Ohio; another became the wife
of one Chappee, who is now a stenographer in Detroit; and the third
united in matrimony with James H. Cole, who became the head of a
well-to-do family of Detroit. Then there were the Cooks descending from
Lomax B. Cook, a broker of no little business ability. Will Marion Cook,
the musician, belongs to this family. The De Baptistes, too, were among
the first to get a foothold in this new environment and prospered
materially from their experience and knowledge acquired in
Fredericksburg as contractors.[8a] From this group came Richard De
Baptiste, who in his day was the most noted colored Baptist preacher in
the Northwest. The Pelhams were no less successful in establishing
themselves in the economic world. They enjoyed a high reputation in the
community and had the sympathy and cooperation of the influential white
people in the city. Out of this family came Robert A. Pelham, for years
editor of a weekly in Detroit, and from 1901 to the present time an
employee of the Federal Government in Washington.[9]

The children of Mrs. Richards were in no sense inferior to the
descendants of the other families. She lived to see her work bear fruit
in the distinguished services they rendered and the desirable
connections which they made after the Civil War. Her daughter Julia
married Thomas F. Carey who, after conducting a business for some years
in New York, moved to Toronto, where he died. From this union came the
wife of D. Augustus Straker. Her daughter Evalina married Dr. Joseph
Ferguson who, prior to 1861, lived in Richmond, Virginia, uniting the
three occupations of leecher, cupper and barber. This led to his coming
to Detroit to study medicine. He was graduated there and practiced for
many years in that city. Before the Civil War her son John D. Richards
was sent to Richmond to learn a trade. There he met and became the
lifelong friend of Judge George L. Ruffin, who was then living in that
city.[10]

The most prominent and the most useful person to emerge from this group
of pioneering Negroes was her daughter Fannie M. Richards. She was born
in Fredericksburg, Virginia, October 1, 1841. As her people left that
State when she was quite young she did not see so much of the
intolerable conditions as did the older members of the family. Miss
Richards was successful in getting an early start in education. Desiring
to have better training than what was then given to persons of color in
Detroit, she