.L. Warrington and Mrs. I.V. Mathes travelled to nearby Dixonville to set up a U.B.F. and S.M.T. lodge in that town. Also in 1911, several local Clifton members of the U.B.F. attended the Grand Lodge meeting in Memphis. Two of the members, Prof. M.C. Jones and George Johnson, were also elected to office at that meeting. 

Clip from the Nashville Globe, August 11, 1911

The Benevolent Society had 2 lodges in Clifton – Lodge No. 90 and Lodge No. 132. Lodge 90 met on the 1^st and 3^rd Monday nights of the month, and Lodge 132 met on the 1^st and 3^rd Saturday afternoons of the month. In 1926, Lodge No. 90 had 46 members, and owned property valued at $125.

It appears that the Benevolent Society owned a lodge building in Clifton, known as Benevolent Hall. For Christmas 1909, students of the Clinton Training School held their Christmas exercises at Benevolent Hall, before quite a large crowd. Other groups, such as the High Art Club, used the building for entertainments as well. The Benevolent Society was active, hosting annual sermons and giving picnics for the members.

"Clifton Notes," Nashville Globe, January 14, 1910

In 1913, the Nashville Globe reported on the election of officers in the Benevolent Society, which gives us the opportunity to look at the people who were officers in the organization. Both men and women were elected to office, with a woman, Mrs. B.E. Spears, elected as president. In addition to officers such as Secretary, Treasurer, Chaplain, and head of Sick Committee, there was also a Board of Directors and an Advisory Board.

Clip from Nashville Globe, April 18, 1913, listing the officers elected to the Benevolent Society

Who were these officers? While I could not find information on all of them, I was able to find information on some. Mrs. Bettie Spears lived on Morris Avenue of Clifton in 1910, and was married to John Spears, a day laborer. Bettie did not work outside the home, which probably allowed her the time to preside over the Benevolent Society. The Spears family did own their home mortgage-free.  Mrs. Nannie Montague, the secretary, was aged 29 in 1910, making her approximately 32 when she served as secretary of the Benevolent Society. She worked as a cook in a private home. In 1910, Nannie was married but lived in a home on Elm Street in Clifton with her brother and her 3 children.

Miss Allena Hendricks, assistant secretary of the Benevolent Society in 1913, was approximately 20 years old in 1913. In 1910, she lived with her mother and stepfather on Elm Street in Clifton. Allena worked as a cook in a private home, as did her mother. 

Mart Mayberry, the treasurer and member of the Board of Directors, may have been one of the older members of the group. He was born in c. 1848, making him approximately 65 years old in 1913.  He was a farm laborer and married to Susan, who worked outside the home as a washerwoman.

Jerry Dillahay, the chief marshal and member of Board of Directors, was born in c. 1863, making him approximately 50 years old when he was elected to the Board of Directors. In 1910, he worked in a factory and lived in Clifton. By the time he died in 1918, he was working as a farmer/farm laborer.

Husband and wife Man and Luella Cook served on the Board of Directors (Man) and Trustees (Luella). Man was born in c. 1879 and Luella was born in c. 1881, making them approximately 34 and 32 when they served as a director and a trustee for the Benevolent Society.  In 1910, they lived on Pillow Street in Clifton, with Man working odd jobs and Luella working as a washerwoman in a private home.

So what does looking at the officers of the Benevolent Society tell us? It seems to indicate that many of the officers were solidly working class. They worked in odd jobs, in factories, and in private homes as cooks or washerwomen. They probably needed the sick benefits and death benefits that the Benevolent Society provided to their members as a safety net.

It is interesting to see that Clifton was home to a thriving African American community that contained a number of community institutions such as lodges, churches, and a school. When studying Tennessee history, places like Clifton are often overlooked. Clifton was not a large town. It never served as the county seat, home to the governmental workings of Wayne County. But it does highlight what life was like for a number of Tennesseans in the early twentieth century. They lived in small towns. They were members of churches and lodges. They worked in their community. They lived a life worthy of documentation.

Notes

1. J.B. Killebrew, Introduction to the Resources of Tennessee, Vol. 2 (Nashville: Tavel, Eastman & Howell, 1874), 977-978.

2. Theda Skocpol, Ariane Liazos, and Marshall Ganz, What a Mighty Power We Can Be: African American Fraternal Groups and the Struggle for Racial Equality (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006), 52-53.

3. Skocpol et al., What a Mighty Power We Can Be, 49-50.