Orphanage Records Available for Gaston and Lincoln County Children

 The North Carolina Digital Heritage Center has the Grant Colored Asylum and the Colored Orphanage Asylum of North Carolina Enrollment Ledger available online.


The Grant Colored Asylum was established in October 1883 on a 24 acre farm near Oxford, Granville County, North Carolina.

This ledger records African-American children enrolled during 1885-1919 and includes information such as the child’s name, home town and county, birth date, date of admittance into the orphanage, personal description, and sometimes the name of the parent(s).


Fourteen children from Gaston County and Lincoln County are listed in these records.

Index of Gaston and Lincoln County Children Received into the Colored Orphan Asylum

Surname

Given Name

Town

County

Page

Entry No.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fingers

John

Lincolnton

Lincoln

122

245

Lineberger

Briton

Dallas

Gaston

86

173

Lineberger

Ernest

Dallas

Gaston

87

175

Lineberger

Eugene

Dallas

Gaston

87

174

Lineberger

Mary Jane

Dallas

Gaston

88

177

Lineberger

Walter

Dallas

Gaston

88

176

McCorkle

Meta B.

Stanford

Lincoln

135

271

McDowell

Esther

Lowesville

Lincoln

108

216

McDowell

Fred

Lowesville

Lincoln

108

217

Pegram

Edna

Dallas

Gaston

82

165

Pegram

Gerard Esley

Dallas

Gaston

83

166

Pegram

Queen Victoria

Dallas

Gaston

82

164

Stowe

Ernest

Dallas

Gaston

89

178

Stowe

John

Dallas

Gaston

89

179

 

Reverend Sylvester Paul Biggers served as Resident Manager 1 and later as Assistant Superintendent of the Orphanage, which had been renamed The Colored Orphanage of North Carolina in 1927.2 In his Report of the Assistant Superintendent for July 1, 1963 through June 30, 1964, he wrote that although for the first time, the dairy program of the orphanage "was able to step up its milk production without the purchase of additional cows" that their "most important product" was the rearing of "girls and boys to become self-supporting citizens."3 Rev. Biggers resigned his position on April 30, 1964. 

Rev. S. P. Biggers' mother, Mrs. Cora Finger Biggers, had previously worked for the Orphanage as matron of the girls. After the death of her husband, Rev. Paul A. Biggers, Cora "accepted a position as matron at the Oxford Orphanage to render service to children and also to earn money with which to educate two of her youngest sons."4  

Mrs. Cora Finger Biggers

Cora Biggers' youngest son was mural artist, author, and art department chair at Texas Southern University, John Thomas Biggers.5 John Biggers was born in Gastonia on April 13, 1924, and his father Paul Biggers died in 1937 when John was 13 years old.

John Thomas Biggers (1924 - 2001), Gastonia, N.C. artist.

 

The records for the Grant Colored Asylum and the Colored Orphanage Asylum of North Carolina Enrollment Ledger are located at https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/242322


1: Report to The Board of Directors of The Colored Orphanage of North Carolina [July 1, 1962-June 30, 1963] p.11.

2: Report to The Board of Directors of The Colored Orphanage of North Carolina [July 1, 1962-June 30, 1963] p6

3: Report to The Board of Directors of The Colored Orphanage of North Carolina [July 1, 1963-June 30, 1964] p.11.

4: Mrs. Cora Finger Biggers Reared Model Family. The Gastonia Gazette, September 8, 1962. and The Colored Orphanage of North Carolina Report of Superintendent [February 1, 1937-June 30, 1940] p.9.

5: Black artist returns home. The Gastonia Gazette, October 8, 1978.

6: Gastonia artist gets honorary degree from N.C. State University. The Gastonia Gazette, December 24, 1999 p4B

 

Brian Brown, Librarian, Local History & Genealogy

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