C ABANISS

The Cabaniss Family of Washington, DC

Compiled By Charles MacGhee Cabaniss, Jr.

ISAAC CABANISS: Carpenter, farmer, presumptive progenitor of this author's Cabaniss line, born in Hyco Township, Halifax County, Virginia 1831 (date engraved on obelisk tombstone and in accordance with the 1870 Federal Census). According to family lore, Isaac bought the freedom of a young woman in her late teens, possibly from Halifax County, Virginia, named Rose (1839-1901, same tombstone), and her infant daughter from a previous relationship. Marriage soon followed. Together, Isaac and Rose Cabaniss produced nine children.

Five of their children were born and raised in Halifax County, Virginia. The remaining four (including this author's grandfather) were born in Falls Church, Virginia [nee Washington, DC]. Early into the Reconstruction period, Isaac managed to procure approximately 150 acres of farm land in Falls Church - within the territory ceded to Virginia and including what is now historic downtown Falls Church.

The children of Isaac and Rose Cabaniss:

daughter born to Rose (c1855-????) from a prior relationship, little else known

George Williamson Cabaniss, MD (1857-1920) m. Louisa R.; no children

James E. Cabaniss, DDS (Jan 13, 1865 - May 5, 1913) m. Cecelia Hayne Holloway. No children

Thomas Cabaniss ( _? - _ ) married; 2 sons Geo. Martell(1908-1939) & James (c.1913-1995)

Charles H. Cabaniss ( _ - _ ) married, no children

Isaac N. Cabaniss ( _ - _ ) m.?, children?

Martha "Mattie" E. Cabaniss, Registered Nurse (RN) ( _ - _ ) m. Aaron Lawson MacGhee, MD; no children

Lucy Cabaniss ( _ - _ ) unmarried, no children

Harriet "Hattie" Cabaniss, RN ( _ - _ ) m. a Jackson - Richmond, Va.; daughter: Pearl

Joseph David Cabaniss (1882 - 1963) m. Hilda Victoria Freeman (c.1890 - 1941); three children, daughter ((n) still born), sons Joseph D. & Charles M.

Based on recently uncovered personal records, it appears Isaac had a brother, Wilmer Cabaniss of Halifax County, VA. Also, Wilmer was married to Mary Martell.
_________________________

GEORGE WILLIAMSON CABANISS was the eldest son of Isaac and Rose Cabaniss. G. W. Cabaniss was born and raised in Halifax County, Virginia. He was a graduate of Virginia Union University in Richmond, and Howard University Medical School, Class of 1890.

The following biography of G. W. Cabaniss is from a 1920 edition of The Crisis Magazine and was retrieved by C. M. Cabaniss, Jr. while an undergraduate student at Howard University (class of '91)*(1):

For the past thirty years the late Dr. George Williamson Cabaniss was a practicing physician in Washington, D.C. He was educated at Virginia Union University and the Howard University Medical School, and pursued post graduate work at Belleview Hospital, New York City, and in Paris and London. During the war he served as a Y. M. C. A. worker at Fort Meade for twenty-five months and was a most valued influence for good. He was a life member of the International Congress on Tuberculosis, a member of the board of directors of the Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis of the District of Columbia, a member of executive board and ex-president of the National Medical Association, treasurer and ex-president of the Medico-Chirurgical Society, a director of the 12th Street Branch of the Y.M.C.A. and of the Alley Improvement Association. He was a Mason and an Odd Fellow and a deacon of Berean Baptist Church.

Dr. Cabaniss was born in Halifax County, Virginia, in 1857. He leaves an estate of $50,000 with his wife as executrix.

The following was retrieved from the personal library of Dr. Paul Phillips Cooke*(2)

THE MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY OF D.C., "Organized 1894; 70 members. Meet 2[n]d and 4th Thursday, 2111 Pa. avenue northwest. President Dr. A. W. Tancil, 2111 Pa. Ave., northwest; vice president, Dr. J. R. Wilder, 412 B southeast. Treasurer, Dr. George W. Cabaniss, 1906 K [Street] northwest. Secretary, Dr. John W. Mitchell, 411 E [Street] southeast. Corresponding Secretary, Dr. A. B. Cole, 1505 M [Street] northwest."

