Dr. W. E. Rainwater, African-American dentist and activist

by Susan Chance-Rainwater

The focus of my genealogical research is the Rainwater family as a whole – literally all persons surnamed Rainwater – regardless of their relationship to each other. So, when I found a 1959 obituary for Dr. W. E. Rainwater of Detroit and couldn’t immediately identify him, I was intrigued.

The obituary contained the following clues. Dr. William Edward Rainwater was age 76, born in Union Point, Greene County, Georgia. He had attended Meharry Medical College, an HBCU (historically black college or university). He had lived in Oklahoma, and then Detroit. He had a surviving daughter, Mrs George Haile, and a sister, Mattie Daniel.^A

I originally believed that W. E. Rainwater was born in 1883, and would not have been recorded in the 1880 census. Still, I knew there was only one African American Rainwater family in Greene County. I therefore looked for his family through the obituaries of his apparent siblings. The 1952 obituary of Eugene G. Rainwater says he is the brother of Dr. Will Rainwater of Detroit.^B The 1948 obituary of Eben Ellsworth Rainwater mentions W. E. Rainwater as his surviving brother.^C Neither names their parents.

W. E. Rainwater first appears in the census in 1900, as a widower living in the household of his in-laws, the Finch family, in Atlanta, Georgia.^D Fulton County marriage records confirm that he married Annie Finch in 1893,^E and the later records for their son, William T. Rainwater, give the names of both parents.

Since neither W. E. nor Annie required permission from a parent for the marriage license, it’s reasonable to assume that both were age 18 or older. That meant the 1883 birth year just wasn’t possible. W. E.’s World War I draft card gave the more likely date of 1877, but to be age 18 in 1893, he would have been born no later than 1875. The 1900 census record says 1872, which I believe to be the most likely year.

So who were W. E.’s parents? Two records – his third marriage record and death certificate – name his parents as John H. Rainwater and Laura Thompson.^{F G} John’s relationship with Laura was short-lived, and W. E. appears to have been their only surviving child. Laura later married Samuel Daniel,^H and it’s their daughter, Mattie Daniel, who is listed in W. E.’s obituary as his surviving sister. W. E. is recorded in the Daniel’s 1880 census household as Willie Daniel.^I His brothers Eugene and Eben were the children of John H. Rainwater’s second marriage to Mary [surname unknown].^J Both parents were of an age that they had been born into slavery.^K

The 1900 census gives W. E.’s occupation as school teacher. It’s likely that he came to Atlanta from Greene County to complete a normal school (or teacher’s training) program at Morehouse College. A 1923 edition of Morehouse’s yearbook, The Torch, includes a short history of the school’s athletic program, noting that among the past athletes were “many men now well-known in other fields” including W. E. Rainwater, captain of the baseball team and first baseman.^L

In 1901, W. E. Rainwater made two notable changes in his life. First, he remarried, taking Alma B. Knox as his bride.^M Second, he entered Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, which was at the time a college within Walden University. Meharry is notable for having never been segregated, and for being the first medical college in the south to allow African American enrollment.^N

I contacted Meharry’s library and archives in the process of preparing this article. What arrived by email (literally the next day) was a flood of information, including a photo.

W. E. Rainwater graduated from Meharry in 1905. He was the valedictorian of the dental college, and gave one of the commencement addresses – “The Dentist a Specialist.” ^O

The photo that exists is of the entire graduating class of the medical college. Archivist Sandra Parham was able to tell me only that he is in the row below the numbers 1905, one of seventeen earnest young men about to embark on their life’s journey in an often hostile world.

