Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Bishop/Carey Orphan Photo Album - Good News!

I have great news!  The Bishop/Carey family photo album has finally found a home!  The album will begin it's journey today to join a relative connected through the Davis side.  However, there are a few more pages I want to share with you. Today is page 14.



The photo on the upper left is Elizabeth Hill Davis Carey, and the upper right is her husband, Rev. Archibald Carey.

The lower left is the Rev. holding a great-grandchild.  The one on the lower right has no identifying notation, but it's safe to say that the gentleman is Archibald Carey, Jr.






Elizabeth Hill Davis Carey was the daughter of Madison and Ella Church Davis. Madison Davis was born a slave September of 1833 in Athens, Georgia.  In 1868 Davis was elected to represent Clarke County in the Georgia House of Representatives.   
The lucky recipient of this family treasure is a great-great-grandson of Madison and Ella Church Davis.  His great-grandfather was James Perry Davis who was the brother of the above Elizabeth.

I would like to share a little snippet of his email:
   

"I saw your post about the lost photo album, and I have a family tree covering most of the people you've identified, who are distant family members of mine.  Elizabeth Davis Carey, Archibald Carey's wife, was the leading daughter in the family of famous Madison Davis, who was an ex-slave legislator in Georgia during Reconstruction.  Elizabeth's brother, James Perry Davis is my great-grandfather and took care of me as my babysitter when I was a child, so I know a lot about the family."

"...a slave named Madison Davis, who is my great-great grandfather.  In 1856, he marries another slave named Ella Church.  Ella's father is Alonzo Church, then-President of the University of Georgia, and her mother was one of Alonzo's women slaves (perhaps named Louise, who after emancipation comes to be known as Louise Ramsey).  Madison ("Matt") Davis eventually becomes one of the first black legislators in Reconstruction Georgia, a history which is detailed in this book: http://www.amazon.com/Enduring-Legacy-Georgias-Legislators-Richardson/dp/0967302781/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1323817221&sr=8-2.
Can you  imagine having a family photo album that contains generations of influentual and prominent pillars of a community?
  1. Dr. Elizabeth "Beth" Bishop Davis - Founder of the Department of Psychiatry at Harlem Hospital Center which she directed for 17 years. (I believe the album was originally hers.)
  2. Rev. Shelton Hale Bishop - A driving force behind founder, well-known psychiatrist Frederic Wertham, in the establishment of  the Lafargue Clinic in 1946.
  3. Bishop Archibald J. Carey, Sr. - A powerful leader in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and engaged in a political career.
  4. Archibald J. Carey, Jr. - An influential American lawyer, judge, politician, diplomat and clergyman.
  5. Eloise Carey Bishop - Author
I consider myself proud to have had such an album in my possesion for a short time.  I am sure it will be well appreciated and cherished in it's new home.



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