The following advertisement appears on page 81 from the same source:

Hours. 8 to 10 am - 2 to 4 & 7-8 pm Dr. Geo. W. Cabaniss, Office and Residence, 1906 K St. N.W. Phone 331.

Regarding the first block quote (and to be more precise), Dr. George W. Cabaniss was the seventeenth president of The National Medical Association (NMA). The NMA was established in 1895 and is the nation's oldest and largest organization representing African-American physicians.

The following is a brief history of the American Lung Association of the District of Columbia, including Dr. Cabaniss' contributions to the Association, and his community:

The history of the American Lung Association of DC (ALADC) began in the midst of the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic of the early 20th century. The year was 1902, and African Americans in the District of Columbia were dying from TB at a rate of three times that of whites.
Thanks to three prominent African Americans, W.S. Duffield, a social worker, Reverend Daniel E. Wiseman (pictured above), Pastor of the Church of Our Redeemer, and Dr. George W. Cabaniss (pictured above), member of the Medico-Chirurgical Society, the fight began to conquer the tuberculosis epidemic.
Mr. Duffield, Rev. Wiseman, and Dr. Cabaniss served on the original Board of Directors of the Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis. Cabaniss and Wiseman were instrumental in formulating the goals and objectives of the Association.
One hundred years later, in 2002, the ALADC is starting the DCW Giving Society to honor these three incredible men, expand its life-saving services to DC residents, and celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the American Lung Association of the District of Columbia. The letters, "DCW" are in honor of the ALADC's founding fathers, W.S. Duffield, Dr. George W. Cabaniss, and Reverend Daniel E. Wiseman...

The date of George's death is March 7, 1920 (tombstone), and that of his wife Louisa R., July 26, 1940. George, his wife, his mother and father, and several other Cabanisses are buried in the Cabaniss family plot at Galloway United Methodist Church located in the historic section of downtown Falls Church, Virginia. The land upon which the church was built was once part of Isaac's farm.

JAMES EDWARD CABANISS was born in 1865 in Halifax Co. VA and probably grew up in Halifax County and Falls Church, VA. James Cabaniss was a graduate of Virginia Union University and NYU Dental School, and became a prominent New York City dentist.

In August of 1912, James married Cecelia Hayne Holloway at the centennial home of the Holloways in Charleston, SC. The ceremony, cronicled in the Southern Reader*(3), provides the following look at the bride and groom:

...Dr. James Edward Cabaniss of New York and Miss Cecelia Hayne Holloway of Charleston, SC the estimable and cultured daughter of Rev. J H Holloway were joined in holy wedlock, the Rev. J B Middleton, DD a lifelong friend of the family officiating. The groom is a native of Virginia but is now located in New York City where he is successfully engaged in a lucrative practice of his profession... The old homestead of the family of the bride for more than a century has never perhaps witnessed a more beautiful ceremony or brilliant assemblage of the family friends of the bride and groom in its extended history. There were guests from far and near... The wedding presents were numerous and costly... The groom impresses one as a man of sterling qualities and excellent business judgment and well equipped professionally. The bride is among the best of our home products along the line of womanly womanhood...

Sadly, James passed away in New York the following year. The couple had not yet started a family. Falls Church would be James' final resting place. Cecelia had the following sentiment inscribed on her husband's tombstone, "Chance can not change my love, nor time impair."

Cecelia would later remarry, and for the remainder of her years was known formally as Cecelia Cabaniss Saunders.

Over the years, Cecelia Cabaniss Saunders distinguished herself professionally, bringing added luster to her family, and the Cabaniss name. A graduate of Fisk University and Tuskegee Institute where she received her Master of Social Science, Cecelia continued her studies at Columbia University New School for Social Research, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and the University of Madrid. After a period of teaching at South Carolina State University, Cecelia assumed the challenge of Executive Director of the Upper Manhattan YWCA, a position she held for over thirty years. While Director, she was able to raise the funds needed to expand the Y from a simple residence on 132nd Street to a million-dollar plant on 137th Street between 7th and Lenox Avenues. However, her most valuable contribution "was helping human beings by building an organization where untrained Negro women could gain professional training and experience..."

The following is an excerpt from Cecelia's obituary:

Philanthropists J.P. Morgan, Julius Rosenwald and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. saw the merit of [Cecelia Cabaniss Saunders'] efforts and helped finance the necessary facilities and services.

