Early Pittsburgh History People in Beauty:

Lewis Woodson MinisterLewis Woodson "Throughout the nineteenth century, barbering was their most prestigious occupation, and community leaders often were barbers who operated downtown barbershops that catered to the city's elite." Reverend Lewis Woodson was a prominant African American Barber and abolitionist in the Pittsburgh and Ohio regions. Born as a free black in Ohio in 1838, Woodson received an education from Quakers and became nationally known for his anti-slavery activities. Woodson served as an agent of the Underground Railroad and as minister of the Bethel A.M.E. Church. Along with other prominant Pittsburgh blacks like John Vashon and John Peck, Woodson helped to establish a school for African American children in the area and served as its first teacher. All three men were barbers. Other Lewis Woodson Links: http://www.angelfire.com/oh/chillicothe/ http://www.post-gazette.com/blackhistorymonth/19990222arthur.asp http://www.freedmensbureau.com/mississippi/missmarw4.htm

Lewis Woodson, Co. "E" 49th USCI m. Eveline Woodson of Vicksburg, Mississippi Date: September 14, 1864 Man's age: 26 years old; color: black; father: black; mother: black. Woman's age: 29 years old; color: black; father: black; mother: black; lived with another man 2 years, separated from him by desertion. They, unitedly had 3 children; the man by previous connection had 0; the woman by previous connection had 0. Copy of Register of Marriage of Freemen: Records of the Assistant Commissioner For the State of Mississippi Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, 1865 - 1869 Registers of Marriages of Freedmen Volume I 1863 - 1865 Like Woodson John Vashon operated a barbershop and bath house while John Peck, who was once described as the richest black man in Pittsburgh, was a wigmaker, barber and owner of an oyster house which also served as refuge for runaway slaves. Woodson's sons all learned barbering and his daughter, Virgina married Jacob Proctor, also a barber. She later established one of 19th-century Pittsburgh's most successful businesses, Mrs. Virginia Proctor's Hair Shop, where wigs were sold. She trained her daughters Caroline and Jennie in the hairdressing trade as well. Jennie would run Mrs. Proctor's Hair Shop after her mother's death in 1924. Caroline established her own hair shop. Jacob and Virginia's son Jacob II continued his fathers barber trade. Although none of these people moved North as part of the Great Migration itself, their lives all testify to the power and importance of the beauty industry for early African Americans.