By Jeffrey V. Moy, North Jersey History and Genealogy Center
Two of Morristown’s most prominent civic leaders of the 20th century were both children of parents who sought a better life up north before the Great Migration.
Clara Watson grew up in a middle class home built by her father, a successful businessman. She had a long career as a nurse while volunteering with numerous charitable and civic groups across Morris County.
John Shaw Pinkman, Clara’s brother-in-law, enjoyed a happy childhood in Morristown, where his father owned a warehouse and shipping business. John grew up to own a catering company, and his love of history led to his appointment as Morristown’s official historian, where he meticulously documented its African American community.
The following account is based on oral histories of Clara Watson Pinkman and John Pinkman recorded by the Morristown & Morris Township Library between 1982 and 1983.
Maintaining Morristown’s African American History
In the 1982 recording, John Pinkman recounted that Morris County’s earliest Black residents consisted of enslaved Africans who worked on the farms, stores, and homes owned by white residents before the American Revolution.
Over time, manumitted and escaped slaves purchased land of their own. However, Morris County’s African American population remained small throughout the 18th century, and Morristown’s 1900 population consisted of fewer than 100 families.
The first Southern Blacks to migrate from Virginia to New Jersey included graduates of the Hampton Institute which, according to John Pinkman, was created after the Civil War to provide an education to the formerly enslaved.
Many of the Institute’s trustees hailed from Morristown, and some traveled South to teach there. Mr. Pinkman also noted the history of the Boyden Institute, a teachers college that trained students to become educators, whose mission it was to help uplift the next generation to become fully realized American citizens.
However, upon graduating from the Institutes, some young Virginians learned that they could earn more working in New Jersey than teaching in Virginia, so they moved north.
Making one’s way hundreds of miles north to seek new opportunities during the early 1900s brought a unique set of challenges, particularly when traveling through towns bound by Jim Crow laws that declined services to certain people based solely on their race.
Offering a hand up to the next generation
Most Southerners arriving in Morristown found temporary lodging in the homes of established African American families, friends, or church contacts.
Those fortunate to have built and owned their own homes, according to John Pinkman, were expected to help others “because there was no place for you to stay, because, you see, being colored you couldn’t stay in a hotel, you weren’t allowed to stay in a hotel; very often you weren’t allowed to eat in some places in those days. So anybody who was established, you had to take care of them, of each other, until they could find a place.”
Pinkman further explained that once in Morristown, newcomers often stayed with one of several families, including the Gregorys, the Watsons, or the Graceys. The Watson family, who lived closest to the Lackawanna Train Station, colloquially referred to their house as the “Dew Drop Inn.”
Transplants arriving in town without a job or apartment needed “a headquarters,” as Clara Watson referred to her childhood home, where Mr. and Mrs. Watson connected them to job prospects, made introductions to social circles and community resources, and provided room and board until they got on their feet.
Clara referred to this social, family, and religious network as “a brotherly love affair.”
As with most other migrant groups, social and family connections played a significant role in how Morristown’s African American newcomers established themselves. In the early 1900s, most of the area’s affluent white families preferred hiring Irish and Italian immigrants for service jobs, leaving many Black job seekers to look elsewhere.
Jobs requiring little to no startup capital or equipment, but a strong work ethic and a creative mind, could lead to lucrative trades and successful businesses. Those who went into business for themselves became Morris County’s earliest black entrepreneurs and property owners. Among them were the Grant family, the Graceys, Watsons, Earlys, Robinsons, and the Irvings.
Packaging and shipping goods across the country was as important a century ago as it is today, and it was the job of expressmen to efficiently and reliably pack, manage, and deliver cargo.
Among the individuals who owned and operated their own warehouse and delivery firms were James Downey, William James, the Ray family on Ridgedale Avenue, Sam Jenkins (owner of “Swift Ensure”), and John Pinkman’s family.
Following the transportation trend were taxi drivers who got their start driving for local companies but managed to save enough to purchase their own car, such as Lee Gracey, Matthew Washington, John Tanner, Richard Burton, Henry Ladon, and George Tucker.
Among Morristown’s numerous successful African American businesses were William Jones’ grocery store on Spring Street, Ms. Early’s tea shop, L.L. Taylor’s funeral home on Anison Street, and several busy restaurants in town.
