Navigation
In other projects
Learn more
Core topics
Bahá’í Faith
Central Figures
Teachings
Practices

Hubert Parris

From Bahaipedia
Hubert Parris

Hubert Astley St. Aubyn Parris (Aug 26, 1874, Barbados - Aug 27, 1955, Ahoskie, North Carolina, USA) was a native of Barbados and in the first 25 years of his life he had traveled to British Guyana, Britain, Ireland and the United States. He was ordained in the (Anglican?) Church and had advocated for fair trade practices in agriculture between the West Indies and Britain, was married and had a daughter. About the age of 26 he transitioned to living in America and made appearances at the Greenacre "Monsalvat School for the Comparative Study of Religion" several times from 1902. He had attended Teacher College of Columbia University of New York City, earned a degree from Howard University and was ordained as an Episcopal priest. After some years working as a minister he began to do medical related trainings and then earned a medical degree from Shaw University and a license to practice in North Carolina at the age of 40. He first served medical care in Wilmington, NC, and then became rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church there - the balance between the two eventually shifting entirely to medical care. During World War I he helped organize black farmers across several counties near Wilmington but also resigned from the ministry and soon moved to the small town of Rich Square, NC, where his wife joined him and in another decade he had converted to the Bahá'í Faith. The last 20 years of his life was spent being a small town doctor often giving medical care free to the poor.

We do not have any early documentation on his life, nor on how he came to convert to the Bahá'í Faith. There are several points in his history that he came close to Bahá'ís - first it is clear he encountered Bahá'ís at Greenacre in 1902-1904, but then there are other points of being close: in Charleston in 1910, or Wilmington in 1919 it is possible he encountered Louis Gregory, and around 1923 he must of known the prominent African American family of Wilmington, the Sadgwars, when two of the family converted to the religion after having met Louis Gregory. And the digitized records of the The Wilmington Morning Star, a significant newspaper with mentions of Parris and the Sadgwars, currently end in 1922.[1] But what thoughts, what experiences, what connections he chose to follow coming to the religion are not known. It is also possible he encountered Bahá'ís at other points in his history. What is known is that he spent a life time in service to humanity. At first he did this as a minister of Jesus Christ and tried to improve the quality of agricultural life and its gift of good food for good bodies for good minds, a point of some gravity to him, then as a doctor and as member of the Bahá'í Faith in a small country town.

British Colonies[edit]

Though almost all accounts, and his own words, agree Parris was a native of Barbados and had dark skin we do not know his family lineage. Barbados records are not generally online.[2] A family name search does not find Hubert among the many Parris'.[3] Perhaps some day someone with access can investigate more.

In 1898–1899 Teacher College of Columbia University of New York City lists "Parris, Hubert Astley St. Aubyn" as a special student of Barbados of the West Indies.[4] While the date of the marriage to Emille, born about 1872 in the West Indies, is uncertain, the 1910 US Census lists Parris' oldest child listed as 13 in 1910, though two children are unlisted and could be older or younger[5] Emille's father was from Scotland.

According to his own testimony in New York and British journals of 1899, Parris was a (Anglican?) Reverend of Barbados with education to carry a persuasive paper. He was published in The Outlook, one of the leading of weekly news and opinion magazines of the period,[6] arguing that the British aught to invest in colonial agricultural development that was of benefit to the local people - something he notes historically the British had failed to do, especially in regard to fostering agriculture in matters beyond those of sugar production even while noting a distant future of independence.[7] A few weeks later in a letter to the editor of The Outlook Parris was again published noting what he felt were the predictable protests of Trinidadians to taxes, stressing their strained relationship with Britain especially among a people with linguistic relationships to the French.[8] Parris also sent a letter to the editor of a journal of an animal welfare society at the end of 1899.[9] In it, he commented that he had been active around the Caribbean and specifically reached British Guyana, and signed off as president of the West Indian Missionary and Industrial Association; minutes of the group written by Victor Branford were reviewed elsewhere noting Parris had also investigated co-operative associations and gone to Ireland as part of his investigations.[10] In a few years he would give talks based on what he learned. Though there was interest in Britain it was observed that the substantial work of organizing and funding the Association would have to come from Barbados. This appears to have not happened save perhaps in what is now called microfinance. At this time he was no more than 25 years old, married and a father of a daughter.[5]

In America[edit]

Greenacre[edit]

