Charles W. Chesnutt to Matthew L. Hicks, 24 March 1922
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March 24, 1922.
Mr. Matthew L. Hicks,
P. O. Box No. 248,
Fayetteville, N. C.
My dear Mr. Hicks:
I received in due course of mail your letter of February 10th with reference to the location of your father, Edward Hicks.1 I have looked up all the Hickses in the "City Directory" and written to them, and have made inquiries in other quarters where I thought I might get information, but without success.2 I have not advertised, because I was unable to figure that it would produce any better results than the inquiries I have made. I will continue to inquire, and if I learn anything will promptly notify you.
Yours very truly, CWC/FLCorrespondent: Matthew L. Hicks (1900–?), the grandson of Matthew Nathaniel Leary, Jr. (1833–1892), was born in Portsmouth, Virginia. The 1910 U.S. 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. In the 1940s, he lived in New York City.
1. Matthew L. Hicks's father, Edward Hicks, cannot be further identified. Contact the Charles W. Chesnutt Archive if you have further information. [back]
2. The Cleveland City Directory of 1921 lists over seventy men and women with the last name Hicks. Carbon copies of two of Chesnutt's inquiries have survived, both dated March 9, 1922, to carpenter Edward Hicks and laborer Jimmie Hicks. [back]
