Britton Baskerville Jr.

Britton Baskerville Jr. (1863 — 1892) was an American farmer, schoolteacher and Republican Party politician who represented Mecklenburg County in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1888 to 1889.[1][2] An African American, he had been enslaved.

Britton Baskerville Jr.
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Mecklenburg County
In office
December 8, 1887 – December 3, 1889
Preceded byJames R. Jones
Succeeded byRoss Hamilton
Personal details
BornOctober 1863
Mecklenburg County, Virginia
DiedApril 25, 1892
Mecklenburg County, Virginia
Political partyRepublican
OccupationFarmer, schoolteacher, politician

Early life

He was born in Mecklenburg County, Virginia.[3] Born into slavery during the American Civil War, to Sally (b. 1847) and her stonemason husband Breton (or Britton) Baskerville (1835-_).[4] The large Baskerville family was prominent in the local Baptist church, as well as known for owning land.[5] His exact birth date is lost, but he was enumerated as nine years old (and thus able to work) in the 1870 census,[6] and as a 17 years old laborer in the 1880 census.[7] In 1883 he graduated from the Boydton Academic and Bible Institute in Mecklenburg County, then continued his education in Washington, D.C., graduating in 1885 from the Wayland Institute.[8][9]

Career

Upon returning to Union Level, in Mecklenburg County's Flat Creek District, Baskerville taught school and farmed. He was superintendent of the Sunday school at Bloom Hill Baptist Church.[2]

Baskerville served one term in the Virginia House of Delegates, representing Mecklenburg County, as a compromise candidate between the factions led by railroad executive and former Confederate general William Mahone and straight-out Republicans led by Ross Hamilton who supported African American John Mercer Langston for Congress (and who ultimately became Virginia's first African American congressman). The following year, Hamilton repaired his relationship with Mahone and his supporters to win the nomination, so Baskerville returned to his agricultural and teaching pursuits. The election was marred, so the results were contested and a Democrat was seated instead.[2][10]

He was one of several African Americans from Mecklenburg County to serve in political office. Others included Cephas Davis, Amos A. Dodson, Ross Hamilton, Joseph R. Jones, and John Watson.[11]

Personal life and death

In December 1891, Baskerville contracted influenza, which may have been complicated by preexisting tuberculosis.[2] According to his death certificate, he never married before dying on April 25, 1892,[12] although a June 6, 1887 marriage record exists of a man of his name marrying Lizzie Simmons (born either in 1852 according to her death record in 1947, or 1866 according to the marriage certificate)[13] His name continued in Mecklenburg County, as his brother William Baskerville named one of his sons after this man and the boy's grandfather.[2]

See also

References
  1. Luther Porter Jackson, Negro Office-Holder in Virginia 1865-1895 (Norfolk; Guide Quality Press 1945) p.2 at hathitrust.org or reprinted by UMI books on demand
  2. Kneebone, John. "Britton Baskerville (1863–1892)". Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  3. Jackson, Luther Porter (1945). Negro Office-holders in Virginia, 1865-1895. ISBN 9780598580269.
  4. https://history.house.virginia.gov/members/5864
  5. Jackson p. 2
  6. 1870 U.S.Federal Census for Flat Creek District Mecklenburg County, Virginia, family no. 50, p.6 of 61 on ancestry.com
  7. 1880 U.S.Federal Census for District 147, Flat Creek, Mecklenburg County, Virginia p. 40 of 58 on ancestry.com
  8. https://history.house.virginia.gov/members/5864
  9. Jackson p.2, which also gives his birth date as 1860 and death date as 1888.
  10. Cynthia Miller Leonard, The Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library 1978) p. 546
  11. Brown, Douglas Summers (1975). "Chase City and Its Environs: The Southside Virginia Experience, 1765-1975".
  12. Virginia death record for Mecklenburg County online p. 270 of 307 at ancestry.com
  13. records on ancestry.com
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