In the Summers of 1902, 1903 and 1904, Parris gave talks at Greenacre for the "Monsalvat School for the Comparative Study of Religion".[11] The talks he offered over the years were: "The West Indian Woman", "How I made bricks without straw", "The Rochdale Co-operative Movement in England", and "Horace Plunkett and the economic and industrial redemption of Ireland". At the time Greenacre hosted talks also by Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl of the Bahá'í Faith and others. Sarah Farmer, founder of Greenacre, had converted to the religion in 1900.[12][13][14] He would recollect his time there fondly more than 50 years later.[15] Hubert and Emille's second child is noted 9 years old in 1910.[5] Parris was registered as immigrating to the United States in 1903.[5]

Washington D. C.[edit]

In 1904 Parris was noted as a Sophomore in the School of Manual arts of Howard University,[16] and graduated with a Master of Arts in "Manual Arts and Applied Sciences" in 1905.[17] In 1906 he was ordained as an Episcopal priest trained "at King Hall", Washington D. C., June 6, 1905 at St. Philip's Church in Washington D. C., with a commission to go to St. Agnes' Church in Miami, Florida,[18] where he was by February.[19][20]p12 His wife was registered immigrating to the United States in 1907, also about the year of the birth of their son.[5]

Charleston, SC[edit]

In February 1909 Parris came back into the States from Nassau bound for Miami,[21] however he shows up in Charleston, SC, from November 1909 through 1911. At first he was serving in St. Mark's Episcopal Church.[22] The 1910 census lists him in Charleston with a family - wife Emille, two daughters and a son living on Jasper St.[5] In 1910 there is a newspaper article of him contributing a lecture to black nurses at the local "colored hospital".[23] A second possible intersection with the Bahá'í Faith may have occurred when Louis Gregory visited Charleston, (and Wilmington, NC) in 1910 as well.[24][25]p34 Parris repeats his lectures in an expanded format in 1911.[26]

North Carolina[edit]

In 1913 Parris is listed in the Raleigh, NC phone directory as rector of St. Ambrose Episcopal Church,[27] graduating from Shaw University in 1914 with a medical degree,[28] and was registered as a licensed doctor for North Carolina in June.[29] In the Fall of 1915 he was visible practicing medicine in Wilmington, NC, with an inspection of black children, free of charge.[30] In January 1916, two newspaper articles covered meetings at the philanthropically founded[31] Williston Industrial School for black children. One was about a patriotic meeting and included a talk by Parris.[32] The other said there had been a free clinic offering "for some months" by Parris, said to be the rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Wilmington, for black children through county government services, and was raising money for an office which would offer services free of charge.[33] The article quotes Parris concerned with the death rate among people of color as it had been rising. Parris then spoke at the Gregory Normal School commencement.[34] In April 1917 Parris helped form a starting group for a Red Cross unit in town,[35] and a week later a newspaper article by George F. King[36] commented that services were widespread in Wilmington and "throughout the country" in black churches in the name of Booker T. Washington's call for health care in 1915;[37] Parris delivered an "ablest, most helpful and effective discourses on health"[36] referring to " 'the physical and moral' meaning of religion"[36] presenting examples that "religion and health could not be separated… a sound body is absolutely necessary for a sound mind.… that this world is a place of preparation…."[36] Community leaders of the black population of Wilmington and the Food Conservation Commission of New Hanover County gathered at Williston Industrial School twice in May 1917 and organized themselves with officers and responsibilities; Parris was charged with rural meetings while D. C. Virgo, was Vice President.[38] Virgo was Felice and Fannie Mabel Sadgwar's school principal for many years.[39] The Sadgwar's were the first known Bahá'ís to join the religion living in North Carolina following the visit of Louis Gregory to Wilmington;[40] the Sadgwars were kin to Alexander Manly, noted in the Wilmington insurrection of 1898.[41] The same month Parris urged black citizens to register for the military in the face of World War I,[42] and was on a committee to look for fiscal savings in the community.[43]

Expanding the realm of service, in the Summer of 1917, Parris was involved in a meeting of black farmers across several counties.[44][45] Over the same period he was listed as the rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, hosting a masonic meeting at the church,[46] and was officially ordained again.[47] Meanwhile, between Louis Gregory's trips to Wilmington, was that of those who taught him the religion, having crossed the color line,[24] when Joseph Hannen and Pauline Knobloch Hannen visited Wilmington.[48] In 1918 Parris was publicly congratulated for his address at the annual of emancipation association meeting.[49] He also wrote a letter of the challenge of the 1918 influenza, of setting up a clinic, and the need for a hospital.[50]

