Amanuensis Monday: Announcement of Granddaddy's Going Home Service

An Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.


I am continuing to work on transcribing the many newspaper clippings contained in an old scrapbook that I inherited from my Aunt Martha after she passed. Many of these old clippings contain references to my paternal grandfather, Rev. H. C. Jones, during his time as Director of the Negro Home and Welfare Association in Winston-Salem, NC.

However, amongst all the clippings, there is one that's just a little different than the rest and it's on the very first page of the scrap book.

Rev. Harry C. Jones To Be Buried Monday

Funeral services for the Rev. Harry Claudius Jones of 2900 Clemmonsville Road will be held at 4 p.m. Monday at the Goler Metropolitan AME Zion Church.

The Rev. A. A. Perry and the Rev. R. E. Blakey will be in charge of the rites, with burial  in Evergreen Cemetery.

The body will lie in state at the church for two hours prior to the service.

The Rev. Mr. Jones died shortly after noon Friday at his residence.

My grandfather died on January 21, 1955. This past Friday marked the 56th year of my grandfather's passing and today is the 56th anniversary of his Going Home Service.


I never met my paternal grandfather. He passed 6 years prior to my arrival in this world. Until this year, I've never thought much about my grandfather's death. Maybe it's because his son, my daddy, lies in a hospital bed and the doctors can't seem to figure out what's wrong, but today I find myself shedding a few tears for the only one of my grandparents that I never got a chance to know.  


The burial announcement most likely appeared in either the Twin City Sentinel or the Winston-Salem Journal.


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Amanuensis Monday is a daily blogging theme which encourages the family historian to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin – some we never met – others we see a time in their life before we knew them. A fuller explanation can be found here.


Amanuensis Monday is a popular ongoing series created by John Newmark at TransylvanianDutch.