In 1950 the Alumni Association of Fisk University bestowed on her the Alumni Award "for unselfish and effective service to the nation and to humanity." The roster of those attending a huge testimonial luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria in 1959 in Mrs. Saunders' honor would read like a "Who's Who." Her work in social welfare programs in Harlem, which gained the support of Mayor LaGuardia, William Hodson, Edward Corsi, Victor Ridder, Harry Hopkins, Frances Perkins, Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., was underscored. [Cecelia Cabaniss Saunders] was hailed as a brave pioneer in the long struggle for human rights and dignity.

NOTE: The information above regarding James Cabaniss and Cecelia Hayne Holloway was graciously provided to the author by Cecelia's great-niece, Melissa Holloway (Councilwoman, Ward F, Jersey City, NJ).

CHARLES H. CABANISS was married (sans children) and lived most of his adult life in the three story Federal style brownstone house at 1523 S Street, in what is now the Historic neighborhood of Logan, about ten blocks north of the White House, northwest Washington, DC. Charles owned a Model-A Ford, c. 1930 that years later would become the jalopy the author's father drove while in high school. Charles and his wife managed to fill their house with a number of collectibles. It is not yet known what his level of education was. Federal census records indicate that Charles was a career civil servant. This author's father and brother lived with their Uncle Charles while attending high school and college.

THOMAS CABANISS was married, had two sons and lived one block east of his brother Charles. He too had a house full of fine things, but died owning little more than the house itself. Little is known about Tom's first son, George Martell, who died young leaving no wife or children. Thomas' second son was James "Jimmy" Cabaniss who married a teacher in the New Jersey public school system. Her name was Rose, and together James and Rose raised their daughter, Maureen in New Jersey. Maureen married "Skip" Hawkins, II of New Jersey and had a son, Skip Hawkins, III. Skip's father died relatively young, and Maureen later married Franchot Perkins. She had a second son, Tracy.

James "Jimmy" Cabaniss worked in the meat department at Safeway Grocery stores in New Jersey and later Washington, DC where he retired as assistant manager. Jimmy was recognized by the Safeway Co. as its first African-American butcher, and was lauded for fifty years of service to the grocer and its patrons.

MARTHA "MATTIE" E. CABANISS was married and a Registered Nurse in Washington, DC and New York City. Martha Cabaniss wed Aaron Lawson MacGhee (1884-1949) in 1923, Washington, DC. They met while MacGhee was interning at Freedmen's Hospital in Washington where Martha, a Registered Nurse, was Night Supervisor. MacGhee, a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, educated at Colby College and the Harvard University College of Medicine, practiced medicine in Harlem, New York. Martha and Aaron resided on the famed "Striver's Row" from the 1920's until Aaron's death in 1949. (Lucy, Martha's sister inhereted the house and resided there until just prior to her death in 1972). The following biography on Aaron Lawson MacGhee is an excerpt from "Against All Odds, The Legacy of Students of African Descent at Harvard Medical School before Affirmative Action 1850-1968":

Aaron Lawson MacGhee matriculated 1913 and graduated Harvard Medical Class of 1917. Aaron L. MacGhee was born on March 20, 1884, in Knoxville, Tennessee. MacGhee received his BS degree in 1913 from Colby College in Maine, where he had moved with his family. According to his records at Colby College he was "fitted for college" at Austin High School in Knoxville and at Coburn Classical Institute in Waterville, Maine. While at Colby, he was instrumental in the founding of the Colby Commons Club, an inclusive group formed in response to the exclusion of people of color from most fraternities. He was especially fond of his college alma mater and its president, who, he wrote in 1945, "personally directored [sic] me on the most pleasing and profitable four years of my life."

While in medical school he lived at 52 Fenwood Road in Roxbury. Following graduation, he interned at Freedmen's Hospital in Washington, D.C., from March 1918 to July 1919, and went on to practice medicine in Knoxville, Tennessee, for six months - from July 2, 1919, to January 11, 1920. From then until his death on November 29, 1949, he practiced in Harlem, New York City, where he had a successful surgical practice. In 1923 he married Martha E. Cabaniss, RN, who at the time was Night Supervisor at Freedmen's Hospital. In his obituary in the Amsterdam News of December 3, 1949, he was described as

...a civic-minded physician, serving the community as one of the leaders in the movement to make Harlem business-conscience. He was a past-president of the Association of Trade and Commerce; a past-president of the Central Manhattan Medical Society, and a member of Monarch Lodge of Elks.