Parris was listed as ordained again at St. Mark's in May 1918 and the only doctor-minister, white or black, in the Diocese.[51]pp9-10,17 In July 1918 Parris was noted having preached a sermon for the ordination of another minister at St. Mark's[51]p73, and reported 4 confirmation's.[51]pp86–7 Parris was listed as a rector again at St. Mark's in January 1919.9-10[20] Louis Gregory made another trip including Wilmington in early 1919.[25]p.118 In the 1919-1920 the city directory has Parris at address 315 South 6th Street, Wilmington, NC 28401.[52] Meanwhile Parris was noted a volunteer medical worker for Wilmington in a stateiwde listing.[53]

However, the 1920 Census indicates his household having a grandson born in the Spring of 1919,[54] and a wedding of a daughter in the summer of 1920.[55] Also in 1920 he was listed as resigned from St. Mark's church,[56]p87 and was a non-parochial priest in Wilmington.[56]pp8-10 This repeats in 1921,[57]pp13-15, 21 but did not attend the annual convention of the diocese, and these specifics are noted again in 1922.[58]pp13-15, 21 While his ministerial services were declining, his medical services were increasing - in 1922 he was mentioned assisting in a state conference of black doctors held in Wilmington for the third time.[59][60]

He was still listed as a non-parochial minister in Wilmington for May 1923 and again did not attend the annual convention of the diocese,[61]p13, 18 as well as in 1924,[62]p13, 18 but that year in an appendix he is noted from Warsaw, NC:

Since my last report, I have engaged in work in the Church as opportunity offered in Wilmington and Wilson, assisting in several services of which I have kept no special record. I have assisted at two burial services, celebrated the Holy Communion six times, and performed one marriage service. I have also baptized several infants. I have no record of these as they are all clinical cases in the course of my medical work, scattered throughout the country districts, of parents who hardly know of the existence of the Church."[63]

1924 is the last year he is listed as a minister so far found.

The 1930 Census lists him living in Rich Square, NC, as a border of Mrs. Mary Manley.[64] No wife, children, or grandchildren, are listed living with him. The 1940 Census lists Emille now with Hubert, both boarding at the home of Mrs. Mary Manley though other descendants are not listed.[65] Mary Manley was a practical nurse.

Parris was listed as officially joining the Bahá'í Faith in April 1943, from the same day[66] of the first Assembly in the state, at Greensboro,[67] and records of the religion list him usually living in Rich Square, except for the year 1946 in Raleigh, and last has his location in 1951.[68] Bahá'í John Kolstoe visited Parris at the request of the area teaching committee in 1954 and Parris gave him a friendly tour of his office though he was ill.[15] In his recollection, Kolstoe dwelled on the feeling Parris was an enthusiastic Bahá'í with a noble sense of service to humanity.

