is parents moved to Brooklyn, N. Y. He was
early taught to read and write by his mother, afterward he
was sent to the Raymond Street public school, Prof. Chas. A.
Dorsey, principal. Here he showed a capable mind, by his
easy mastery of all the subjects assigned him, and by his
standing among his fellows.

At the age of thirteen, by force of circumstances, his
progress in school was checked, his parents having changed
residence, going to Florida, transferred him to entirely new
scenes, environments and conditions. After attending school
in Jacksonville, Fla., for three years, he entered the
college preparatory course of Atlanta University.

In 1876, returning North, he entered and took a collegiate
course in Lincoln University, after which he took two years'
technical course in Boston, Mass.

In 1880 he married an accomplished young lady of one of the
first families of Charleston, S. C., Miss Ella L. Drayton.
Two charming and accomplished daughters of this happy union
are Charlotte E. and Mary M., the elder one a graduate of
the Normal school at Washington, D. C., and a teacher in its
public school. The younger daughter is at present a pupil in
Normal School.

In 1885 he returned to Jacksonville, Fla., began business as
architect and builder. After three years of prosperous
business, he launched upon the world the first steam saw and
planing mill, owned and operated entirely by colored men to
manufacture lumber in all its forms for house building. The
plant grew rapidly, increasing in facilities and continued
prosperous until by the hand of an incendiary it was swept
by fire. The State Normal and Industrial College of the
State needing a practical and efficient man to take charge
of their technical department, solicited his services, where
he taught all branches of architectural and mechanical
drawing, manual training, uses and care of wood-working
machinery and steam engine.

Not being thoroughly satisfied with his surrounding
conditions, he struck out for a new line of work, that of
dentistry, which, after three years of hard study, struggle
and sacrifice, with the cares and responsibilities of a
family upon him all the while, he finished at Howard
University, dental department, and immediately opened an
offi