Billy Truehart milkbox

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Tags

Joy Relationship and Community Building Ancestry Connection Innovation Opportunity Identity Resilience Growth Determination Choice Progress Work Play Family
Title
Billy Truehart milkbox
Description
"Billy Truehart's milk box," early 20th century. Handmade wooden box with metal letters on three sliding lids and nail heads within each compartment. Made by William "Billy" Truehart, grandson of Friday Truehart, while working as a handyman for the Blackwell family in Trenton, NJ.
The box was used to inform the milkman how much milk, butter, and cream the Blackwells needed on a given day.

This milkbox was made by William “Billy” Henry Truehart (February 1845-May 6, 1932) in the early 1900s and was used to, according to the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum, “inform the milkman how much milk, butter, and cream the Blackwells needed on a given day.” Prior to refrigeration dairy products were ordered and delivered daily by milkmen (Lange 2017). Beyond this, Billy Truehart was an impressive, observant gardner– having “been Senator Blackwell’s gardener for twenty-three years” (Trenton Evening Times 1910, 1). He is featured in a front page article after he “carefully watched” the growth of coffee beans into “sturdy coffee plants,” which were estimated to have generated “about two pounds of fine South American coffee” (Trenton Evening Times 1910, 1).

Billy Truehart was born to Martha Sutphin (unknown-1880) and Isaac Truehart (1801-1886), and had two older brothers, two younger sisters, and one older sister (Ancestry.com, n.d.). His early childhood years were spent in East or West Amwell in Hunterdon County, NJ (Ancestry.com, n.d.).

Billy Truehart was the grandson of Friday Truehart (May 29, 1767-1845). Friday Truehart and his mother Dinah (circa 1751-1795) were captured in Gambia, Africa, and brought to Charleston, South Carolina on a slave ship (Katmann 2014, 6). Friday and Dinah were purchased by Reverend Oliver Hart (July 5, 1723-December 31, 1795) of Warminster, Pennsylvania in 1771; and at age 13 Friday moved to Hopewell, NJ with Hart (Turner 2016; Bayker, n.d.).

Hart was said to be “one of the most influential religious, social, and political leaders of the pre-Revolutionary War South” that “opposed slavery,” and eventually served as a Baptist minister at the Old School Baptist Church in Hopewell, NJ until his death, according to his biographical entry in the South Carolina Encyclopedia published by the University of South Carolina (Katmann 2014, 6; Turner 2016). The entry has no mention of him being an enslaver (Turner 2016).

Friday Truehart was manumitted in 1802, and subtracted Hart’s last name from his on legal paperwork– preferring to be called Friday True (Bayker, n.d.; Witness Stones Project and Timberlane Middle School 2022, 11). Friday was a member of the church that Hart ministered (Bayker, n.d.). He was an early landowner in the Sourland region (Makin 2022, 9).

Beverly Mills is the co-founder of the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum located in Skillman, NJ. On her maternal side, Mills traces her ancestry back to Friday Truehart– her being his fifth great granddaughter (Katmann 2014, 6; Witness Stones Project and Timberlane Middle School 2022, 11).

The Blackwell family, for which Billy Truehart was a handyman, lived at 167 West State Street (Ancestry.com, n.d.). The head of the family Jonathan Hunt Blackwell (December 20, 1841-1919) was a former democratic Mercer County State Senator, involved in grocery business as well as various other local and national organizations such as the Trenton Transportation Company (for which he was President), and is said to be of an “ancient English family” (Sackett 1917, 50-51).
Map to the Blackwell’s home address
Contributor
Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum
Date Created
(c. 1900-1920)
Creator
Truehart, William "Billy"
Rights
This work is believed to be in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States. For more information, see http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/
Identifier
2023.1.5
Format
Physical Object
Extent
1 item
Spatial Coverage
Trenton, NJ
Publisher
SSAAM
Is Part Of
2023.1.13
Subject
Trenton, New Jersey.
Mercer County (N.J.)
African Americans--1900-1920.
Hunterdon County (N.J.)
Item sets
Black Joy & Resilience
Media
Billy Truehart Milkbox