Emery, Andrew J.
Birth Year : 1862
Death Year : 1919
Andrew J. Emery served as the librarian at Fort Davis, TX, for more than a year before his discharge from the Army. It was extremely rare for there to be a Colored librarian in the military due to the limited occupations available to Buffalo Soldiers and their high illiteracy rate. Many of the entries for soldiers from Kentucky who are listed in On the Trail of the Buffalo Soldier II, by I. Schubert and F. N. Schubert, are noted as "cannot read or write." Andrew J. Emery had enlisted in the U.S. Army in Cincinnati, OH, on January 9, 1882, and according to the U.S. Army Register of Enlistments, Emery was born in Richmond, KY, was 21 years old, and was a plumber. Emery served in Company H of the 10th Cavalry for five years and was discharged January 8, 1887. He settled in Otter Tail, Minnesota. He was the husband of Dora M. Packard Emery, whom he married in 1898. According to the 1900 U.S. Federal Census, and in contradiction to his Army enlistment information, Andrew J. Emery was born in Ohio, February 1866, and his father was born in Kentucky. Also the 1900 Census indicates Dora Emery was born in Iowa and her mother was born in Kentucky. Andrew, Dora, and their first three children are listed in the 1905 Census of Minnesota. For more about the family of Andrew and Dora Emery, see G. Claxton, "Twists and turns intriguing stories emerge when piecing together a family's past," Amherst Bulletin, 08/15/2008; and see present day Fort Davis National Historic Site.
Subjects: Librarians, Library Collections, Libraries, Migration West, Military & Veterans, Plumbers
Geographic Region: Richmond, Madison County, Kentucky / Ohio / Otter Tail, Minnesota