Wiley Hinds, soon after arriving to Visalia he was hired by Mr. Pemberson earning $30.00 a month he remained with Mr. Pemberson for fourteen months. He then gained employment with Mr. Wallace taking care of his hogs, which he earned $400 dollars for twelve months of service .He next worked for George E. long five years, till he sold out. Mr. Hinds continued to work for wages until 1865, when be engaged in the stock business on his own account, in partnership, at first, with Mr. Harrington. After residing in California fourteen years and meeting with the success that his honest endeavors merited, he returned to the scenes of his childhood and visited both Kansas and Arkansas. While on this visit he made the acquaintance of Miss Lucy McKinney, a native of' Kansas, who, in 1873, became his wife
The couple returned to his California home, and their union has been blessed with eight children. One of their little children lost its life by eating sugarcoated pills that were accidentally left within her reach. Their children were all born in Tulare County, and, with the exception above cited, are all living. Their names are: Joanna, Juliet, John Thomas, Polly Rachel, Wiley Douglass, Edith Bell and Earnest Logan. Wiley would become one of the wealthiest men of color in the community before his death he had gain the respect of all men of any race and color.
Their Legacy
Edmond Bush was born into slavery on a South Carolina Plantation in 1816, his father a Native American, while his mother was an African American slave. In 1849 at the age of 39 Edmond joined his owner Mr. Wysinger on a journey that took him across the United States, this marked historical value as never before had an African American Slave travel so far through hostel Indian territory in search of the rich gold found in California. Edmond worked for a few years before he earned enough money to purchase his freedom and his future.
After meeting and marring Miss Pernessa Wilson, the couple relocated to Visalia, California in 1864 the community of Visalia were strong sympathizers to the Southern cause and former slaves were not really welcomed. Edmond and Pernessa had eight children six boys and two girls. Jessie was the eldest then Martha, Ruben, Walter, Harvey, Arthur, Marion and Berta the youngest.
Like Mr. Wysinger Thomas Hinds was born into slavery in 1836 in Arkansas he married his wife Rachel at the age of seventeen the couple had six children all were taken into slavery after gaining his freedom when his owner died, he continued to work purchasing his six children freedom. After the death of his wife Thomas relocated to Visalia in 1865 where he was considered a wealthy man Mr. Hinds he owed a large section of land now (Ben Maddox Way) Mr. Hinds was very deep into farming inventing the “Hind Fruit Seed” a method to grow better fruit trees. His third son Wiley who was bought out slavery by his father Thomas and sent to California in 1858 became wealthy himself.
Thomas would later seek to educate his children and Grandchildren when he hired an elderly African American Mr. Daniel Scott.
Daniel Scott an elderly well educated black man from back east while visiting some friends in the Centerville Community where Frank Hinds, (Thomas Son) was a farm hand for Mr. Gabriel Moore became interested in having Mr. Scott also teach those of his family in Visalia the basic in math and reading and writing. In 1871 Thomas and Daniel met and form a partnership that launched the first Color school in Visalia. The first school was a cotton storage shed which had been cleared out for school at one end, this arrangement would last until the death of Thomas Hinds December 10, 1873, once the property became Wiley Hinds Mr. Scott purchased a small house on a lot in Block 105 of the Aughinbough Addition December 29, 1873, with the intent of establishing a school for Black youths. For two years previous, Scott had been employed as a private tutor on the Wylie Hinds ranch. Once Scott opened his school, Visalia school trustees approached him to enroll Black and Mexican children who were applying but being denied admission to the public school. In exchange for the service, Scott received a small fee. This arrangement seems to have been the inception of public-supported education for Visalia's Black children. When Scott's school closed in 1875, the trustees voted to establish a school for Black and Mexican children. The new facility, located on Houston and West Streets (now the Dinuba Highway) outside the city limits, was opened in 1876. Established exactly one year after the State Legislature abolished separate schools, the school was operated by the district for 12 years. Visalia's separate school was not closed until the California Supreme Court, in Wysinger v. Crookshank (1890), found the system unconstitutional
The Color School Of Visalia seen here in April of 1939
