Hargrave Family

Submitted by: Vicille “Dee Dee” Wallace Murphy (Daughter of Fannie Hargrave Wallace) and Robert Nathaniel Wallace, III (Son of Fannie Hargrave Wallace) 

Hargrave Family Contribution to The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Story 

The six children of Zoel and Fannie Latta hosted a gala for their parents' 50th anniversary on October 31, 1964. It was a major social event in the Black community and was the first time a Black family held an event in uptown Charlotte at the 12-story, elegant Barringer Hotel at 426 North Tryon Street. Most celebrations on the west side of Charlotte would have occurred at The Excelsior Club, or in a church basement. 

The Barringer hotel ballroom had high ceilings and gleaming chandeliers. The Hargrave’s reception included two hundred friends and family, who traveled far and wide to attend. The anniversary couple received gifts in keeping with a golden anniversary theme and were displayed in the living room of their house, which was located at 414 Martin Street, across from JCSU. Their grand-daughter, Vicille “Dee Dee” Wallace Murphy, still has several anniversary gifts they received, which she will give to her grandchildren: a set of bronze book ends, a gold metal vanity stool and a Lenox china napkin holder leafed in 14 carat gold, that a guest brought back from Greece. 

FAMILY HISTORY

Fannie Rosalie Hargrave Wallace graduated from Second Ward High School and Bennett College. She obtained a Master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh. She taught special education for 32 years in Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools and worked to develop Metro School for cognitively disabled students. She was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Les Piroettes, Las Amigas and the Biddleville-Five Points Community Organization. She played bridge, wore Chanel No 5 and made chow chow every year, which she shared with friends. Frances Gibson, her co-worker at Metro School, said in Fannie’s obituary, “She frequently gave clothes and food to students who needed either, but did so quietly. She never, never told anyone else.” 

Zoel S. Hargrave, Jr. graduated from Second Ward High School and Johnson C. Smith University and later received the Trustee Merit Award for service to the university from JCSU. He was the first Black postal supervisor at Charlotte’s main post office and was active in Omega Psi Phi fraternity, as the 6th District Representative and National Talent Hunt Director. He played bridge and had his father’s hearty laugh. 

Esther Young Hargrave is married to Zoel Hargrave, Jr. Originally from Winston-Salem, she taught high school Home Economics in Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools.  

Lucile Hargrave Sparks graduated from Second Ward High School and Bennett College. She obtained a Master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and was a career social worker. She lived in Pittsburgh and was Director of Human Services and Care for Allegheny County, PA. She traveled abroad extensively, played bridge and loved to entertain, with fancy dishes and crystal.  

Edward Hargrave, Sr. graduated from Second Ward High School and Johnson C. Smith University. He obtained two Master’s Degrees from New York University. He worked at New Hampton State Training for Boys as a Psychologist and at Warwick State Training School for Boys as an administrator and Assistant Superintendent. He taught psychology for the evening program at Orange County Community College in Middletown, New York. He played bridge and was an active member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and his church.  

Vivian Hargrave was in the first class of students at the new West Charlotte High School when it opened in 1938 at 1415 Beatties Ford Road, the building where Northwest Junior High is now located. She graduated from Bennett College and obtained a Master’s degree from Clark University in Atlanta. She was a career social worker who specialized in the field of adopting children. She lived in Chicago and pursued her traveling hobby by visiting 192 countries. She played bridge and was a philanthropist who supported her church, YWCA, colleges, and young people. She loved visiting museums and collecting jewelry and fancy china. 

Ella Ferguson Hargrave graduated from Second Ward High School and the Lincoln School of Nursing in Durham. She was a registered nurse at New Hampton State Training School for Boys. She was married to Edward Hargrave, Sr. and was mother to Edward Hargrave, Jr. and Elbert Hargrave. She played bridge, was active in her community and was the family historian.  

James Moore Hargrave graduated from West Charlotte High School and entered the Army in July 1943. He rose to the rank of Sergeant in the European theater in WWII and was Honorably Discharged with the American Theater Service Medal, WWII Victory Medal, Two Bronze Service Stars, and the Good Conduct Medal in March 1946. He graduated NC A&T State University in 1949 with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. James worked as an Electronic Engineer for the U. S. Army Signal Research and Development Laboratory at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, where his projects were mostly classified Top Secret. He designed: equipment to monitor and track space vehicles for the Tele Star and Courier satellites; communication equipment for the B-52; a system so signals from submarines couldn’t be tracked; and a lightweight atomic clock, which sliced seconds into near-infinitesimal parts for field use in guiding missiles. James trained in meteorology and did graduate work at NYU, Columbia, and MIT. He helped design the first telephone systems for Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and travelled around the world with the Secretary of Defense. He was an active member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and First Presbyterian of Asbury Park church, where he was a member of the Session for New Jersey.  

Dorothy Tillman Hargrave (not pictured) was married to James Hargrave. She graduated from West Charlotte High School and from NC A&T State University with a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics. She was a teacher and Director of Home Economics for Monmouth County, and Director of Nutrition for Marlboro State Hospital. She was an active member of First Presbyterian church of Asbury Park, New Jersey. James and Dorothy had one son, James Moore Hargrave, Jr.  