Notice of his death among Bahá'ís appeared in January, 1956.[69] His death certificate indicates he had died in Ahoskie, NC, at the Roanoke-Chowan Hospital, August 27, 1955, after about 2 days in the hospital, and was buried the 29th.[70] Mary A. Manley had identified him; he was listed as a widower and died of prostate cancer. He was buried at the Willow Oak A.M.E. Cemetery.[70][71]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ United States Of America » North Carolina » Wilmington » The Wilmington Morning Star, newspapers.com
  2. ↑ Barbados National Archives (Department of Archives)
  3. ↑ * Barbados Baptisms, results for Name: Parris, Gender: Male, Event: Birth, Event Range: 1873-1875
  4. ↑ Columbia University. Teachers College (1899). Announcement of Teachers College, Columbia University. Teachers College, Columbia University. p. 150.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Ancestry.com, 1910 Census, District 1-55, sheet 6249 1B for Charleston City, SC, April 15, 1910, lines 54-8. (registration required)
  6. ↑ Edward Wagenknecht (1982). American profile, 1900-1909. Univ of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 978-0-87023-351-7.
  7. ↑ Rev Hubert A Parris (Jul 1, 1899). "Are the British West Indies worth keeping?". The Outlook. New York, New York. 3 (74): 702–3.
  8. ↑ Rev Hubert A Parris, (Jul 22, 1899). "Trinidad's Retaliation". The Outlook,. 3 (77): 808.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  9. ↑ Hubert Astley Parris (Dec 1, 1899). "Malarial Mosquitos". The Zoophlist. London, United Kingdom: National Anti-Vivisection Society. 19 (8): 169.
  10. ↑ Hubert Astley Parris (August 1899). "The West Indian Co-operative Union first annual report". Labour co-partnership. London, W C, United Kingdom. 5 (8): 140.
  11. ↑ Transcendentalists in Transition: Popularization of Emerson, Thoreau, and the Concord School of Philosophy in the Greenacre Summer Conferences and the Monsalvat School (1894-1909) : the Roles of Charles Malloy and Franklin Benjamin Sanborn Before the Triumph of the Bahá'í Movement in Eliot, Maine. Transcendental Books. 1980. pp. 138, 141, 142, 147, 150, 151, 236.
  12. ↑ Mary Hanford Finney Ford (1910). The Oriental Rose: Or, The Teachings of Abdul Baha which Trace the Chart of "the Shining Pathway". Broadway Publishing Company. pp. 176–178.
  13. ↑ Esterh Davis (February 1931). "The Great Discovery". Star of the West. Vol. 21, no. 11. pp. 330–334. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  14. ↑ Rideout, Anise (1940). "Early History of the Bahá'í Community in Boston, Massachusetts". bahai-library.com. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 John Kolstoe (31 July 2015). "Dr Paris". Crazy Lovers of Bahá'u'lláh: Inspirational Stories of Little Giants. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. pp. 4–5. ISBN 978-1-5152-8813-8.
  16. ↑ Howard University (1905). Catalogue. s.n. p. 100.
  17. ↑ Alumni Directory 1870–1919. Washington, D.C.: Howard University. 1919. p. 74.
  18. ↑ "Ordination; Diocese of Southern". The Church Standard. 89 (12): 384. July 22, 1905.
  19. ↑ Rev Arthur Lowndes, ed. (May 1906). "Ordination of Priests and Deacons". The Church Eclectic. 38 (2): 78.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "various". Journal of the Annual Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of East Carolina held in St. John's Church. Wilmington, NC. May 1919.
  21. ↑ Ancestry.com, SS Miami from Nassau, Feb 18, 1909, line 30 (registration required)
  22. ↑ "St. Mark's Episcopal Church". The Evening Post. Charleston, South Carolina. November 27, 1909. p. 5.
  23. ↑ "Lectures for nurses; Rev. H. A. Parris, of St. Mark's Church, to speak at the Colored Hospital,". The Evening Post. Charleston, South Carolina. November 8, 1910. p. 7.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Morrison, Gayle (1982). To move the world : Louis G. Gregory and the advancement of racial unity in America. Wilmette, Ill: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. p. 4-6, 26-27, 31-35. ISBN 0-87743-188-4.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Venters, Louis E., III (2010). Most great reconstruction: The Baha'i Faith in Jim Crow South Carolina, 1898-1965 (Thesis). Colleges of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina. ISBN 978-1-243-74175-2. UMI Number: 3402846.{{cite thesis}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  26. ↑ "Progress of training school". The New York Age. New York, New York. 5 Jan 1911. p. 8.
  27. ↑ Though most entries in the directory for Parris do not indicate he was black the Church clearly is; Raleigh, NC Directory, 1913-1914, p. 332
  28. ↑ "The Shaw graduates". The Twice-a-Week Dispatch. Burlington, North Carolina. 19 May 1914. p. 6.
  29. ↑ "There are four negroes licensed..." The Twin-City Daily Sentinel. Winston-Salem, North Carolina. 16 Jun 1914. p. 5.
  30. ↑ "Upon recommendation...,". The Wilmington Morning Star. Wilmington, North Carolina. 11 Nov 1915. p. 5.
  31. ↑ Chris E. Fonvielle, Jr. (2007). Historic Wilmington & Lower Cape Fear. HPN Books. pp. 51–6. ISBN 978-1-893619-68-5.
  32. ↑ "Big event at Williston". The Wilmington Morning Star. Wilmington, North Carolina. 16 Jan 1916. p. 5.
  33. ↑ "To have clinic for the colored children here". The Wilmington Morning Star. Wilmington, North Carolina. 24 Jan 1916. p. 5.
