Wallace Thurman (1902–1934) was an author, a native of Utah, and a member of the Harlem Renaissance. According to Langston Hughes, he was “…a strangely brilliant black boy, who had read everything and whose critical mind could find something wrong with everything he read.”
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Wallace Thurman
Thurman’s early life was tumultuous; his mother, Beulah, remarried five or six times after divorcing his father, Oscar Thurman. Thurman lived alternately with his mother, and his maternal grandmother, Emma Jackson. When he lived in Salt Lake City, he attended West High School and the University of Utah before leaving the state for California and New York.
Every now and then an author puzzles over an old story that Thurman’s family had connections to the Mormon pioneers. See, for example, Wilfred D. Samuels and David A. Hales, “Wallace Henry Thurman: A Utah Contributor to the Harlem Renaissance,” which traces the legend to a friend of Thurman’s, Richard Bruce Nugent.
I am writing a book about the experiences of the black Mormon pioneers and tracking down every hint like this in the hopes that it will help me discover what happened to a handful of black pioneers who disappeared from the historical record in the 1860s or 1870s.
There was no Mormon pioneer connection in Thurman’s mother’s family. His grandparents were originally from Missouri and moved to Colorado in the 1880s. His grandmother and mother first arrived in Utah in the late 1890s or early 1900s.
If there were any connection to the Mormon pioneers, it would have to come through his father’s family.
I searched for vital records in Utah and California and looked through online family trees, but could not find any more about Oscar Thurman. I started looking for clues in the article cited above and the book Wallace Thurman’s Harlem Renaissance. Here are the three things I found out about Oscar Thurman:
• He married Beulah Stewart or Jackson in Salt Lake City in 1902. They divorced in 1906.
• He was from California.
• His unnamed parents lived at 1538 5th Street, Santa Monica, California in 1929.
With that last piece of information, the next step was Steve Morse’s Unified Census Enumeration District Finder. When the census was taken in large cities, the city was divided up into enumeration districts, and if you know an address, you can find the correct enumeration district. A look at Google Maps narrowed the enumeration districts down to two possibilities. I went to Ancestry and began reading the census, looking for 1538 5th Street. Fortunately the address was only eleven pages into the first district, and here is Wallace Thurman’s grandfather:
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Grandfather Aaron Thurman (1853–1932) was from Georgia. In 1880, he and his wife Eliza (1853–?) lived in Atlanta with their two young children, Scilla and Oscar. Aaron moved to Los Angeles by 1900 and remarried a woman named Julia. They worked hard and eventually owned a large apartment building in downtown Santa Monica, a short walk from the beach, and this is where Wallace Thurman first met his father.
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In conclusion, I have found no information linking Wallace Thurman’s family to African American Mormon pioneers, and I did not see any names or places that would suggest a connection, so the legend can be put to rest.
Great sleuthing, Amy. Thanks.
What I like the best about reports like this is the fact that Amy doesn’t just repeat rumors or speculations by others, but instead heads right to the records that should exist for a question like this. Not every rumor or family story is subject to verification or disproof — yet if you stop to think through it logically, and ask “What records should have been created if this story were true?” then you have some place to start.
Thank you, Amy! I love it when you describe your research processes!
And I second Ardis’ assessment.
This is really great. Thanks, Amy.
My husband was recently told about a family piano that crossed the plains in a covered wagon. We were immediately a bit dubious, because pianos from that era are rare and because pump organs are much lighter, and we know that a few of them were haul across the country in wagons. Well, based on the manufacturer’s serial number, this piano was built in 1900–so no covered wagons or pioneers.
It is probably cooler to prove a wild legend to be true, and it’s easier to just pass it on uncritically. But for actual truth we have to rely on careful researchers like Amy and Ardis.
Thanks, all. I’ve been out and about today and realized that if I made any absolute statements in this post, they should be moderated, since truth can be stranger than fiction.
It is possible that Wallace Thurman’s family had some sort of a connection to 1840s-1850s Utah Territory, but as I said, the names and places in his family history make it unlikely. Additionally, I did not mention that I could not see any connections to either white Thurman family in Utah Territory.
LauraN, there’s a story like that in my family. A large and beautiful desk supposedly crossed the plains with the pioneers; problem is, the circumstances of their immigration made that impossible. What probably did happen is that this family of carpenters took their tools from Denmark to Utah and made the desk there. Some family legends need to be discarded entirely (the piano); some may have a kernel of truth somewhere (the desk).
Thanks also for the link to the UHQ article about Thurman. I enjoyed reading that as well. I always love to see how information is verified or discounted, and this story is one that demonstrates no matter how hard you wish something, sometimes, you just can’t make it true.
Is it all right if I express a little disappointment?
Those of us who live relatively close to Harlem like to see verified connections to Mormonism… Fortunately, there are other connections
Don’t despair, Kent, there are plenty of Mormon and Utah connections to explore in the life of Wallace Thurman.
For instance, I embedded a clue in this post that might be worth some consideration; the image of the 1930 US Census shows a woman named “H. Leggrons” living in the Thurmond apartments. I couldn’t see a connection between her and the Utah Leggroan family which does have connections to the pioneers, but the name and places are right. What if his step-grandmother was a relative of this woman, and also a Leggroan? Would that change the story? It wouldn’t for my purposes, but if anyone felt his connections to Utah and Mormonism were worth exploring beyond the UHQ article, there is some interesting material not addressed in the article or in the biography.
Later this year….
I just figured out the connection to Mormon pioneers. One of Wallace Thurman’s many step-fathers, Thomas Brown, was the grandson of a black couple who moved to Utah in the 1870s. The DUP later claimed they arrived in Utah in 1848, but the DUP was confused, and probably meant a related family. In other words, Wallace Thurman’s step-great uncle’s wife’s deceased husband’s parents arrived in Utah in 1848. If you find this at all confusing, you can probably understand why my book on the enslaved African Americans in Utah Territory is taking so long to write. (!)
His step-great uncle’s wife’s deceased husband’s parents …
Right. Got it. Of course.
You are a bloodhound, Amy, who could track a gnat through the Great Dismal Swamp.
Aaaa . . . wow.