Zoel Hargrave, Sr. was born in Lexington, North Carolina February 14, 1891, and died in Charlotte May 4, 1973. He was married to Fannie Latta Hargrave for 60 years. They had 6 children and 5 grandchildren. The family lived in the 400 block of Martin Street, across from JCSU, for eight decades.  He graduated from Johnson C. Smith university in 1910. He was a member of Simpson-Gillespie Methodist Church in Charlotte and retired from the U. S. postal service. He was active in Omega Psi Phi fraternity and was a champion bridge player and was best friends with the Grier brothers, who founded Grier’s funeral home. Zoel is buried in the family plot at North Pinewood Cemetery on Andrill Terrace in Charlotte, behind JCSU. Also buried there are: Fannie Latta Hargrave, Zoel S. Hargrave, Jr., Esther Y. Hargrave, Lucile Hargrave Sparks, James M. Hargrave, Sr., Dorothy Tillman Hargrave, Fannie Rosalie Hargrave Wallace, Vivian Hargrave, Edward Hargrave, Sr., Ella Ferguson Hargrave, and Montrose “Uncle Buck” Hargrave.  

The following column about Zoel was written by his granddaughter, Vicille “Dee Dee” Wallace Murphy. The Charlotte native moved to Carrollton, Georgia in 2012 and wrote a weekly opinion column for the local newspaper, the Times-Georgian. Her Father’s Day tribute to Zoel was first published in 2012: 

“Grandfather’s life makes a great story” 

My grandfather’s gun looked like a cannon. I glimpsed it when he returned from work and locked it away. Though just a .38 caliber government-issued revolver he carried while working as a post office employee, memory recalls it like that fish you caught. It got bigger every time you told the tale. 

I imagined him holding the gigantic gun on his lap, waiting for robbers to attack. Maybe Jesse James’ gang. It sounded exciting to put him in the west. But grandfather worked the east coast. Trains carried mail, and mail cars were robbed in the early twentieth century because they carried cash.  

I attended a poetry reading this spring and received a bonus: David Bottoms reminisced about his father. Bottoms is Georgia’s Poet Laureate and a masterful storyteller. His moving and humorous recollections inspired me to write about grandfather for Father’s Day. 

Zoel Hargrave Sr., imposing at six feet two inches tall, 300 pounds, had a big stomach and booming voice. He reminded me of Santa Claus. When I understood civics, I wondered why grandfather didn’t run for mayor. He had smarts and common sense and cared about people.  

I know his birthdate: February 14, 1891, twenty-nine years after the Emancipation Proclamation.  

For freed slaves, life changed one hundred and eighty degrees. Those times presented a new normal. Sherman’s Special Field Orders for forty acres and a mule symbolized failed Reconstruction policies aimed at compensation for their labor. The transition couldn’t have been easy for people of color. Indeed, life is never easy for those who haven’t escaped the bonds of institutional racism and limited opportunities.  

There were no role models to lift Negroes to a higher place. Who could they depend on? Zoel depended on self-reliance and education. He realized his dreams in spite of obstacles in his path.  

Born in the small town of Lexington, North Carolina, the desire for higher education took him to Charlotte. He graduated from Johnson C. Smith University, then Biddle University. He belonged to a family tradition of four generations of Omega Psi Phi fraternity brothers.  

After college, he made a career of government service. His wife, also a college graduate, taught elementary school and worked as a principal. They raised three boys and three girls in a home filled with books and a piano for the girls’ lessons.  

Married for sixty years, my grandparents owned land, and had rental property. They subscribed to two daily newspapers, voted in every election, and were recognized in the community as a family you could count on for help. Like explaining mail to those who couldn’t read or didn’t understand. A champion bridge player, his trophies crowded the living room mantle. After retirement, he taught bridge classes at a local YMCA.  

During a conversation with Becky Deese, former Carroll County Georgia Postmaster, she explained that grandfather sorted mail along the route. That was less fanciful than a western. Still, the job still must have been dramatic, what with the possibility of a robbery. 

Forceful while soft-spoken, grandfather grounded and guided his children to college and beyond. His ethic for education lives in his family. It drives expectations. 

With the Farmer’s Almanac as a guide, he planted vegetables on every vacant piece of land he owned. Toiling in gardens with him, his grandchildren learned patience, planning, and to love the earth. He taught us little things, like how to play solitaire and not to cheat. And he taught us more important things, like do a job right the first time. He told us we could do anything we set our minds to. 

He worked hard, played hard, with a live-and-let live quality. Every week, he hosted memorable dinners for special friends. Men enjoyed delicacies, smoked Cuban cigars, and discussed community issues. A toast to their friendship ended the evenings. Those gatherings gave us a glimpse of what life could be like when we grew up. 

A great sense of humor fueled his storytelling, which he did well. And, he enjoyed hearing a good story. His signature hearty laugh could be heard next door. A cousin, amazed that could name all the presidents, realized he’d lived through most of them. Always supportive, he gave great advice, and possessed the ability to shape our minds, character, and thinking.  

