RBH Report Keene for Harry Alexander
Item
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Title
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RBH Report Keene for Harry Alexander
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Rights
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RBH Keene
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Type
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Text
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Creator
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Carroll, Jennifer
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Date
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2023
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Description
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Recovering Black History report compiled by volunteers from Keene for Harry Alexander
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Format
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PDF
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Language
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English
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extracted text
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Harry Alexander
BACKGROUND SUMMARY
Harry Alexander was born around 1832 in Virginia.
In 1870, at the age of 38 years old, Harry Alexander, black male, resided in the household of
congressman Thomas M. Edwards in Keene, NH, where he worked as a farm laborer.1 At the
time, Thomas Edwards was President of Ashuelot National Bank and the family lived at 18
Roxbury Street in Keene.
Family Timeline
1870: Harry Alexander, 38-year old black male farm laborer in Keene, NH. Resided in the
home of Thomas M. Edwards. Harry was born in Virginia. He is the only resident of color in the
household. The Edwards family includes:
- Thomas (74), white, ex-member of Congress, $75,000 real estate, $25,000 personal
estate, b.NH;
- Mary H. (52) white, keeping house, b.NH.
- Julia (28), white
- Isabel (25), white
- Mary F. (22), white
- Louisa (18), white, in school
- Hellen T. (16), white, in school
Note: The Edwards family lived in Keene, where Thomas grew up and became President of the
Ashuelot National Bank by the 1870s. Thomas married Mary Fiske in 1840 in Keene. By 1850,
they had four children. They had three other people living with them, one a male laborer, and
two women. Thomas M. Edwards was living in Keene in 1860, at the Cheshire House hotel on
Main Street, with his wife Mary H. and their six children. Thomas was both a sawyer and
member of Congress. At the time he owned real estate worth $50,000 and personal estate
worth $30,000. Harry Alexander does not appear to live with the family. Thomas Edwards died
in 1875. By 1880, Mrs. Edwards was living with three of her daughters and a granddaughter.
They have an Irish maid at their 41 Roxbury Street home. Harry does not live with them. It
appears as though Harry Alexander’s time in Keene was short.
1
1870 U.S. Federal Census (ancestry.com)
Jennifer Carroll
ITEMIZED RESEARCH FINDINGS
Census Records
1870 U.S. Census
RESOURCES USED
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Website: Ancestry.com
Website: Keene Evening Sentinel. http://keene.advantage-preservation.com/
Book: Upper Ashuelot: a History of Keene, New Hampshire
Book: A History of the Town of Keene from 1732, when the Township was Granted by
Massachusetts, to 1874, when it Became a City by S. G. Griffin, M. A.
FURTHER RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS
2
Recovering Black History in the Monadnock Region project: Keene, NH
