I came across a previously unknown (to me) colored team in Knoxville. The L.E. Paynes of 1885.
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| from Newspapers.com |
I was taken by the mention of specific players in the article, namely Joe Carter. I went to Ancestry.com to see if Mr. Carter was in the Knoxville City Directory of 1885. He was, as was his father, Burrell Carter.
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| from Ancestry.com |
What else could I learn about Mr. Carter? Off to FamilySearch.org where I found him in the 1880 US Census.
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| from FamilySearch.org |
It appears that Joe was born in about 1863 in Tennessee.
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| from FamilySearch.org |
Maybe he was born in 1862.
In my quick search I found less info on Louis E. Payne. He was the Supervising Examiner of Tennessee and North Carolina, working in the Pension Office.
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| from Newspapers.com |
In my experience it is uncommon to find names of early African-American ball players and difficult to assemble any sort of decent research materials. This time I was lucky.
