Overlooked African American Labor in Rural Lawrence County History

Hugh K Lanterman was born in 1832.  He married Lavina Wirth in 1867. The Rural Republican often mentioned Hugh as operating the Centennial Hotel in Bridgeport and that “his wife served the best food the market had available”. They failed to mention that African American Posey Belle was the cook.

Researchers know this because the 1880 Bridgeport Illinois Census listed Hugh 48, as the Postmaster and his wife Lavina as a “Land lady”. Two women were included in their household, one a maid, Nancy (Dabbs) Brown, and Posey Belle, the cook. Both were African American.

This omission reflects a larger pattern in late nineteenth-century rural American history. African Americans often appear only briefly in census records, household lists, or employment descriptions, while local newspapers and community histories mentioned white business owners, public officials, and families. In rural communities such as Lawrence County, Black workers helped sustain hotels, farms, households, churches, and local economies, yet their names and labor were frequently left out of public praise and historical memory.  

Recognizing, Nancy (Dabbs) Brown as maid, and Posey Belle as the cook at the Centennial Hotel helps restore part of that overlooked history and shows how African American contributions were present even when the written record gave them little attention.