Rev. William Gaston officiated in the immersion baptism of many new colored church members in the Big Spring on Sunday, May 18, 1893. (Eden)

Died:

March 1896

Buried:

Greenwood Cemetery, Huntsville, Alabama

Notes:

•  "A mass meeting of colored citizens was held in 1891 and results were forthcoming. Trustees for a school were elected, consisting of H. C. Binford, J. B. Carter, W. H. Gaston, J. F. Humphrey, Sidney Pentecost, Emanual McCalley and Charles Moore. These trustees secured a one acre lot from Nicholas Davis in the Davis Grove between Pearl and Pump Streets and were rewarded later in 1892 by seeing the city award a contract to C. E. Hutchens for a two story frame school building, the first publicly owned building in Huntsville's public school history for black students. The building was dedicated in October 15, 1894 and served until 1927 when a brick building replaced the frame structure and became known as William H. Councill school." - Record II

•  Huntsville Alderman, 1883-1889. - Record II

•  May 18, 1893: "The Colored Baptist had a baptizing at the Big Spring Branch on Sunday. Many new members were baptized by immersion. Reverend Mr. Gaston officiated." - Eden

•  "William Gaston, a black educator and minister who served as assistant pastor of Saint Bartley Primitive Baptist Church for 35 years." - Stephens

•  The historic marker for William Hooper Councill High School reads: "The first public school for African-Americans in the city of Huntsville was named for the founder of the Alabama A&M University. The site, selected by a committee headed by the Rev. W.E. Gaston, was donated by the Davis-Lowe family. Founded in 1867 in the basement of Lakeside Methodist Episcopal Church on Jefferson Street, the school was moved to a frame building on this site in 1892. The first diplomas were granted in 1912. A brick structure replaced the original building in 1927. The school was closed due to integration, graduating its last class in 1966." - Luttrell

•  Home on Oak Ave opposite Williams. - City Directory

•  Married Mary E. Fearn August 20, 1870 in Madison County, Alabama. - MCR

•  "The article discusses the career of African American clergyman and politician William Gaston in Huntsville, Alabama during the 1880s Post-Reconstruction era. Topics include the participation of African Americans in urban Southern politics, problems facing the Alabama Republican Party, and the creation of the Greenback-Labor movement. Also addressed are the plight of African American military veterans, attempts to create African American schools and colleges, and letters from Gaston to the newspaper 'Huntsville Gazette.'" - Robinson


Related Links:

•  City Directory - Huntsville City Directory 1896-97, by Huntsville Directory Company, 1896-1897, page 93.

•  Eden - Eden of the South: A Chronology of Huntsville, Alabama, 1805-2005, by Raneé G. Pruitt, Editor, 2005, page 86.

•  History Engine - Article titled "A Black Voice, the Spark of the Modern Civil Rights Movement" includes information about Rev. Gaston's article focused on the Civil Rights Act. (Originally found at http://historyengine.richmond.edu/episodes/view/5697.)

•  Luttrell - Historical Markers of Madison County, Alabama, by Frank Alex Luttrell, III, Editor, 2001, pages 74 & 101.

•  MCR - Madison County Records

•  Record II - A Dream Come True: The Story of Madison County and Incidentally of Alabama and the United States, Volume II, by James Record, 1978, pages 79, 358.

•  Robinson - Article titled "Rethinking Black Urban Politics in the 1880s: The Case of William Gaston in Post-Reconstruction Alabama" by Stephen R. Robinson in Alabama Review, Jan2013, Vol. 66 Issue 1, page 3.

•  Stephens - Historic Huntsville: A City of New Beginnings, by Elise Hopkins Stephens, 2002, pages 67 & 68.

The Following Pages Link to this Page:
•  City Directory
•  Eden
•  Luttrell
•  Record II