Material about Aaron MacGhee is scant at Harvard Medical School, but a paragraph in the Colby Oracle of 1913, as he was leaving the College, reads:

"Mac," they say the breezes blow around North College at times but that they change their course when the stately form of the North End proctor comes around. They also say that you have Sherlock Holmes trimmed to a frazzle when it comes to hunting up electric light bulbs. Is that the reason why they have you care for the Ticonic Bank, or is it because of your never-failing honesty? Your quiet ways accompanied by common sense at all times have won for you respect and friendship from everyone, and we will miss you in the years to come.

JOSEPH DAVID CABANISS "Doc" as he was referred to by customers, friends and family, was the youngest son and youngest child of Isaac and Rose Cabaniss. Doc was the grandfather this author never knew. Although Doc lived 86 years, he passed away about five years prior to the author's birth. Doc attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Pharmacy, class of 1913. Doc waited a fairly long time before marrying and starting a family, choosing instead to "toil in the vineyard" first as a professor of pharmacy at Howard University, then pharmacist and owner of a Washington, DC pharmacy (along with a partner(McGuire who would later found McGuire's Funeral Home, well known in Washington, DC)). Doc worked until attaining a measure of success. Doc was a "country boy" who like many of his older siblings had traded a life of farming for the urban lifestyle. He was well aware of the fact that his older siblings, especially George, left enormous shoes to fill, but believed in time he would achieve a level of success equal to or greater than that of his siblings. Only when he was "well on his way" would he finally marry, best able then to provide a wife and children with a comfortable standard of living.

In c.1920, and fairly well established, Doc married Hilda Victoria Freeman of Washington, D.C., (this author's grandmother). Hilda was the second oldest of seven children born to George Freeman a stone mason born in antebellum Virginia, and Johanna Fagerberg an immigrant from Malmo, Sweden. Their children were in order of birth, Florence A., Hilda V., George H., Mabel A., Esther H., Charles W., Archibald P. Freeman.

Hilda's brother, Charles Wendell Freeman (d.1981), (known as "Uncle Wendell" to this author) attended Howard Medical School after graduating from Dartmouth in 1922. He graduated summa cum laude, phi beta kappa from Howard Med school, class of 1926. Dr. C. Wendell Freeman became an internationally renowned dermatologist from the 1940's through the 1960's. Dr. C. Wendell Freeman's work was published in various scientific journals during this period (primarily during the '50's and '60's), citations and abstracts for which can be found in MEDLINE - NIH National Library of Medicine website/database. After retiring from private practice in c. 1968, Dr. Freeman assumed the post of chairman, Dermatology Department, Howard University Hospital (nee The Freedman's Hospital of Washington, DC). Freeman and his family lived in a Federal style, semi-detached row house ("in-town mansion") on Kalorama Road, N.W. Washington, DC. His sisters (including Hilda) were teachers in Washington, DC, New Jersey and St. Louis, Missouri.

Joe and Hilda had three children from 1923 to 1927. The first child was a daughter who died shortly after her birth. Their second, Joseph David Cabaniss, Jr. was born in 1925, and the third, Charles MacGhee Cabaniss, was born in 1927. Both sons were born in Columbus, Ohio. Joe and Hilda moved to Columbus from Washington, DC seeking greater career opportunities and a higher standard of living in the less rigidly segregated Columbus. For a time, Doc's family flourished on the basis of love, abiding faith and a thriving business. The 1930 Census shows Doc's family resided in the house at 258 Hamilton Avenue in Franklin (thirteenth ward, block 70), Columbus, Ohio; value listed as $7,000. Family photographs including the house depict a large three story Victorian with a four story turret and an ornate, wrap-around porch. This was the house this author's father was born to and raised in.

Unfortunately, severe health problems brought an abrupt end to halcion days in Columbus, necessitating an unhappy return to and reliance upon family in Washington, DC.

