ARDA PROJECTS IN PICTURES

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With amazement and gratitude to God the families of Parthena Laura Graham Askie announces her 100th birth anniversary. Mrs. Askie is one of the two oldest Liberians in the Liberian Diaspora residing in the United States of America.  She was born on November 22nd, 1912 in Arthington, Liberia to Laura Wright and Richard Graham. “Chicken went  home  and then came back to roost” Her roots finds the great granddaughter of Alonzo Hoggard, in her 100th year in  the United States of America,  from whence her great grandfather Alonzo Hoggard left  in 1816 as head of the Alonzo Hoggard Family and went to Arthington, Liberia in search of a home.

Teacher Parthena taught private, public and church schools in Liberia for over 60 years. She served her country in several civic positions for many years as a strong community builder; and served the AME church all her life. She pioneered services in every capacity and every stage of development in Arthington, Liberia before coming to the United States of America with her children and grand children in 1991.

 A mother of one biological child, Bernice Eastman, and many other children whom she raised and loved. From her one child comes 4 grand children, 7 great grand, 9, great great grand.  Inspired at an early age through learning to give, she gave her best to many including her children, grand children, great grand children and great great grand children who endear her.

 The Hoggard, Graham, Wright, Stewart, Eastman, Turkett & Bracewell families, and all other connected families are grateful to God to have allowed us to share in your life and experience the positive influences you have had on the architect of our lives and the hands on molding of our faith, and the remarkable and fruitful upbringing of us all, as we have lived to enjoy you, and you, us. We thank God, and we thank you.

View the City of New Haven Proclamation

We are partnering with the Concern Citizens of Arthington in an Ebola awareness campaign that started on Friday August 8th, 2014. The goal of this program is to organize teams of health workers and volunteers to travel throughout Arthington and its surrounding towns to raise awareness of the virus. In addition to providing information to the citizens, the group is distributing protective materials such as buckets, chlorine solution, soap, rubber gloves, and flyers with Ebola preventive information to the citizens and also providing instruction on preventive methods.

Mrs. McLeod T. Darpoh, ARDA former Board of Director Chairlady, is directly involved with this campaign in Arthington. ARDA made its first donation in late August and has committed to continue with this support until the campaign ends.

Please join us in this important cause by donating using our online payment process or sending a check or money order to:

Mr. Maxwell Peal
ARDA Financial Secretary
21 Baltic Ave #2B
Staten Island, NY 10304
(646) 298-7242

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To donate to this event:
1. Click Donate button
2. PayPal member enter your email address and password
3. Login and donate using PayPal account
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Robert Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, was recently in the news discussing his real estate investments in Liberia. He has built a luxury resort that is providing opportunity for careers and much needed revenue. Johnson is also encouraging African Americans to learn the mutual history of Liberia and the United States.

I am proud to say that I am aware of the shared history between our two countries due to family ties. In 2002, Diane Ashley, my great aunt, spoke of relatives that moved to Africa. So as I researched my GENEALOGY and local history, I began to piece together an amazing story.

One day I came across a website for the Arthington Reconstruction Development Association, an organization of Liberian Americans determined to rebuild their city which was devastated by civil unrest that began in 1980. The website provided a list of members and I quickly saw that many of their last names matched those who emigrated from my hometown almost 140 years ago. Through this website I came in contact with Warsaw.

Warsaw says that descendants representing 6 families who left South Georgia in 1871 and 1872 are currently living in America. Their surnames are Bracewell, Ponder, Obey, Turkett, White, and Wright and I recently met some of them in Lawrenceville, Georgia during their association’s annual convention.

Concerning the History of Liberia, Warsaw states that, “Arthington produced more prominent citizens as opposed to any settlement, city, town or County in Liberia. Arthington produced President, County Attorney, Associate Justice, Solicitor General, Senators, Representatives, Doctors, F-4 Pilot, Civil Engineers, Mechanist, Mechanics, Police Officers, Secretary Of War, Secretary Of Interior, Expert Quilt Makers, Teachers, Expert Musicians…”



An interesting twist to this story is that Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, is from Arthington and has family ties to Lowndes County, Georgia. A record from the African Repository, a periodical sponsored by American Colonization Society, recorded the following statement from one of the Lowndes emigrants.

Another intelligent man of color, writing from Valdosta, Georgia, January 10, 1872, says: “I have often heard my father, who was born in Africa, speak in endearing terms of his native country. My grandmother also was a native of Africa. It makes me feel happy to think that there is a way for us to get back where we can have a home and become a people.”

Harmon Warsaw and Charles Taylor are cousins. Their great grandfather is John Bracewell, who was Jefferson Bracewell’s brother. Jefferson Bracewell took his wife, children, and younger sibling to Liberia (as did most of the emigrants).

