Thelma working in front of her home.
“UNCLE SKILLET”
Henry Sneed was born in North Carolina at Montpelier, the estate of Dr. Richard Henderson Sneed. In 1849, when the family migrated to Henderson County, KY, he drove the carriage through the mountains. After his wife Martha died in 1887, he went to the home of Stephen K. Sneed, the son of his former master, until his death in 1889 at age 81. He was a day laborer, bank porter, janitor, and auction announcer. As janitor, he filled the water cooler in the courthouse every day. He would take three 3-gal. buckets and pump them brimming full of water. Placing one on top of his head and carrying one in each hand, he would carry them up the courthouse stairs without spilling a drop. As announcer, he would go up and down the streets ringing a bell and calling out rhymes which related to the upcoming auction: “All you that’s got money, Come up and buy, And you that ain’t got none, Stand back and cry.” Tradition says that his nickname grew from his skill in cooking fish. Often he could be cajoled into going with a group of white boys and cooking their catch. He radiated sunshine despite his poverty. His portrait, done by Lida Williams and exhibited for a time in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, beautifully captures his personality. |
We would love a Photograph!!
“UNCLE JOHN” BLAKEMORE
“Uncle John” Blakemore was born a slave near Clarksville, Tenn., around 1852 and died in Henderson of a heart attack on July 16, 1942, at the age of 90. He was a well known figure around Henderson both because of his spectacular appearance as well as his kindly personality. He was six feet, four inches tall with blue-black skin, straight black hair that still showed no gray, even when he became an old man, and a tiny, perfectly trimmed mustache over his thin lips. To this commanding presence he added a high fez (his ancestors were Egyptian), a flowing cape, and a curved pipe in his mouth. The silk cape was reportedly given to him by Theodore Roosevelt whom he served about the time of the Spanish-American War.
Following his emancipation after the Civil War, he made his way to Kentucky and began working in hotels. Later on, he worked up and down the Ohio in the riverboat trade. He arrived in Henderson in 1893, and eventually became a waiter and later a chef at the Kingdom Hotel.
He worked only for people he liked and was not interested in money, accepting only small amounts of cash while taking the remainder of his pay in “leave-overs.” When friends and employers were worried about his financial security, he responded, “God will provide for me. I have enough. I eat well, I sleep easy, that’s all I need and when I die, my people will take care of that.”
He loved taking care of people. He adopted Mrs. Emily Quinn, who was confined to a wheel chair by arthritis, and pushed her around town daily. When the circus came to town, he saw that she had a front-row seat. After her death, he adopted one of her sons and always insisted that he was Mr. Walter Quinn’s gardener. In the 1930’s he set up housekeeping in an alley off Second Street where he maintained a “camp” for down-and-outers of any race or creed, cooking the “leave-overs” for them and furnishing them with old army cots, donated and repaired. To “save their pride” he would accept five or ten cents for a meal, but if they were penniless, they ate just the same, although he did insist that they should read from the Bible and kneel for prayer.
“UNCLE JOHN” BLAKEMORE
“Uncle John” Blakemore was born a slave near Clarksville, Tenn., around 1852 and died in Henderson of a heart attack on July 16, 1942, at the age of 90. He was a well known figure around Henderson both because of his spectacular appearance as well as his kindly personality. He was six feet, four inches tall with blue-black skin, straight black hair that still showed no gray, even when he became an old man, and a tiny, perfectly trimmed mustache over his thin lips. To this commanding presence he added a high fez (his ancestors were Egyptian), a flowing cape, and a curved pipe in his mouth. The silk cape was reportedly given to him by Theodore Roosevelt whom he served about the time of the Spanish-American War.
Following his emancipation after the Civil War, he made his way to Kentucky and began working in hotels. Later on, he worked up and down the Ohio in the riverboat trade. He arrived in Henderson in 1893, and eventually became a waiter and later a chef at the Kingdom Hotel.
He worked only for people he liked and was not interested in money, accepting only small amounts of cash while taking the remainder of his pay in “leave-overs.” When friends and employers were worried about his financial security, he responded, “God will provide for me. I have enough. I eat well, I sleep easy, that’s all I need and when I die, my people will take care of that.”
He loved taking care of people. He adopted Mrs. Emily Quinn, who was confined to a wheel chair by arthritis, and pushed her around town daily. When the circus came to town, he saw that she had a front-row seat. After her death, he adopted one of her sons and always insisted that he was Mr. Walter Quinn’s gardener. In the 1930’s he set up housekeeping in an alley off Second Street where he maintained a “camp” for down-and-outers of any race or creed, cooking the “leave-overs” for them and furnishing them with old army cots, donated and repaired. To “save their pride” he would accept five or ten cents for a meal, but if they were penniless, they ate just the same, although he did insist that they should read from the Bible and kneel for prayer.
JOHN CLOUDY, BOOTBLACK
Every morning for many years, John Cloudy set up his shoeshine stand on Second Street between Main and Elm Streets. When evening came, he pulled his stand into the alley behind Mann Brothers store. He was also in charge of raising and lowering the awning on what originally was an annex to the Mann Bros. store, but is now the Dollar Store. As he worked on customers’ shoes, he would chat with them and with whoever stopped by to talk to him. Everyone greatly appreciated the Christian encouragement and inspiration they received from him. Cloudy once traveled with a carnival as “the heaviest man in the world.” He then weighed 425 pounds, but he began to lose his supremacy when homesickness took scores of pounds from him. He returned home to take up his stand at the Mann Bros. corner, but he never regained his weight. For years he weighed no more than 250 pounds. He died in 1950 at age 65 in the same alley where “Uncle John” Blakemore had lived and died. This alley runs from Second Street toward First Street back of the (Irvin) LaRue property on Water Street. John Cloudy appears with Jim Nunley who had just returned from service in WW II and was offered a free shoeshine by Mr. Cloudy. |
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Eugene Gilbert
Mr. Gilbert was the third African-American to be hired as a police officer in the City of Henderson, giving him a unique view of life in a community still racially divided.
Mr. Gilbert was the third African-American to be hired as a police officer in the City of Henderson, giving him a unique view of life in a community still racially divided.