Hello All,

Yes, there are genealogy "angels". I received an email from a researcher located in Shreveport, LA. The email contained a newspaper article on the Rev. Anderson Bridges, a great-great grandfather of mine.

The article appeared in the 28 Feb 1885 edition of the Cleveland Gazette, it was in the form of a death notice/memoir. This person had been following postings on AfriGeneas over the years. They said this was a favor to me, for my help to others in researching their genealogies. What a gesture and what a treasure!!! Thank You Shreveport!!!!

Here is a transcription of the article as written:
“Memoir of Rev. Anderson Bridges, late a local member of the Kentucky Annual Conference. He was born January 1, 1817 in Harrodsburg, Kentucky; converted to the religion of May 10, 1848, in Crittenden, Grant County, Kentucky.; ordained and Elder in the M.E. Church South by Bishop Cavanaugh, at Shelbyville, Ky., in 1856. He removed to Ohio in 1865; joined the A.M.E. Church at Lebanon December 12, 1865, under the pastorate of Rev. M.M. Smith. He joined the Ohio Conference as a local member, and in 1870 organized a congregation at Harveysburg and built the A.M.E. Church at that place. He removed to Kentucky in 1876. In 1877 he organized an A.M.E. congregation and built the church known as “Payne’s Chapel” on the Covington Circuit, Kentucky Conference. As an active member of this chapel and congregation he was, on February 8, 1885, removed by death to “the house not made with hands,” in great peace and triumph, like a ripe shock of corn, having spent more than forty years in the service of his Master. He leaves a widow, five daughters and four sons to mourn his absence but rejoice at his triumph with a host of friends in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Peace to his ashes and joy to his spirit until we meet above. Two of his sons are local preachers. Per Richard Bridges.”

This item appeared in a column under the heading of SPRINGFIELD and was preceeded by a poem written by the Rev. Henry W. Tate and followed by an item concerning a lecture to be given in Troy, Ohio at Solomon Temple No. 1498, G.U.O. of O.F.

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…… From Wikipedia …..The Cleveland Gazette was a weekly newspaper published in Cleveland, Ohio from August 25, 1883 to May 20, 1945. It was an African American newspaper owned and edited by Harry C. Smith, initially with a group of partners. Circulation was estimated between 5,000 and 18,000. The Gazette became the longest-publishing African-American weekly in the U.S., earning its nickname "The Old Reliable" by never missing a Saturday publication date in 58 years.[1]

A Grateful,
Art Thomas