What I discovered through oral history and from speaking with Warsaw is that the new settlers in Liberia didn’t just break all ties with America. They continued to correspond with their relatives.

After facing a difficult time in their new home in Liberia, a few of the Lowndes emigrants returned. One of them was a young woman named Laura Lane. The local newspaper in South Georgia quoted her as saying, “I left there in December 1877. I was always anxious to leave, and so wrote my former master, but never heard from him. I had nursed for a Jew until I saved twenty dollars, and then I got on a vessel and paid my way to Brazil. I remained in that country two months. I came across Captain Whitmore and hired to him for a nurse for his wife. I went on his vessel and sailed to many places- cannot remember the names. We went ashore in Cuba for awhile. On the 21st of this month (July) we landed in Savannah and Capt. Whitmore bought me a ticket home.”

Laura Lane was, as you have read, was not the last to return from Liberia. The civil unrest has caused many Liberians to come to the USA. Unfortunately, I have not yet found descendants of my great uncle, Aaron Miller; however, from my friendship with Harmon Warsaw and his deep roots in Liberia, I believe I will connect with distant cousins in the near future.

Published by the Valdosta Connection

(Oct 14, 2010)
Mr. Gabriel I.H. Williams, Minister Counselor for Press and Public Affairs

Washington, D.C. – 10/14/10: Citizens and friends of Arthington City residing in the United States have launched a fund-raising campaign to undertake a number of self-help development projects in Arthington, which is located in Montserrado County.

The fund-raising campaign was launched at the third annual convention of the Arthington Reconstruction Development Association (ARDA), which was held October 8-10, 2010, in Atlanta, Georgia.

During the well-attended convention, ARDA decided to assist the community undertake a number of projects, including the road from Monrovia to Arthington, recruitment of qualified teachers, as well as the construction and rehabilitation of school and health facilities.

Speaking at the convention, Mr. Gabriel I.H. Williams, Minister Counselor for Press and Public Affairs at the Embassy of Liberia in Washington, D.C., expressed the Liberian Government’s deep appreciation to members of ARDA for planning to undertake self-help development projects in Arthington.

Mr. Williams said since taking office in 2006, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has labored tirelessly to restore Liberia’s tainted international image, rebuild the country’s ruined economy and infrastructure, and also put in place a system of good governance, so as to ensure sustainable peace and progress.

The Liberian diplomat noted that less than five years under the leadership of President Sirleaf, Liberia’s economy has attracted some $16 billion in private investment in the reactivation of the country’s mining, agriculture and forestry sectors. Oil exploration, he added, has become a new potential in Liberia’s private sector development.

“More importantly, it is pleasing to note that having successfully carried out the reforms required under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, the final segment of Liberia’s $4.9 billion external DEBT, which had burdened our country, was written off the books by the Paris Club in September 2010,”Williams said amid thunderous applause.

“We are grateful to God that under the leadership of President Sirleaf, and with the resilience of the Liberian people everywhere, and the continued support of our international partners, Liberia is making strong progress in its post-conflict reconstruction and development,” he indicated.

Honorable Williams, however, stated that while post-war Liberia was making encouraging progress, the country was faced with many challenges, major among which included unemployment and limited manpower.

“This is why the Government of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is encouraging Liberians in the Diaspora to get actively involved in the reconstruction process of our country because the government alone cannot do it all,” he said.

The Liberian envoy stated that President Sirleaf has been working very hard to ensure that every sector of Liberia benefits from the reconstruction PROGRAMShttp://cdncache-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10×10.png being undertaken by the Government.

Expressing the need for all Liberians to support the Government’s national development PROGRAMS, Williams said: “There is no longer a system of us against them;” adding, “this is why there is no political prisoner in Liberia and there is complete freedom of speech and of the press.”

Minister Counselor Williams, who also inducted ARDA officers, urged them to exhibit honesty and commitment in the discharge of their respective duties. He called on the officers to promote unity, adding that working at cross purposes would undermine progress the organization could attain.

Also speaking at the event, Honorable McCleod Darpoh, chair of the board of ARDA, said the organization was founded a few years ago to help bring hope to the people of Arthington.

Madam Darpoh, who is a former Minister of Commerce, indicated that while the Liberian Government was making effort to rebuild the war-torn country, it was the responsibility of all well-meaning citizens to assist in the process.

In his inaugural address, ARDA President Harry Moore said his organization will sponsor students at some of the teacher training institutes and higher institutions of learning who will commit to take up assignment as teachers in Arthington.

Mr. Moore indicated that ARDA will undertake some self-help development PROGRAMS that will include the Arthington road, educational and health facilities.

In her keynote address, Madam Carolyn Harrison, head of an Atlanta-based group called Women of Vision, called on Arthingtonians to love one another, adding that the absence of love breeds hatred and other vices that undermine human progress.

Editor’s Note: press release.

The Liberian Journal