Evie Lee Carpenter (Spencer)

 

Biographical Database of Black Women Suffragists

Biographical Sketch of Evie Lee Carpenter (Spencer), 1886-1984

By Linda D. Wilson, Independent Historian

African American Evie (also spelled Evia and Iva in public records) Lee Carpenter was born on March 3, 1886, in Culpepper County, Virginia. Her parents were Georgianna T. (Rawls) Carpenter. and Andrew Carpenter. Evie Carpenter had at least two siblings, Chester (born in 1884) and Russle [sic] (born in 1889), who were left in the care of their grandparents, Andrew and Louisa Rawls, in 1900 in Locustdale, Madison County, Virginia. In 1900 their mother was working as a domestic in Yonkers, New York. By 1910 Evie Carpenter was also living in Yonkers and attending the Yonkers High School. In 1914 she continued her education at Cornell University in New York and graduated in 1918. According to the 1940 census, she completed four years of college. By 1920 she was teaching at the Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute (now Virginia State University).

Of significance, Evie Carpenter was one of nine African American faculty members of the Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute who voted in November 1920. They had their photograph taken and that's how we know they were newly-registered voters. Those women were some of the first African American women in the South to vote after the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in August 1920. The Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote. Prior to casting her ballot in November, she had to register and pay a poll tax of $1.50.

On July 10, 1922, Evie Carpenter married James Preston Spencer in Culpepper County, Virginia. Spencer served in World War I, entering the service on October 16, 1917, at Camp Lee. He was assigned to the 370th Regiment in France. Circa 1921 he graduated from the Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute. James Spencer taught at the Chesterfield County School. He served as president of the Virginia Voters League. Census records indicate that Evie stopped teaching after her marriage. The couple had three daughters: Emily, Margaret, and Isabelle.

Evie Spencer died on July 7, 1984, in Richmond, Virginia. Her husband James Preston Spencer preceded her in death on November 4, 1960. Both are buried in the Richmond National Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia.

Sources:

Certificate of Death, Commonwealth of Virginia, for Georgianna Carpenter, who died on December 23, 1939.

New York Age (New York, NY), June 10, 1915, and Nay 11, 1916.

"Profiles of war: James Preston Spencer," accessed online <https://www.progress-index.com/story/news/military>, on July 8, 2022.

"True Son of Freedom: The World War I Experience of James Preston Spencer," accessed online, https://uncommonwealth.virginiamemory.com/blog on July 8, 2022.

U.S. Census, 1900, Locustdale, Madison County, Virginia; and Yonkers Ward 4, Westchester County, New York.

U.S. Census, 1910, Yonkers Ward 2, Westchester County, New York.

U.S. Census, 1920, Matoaca, Chesterfield County, Virginia.

U.S. Census, 1940, Westover Hills, Chesterfield County, Virginia.

U.S. Census, 1950, Manchester, Chesterfield County, Virginia.

U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995, for Evie Lee Carpenter, in Yonkers, New York, in 1910. Accessed through Ancestry.com on July 8, 2022.

U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995, for Evie L. and James P. Spencer in Richmond, Virginia, in 1955. Accessed through Ancestry.com on July 8, 2022.

U.S., College Student Lists, 1763-1924, for Evie Lee Carpenter, Cornell University, Yonkers, New York, Cornell University Alumni Directory, 1922. Indicates she attended the university from 1914 to 1918. Accessed through Ancestry.com on July 8, 2022.

U.S., Find a Grave, 1600s-Current, for Evie L. Spencer, accessed through Ancestry.com on July 8, 2022.

U.S., Find a Grave, 1600s-Current, for James Preston Spencer, accessed through Ancestry.com on July 8, 2022.

U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1999, for Evie Lee Carpenter, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, in 1918, accessed on Ancestry.com on July 8, 2022.

U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942, for James Preston Spencer, accessed through Ancestry.com on July 8, 2022.

Virginia, Delayed birth certificate for Evie Carpenter. Her birth date was attested by her brother Chester A. Carpenter on April 25, 1952, in Washington, D.C. Apparently, her brother had the family Bible that noted her birthday was March 3, 1886, in Culpepper County, Virginia.

Virginia, U.S., Marriage Registers, 1853-1935, for Evie Lee Carpenter and James Preston Spencer, accessed through Ancestry.com on July 8, 2022.

Virginia, U.S., Marriage Registers, 1853-1935, for Andrew Rawls and Luesia [sic] Carpenter, married on December 31, 1882, in Culpepper County, Virginia.

 

First Colored Women to Vote in Ettrick, Virginia. Evie Carpenter is second from left in the back row. Special Collections and University Archives, Johnston Memorial Library, Virginia State University.

 

Evie Lee Carpenter, bottom row, second from left.

Source: U.S., School Yearbooks, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1918,

Accessed through Ancestry.com on July 8, 2022.

 

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