Clara recalled that “Water Street was always busy” and featured many retail and commercial storefronts. During the 1920s, many Italian American families still ran businesses on Water Street all the way up towards Flagler Street, according to Watson and Pinkman, with many Irish American families living on Town Hill (near the Green), and the largest concentration of African Americans along Center Street, Coal Avenue, and Spring Street.
Clara Watson and John Pinkman recorded the names and occupations of many of Morristown’s prominent African American citizens. In a 1983 presentation at the Morristown & Morris Township Library, they recounted how the Walker family became Morristown’s first Black homeowners when they purchased farmland from Father Flynn, the Rector of Assumption Church.
Tom Walker was the town’s first African American ashman, and his business acumen allowed him to purchase a large amount of land along Speedwell Avenue.
Of the town’s medical professionals, there were African American physicians: Doctors Williams, John, Scott, Braddock, and Wetmore; as well as dentists: Doctors Thompson and Walker. Many successful business owners bought land on Willow Street, which was often referred to as Morristown’s “Black Wall Street.”
Watson emphasized the importance of land ownership to her parents’ generation, stating, “That was something they brought with them from Virginia, you had to own property; it gave you prestige and something in the community, and respect, and they brought with them… it was the first thing they did was to try to buy a house.”
Other early 20th century occupations held by Black Morristonians included antique dealers, police officers, barbers, general store owners, and electricians. Mr. Dave Johnson operated a second-hand store on Morris Street and, according to Clara Watson, “He had the most vivid [recall], it was remarkable to see a man who was blind and able to do as he did.”
When asked to reflect on her lifetime in Morristown during the oral history interview, Clara noted that “Many changes have taken place, some good and some bad, but on a whole I think the good out-powers the others.”
Among her childhood memories of growing up in town, she mentioned family excursions to nearby towns aboard the trolley, including picnics held on the bucolic grounds of Greystone Park.
The Watson Family’s journey from Virginia to Morristown
William Watson traveled from his hometown in Virginia to Morristown, where he established William Watson & Sons, a waste management and trucking company. As Mr. Watson’s business thrived he became a respected member of the community who dedicated his life to elevating the town’s African American citizens, both economically and socially.
William met his wife Addie Daly, also of Virginia, in Morristown, where the two wed and raised a family of seven children, including Nathaniel, Francis, Clara, Martin, Hazel, Gertrude, and Evelyn.
Responsible for a growing family, the Watsons lived first on Center Street, before moving to Spring Street and finally in 1931 to a house that William had built on East Hanover Avenue.
William employed several African American tradesmen to construct the family home, including general contractor Ferdinand Gregory, as well as electricians, plumbers, and construction workers. Clara credited her father with having the foresight to buy the land upon which he built three houses along Spring Street so that he could leave something to his children upon which to build their own lives.
William and Addie Watson instilled a deep emphasis on attaining a good education amongst their children, all of whom graduated from Morristown High School to pursue careers or raise families of their own.
During a 1983 interview taken for the North Jersey History & Genealogy Center’s African American oral history project, Clara Watson Pinkman emphasized that education was highly prized within her family.
“We appreciated the fact that we were going to school every day, missing no day whatsoever, and our intentions, and my parents’ intentions, were that we were going to do better than they had done in their day,” she said.
William and Addie Watson’s oldest son, Nathaniel played football at Morristown High where he also developed his talent as a musician, before holding a long career as a mailman. Hazel enjoyed her work as a beautician. Evelyn became a school teacher, and Francis graduated pre-med.
However, both Francis and his brother Martin joined their father at William Watson & Sons, until William’s premature death in 1933, at which point they assumed control of and successfully ran the family business for four decades. The Watsons sold the firm in 1973.
Clara Watson was born in Morristown in 1906. She was William and Addie’s oldest daughter and second child. Upon graduating from Morristown high School in 1925, Clara worked for Adams Real Estate Co. in Montclair for three years, until her mother’s failing health led her to seek work closer to home.
At the height of the Great Depression in 1934, Ms. Watson was a caseworker for the Emergency Relief Agency, where she connected Morristown’s hardest hit families with sources of food, fuel, and rent to survive until they secured employment.
By 1941, the United States was firmly committed towards securing victory for the Allies in World War II, and Clara did her part by manufacturing ammunition at Picatinny Arsenal. But after witnessing one too many accidental explosions at the munitions plant, Watson felt she could better aid her fellow Americans by entering the medical field.
