Libertyville's Ansel Brainerd Cook Chapter, NSDAR Celebrates their oldest member at 103

The year was 1920. A pound of coffee cost 47 cents. Woodrow Wilson was the President of the United States. It would be 3 years later before Garrett Morgan, an African American man, would invent the traffic light in 1923. But nothing can compare to the phenomenal event which occurred on October 9, 1920. On this day, Beulah was born.

Beulah Mae (Jackson) Seabrooks was born in Marshallville, GA. Marshallville is a small town located in Macon County in middle Georgia. Her father died when she was only 9 years old. Her mother eventually remarried and she, along with her sister, were raised by her stepfather and mother in Macon, GA. As a young lady, Beulah worked with her sister at the local box manufacturer. One day, on her way home from work, she met a young man, Julius Caesar Seabrooks. Julius would frequently meet up with Beulah riding on a pair of roller skates. They fell in love and married in a small ceremony in the backyard of Julius' parents' home on December 11, 1937. Beulah and Julius had 5 children. She has 11 living grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren and 7 great-great-grandchildren.

Over the last 103 years, Beulah has experienced a lot. She moved to Detroit, MI from Macon, GA during the Great Migration in the 1940s. She worked for many years at an automobile subsidiary company that made mirrors for cars. She retired from Mirrex in 1986 at the age of 66. She was president of the usher board at First Union Baptist Church in Detroit. With the "help of the Lord" (her favorite phrase) Beulah, celebrated her 103rd birthday.

Beulah, the matriarch of her family, became an approved member of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, on August 5, 2020, and is a member of the Ansel Brainerd Cook Chapter. She traces her lineage back to Robert Hart, born c1760 in North Carolina and died a1839 in Jones County Georgia. Robert was a soldier and received a Georgia Land Lottery Grant in 1827.

She is likely the oldest, living, African American DAR member. She joins 6 other DAR African American women from her family, 3 of which belong to the Ansel Brainerd Cook Chapter in Libertyville, IL.

For more information about Ansel Brainerd Cook chapter, please visit:

https://www.ildar.org/chapters/anselbrainerdcook or email us at: ABC4DAR@gmail.com