Matthew L. Hicks to Charles W. Chesnutt, 10 February 1922
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P.O. Box # 248
Fayetteville, N.C.
February 10, 1922.
Mr. Charles W. Chestnut
1106 Williamson Bldg.,
Cleveland Ohio.
Dear MI will first make an effort to intrioduce myself. I am the grandson of Matthew Nathaniel Leary,1 the son of his daughter Lucy.2 I am sure you are aquainted with both my mother and my grand father.
My mother married Edward Hicks, whom I am now trying to locate.3 I have not seen my father in fifteen (15)years, we were then living in Pittsburgh, Penn. He left threere to take a painting contract in the west. My mother was taken ill and as fate would have the mail went wrong.In a few weeks mother returned home, leaving my baby brother and myself.
Several letters have been received here the last one by Rev. J.W.Herraitage,4 inquiring of me, and owing to the fact that I happened to be away I did not know any thing about it until a fwew weeks ago when I came back.
Not beiing able to find me the lertter was mislaid and I cannot find his address. The last letter was postmarked Cleveland. I am asking you to help me locate him if he is still in Cleveland, and any way you suggest will be appriciatied If you do this for me I will be very grateful; if you have to go so far as to advertise do dso and send the bill to me and I will gladly make remittance.
Thanking you in advance for your ernest co-opperation in the matter and feeling sure that you will help me all that is in your power I am ,
Correspondent: Matthew L. Hicks (1900?–?) was the grandson of Matthew Nathaniel Leary, Jr. (1833–1892); little is known about him and his family. 1910 Census records show that as a ten-year-old, after his mother's death, he lived with his aunt Sarah M. Melchar (1867–1933) and her husband Dr. Paul W. Melchar (1865–1928) in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
1. Matthew Nathaniel Leary Jr. (1833–1892) came from a prominent Black family in Fayetteville, NC; Chesnutt had known his father, the saddlemaker Matthew N. Leary Sr. (1802–1880) and his family, especially Matthew Jr.'s younger brother John (1845–1904) since the 1870s (see Journals, pp.44, 166), and described Matthew Jr. in a letter to Robert E. Park from December 19, 1908 as having gone "into politics in a small way" in North Carolina (Ex.Cit., p.58).. With his wife Laura Virginia Pearce (1842–1902), Matthew Jr. had eight children. [back]
2. Little is known about Lucy Linden Leary (1866–?), the third of eight children of Matthew Nathaniel Leary, Jr. (1833–1892). A record of her marriage to Edward Hicks or the birth of her two sons could not be traced; she had presumably died by 1910, at which time her son Matthew lived with his aunt Sarah Leary Melchor (1867–1933) and her family. [back]
3. Matthew L. Hicks's father, Edward Hicks, could not be further identified. He is not the carpenter of this name, whom Chesnutt identified from in the Cleveland City Directory; see Chesnutt's letter to Edward Hicks from March 9, 1922. [back]
4. John Walter Herritage, also Heritage (1883–1952) was minister at St. Joseph's Episcopal Church, one of the Black churches in Fayetteville, North Carolina, at this time. [back]
5. See Chesnutt's letter to Jimmie Hicks, March 9, 1922. [back]
6. See Chesnutt's letter to Edward Hicks, March 9, 1922. [back]
