By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

A little known, interesting Bluffton fact is that the community has been home to African-America residents and visitors earlier than most people realize. 

Recent discoveries found in Bluffton News microfilms prior to 1910 sheds light on this early history.  This feature examines many of these residents and visitors.

Fisk College Jubilee Singers
On December 11, 1896, a choir from Fisk College, Nashville, Tennessee, performed in the town hall. The news item reports that “this famous company was organized in 1880, and has had 10 years of continued success. 

“Their music is so striking and melodious that their audiences are held spellbound and it is with difficultly that the singers leave the stage.

“Henry Ward Beecher used to delight to have this company sing for him in his church. They have traveled under the auspices of the Redpath Lecture Bureau and have just recently closed a 30- night engagement in Chicago.”

In an early story in the News, the concert was announced a free to the public and it consisted of plantation songs, etc.

John Quincy Adams
From the July 7, 1904, Bluffton News it was reported that  John Quincy Adams, an aged Mexican war veteran, of Mt. Cory, has made application for admission to the soldiers’ home at Sandusky.

From a December 1904, Bluffton News comes this notice. The death occurred at the Hancock county infirmary Saturday of John Quincy Adams, a man with an interesting history. He was nearly eighty years old. 

For the complete story with photos click HERE.