From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Jessup, Charles
(born: April 18, 1885) Charles Jessup was a professional baseball player from Hopkinsville, KY. He was a pitcher in the Negro Leagues from 1907-1911, playing for the Chicago Union Giants (ERA 3.00) and the Minneapolis Keystones (ERA 3.75). From 1910-1911 there were no stats in the Negro Leagues Database, though he was listed as a pitcher for the Chicago Union Giants.Charles Jessup was the son of Bell Baker, according to the U.S. Census of 1910, when the family was living in Joliet, IL. Charles, his mother, his brother Arthur, and a boarder lived at 306 Monroe St. It is not known when the family moved from Hopkinsville to Joliet.
Charles Jessup is listed as a laborer on p. 291 in the R. L. Polk & Co. Joliet City Directory, 1905-1906. He is listed as a baseball player in the 1908 and 1909 city directories. By 1912, Charles Jessup was no longer playing baseball; he was employed as a porter, according to his entry on p. 269 in the R. L. Polk & Co.'s 1912 Joliet City Directory. By 1920, Charles Jessup was working at a steel mill and in 1930 as a moulder at the mill [sources: 1920 and 1930 U.S. Census].
During World War II, Charles Jessup worked at Sanderson and Porter, the Elwood ordinance plant that supplied the U.S. Army with munitions such as artillery shells, bombs, and mines.
Charles Jessup was the husband of Jessie Jessup; the couple had four sons and a daughter [source: 1940 U.S. Census]. He was last listed in the 1956 Joliet city directory.
SOURCES: Birth date and location found in the U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index in Ancestry; Charles Jessup at the Negro Leagues Database website; Charles Jessup in Early Black Baseball in Minnesota, by Todd Peterson; Charles Jessup in Early Pioneers of the Negro Leagues: William S. Peter, by the Center for Negro League Baseball Research, Dr. Layton Revel (online .pdf); Charles Jessup's World War II Draft Registration card in Ancestry; and D. Pugsley, "Joliet Arsenal," a Michigan Tech webpage.