Following graduation, Dr. Rainwater moved to Oklahoma. His marriage with Alma produced one child, a daughter named Mabel, who was born in 1903. The family is not recorded in the 1910 census, but Dr. Rainwater did complete a World War I draft card in 1918, listing himself as a resident of Ardmore, Oklahoma, and his nearest relative as his son William Thomas Rainwater (his son from his first marriage), of Yuma, Arizona.^P His second wife, Alma, had died earlier that year.^Q

It was at this point that I realized I had a newspaper article already in my possession that referred to a Dr. W. E. Rainwater of Ardmore, Oklahoma visiting his brother E. E. Rainwater in Yuma, Arizona.^R This article describes Dr. Rainwater’s son, W. T. Rainwater, as “in the city for the benefit of his health.” I suspect this means William T. Rainwater was already suffering from the tuberculosis that would take his life two years later.^S

The striking element in this article is Dr. Rainwater’s observation that “With a colored population of 1,500 individuals you should have at least one drug store, an up-to-date restaurant, an amusement park, and several mercantile establishments owned and operated by members of the race.” That seemed like a very specific set of requirements.

But Dr. Rainwater had lived in just such a town – Boley, Oklahoma – described by Wikipedia as “a town in Okfuskee County incorporated in 1905 as a predominantly Black pioneer town, with persons having Native American ancestry among its citizens.” ^T

When Dr. Rainwater arrived in Oklahoma in 1905, the state was something of a refuge for African Americans because of the lack of Jim Crow laws. This began to change in 1907 when the territory achieved statehood. While a resident of Boley, Dr. Rainwater had joined a group called the United Negro Citizens, protesting a scheme by the precinct registrar to deny black citizens the right to vote. This had been accomplished by the registrar taking office, hurriedly registering the white voters, and then resigning office before the black voters could register. A letter to the governor protesting this injustice was reprinted in the pages of The Crisis (the journal of the fledgling NAACP) describing this scheme, and concludes, “We, therefore, make this appeal to you as chief executive that you enforce the laws of this state and see that the county registrar appoints a precinct registrar at once, … and report to us through W. E. Rainwater by wire at our expense.” ^U

In 1917, Dr. Rainwater advocated for allowing “men of color” to enlist in the army as equal citizens,^V and in 1918, again for African American voting rights;^W in both cases, with letters to the Voice of the People column in The Daily Ardmoreite. These letters are written in the florid, sermon-like language common to that era. He also worked to raise money for war stamps (later called war bonds),^X and served on the Ardmore Red Cross committee.^Y

Around 1919, Dr. Rainwater relocated to Detroit. Considering that the Tulsa race massacre was only two years away, one has to assume that Oklahoma was no longer the welcoming refuge it had once been.

In January 1920, Dr. Rainwater married Lola B. Gregory, a marriage that appears to have gone wrong within a year, and ended in 1923.^{Z AA} He never married again.

Still, he remained active in the community, joining a local social club called the Detroit Chauffeurs’ Club (a nod to Detroit’s nickname, The Motor City). He also wrote the occasional letter to the local newspaper, including one denouncing the Klan. “Whatever may be the cost, The Detroit Free Press is doing an incalculable good for this community, this nation and civilization by exposing this unAmerican organization,” he wrote in 1921.^AB

In 1938, Dr. Rainwater helped found and served as the president of The Sun-Crossed Humanity Shrine Institute, whose stated goal was to “create a thorough inter and intra-racial understanding among the darker peoples of the world” and was active in the YMCA. ^AC

Dr. Rainwater maintained an active dental practice into his 60s, eventually retiring to live with daughter Mabel and her husband George Haile.^{AD AE} On 23 Jul 1959, W. E. Rainwater suffered a fatal heart attack. He was buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit. ^AF

©2024 Susan Chance-Rainwater
Published by Dallas Genealogical Society with the author’s permission

SOURCES

A: Obituary; William Edward Rainwater, Detroit Sunday Times, Detroit MI, 26 Jul 1959, pg 6D, via GenealogyBank

B: Obituary and funeral notice; Eugene G. Rainwater, The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta GA, 6 Sep 1952, pg 14, and 5 Sep 1952, pg 24, via GenealogyBank

C: “Plan final rites Monday at 2 for E. E. Rainwater,” The Yuma Daily Sun, Vol 45, No. 98, pg 1, Yuma AZ, 24 Apr 1948, via NewspaperArchive.com

D: U.S. Federal Census records, 1900, Atlanta GA, via Ancestry.com

E: Fulton Co., GA Marriage Records, 1866-1902, “Colored” Marriage Books A-G, pg 198, Ted O. Brooke, 2003, Cumming GA

F: Death certificate #9543: William Edward Rainwater, 23 Jul 1959, State Dept of Health, Detroit, Wayne Co., MI

G: U.S. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, via Ancestry.com.