I can’t imagine what grandfather experienced on the road he traveled just three decades after slavery ended. There’s evidence he wanted us to have a better life, because the facts speak for themselves. 

Fannie Latta Hargrave was born in Durham, N.C.in 1892 and was married to Zoel Sr. One of her fondest memories was signing for the first shipment of office furniture delivered to North Carolina Central University in Durham. She graduated from Scotia Seminary in Concord. Scotia was founded as a “strict prim Presbyterian school” for Black girls. In 1941, after her six children were grown, she graduated from JCSU and received a graduate degree that allowed her to be a principal. During Commencement, she marched, along with her son, Edward, Sr.. Fannie was a teacher and principal in Mecklenburg County. After she retired, she worked for decades as a hostess in JCSU’s dining hall, where she acted as a surrogate mother-away-from-home to generations of college students. She exposed her children and grandchildren to cultural events, like summer lyceum programs at JCSU, and plays at Ovens Auditorium, when it opened to Black patrons.  According to Bertha Maxwell Roddey, PhD, Fannie Latta Hargrave and Martha McKinney always made their way out to UNCC, when it was a young institution, to support Black History programs. She gave dinner parties for her friends from JCSU and set the table with china, silver and crystal settings. She made homemade ice cream on Sundays and kept ice cream cones for the parties she gave for neighborhood children. Fanny was always properly attired in white gloves and a hat, and she and her six children were members of First United Presbyterian Church, at the corner of Seventh Street and College Street. 

Zoel Sr. and Fannie Latta’s six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren are all college graduates. Their grandchildren are: 

• Edward Hargrave, Jr., Columbia, South Carolina graduated from Goshen Central High School Goshen, New York in 1965 and Johnson C. Smith University in 1969. He is a Life Member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. 
• Robert Nathaniel Wallace III, North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina graduated from West Charlotte High School in 1965 and North Carolina A&T State University in 1970. He is a husband, father, and grandfather who enjoys golf and bonsai.  He is an organization development consultant who has worked with Fortune 50 organizations over the past 30 years. He’s an active member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity for over 50 years, a college professor and church lay leader.  
• Vicille “Dee Dee” Wallace Murphy, Carrollton. Georgia, graduated from West Charlotte High School and Knoxville College. She remembers when her Uncle James Hargrave, Sr. brought her a grass skirt from his trip to Hawaii in 1959. The gift is memorable, because Hawaii had just become a state, and she had an authentic grass skirt from a far-away island that joined the USA. So, Dee Dee was lead hula dancer onstage in front of her 6th grade class at Biddleville Elementary School. She played the violin in school orchestras in grades 5-11, took piano lessons twice a week from Blanche Oliver for 10 years, and took dance lessons from Mr. Allen in the JCSU library annex. After class, inquisitive girls explored the JCSU clock tower. Because her Uncle James and Aunts Lucile and Vivian traveled abroad extensively and brought back souvenirs, Dee Dee was aware of life outside the South. When they were in high school, she and her brother Bob traveled by Greyhound bus to New Jersey, where Uncle James took them to the Apollo Theater in New York City, and to tour the World’s Fair. She returned to Charlotte in 1979 as a community volunteer and was the first Black docent at the Mint Museum of Art, where she guided tours for 23 years. In 1984, she coordinated the fund drive to renovate Little Rock AME Zion church to house the Afro-American Cultural Center; in 1987, she coordinated the fund drive to build fourteen homes in Optimist Park for Habitat for Humanity’s Miracle on 16th Street project; in 1992, she was founding Executive Director of Kids Voting Charlotte and then worked for the organization’s national office; and she was Executive Director of Leadership Charlotte. She was a member of the Crown Jewel chapter of the Links, Inc. and formerly married to Calvin Murphy. Their children are Zoel Kaliq Murphy and Sommer Joy Murphy. Dee Dee has written an opinion column for the Times-Georgian newspaper in Carrollton, Georgia since 2011. 
• Elbert Hargrave, Black Mountain, North Carolina graduated from Garinger High School. He is a landlord -with residential rentals.  
• James Moore Hargrave, Jr. Cedar Hill, Texas, earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Vermont, with a B.S. in Accounting and Finance. He has been a Controller or Finance manager for large insurance entities and is an active member of his church. 
• Curtina Perkins Simmons was the daughter of Esther Hargrave and was an educator in Charlotte. Her children are Karen Anderson and Donnie Bradley. 

Zoel and Fannie Latta’s great-grandchildren are: 

• Anthony Hargrave, Columbia, South Carolina. 
• Kamal Wallace, Kennesaw, Georgia. Husband, father, soccer coach, journalist, and church lay leader. 
• Zoel Kaliq Murphy, Carrollton, Georgia. He is a sergeant with the Atlanta police Department. 
• David Hargrave, Lithonia, Georgia. 
• Sommer Joy Murphy, Washington, D C. She is a lawyer and Deputy General Counsel for the  D.C. Office of Employee Appeals.