On the same September day in 1942 that her brother Nathaniel Watson boarded a train for basic training, a 35-year-old Clara climbed aboard another train headed for nursing school in Maryland.
During the late 19th century when racial segregation laws made it illegal for many hospitals to treat African American patients, a group of Black doctors established Provident Hospital of Baltimore to provide for those seeking medical care, and to train qualified physicians and nurses.
Ms. Watson graduated from the nursing program as president of her class and was named “best all-around nurse.” She first worked at Community Hospital of Newark before moving to the Veterans Hospital in Lyons, NJ, where her tenure lasted from 1946 to 1960. Clara next completed post-graduate work at Seton Hall University, and then worked as a private nurse.
Clara briefly married Carter C. Pinkman, a plumbing and heating contractor and longtime member of Morristown’s Calvary Baptist Church, who died in 1958. In addition to her nursing career, friends and neighbors knew Clara for her lifelong dedication to numerous charitable, faith-based, and community causes across Morris County. She was active with the Neighborhood House, the Collinsville Civic and Improvement League, the Morris County American Legion Auxiliary, the Urban League and the NAACP. She also was a charter member of the Union Baptist Church.
When speaking of her years volunteering, Clara made special mention of helping with the children at the Neighborhood House, back when it was located in a little grey home.
“I’ve always worked with children, I liked working with children and think that’s the one thing that’s kept me up and doing so much,” she said. Clara Watson Pinkman retired in 1982 at age 76, and the noted social and civic leader of Morris County died at home in 1996 at age 89.
Building a business and preserving Morristown’s history: the Pinkman family
Like the Watson family, the Pinkmans also hailed from Virginia. In 1899 they moved to New Jersey, where Matthew Wallace Pinkman started a warehouse and shipping business in Newark. Mr. Pinkman discovered a niche market for storing and shipping the pianos of affluent Newarkers between their city homes and country estates in Morristown and Morris Township.
Matthew married Mattie Elizabeth Gayle, and the couple raised five children together: Daughters Beatrice and Cecelia, and sons John, Carter, Donald, and Matthew Wallace Jr. Matthew and Mattie often visited relatives in Morristown, and in 1918 they purchased a home in town and relocated.
Mattie Pinkman was a teacher who later dedicated her life to raising the family’s seven children. Born in Newark, John Shaw Pinkman attended 3rd grade at the Liberty Street School, moving on to the Speedwell Avenue School, and finally Morristown High School, where he graduated in 1930.
As a 13-year-old, John took jobs around town after school to help feed and care for the horse that his parents had bought for him. One of the French chefs working at a Morristown estate taught the teenager how to cook, which led to a career in catering.
Aside from owning a successful catering business, John Pinkman’s extensive knowledge of Morris County history resulted in Morristown Mayor Norman Bloch appointing him as the town’s official historian in 1993, The honor was repeated by subsequent mayors.
Like his sister-in-law Clara Watson Pinkman, John was community-minded, serving on the board of the Mt. Kemble Home, active with the Salvation Army, and was a vestryman of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown. John also was a member of the Morris County NAACP, Urban League, Morris County Historical Society and Company of Military Historians. He retired from his catering business in 1981. John Shaw Pinkman died at home in March of 2008 at age 97.
Sources:
- Cheryl C. Turkington, Setting Up Our Own City, the Black Community in Morristown, Morristown, NJ: Joint Free Public Library of Morristown and Morris Township, Local History and Genealogy Department, 1992.
- Helen B. and Patricia Conover interview of Clara Watson Pinkman for the African American Oral History Project, Joint Free Public Library of Morristown and Morris Township, August 3, 1983.
- I Remember Morristown, with John Pinkman, Clara Watson Pinkman, and Julianna Gregory Kersey. Directed by Marion Gerhart and Produced by Kathleen Schrach and Debbie Banter, Morrisotwn, NJ: Joint Free Public Library of Morristown and Morris Township, 1982.
- North Jersey History and Genealogy Center (NJHGC) historic newspaper collection.
- NJHGC African American Oral History Project.
- NJHGC photograph collection.
- NJHGC yearbook collection.
- NJHGC genealogical databases.
For a behind the scenes look at our collections and additional information on New Jersey history, follow us on Twitter @NJHistoryCenter and Facebook; and read our other MorristownGreen.com articles here.
Both Clara Watson and John Pinkman were long time residents of Morristown. They served their community with honor and love and riches had nothing to do with their actions.
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