H: Georgia, U.S., Marriage Records From Select Counties, 1828-1978, via Ancestry.com. Original source: County Marriage Records, 1828–1978. The Georgia Archives, Morrow GA.

I: U.S. Federal Census records, 1880, Greene Co GA, via Ancestry.com.

J: There is no marriage record for either of John H. Rainwater’s marriages.

K: If John H. Rainwater took his surname from his enslaver, which is by no means certain, the only Rainwater individual in Greene Co., GA who owned slaves in the 1860 census was Ira Simpson Rainwater.

L: “Athletic History,” The Torch, Morehouse College Annual, Class of 1923, pgs 87-88, Atlanta GA, Robert W. Woodruff Library digital collections, https://radar.auctr.edu/islandora/object/mc.001.torch%3A1923

M: Georgia, U.S., Marriage Records From Select Counties, 1828-1978, via Ancestry.com. Original source: County Marriage Records, 1828–1978. The Georgia Archives, Morrow GA.

N: Wikipedia: Meharry Medical College, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meharry_Medical_College, reviewed 8 Feb 2024

O: Meharry Commencement Exercises program; Medical, Dental, and Pharmaceutical Colleges of Walden University; Nashville TN, 28 Feb 1905, scan of original provided by college archives

P: U.S. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, via Ancestry.com.

Q: Findagrave, Memorial ID 156609594, Summerville Cemetery, Summerville, Chattooga Co., Georgia

R: “Distinguished visitor,” Society and Local News, Phoenix Tribune, Vol 1, No. 33, pg 8, Phoenix AZ, 2 Nov 1918, via Chronicling America

S: Death certificate of William Thomas Rainwater, California County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994, via FamilySearch.org. Original source: California State Archives, Sacramento CA.

T: Wikipedia: Boley, Oklahoma. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boley,_Oklahoma, reviewed 8 Feb 2024

U: Letter to the Governor of Oklahoma, reprinted in The Crisis, Vol. 12, No. 13, Whole No. 69, July 1916 edition, pages 128-129, Journal of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/workers/civil-rights/crisis/index.htm

V: “Negros stand by president,” Voice of the People column, The Daily Ardmoreite, Vol 25, No. 15, pg 4, Ardmore OK, 15 Oct 1917, via Chronicling America

W: “Appeal to colored voters,” Voice of the People column, The Daily Ardmoreite, Vol 25, No. 303, pg 4, Ardmore OK, 5 Aug 1918, via Chronicling America

X: “Speakers are assigned for war stamp day,” Daily Ardmoreite, Vol 25, No. 259, pg 3, Ardmore OK, 22 Jun 1918, via NewspaperArchives.com

Y: “Appeal to colored citizens on behalf of Red Cross Drive,” The Daily Ardmoreite, Vol 26, No. 74, pg 6, Ardmore OK, 21 Dec 1918, via Chronicling America

Z: Michigan, U.S., Marriage Records, 1867-1952, via Ancestry.com. Original source: Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867–1952. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics.

AA: Michigan, U.S., Divorce Records, 1897-1952, via Ancestry.com. Original source: Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics, Lansing, Michigan.

AB: “Klan like reptile, squash it, warns Dr. W. E. Rainwater,” Detroit Free Press, Vol 86, No. 363, pg 2, Detroit MI, 25 Sep 1921, via NewspaperArchives.com

AC: “New organization formed in Detroit,” The Detroit Tribune, Vol XVI, No. 35, pg 1, Detroit, MI, 12 Nov 1938; via Chronicling America

AD: U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995, via Ancestry.com.

AE: U.S. Federal Census records, 1920-1940, Detroit MI, via Ancestry.com.

AF: FindaGrave, Memorial ID 251987393, Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit, Wayne Co., Michigan