John Patterson Green to Charles W. Chesnutt, 21 October 1931
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614 E. 107th St.
Cleveland Ohio.
October 21/31.
Charles W. Chesnutt, Esq.
My dear Sir and friend.
Your nice letter, to me, under date of the 16th. instant was duly rec'd: I thank you for it: for, sometimes, we come nearer to one another "talking through "the vocal sheet," than when we hurriedly converse," face to face.
I have known you for a long time, to admire and trust; and this last evidence of our mutual friend ship tends to make the bond all the tighter. I am so pleased to join with me all the members of my family, in hoping that your healthlthwill continue to improve; and that you will live happily, many years longer.
In commending me for the beautiful and significant
honor which our grand Legal fraternity has so kindly bestowed upon me, you emphasize some very commendable utterances which have come from the Supreme Court of Ohio, as well of others of of our beloved State.1
I am still weak and tremulous, by reason of the serious auto-accident which I suffered on the 17th of August last: which is my only excuse for not making this letter longer and more interesting, not only to you, but, to all the worthy and interesting members of your dear family—especially Your beloved wife Mrs Chesnutt.2
Your admirer and friend John P. Green(now in the 87th year of his age.
Correspondent: John Patterson Green (1845-1940) was Chesnutt's cousin and an attorney, active Republican, and the first Black to be elected Cleveland's justice of the peace (1873–1882). He served in the Ohio House of Representatives (1881–1883; 1889–1891), the Senate (1891–1893), and in Washington D.C. as U.S. Postage Stamp Agent (1897–1906). Green was also the author of Recollections of the Inhabitants, Localities, Superstitions and Kuklux Outrages of the Carolinas (1880).
1. The Cleveland Bar Association Journal, 5.1 (September 1931) featured Green on the cover and included a tribute by the legal profession to "Hon. John P Green," then 86, who had served as a Cleveland attorney and politician since the 1870s (p.3). [back]
2. Susan Perry Chesnutt (1861–1940) was from a well-established Black family in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and worked as a teacher at Fayetteville's Howard School before marrying Chesnutt. They were married from 1878 until his death in 1932 and had four children: Ethel, Helen, Edwin, and Dorothy. Susan led an active life in Cleveland. [back]
