Pioneer press. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1882-19??, 1912-08-03
RARE SKILL OF
BEN BANNEKER
ROV Inventor Of Clock Rose
From ObSCurtty to Fame
HAD MANY HARD STRUGGLES.
remarkable Record Of Man Who
Achieved Greatness Nearly Two Con-
, turtles Ago Almost Single Handed
! Won Success by Doseed Persistence.
: Was Posssssor of Strong Memory.

SoI'cS Ago Almost SlnSlo Handed.
( Won Success by Dosged Persistence
Was Posssssor Of Strong Memory.
The biography Of benjamin Ranne.
ker as given by John H. b. Lntrulo
and published by the American Negro
monographs company, In Washinyton,
as worthy Of the most careful reading.
Professor John w. Cromwell Is tho. cdi.
tor Of series No. 3, which contains a
full account OF Dannekcr's achieve.
mentS.
Benjamin Banneker was born IN Bal
tmore county, Nd, near the viIngc OF
ll1cotts Mills, in the year 1872. His
father was Il native African and his
mother the child Of natives Of Africa,
so that to 10 admiXture Of the blood
OF the white man was he indebted for
bis peculiar and extraordinary abili-
ties
His father was slave when he mnr-
lied, but his wife, who was Il free wo-
man and possessed Of great energy and
industry, very soon nftcrWnrd purchas.
ed his freedom. Bannekers mother
was named Morton before her mar
rtage and belonged to family remark.
able for its intelligence. When upward
OF seventy she was still very active,
and 1t IS remembered Of her that st
this advanced age she made nothing
OF running and skipping like child.
Property Qualification For Noterc.
a nephew or hers, GrcenDury Nor
ton, was person OF some note not
W1thStandlng his complexion. Prior to
1900 free people Of color possessed Of
q certain property qualification voted
In Maryland. In this year law was
passed restricting the right Of voting
to free white males.
Morton was ignorant Of the law TIL
he offered to vote at the polls In Balti-
more county, and 1t is said that when
his vote was refused he addressed the
crowd In strain Of pure imDassioucd
eloquence which kept the audience TINT
the election had assembled in breath
less attention while he spoke.
When Benjamin was old enough he
was employed to assist his parents in
their labor. This was ut an early uge
when his destiny seemed nothing bet
nOrant free Negroes, occupying q few
acres OF land In remote and thinly
peopled neighborhood, n destiny which
certainly at this day is not Of very
brilliant promise and which at the time
In question must have been gloomy
enough.
Attends Country District School.
In tho intnTyola Of foil ou1 whom No
was approaching or had attained man
hood he was sent to an obscure and
distant country school, which he at
tended until he had acquired a knowI-
edge Of reading and writing and had
advanced i'll arithmetic as far as dou-
BILE position. In al matters beyond
these rudiHcnts Of learning he was his
own instructor. On leaving school Ben
as his friends were wont to call him,
was obliged to labor for years, almost
uninterruptcdiy, for his support
But, his memory being retentive, he
lost nothing Of the little education he
had acquired. On the contrary, al
though utterly destitute of books. he
amplificd and improved his stock Of
arithmetical knowledge by the opera
Iholl VI LIS liilliu NitilS. lie WAS an
observer Of everything that he saw
or which took place around him in the
natural world.
He sought with advidity information
from all sources Of what was going
forward In society, so that he became
gradually possessed Of q fund Of gen
eral knowledge which it was difficult
to find among those even who were far
more favored by opportunity and cir
cumstances than he was. At first his
information was a subject Of wonder
among his illterate ncighbors only, but
by degrees his reputation spread
through wider circle
Benjamin BanDeker, still q young
man, came to be thought Of as one who
could not only perform all the opera
tons Of mental arithmetic with ex-
taordinary facility. but exercise n
sound and discriminating Judgment
upon men and things.
Invents Clock at Thirty Years of Ace.
1t WAS at this time, when he was
about thirty wears of age tbrt no rnn-