Doc suffered a debilitating stroke from which he would fully recover. However, initially, his recovery was slow. Significant time spent away from the pharmacy spelled the end of his business. Regrettably, as Doc was recovering, Hilda fell severely ill. She was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The family returned to Washington, DC, relying heavily on the support of extended family. Hilda passed away shortly afterward at her sister Mabel's house. Her life was cut short at the age of 45 by lymphatic cancer. Doc, who was about 52 at the time, soon made a complete recovery from his stroke and other health problems, including a bleeding ulcer. Interestingly, Doc later re-married, Hilda's sister, Mabel.

Doc lived an additional thirty-four healthy and productive years; continuing to work right up until his death. He managed to leave his sons two modest houses in Washington, and a small parcel of land in Buena Vista, Maryland.

JOSEPH DAVID CABANISS, JR. was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1925. Alive and kicking, Joe has been an architect based in Washington, DC for the past 50 plus years.

JC graduated from Dunbar High School in 1943 and Howard University in 1955 after which he was registered in, and practicing architecture. His work has included residential, institutional, commercial and preservation commissions, and has received an award for design excellence from the Church Architectural Guild. His Urban Design and Urban planning activities were an integral part of the development of the new town Columbia, Maryland along with regional and developmental planning in Nigeria, during the 1960's. Joe has taught architecture at Howard, and was Chairman of the Department of architecture at Howard. He taught urban planning at the school of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture at Michigan State University. He served, also, as Chair of the Faculty of Architecture and Developmental Planning at the University of Nigeria, Enugu, Nigeria. He was also the Director of Coastal Zone Management in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Joe Cabaniss served as an Aviation Cadet in the U.S. Navy's V-5 Program during the second World War. He is a member of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering and architectural honor society. He's a current member and past Vice-President and President of The Arts Club, founded in 1916 and located in the historic James Monroe House and adjacent MacFeely House in northwest Washington, DC.

Joe Cabaniss has been married to Stephanie Spottswood since 1950, and has a daughter, Lynne Cabaniss-Johnson and a granddaughter, Kristen Johnson. Stephanie Spottswood, a semi-retired teacher and administrator in the DC public school system, is the daughter of Bishop Stephen Spottswood of Massachusetts who was a past President of the NAACP during the 1950's and 1960's and counsel to President's Kennedy and Johnson on "Negro Affairs." Lynne Cabaniss has been a veterinarian doctor since graduating from Michigan State in the mid-1970's. For the past ten years Dr. Lynne Cabaniss has been the owner of Collins Memorial Hospital for Animals in the historic Georgetown community of Washington, DC. This is the oldest animal hospital in continuous operation in Washington since the turn of the 20th century. Lynne is the fourth woman, and the first African American to own and operate this Hospital.

CHARLES MACGHEE CABANISS was born in Columbus, Ohio, 1927. Charles was around twelve when his family returned to Washington, DC in about 1939. Always of a serious bent of mind, young Charles immersed himself in his studies at Garnett Patterson Middle School, where his mother Hilda taught English before their move to Columbus. Later, while attending Dunbar Senior High School (Washington, DC), Charles distinguished himself in academics and athletics, maintaining a 3.5 or higher GPA - starting and starring on four varsity teams namely football, basketball, track, and the swim team. His hard work and perseverance paid off when at the end of his high school career Charles was awarded the Major James E. Walker Memorial Medal in 1944. This honor was bestowed annually to the male member of the graduating class for maintaining "the highest record in scholarship, athletics, and deportment throughout the entire high school course." {"The Dunbar Story 1870-1955" by Mary Gibson Hundley, 1965 Vantage Press}. The same honor was bestowed upon a young Dr. Charles R. Drew a generation earlier. Awarded academic scholarships at various colleges and universities, Charles Cabaniss chose to attend Lincoln University, the historically black college in Pennsylvania once referred to as the "Black Princeton" (Howard U. was referred to as "The Black Harvard"). While at Lincoln, "Cab," as he was reverently called, continued to distinguish himself in the classroom and on the field. The Coach of the football program, Coach Manny Rivero, installed Cab at the starting QB position his freshman year. Cab was also starting center forward for the Lincoln Lions basketball team. He played those positions throughout his college career, leading his teams to CIAA Championship victories in his senior year over Howard and Morgan in football and basketball. Cab is featured on the front page of a 1947 edition of the Afro-American newspaper going back for a pass during the championship game against Howard U. on the gridiron at Griffith Stadium, former home of the Washington Redskins (as well as Washington Nationals and Homestead Grays). The stadium was demolished in 1965. The site is currently occupied by Howard University Hospital.

