Black male, about 44 years old at the time of his death on 12 April 1896. He was born in Mississippi, and died at the Pest House in Pensacola of smallpox. His occupation was given as laborer, but his marital status was left blank. Dr. Robert W. Hargis signed the death certificate, and he was buried by S. B. Hutcheson at the Escambia County Poor Farm cemetery.
On April 8, 1896, an article appeared in the Pensacola Daily News reporting that Drs. Herron and Anderson had sent “Charles chambers, colored, living near Wright’s mill,” to the pest house with a “suspicious eruption on his face.” A woman who lived in the house with him was also sent out as a nurse. Chambers said he had not been outside the city in more than three years and that he had been afflicted several times with the same eruption. At the time of the article, it had not been confirmed that he was suffering from small pox.
[Wright’s Mill was in an area known as Hawkshaw today, described as being on the eastern end of Intendencia Street. It burned down in 1906.]
An editorial printed a few days later alleged that Chambers (unnamed in the article) had been sent to the pest house but had been receiving no medical attention, and that “a colored woman constitutes the entire guard against intrusion of visitors.” Further allegations of mismanagement of what was apparently becoming a spreading danger ensued. Two days later, the editorial page reported on a meeting of the Board of Health on the 11th. Describing Chambers as just “a patient having been removed from the City on Tuesday,” the paper said their informant had confirmed that “the patient was removed Tuesday night. He was not visited by a physician on Wednesday. On Thursday Dr. White went to the pest house, but did not go in. Up to Saturday night, a physician had not given him personal attention.” They also accuse the doctors of having known all along Chambers had small pox. The paper does not mention that Chambers died Saturday night; his death does not appear to have been reported at all.
I find one Charles Chambers living in Mississippi in 1870 who is a Black male of approximately the correct age. The 1870 Federal Census of Warren County, Mississippi [Vicksburg and vicinity], Meredith Precinct, shows a family headed by Gab Vine, a Black male, 30 years of age, born in Alabama and working as a farm hand. Also in the household was Emma Vine, a Black female 30 years of age – presumably his wife, but the 1870 census did not give family relationships. She was born in Mississippi and was also engaged in farm work. The children in the household were Robert Chambers, a Black male of 14 years; Charles N. Chambers, a Black male of 13 years; Belle Chambers, a Black female of 11 years; Mariah Vine, a Black female of 5 years; Lucinda Vine, a Black female of 3 years; and James Vine, a Black male of 9 months. All the children were born in Mississippi, and everyone of working age was doing farm labor. None were literate. It is likely, given the children’s ages, that the Chambers children were Emma’s from previous relationships. It is very difficult to confirm this is the correct Charles Chambers, and I am unable to find a man by the same name who fits the bill in any later records.
SOURCES:
Florida Certificate of death for Chas. Chambers (No. 2645), Florida Deaths, 1877-1939. Database. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2016. Index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City.
Household of Gab Vine, Year: 1870; Census Place: Meredith, Warren, Mississippi; Roll: M593_751; Page: 144B. Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
“Sent to the Pesthouse,” The Daily News [Pensacola, FL], 8 APR 1896, p. 3.
“Criminal Negligence,” The Daily News [Pensacola, FL], 11 APR 1896, p. 2.
“The Small Pox Matter,” The Daily News [Pensacola, FL], 13 APR 1896, p. 2.