Henry Tolliver finds his father Alfred Tolliver

EDITORIALS.
REMARKABLE COINCIDENCE
Henry Tolliver, a leading citi-
zen [citizen], living at 1413 Fremont street
is about to start on a trip to
Leavenworth, Kans., to visit his
aged father, whom he has not
seen since he was sold on the
slave block over a half century
ago, at the age of 9 years. The
father is a man of remarkable age
and according to a son who
recently visited here, has seen 127
summers.
Henry Tolliver, when but a boy
of 9, was sold on a southern auct-
ion [auction] block in Davis County, Mis-
souri [Missouri]. This was the last he saw
of his parent. He ran away from
his master about the time of the
outbreak of the war and came to
Des Moines. He enlisted in the
sixteenth United States colored
infantry, served through the war
and then came back to Des Moines
and has since lived here. He is
now a man of 64 years and the
story of how he learned again of
the whereabouts of his father
reads like a romance.
A short time ago a colored man
—a tramp—came to Mr. Tolli-
ver’s [Tolliver's] home on Fremont street.
Mrs. Tolliver gave him some-
thing [something] to eat. The visitor asked
her name. Mrs. Tolliver told
him. He said he knew an old
man of that name living at
Leavenworth and that he was
known as Alfred Tolliver. Mrs.
Tolliver said at once this was the
name of her husband’s father.
Mr. Tolliver was working south
of the river at the time. Mrs.
Tolliver kept the stranger until
her husband returned, and the
latter, after making minute in-
quiries [inquiries], was assured he had at
last discovered the whereabouts
of his father. He wrote to Leav-
enworth [Leavenworth] for confirmation and re-
ceived [received] a reply that removed all
doubt on the subject.
Early this week Mr. Tolliver
was visited by his brother Alex-
ander [Alexander] of Tonganoxie, Kans. The
two brothers had not met since
1862. From his brother Mr. Tol-
liver [Tolliver] learned that his father was
in good health and was able to
walk about. He has planned to
leave for Levenworth in a short
time and there will doubtless be
a family reunion well worth wit-
nessing [witnessing].
While Alexander Tolliver was
here this week the two brothers
called on Capt. Amos Brandt at
the state house and told him their
remarkable story. Mr. Henry
Tolliver had a son in Captain
Brandt’s company of colored
taoops in the Spanish-American
war.

Transcription Status

This transcription is complete

This Ad Mapped

Geolocation

Tags

Tags add missing context to the ads. Click the tag(s) below to explore ads with similar themes.

Share Information About This Ad