LANCASTER — On February 24, a sunlit date marked with historical memoirs and oral histories, family and community filled the Lancaster Community Library meeting room for “A Family’s Journey into the Life and Legacy of the Honorable Armistead Stokalas Nickens.”
This historical presentation was co-hosted by Brenda Campbell and Francine Aytes Hunter, The Nickens Historical Highway Marker Committee, and the Lancaster Virginia Historical Society.
Antionette Diantha Aytes set the tone with storytelling, much like envisioning and sitting in on family conversations at the dinner table, about the inspirational beginnings of this journey and the discovery of family history as conveyed by the late matriarch Gazelle Nickens Aytes. Dr. Karen E. Sutton followed with the analytical research of the “The Nickens Nine,” free Black ancestors who fought in the American Revolutionary War.
Jacqueline Morris Whitman, great-granddaughter of Nickens, fluently related the biography of his early life, his vision for building a school for Black residents in the county, the co-founding of Calvary Baptist Church, and his early advocacy for building a bridge in Tappahannock, later to be known as the Downing Bridge.
Campbell, another great-granddaughter, spoke further of “the Virginia Gentleman and his Legacy,” vividly imparting additional information about Nickens’ vocations, entrepreneurship, public service and assistance to others. She also conveyed history regarding Simon Conquest, a brickmaker, and others who helped construct buildings on the streets of Kilmarnock.
Thomas Walker, joining virtually from Seattle, Wash., described his comprehensive national and global travel to conduct research of family genealogy and history. He also announced that a classroom and technology lab was named for the Honorable Armistead Stokalas Nickens in 2022 at the Filipino Community Center in Seattle, in recognition of his dedication to education.
Francine Aytes Hunter played a video with remarks from Joe Gorman, a sixth grade U.S. History teacher in Hanover Public Schools who integrates the history of “The Honorable Armistead S. Nickens” within his classroom instruction. She additionally enlightened the audience about the Historical Highway Marker process, describing the Virginia Department of Historic Resources protocol and acknowledging the abundant level of local, regional and statewide community collaboration and support. Hunter spoke, too, about future plans to preserve the Nickens cemetery and other ways of continuing to commemorate family history and public service.
The presentation and accompanying visual displays also featured information from sources including historian Matthew S. Gottlieb, who also virtually attended the presentation and is the author of the Encyclopedia Virginia entry “Armistead S. Nickens (1836-1906),” the Lancaster County African American Historical Society; the late Dr. Morgan E. Norris Sr., the late J. Allen Ball Sr., author of the “The Honorable Armistead S. Nickens, Statesman, Virginia Gentleman, Father: A Memoir; and the late Carolyn H Jett, author of Lancaster County, Virginia, Where the River Meets the Bay.
Karen Hart, executive director of the Lancaster Virginia Historical Society, read remarks from the U.S. Congressional Record of proceedings in the House of Representatives from February 23, when the Honorable Robert J. Wittman stated, “Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the Honorable Armistead Stokalas Nickens, one of the first African Americans to serve in Virginia’s government. On December 16, 1871, Armistead S. Nickens took the oath of office as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, making history as the first African American elected official in Lancaster County history. Armistead Nickens would go on to win a second term in 1873…” Congressman Wittman’s tribute continued with a summary of Nickens’ life history and contributions and concluded with “Mr. Speaker, I ask you to join me in recognizing the immense accomplishments of the Honorable Armistead Stokalas Nickens.” On February 26, Kathryn Rexrode, a representative from Congressman Wittman’s office, met with Campbell and Hunter at the Hanover Tavern, Hanover, where the family also had historical items on display.
Hunter expressed much humble gratitude “to our Elders, upon whose shoulders we stand.” Special thanks were also extended to the Lancaster Virginia Historical Society, Lancaster Community Library, Kilmarnock Museum and Historic Christ Church & Museum. She concluded the event stating, “As we connect the past to the present and envision the future endeavors of legacy and public service, we leave you with this, ‘Lives of great men all remind us, we can make our lives sublime, and departing, leave behind us, footprints on the sands of time.’ —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. ‘If you want to leave your footprints on the sands of time, be sure you’re wearing work shoes.’ —Author Unknown’.”
Among the local dignitaries and community leaders present at the event were Lancaster board of supervisors chairman Ernest Palin and member William Lee; Kilmarnock council member and former mayor Mae Umphlett; former Kilmarnock council member Keith Butler; Carroll Lee Ashburn, director of the Kilmarnock Museum; Lloyd Hill, chairman of Deacon Ministry of Sharon Baptist Church; Pixie Curry, “A Pixie from Kilmarnock” Podcaster; Alice Norris, granddaughter of Dr. Morgan E. Norris Sr.; and retired Lancaster County Public Schools educator, Sandra Davis Smyre, who reunited with several generations of former history students.
Dr. Bessida Cauthorne-White, executive director of the Middle Peninsula African-American Genealogical and Historical Society of Virginia, was also in attendance. Representatives of the Lancaster Virginia Historical Society included Hart and board members Alice Cooper, Vera Lee and Margaret Forrester.