In an excerpt from a recent correspondence with Cab's son, fellow Lincolnite, Seymour Barnes, former World Health Organization Adviser and United Nations Community Organizer, shared his memories of Cabaniss:

Greetings "Cab" Junior: It is great making the long leap from Cab of '48 to Cab Jr some 51 years later. It reminds me that life continues. Cabaniss and I were on the Lincoln football team 1943-1945. Kicked lots of Morgan and Howard behinds. Cab was a work horse on the foot ball, basket ball teams and in the classroom. You would have enjoyed watching him from a distance as he breezed around Lincoln. My life --that of a big N.C. country boy--was greatly enriched by my contact with your dad...

Cab was an "All-American" caliber athlete and (according to family lore) was scouted by an NFL team in his senior year. However, Cab returned to Washington, D.C. to attended Howard University Medical School in the fall of '48. Cabaniss graduated 2nd in his class magna cum laude (missing the top rank by a fraction of a percent!) - the Golden Class of '52, arguably the important class in the history of Howard University College of Medicine. Many '52 grads have enjoyed highly distinguished careers in their respective fields.

Residencies in abdominal surgery and obstetrics & gynecology at The Freedman's Hospital of Washington (Howard University Hospital) immediately followed. During that period (actually beginning his senior year in medical school) Charles, who was mentored by prominent Washington physician Edward C. Mazique, moonlighted in his early mentor's large, private practice.

In 1955 Dr. Cabaniss served as Senior Assistant Surgeon, Reserve Corps of the Public Health Service, U. S. Dept. of Health, Education & Welfare for four years at a public health clinic in NYC. Following his service, Dr. Cabaniss practiced medicine (obstetrics & gynecology) on staff at Freedman's Hospital. Dr. Cabaniss was among the first group of African Americans starting with Jack White in 1955 to earn acceptance in surgical residency programs at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital (née Memorial Hospital of New York), 1960-1961. Included in this elite group was '52 classmate and summa cum laude graduate of Howard's College of Medicine, Dr. Lasalle D. Leffall, Jr (Fellow: General Surgery/Oncology 1958-1960). Dr. Cabaniss completed his surgical residency at Memorial (Sloan/Kettering) July, 1961; surgical training that began in 1952-53 at Freedman's Hospital Department of Surgery. His primary area of concentration at Sloan Kettering was Gynecologic Oncology. Alexander Brunschwig, MD (1901-1969), pioneer of Pelvic Exenteration Surgery c.1948, as well as other proceedures still in use today, and Surgical Program Director at Sloan Kettering, trained and mentored Dr. Cabaniss. Postgraduate courses completed at around this time included a Harvard University Fellowship in Gynecology, Massachusetts General Hospital, September, 1958. Board certification at the University of Chicago followed. Additionally, Dr. Cabaniss was elected Fellow of the American Society of Abdominal Surgeons, and Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in 1961 and 1962 respectively. In 1962, Dr. Cabaniss and a colleague established a private practice in northwest Washington, DC.

In 1952, Dr. Cabaniss married Dr. Angela Ferguson, a medical researcher at Freedmen's/Howard Hospital. The union yielded two children, Carla born in 1953, and Caryn ten years later in 1963 (Caryn and former husband, Grant Ward have two sons, Grant David Ward, IV and Charles Cabaniss Ward; and a daughter, Natalie Marie Ward.)

Charles' first marriage ended in divorce shortly after his second daughter's birth.

In 1966, Charles married the author's mother, Lorena Marie Smith. Lorena, a graduate of Howard University with a BA in political science (class of '61), was working as a Personnel Specialist for the US Civil Service Commission (Office of Personnel Management) when she married Charles. A son, Charles Jr, was born the following year. Many years later, Lorena would graduate from Howard University School of Law (class of '81) and work as Legislative Director to Council member Charlene Drew Jarvis - daughter of Dr. Charles R. Drew. (Currently she is a consultant in the field of government relations and policy.) The author's mother is a sixth generation Washingtonian whose father, J. Archibald "Archie" Smith, owned and managed several restaurants in Washington, DC during the 1940's, '50's and '60's.