  34. ↑ "Gregory normal institute commencement programme". The Wilmington Morning Star. Wilmington, North Carolina. 18 May 1916. p. 6.
  35. ↑ "FOrm colored unit". The Wilmington Morning Star. Wilmington, North Carolina. 13 Apr 1917. p. 5.
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 36.3 George F. King (23 Apr 1917). "Pleads for uplift of race". The Wilmington Morning Star. Wilmington, North Carolina. p. 3.
  37. ↑ Susan Smith (3 August 2010). Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired: Black Women's Health Activism in America, 1890-1950. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 185. ISBN 0-8122-0027-6.
  38. ↑ "Negroes name commission". The Wilmington Morning Star. Wilmington, North Carolina. 29 May 1917. p. 5.
  39. ↑ * "Williston colored school". The Wilmington Dispatch. Wilmington, North Carolina. 6 Oct 1913. p. 5.
  40. ↑ Walter H. Conser, Jr. (4 September 2006). A Coat of Many Colors: Religion and Society along the Cape Fear River of North Carolina. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 282–3. ISBN 0-8131-3830-2.
  41. ↑ Sheila Smith McKoy (13 November 2001). When Whites Riot: Writing Race and Violence in American and South African Cultures. Univ of Wisconsin Press. pp. 137–8. ISBN 978-0-299-17394-4.
  42. ↑ "Urges negroes to register". The Wilmington Morning Star. Wilmington, North Carolina. 29 May 1917. p. 6.
  43. ↑ "New Hanover's share is nearly a million". The Wilmington Morning Star. Wilmington, North Carolina. 9 Dec 1917. p. 5.
  44. ↑ "Colored farmers rallying". The Wilmington Morning Star. Wilmington, North Carolina. 12 Jun 1917. p. 8.
  45. ↑ "Negro farmers plan conference". The Wilmington Dispatch. Wilmington, North Carolina. 12 Aug 1917. p. 3.
  46. ↑ George F. King (24 Jun 1917). "Observe St. John's day". The Wilmington Morning Star. Wilmington, North Carolina. p. 2.
  47. ↑ George F. King (4 Jul 1917). "Ordination at St. Mark's". The Wilmington Morning Star. Wilmington, North Carolina. p. 8.
  48. ↑ "Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Hannen…,". The Wilmington Dispatch. Wilmington, North Carolina. 21 Aug 1917. p. 6.
  49. ↑ "Negroes observed emancipation day". The Wilmington Dispatch. Wilmington, North Carolina. 7 Jan 1918. p. 5.
  50. ↑ Influenza situation, by H. A. Parris, The Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, North Carolina)14 Oct 1918, Mon • Page 4
  51. ↑ 51.0 51.1 51.2 "various". Journal of the Annual Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of East Carolina held in St. John's Church. Wilmington, NC. May 1918.
  52. ↑ Wilmington, N.C. Directory (1919-1920 ed.). Wilmington, NC. 1919. p. 443.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  53. ↑ Medical Society of the State of North Carolina (1919). Transactions. p. 344.
  54. ↑ Ancestry.com 1920 Census of Wilmington NC, District 6-100, January 1920, sheet 1601 19 A, lines 5-10 (registration required)
  55. ↑ Nuptial mass said at St. Thomas' church, The Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, North Carolina)23 Jun 1920, Wed • Page 5
  56. ↑ 56.0 56.1 "various". Journal of the Annual Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of East Carolina held in St. John's Church. Wilmington, NC. May 1920.
  57. ↑ "various". Journal of the Annual Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of East Carolina held in St. John's Church. Wilmington, NC. May 1921.
  58. ↑ "various". Journal of the Annual Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of East Carolina held in St. John's Church. Wilmington, NC. May 1922.
  59. ↑ "Two hundred negro doctors to gather". The Wilmington Morning Star. Wilmington, North Carolina. Jun 18, 1922. p. 5.
  60. ↑ (June 20, 1922) "Program".: 1–2. 
  61. ↑ "various". Journal of the Annual Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of East Carolina held in St. John's Church. Wilmington, NC. May 1923.
  62. ↑ "various". Journal of the Annual Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of East Carolina held in St. John's Church. Wilmington, NC. May 1924.
  63. ↑ "Appendix H". Journal of the Annual Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of East Carolina held in St. John's Church. Wilmington, NC: 174. May 1924.
  64. ↑ Ancestry.com 1930 Census, Rich Square Township, District 4-66-14, April 1930, sheet 5b, lines 75-76 (registration required)
  65. ↑ Ancestry.com 1940 Census, Rich Square Township, District 2-66-16, April 1940, sheet 9b, lines 68-70 (registration required)
  66. ↑ Roger M. Dahl (Sep 24, 2018). "RE: information on Eugene Howard". U.S. National Bahá’í Archives. Email courtesy of Roger M. Dahl, Archivist, U.S. National Bahá’í Archives, 1233 Central Street, Evanston, Ill. 60201, Email: archives@usbnc.org, to Steven Kolins July 6, 2016
  67. ↑ Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Greensboro, North Carolina…, Baha'i News, Nov 1943, Issue 166, p. 3
  68. ↑ Roger M. Dahl (July 6, 2016), Correspondence to Steven Kolins, Wilmette, Il.: National Bahá’í Archives, United States
  69. ↑ "In memoriam". Bahá'í News. January 1956. p. 11.
  70. ↑ 70.0 70.1 Ancestry.com Certificate of Death #32238, district 46-60 (registration required)
  71. ↑ Dr Hubert A. Parris, find-a-grave.com

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://bahaipedia.org/index.php?title=Hubert_Parris&oldid=143272"
Powered by MediaWiki