Pleasants Family of Mansfield, Ohio

James Pleasants

The nearby photographs are of James Pleasants (born 1851) and of James with brothers Thomas and Jasper. They are just two of many photographs in an album donated to the Hayes Manuscripts Department. 

Thomas, James, Jasper Pleasants

The Pleasants children were the sons of Isaac Pleasants and his wife Cassandra Harper. Isaac, born in Virginia in 1821, eventually crossed the Ohio River and lived in Cincinnati where he became a barber. Later, the family moved to Columbiana County. Following Cassandra’s death, Isaac brought his three sons and three daughters to Mansfield, Ohio, where he married a second time to Rose Amanda Abraham. Together, they had four children.  

According to Mansfield news articles, Isaac, who lived on East First Street, worked to recruit volunteers for Civil War service from the city’s Third Ward. He also headed the Union Colored Sabbath School and helped found the AME church in 1875.

James grew to manhood and worked as a foreman in a local box factory and then, like his father, became a barber. He spent time in Cleveland and Sandusky. However, he returned to Mansfield where he died of Bright’s disease at the early age of 36. Like his parents and several of his siblings, he is buried in the Mansfield Cemetery.

Clada Pleasants
Courtesy of Find a Grave

James’ youngest sister,Clada, a talented musician and newspaper correspondent, took part in an 1890 concert to help raise funds for John Brown’s daughter, Mrs. Henry Thompson, then living in California in near poverty.

More can be learned about the Pleasants family and Mansfield’s African American community at the Mansfield Memorial Museum.