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The Hindsman Home & General Store In 1889, at the age of eighteen Zebedee Hndsman left home in Palmatto, Georgia heading west. By the end of the century he had made his way to Albia, Iowa where he established a home. It was in Albia that he met Sarah Miller, and on June 6, 1900 he married her. She was nineteen years old and a native of Virginia. Zeb met the Colonel while he was on a speaking tour promoting the town of Allensworth. He was impressed and in April of 1909, just months after the Colony’s founding, he visited Allensworth to assess its promise. Zebedee returned to Allensworth within two years with his wife Sarah to establish the town’s third general retail store. A title search indicated that Zebedee and Sarah Hindsman purchased both their residential and business land at the same time. The Z. Hindsman and Company General Store was established by Zebedee M. Hindsman and his wife Sarah Miller in 1911 and for a brief period they lived in quarters partitioned off the rear of the store. This general store, one of three in town, had the largest inventory valued at $17,000 in 1917. The building, located directly across from the railroad depot, was a commercial structure, with approximately 900 square feet of space, including a rear loft which Zebedee Hindsman used as an office for his General Store. Some of his activities were; Agent for “Home Insurance Company of New York” and Notary Public for the State of California. He was commissioned under Governor Hiram Johnson in 1912. These positions helped keep him in touch with many details of the town’s development. In 1918, as a registered Democrat, Zebedee Hndsman was elected to the position of Justice of the Peace after William Dodson. This made him the second African American to be elected to this position. He served two full terms. While in this office he continued to further his education by completing a correspondence course in real estate sales from Washington D. C. with the National Realty Company. Zebedee and Sarah never had any children. However, both are known to have a great love of children and the children of the community found them full of love and caring. Zebedee and Sarah Hindsman remained active members of the Allensworth community throughout their lives. Sarah Hindsman died on April 11, 1937. Zebedee continued to live in the family home where he died on April 11, 1960. He was survived by his third wife, Josephine Tuttles Hindsman. |
