Usually, when I write of some story or another, I try to make it a complete one, one that actually answers a question – be it ever so small or irrelevant. Today is a little different, as it is based on one short newspaper article – and a question that the article raises, a question I am entirely unable to answer. Nonetheless, the question intrigued me enough to look at a life a bit more closely.
When Anthony Oden died in July, 1901, he did not rate a proper obituary. The Washington Post simply listed him as one of 48 residents of the District who had died in the previous 48 hours. Had they written something, they would have spoken of his service in the Civil War, where as a member of the 7th United States Colored Troop Regiment, Company K, he had served honorably from a few months before Lee’s surrender – he was actually at Appomattox Court House – until the regiment was disbanded a year later, after service in Texas.
They would have written of his membership in the General Grand Tabernacle of the Accepted Order B.S.L.C. of the United States and the Republic of Liberia, a membership he took seriously, volunteering for numerous positions over the years.
The obituary would have also made mention of his wedding in 1884 to Lucy Jackson, who was – like Oden – from Virginia. There might have been some brows wrinkled over the fact that they were listed as having been married for 29 years in the 1900 census, not the 16 that their marriage license would indicate. Nonetheless, they would probably have glossed over it, much as I will do as well. Nor would they have mentioned the fact that the two never had issue.
Detail of 1900 census showing Oden and his wife. (HeritageQuest/DCPL)
They certainly would have pointed out that the 55 year old Oden was a wood and coal dealer, who lived in the 1400 block Massachusetts Avenue SE.
In short, there would have been nothing in the obituary to indicate that Oden’s past was anything but an open book. Which makes the short article that appeared in the Post on August 21 all the more puzzling:
Changed Name To Go To War
Caveat Filed by Daniel Carroll to Will of Anthony Oden
Daniel Carroll filed a caveat yesterday to the will of his brother, Anthony Oden, which was recently presented for probate, naming Barney Cole, executor, and devising certain real estate, known as 1407 Massachusetts Avenue southeast, to Mary Carooll, and personal property to Amerlia Theresa Young. The caveator declares Oden was Christened John Tobias Carroll, at St. Peter’s Church, in this city, has gone by the name of Anthony Oden since the civil war, when he changed his name for enlistment purposes. A supplementary paper was filed in the afternoon amending the caveat by makin Marcus G. Bell, William T. Briscoe, and Joseph H. Briscoe, nephews of the deceased, parties to the contest.
As so often, the piece raises more questions than it answers: “for enlistment purposes”? That’s what they’re going with as a reason to change your name at 18 and keep it that way for another 36 years? Entire books have been written using this premise, none of which would allow such a non-reason to be used. And what about the fact that Lucy Oden, still alive at this point, is not mentioned at all? Clearly, there were some important facts left out by the paper, and none of the followups – which are generally one-liners recounting the course his will took through the courts – do anything to clarify the situation.
Which is a pity, as there must have been something big to cause Oden to make such a change, but it looks unlikely that we’ll ever find out what it was.