Through this post, I hope to reach out to anyone that might have recollection of or information pertaining to the career of "Rev." Beatrice Hemphill (30th March 1898 - 24th Aug 1969).
A respected early 20th century female African-American musician, she was sent to Hodgenville to accept a post as organist for both First Baptist and Lane Lincoln CME Churches. Sadly, we know little of the biography of this talented artist. The daughter of Kentucky parents who had left the Bluegrass for Ohio during the 2nd great Southern "Diaspora" of rural Blacks seeking economic betterment to the north, Beatrice's education and career in Church Music is poorly documented. Not only was she an instrumentalist, she composed & published Sacred music as well.
A respected early 20th century female African-American musician, she was sent to Hodgenville to accept a post as organist for both First Baptist and Lane Lincoln CME Churches. Sadly, we know little of the biography of this talented artist. The daughter of Kentucky parents who had left the Bluegrass for Ohio during the 2nd great Southern "Diaspora" of rural Blacks seeking economic betterment to the north, Beatrice's education and career in Church Music is poorly documented. Not only was she an instrumentalist, she composed & published Sacred music as well.
Beatrice had two children, Rose & Robert Hemphill, as well as step-children Edward & Dorothy (both born in NC). The best I can determine, Beatrice briefly married a George H. Hemphill, formerly of Rutherford County, NC, sometime after Dorothy Lois Hemphill's birth there about 1925. Dorothy & Edward's natural mother may have been an Effie Queen, to whom their father returned in later years, leaving them with their step-mother Beatrice.
(This portion of Beatrice's life is difficult to ascertain. I have yet to confirm her maiden name, or that of her parents, or even the father of her two children, but NC birth records do show Edward as born to George Hemphill, and next Dorothy born to George H. Hemphill and Effie Queen. Later Census records say they are a white couple. Interestingly, there was a Beatrice Jackson, d/o Joseph Jackson & Emma Page, born in Guernsey County, Ohio in 1898. Our Beatrice's tombstone denotes her as Beatrice J. Hemphill.)
It seems likely that Beatrice came to Hodgenville in LaRue County during the 1940s. In 1930 she is listed in the Springfield, Clark County, OH Census as head of household (George has gone back to his first wife), but by 1940 she had relocated to Christian County, KY, near Elkton, indicating she had lived there in that Kentucky county since 1935.
Records show during this period that she had attended college for two years earlier in life, but we don't know just where she studied. Apparently as a single Black mother in Ohio, Beatrice found it difficult to support her children through her musical gifts, instead taking a job as a book keeper for a local Ice & Coal Company. Things didn't get much better during the next decade. By the time she had moved to Kentucky, she is designated as "widowed" and working as a domestic (cook) for $312 a year.
There are too many blank pages in the story of Beatrice Hemphill, as is true with the majority of Kentucky's black leaders. If you know more, or can clarify her story, please share with me.
(This portion of Beatrice's life is difficult to ascertain. I have yet to confirm her maiden name, or that of her parents, or even the father of her two children, but NC birth records do show Edward as born to George Hemphill, and next Dorothy born to George H. Hemphill and Effie Queen. Later Census records say they are a white couple. Interestingly, there was a Beatrice Jackson, d/o Joseph Jackson & Emma Page, born in Guernsey County, Ohio in 1898. Our Beatrice's tombstone denotes her as Beatrice J. Hemphill.)
It seems likely that Beatrice came to Hodgenville in LaRue County during the 1940s. In 1930 she is listed in the Springfield, Clark County, OH Census as head of household (George has gone back to his first wife), but by 1940 she had relocated to Christian County, KY, near Elkton, indicating she had lived there in that Kentucky county since 1935.
Records show during this period that she had attended college for two years earlier in life, but we don't know just where she studied. Apparently as a single Black mother in Ohio, Beatrice found it difficult to support her children through her musical gifts, instead taking a job as a book keeper for a local Ice & Coal Company. Things didn't get much better during the next decade. By the time she had moved to Kentucky, she is designated as "widowed" and working as a domestic (cook) for $312 a year.
There are too many blank pages in the story of Beatrice Hemphill, as is true with the majority of Kentucky's black leaders. If you know more, or can clarify her story, please share with me.
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