Sarah A. Usher
Sarah A. Usher was in her mid- to late-twenties when she moved to Harford County to teach at the school in Havre de Grace.[1] While not much is known about the Black teacher before her time in Harford, records indicate that she was born in Jamaica, likely to parents William and Sarah Usher, on June 15, 1843.[2] According to the 1930 census, Usher first migrated to the United States in 1865.[3] She took over leadership of the Anderson Institute from the school’s second teacher, Elizabeth V. Dixon, in October 1869, and remained at the school for only one academic year.[4]
While in Harford, Usher lived with Anderson Institute trustee Isaac Bishop and his wife Rachel. The other members recorded as living in the 1870 Bishop household pose a bit of a conundrum for researchers. Listed immediately after Sarah’s entry on the census are two children, George (10) and Mary (8), who appear to share the teacher’s last name. Perhaps the two minors were Usher’s much-younger siblings whom she was charged with caring for even as she accepted the teaching job in Harford. This seems unlikely, however, since the names “George” and “Mary” never re-appear in association with Usher following her time in Havre de Grace. In all likelihood, the two minors were the children of Isaac and Rachel Bishop. This second possibility, though, is troubled by the fact that George and Mary were recorded as having a foreign-born mother. It follows, then, that Rachel Bishop - a Maryland native - could not have been the children’s mother. The final explanation, of course, is that information about George and Mary was incorrectly recorded by the census-taker. Whatever the parentage of the children may have been, one thing is almost certainly known: Sarah Usher would have interacted with George and Mary both at home and at the Anderson Institute.[5]
Her time as teacher at the school appears to have passed without incident, other than the large number of students which she was responsible for educating. As the school’s sole instructor, Usher managed up to 54 students at once, all of varying ages.[6] Her final month of teaching at Anderson seems to have been May 1870, by which point the school’s total enrollment had dropped to 30 children, with an average daily attendance of 24. The only qualitative comment Usher provided on her final monthly report was an explanation for a deficiency of time in teaching, which she credited with “indisposition.”[7]
The next time Usher appears in the historical record, she seems to have experienced two major life events: marriage and motherhood. Sarah Spencer appears in the 1880 census for Wilmington, Delaware with a listed birthplace of the West Indies. She and Joseph A. Spencer were listed as parents to three children: Julius (4), Ethelina May (3), and Stella Edna (5 months).[8] Two years later, Sarah gave birth to her fourth child, Herburt Usher Spencer (sometimes stylized as Herbert). The child’s birth record provides the strongest evidence that the Sarah from the 1880 census and the woman who birthed Herburt are one and the same: Herburt’s parents are listed as “Spencer, Jos. & Sarah (Usher),” and his mother’s nationality is listed as West Indian.[9] In 1884, Sarah gave birth to a fifth child named Ariel Isabel.[10] It is unlikely that Ariel made it to adulthood; at the time of the 1900 census, Sarah was listed as having given birth to 5 children, only 4 of which were recorded as being alive. Ariel Isabel was not listed among the members of the 1900 Spencer household.[11]
By 1918, however, the Usher’s had cause for celebration. In August of that year, their youngest son, Herbert, married Martha B. Robinson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On the marriage record, Robinson’s listed occupation is that of a teacher, meaning Sarah and her new daughter-in-law both had experience working as an educator.[12] Teaching, it seems, ran in the Usher/Spencer family; in the 1900 census, Sarah’s oldest daughter, Ethelina, was also listed as a public school teacher.[13]
In 1930, Joseph and Sarah Spencer were listed as the only residents of their home in Wilmington. Despite being an octogenarian, Joseph was still working, while Sarah stayed home.[14] Approximately one year after that census record was created, Sarah Spencer died at the age of 87. Her death was attributed to a lack of “nourishment for 5 days” in connection with “senile dementia.”[15] She was buried in Mount Olive Cemetery, a historic burial site for African Americans in Wilmington, Delaware. Sometime later, Joseph Spencer was also interred in Mount Olive. Interestingly, on the Mount Olive Cemetery website, an “Arie Bella Spencer” is listed next to Joseph and Sarah, likely indicating that the Spencer couple were laid to rest next to the daughter that had preceded them in death.[16]
By Stephanie Martinez
[1] “1870 United States Census, Havre de Grace, Harford County, Maryland,” “Sarah Usher,” FamilySearch, Entry for Isaac Bishop and Rachel Bishop, 1870.
[2] “Jamaica, Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880,” “Sarah Annie Usher,” FamilySearch, Entry for Sarah Annie Usher and William Usher, December 6,1843.
[3] “1930 United States Census, Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware,” “Sarah Spencer,” Family Search, Entry for Joseph A Spencer and Sarah V Spencer, 1930.
[4] Sarah A. Usher, “Teacher’s Monthly School Report for the Month of October 1869,” Records of the Superintendent of Education for the District of Columbia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872, U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
[5] “1870 United States Census, Havre de Grace, Harford County, Maryland.”
[6] Sarah A. Usher, “Teacher’s Monthly School Report for the Month of February 1870,” Records of the Superintendent of Education for the District of Columbia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872, U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
[7] Sarah A. Usher, “Teacher’s Monthly School Report for the Month of May 1870,” Records of the Superintendent of Education for the District of Columbia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872, U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
[8] “1880 United States Census, Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware,” “Sarah Spencer,” FamilySearch, Entry for Joseph A. Spencer and Sarah Spencer, 1880.
[9] "Delaware Vital Record Index Cards, 1680-1934,” “Herburt Usher Spencer,” FamilySearch, Entry for Herburt Usher Spencer and Sarah Usher Spencer, January 31, 1882.
[10] "Delaware State Birth Records, 1861-1922,” “Ariel Isabel Spencer,” FamilySearch, Entry for Ariel Isabel Spencer and Joseph Spencer, March 31, 1884.
[11] “1900 United States Census, Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware,” “Sarah A. Spencer,” FamilySearch,Entry for Joseph A Spencer and Sarah A Spencer, 1900.
[12] "Pennsylvania, County Marriages, 1885-1950,” “Herbert U Spencer,” FamilySearch, Entry for Herbert U Spencer and Martha B Robinson, August 26, 1918.
[13] “1900 United States Census, Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware.”
[14] “1930 United States Census, Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware.”
[15] "Delaware Death Records, 1855-1961,” “Sarah Spencer,” FamilySearch, Entry for Sarah Spencer, August 3, 1931.
[16] “Mount Olive Cemetery, Family Names - S, Spencer,” Mount Olive Cemetery, Wilmington, Delaware.