In person, he is small, of neat figure, pure in his African origin, intelligent countenance, and an eye that looks right through you. Mr. Wears has a good education, is gentlemanly in appearance, well read, with a character unimpeachable, and is a citizen honored and respected by all.
JOSIAH T. WALLS.
Josiah T. Walls was born at Winchester, Virginia, December 30, 1842; received a common-school education; is a planter; was elected a member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1868; was elected a member of the House of Representatives of the State Legislature in 1868; after serving one year, was elected to the State Senate for four years in 1869, and was elected to the Forty-second Congress as a Republican, from the State of Florida.
In stature, Mr. Walls is slim and thin; in complexion, a mulatto; close, curly hair; genteel in dress; polite in manners; and well esteemed by those who know him best.
He sometimes reads his speeches, which makes him appear dull; but, in reality, he is a man of force and character, and has done a good work in his adopted State.
Mr. Walls is deeply interested in agriculture, and takes pride in inculcating his well-informed views in the freedmen, whose welfare he has at heart. As a farmer, he ranks amongst the foremost in his locality, and his stock is improved far above that of his neighbors.
JOHN PATTERSON SAMPSON.
James D. Sampson, of North Carolina, the father of the subject of this notice, by his wealth and enterprise as a house carpenter, gave the Sampson family distinction in that State many years ago. They were free people, of Scottish and African lineage, who valued education highly, and boasted somewhat of their revolutionary ancestry. He educated his children at Northern schools, and (by special legislation) before the war, was allowed certain privileges for his family. It was a question, however, with the authorities, after he had erected several fine buildings, whether he should be allowed to live in the one intended for his family, although the street in the neighborhood of his property took his name.
John, Benjamin, and Joseph were inclined to literary professions. Benjamin, probably the best scholar, graduated at Oberlin College; was professor of the classics at the Avery Institute, in Pennsylvania, and is now filling a similar position with credit, at Wilberforce, Ohio. John P. Sampson, the most active in public life, was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, 1838. At an early age, he was sent to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he acquired a common-school education; then among the first colored youth entering the white schools of Boston, he graduated from Comer’s College through a course in book-keeping, navigation, and civil engineering, but began life as a teacher in the public schools of New York, until inspired by a speech from William Watkins, when he gave up the school, and engaged to canvass New York under Horace Greeley and James M’Cune Smith, in behalf of Negro Suffrage, continuing for several years in the lecturing field through the West.