Lorena brought positive energy, love, support and stability to what was until that point a rather chaotic period in Charles' life. With his personal life on more stable footing, Charles began to flourish professionally. He accepted the teaching position offered him by his alma mater - Clinical Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology. In 1964, Dr. Cabaniss earned privileges (allowed to practice medicine) at the prestigious Washington Hospital Center. Dr. Charles Cabaniss was only the second African-American to earn privileges at the Washington Hospital Center. He was the first African-American to occupy a suite in Physician's Office Building (POB) number 1, c.1969 the same time at which he became a solo practitioner.

By the early 1970's, Dr. Cabaniss grew his solo practice to a size roughly equal to the four doctor group practice in which he practiced. In addition to seeing patients at Howard and the Hospital Center, Dr. Cabaniss earned privileges at several other Washington area hospitals, including the former Columbia Hospital for Women, and Georgetown University Hospital, training residents at the latter hospital as well as Residents rotating through the OB/GYN Department of the Washington Hospital Center and of course Howard Hospital. Dr. Cabaniss' practice grew to include approximately five thousand patients. Doctor Cabaniss delivered hundreds of Washington area babies each year. A gifted surgeon, Dr. Cabaniss earned a reputation for being a marvel in the operating room, and as a result, patient referrals came in from across the country. By 1977 Dr. Cabaniss reluctantly and tearfully decided to close out his OB practice and concentrate on surgery and teaching.

During the 1970's Dr. Cabaniss made several guest appearances on "Panorama", a local daytime television talk show co-hosted by WTTG anchorman, Maury Povich, providing expert opinion pertaining to women's health issues. Doctor Cabaniss' fertility studies, unique surgical cases, and photographs of various extracted tumor types, including rarely occuring types, were published in medical journals and textbooks.

A few examples are listed below.
Pleuroperitoneal Endometriosis. 1976 Jan;47(1):72S-74S Irani S, Atkinson L, Cabaniss C, Danovitch SH.
A nearly unique case is presented of pleural and peritoneal endometriosis with bloody pleural effusion and 4700 cc of bloody ascites. Theories of pathogenesis, differential diagnosis, and treatment are discussed. This represents another of the protean manifestations of endometriosis to complement the many others described in the literature. PMID: 1107910 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Evaluating Retrograde Hysterectomy In The Surgery Of Pelvic Gynaecologic Diseases In Nigeria. Niger Med J. 1976 Jan;6(1):74-8 Ajabor LN. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria.
A modified technique of total abdominal hysterectomy in the presence of gross distortion of pelvic anatomy with displacement of vital structures by chronic pelvic inflammatory disease with or without tubo-ovarian abscess formation and adherent giant myomas of the uterus is described.... ...Various techniques for abdominal hysterectomy have been developed and reported (Richardson, 1929; Farrar, 1935; Aldrige, and Meredith 1950; Gray, 1958; Murless, 1963; Cabaniss, and Gill, 1964). PMID: 16295071 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1964 Mar 15;88:733-6. Total Hysterectomy With Exposure Of The Ureter. Cabaniss CM, Gill CM. PMID: 14130336 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Obstet Gynecol. 1963 Nov;22:606-9. Carcinoma Of The Prolapsed Cervical Stump. Report Of A Case. Cabaniss CM, Crocker CL. PMID: 14082280 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1962 Jan 1;83:13-7. Potassium Permanganate As An Abortifacient, A 5-Year Review. Cabaniss CM, Clark JF. PMID: 13875387 [PubMed - OLDMEDLINE]

Med Ann Dist Columbia. 1961 Jul;30:406-8. Primary Carcinoma Of The vagina. Report Of A Case With The Surgical Mode Of Therapy. DEANE RA, CABANISS CM. PMID: 13720964 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Med Ann Dist Columbia. 1959 Mar;28(3):146-7 passim. Perforative Appendicitis In Pregnancy And The Puerperium; Report Of A Case. Clark JF, Cabaniss CM. PMID: 13643099 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Doctor Cabaniss was revered by his colleagues for being a genius at medical diagnosis. He had become "the court of last resort" for numerous women with chronic and/or life threatening cases.

In 1975, Dr. Cabaniss was elected "Senior Surgeon in charge of residents" by his colleagues at the Hospital Center, with the responsibility for directing and training OB/GYN Residents - the first African-American in such a position in any department at the Hospital Center. This was significant due to the fact that residents allowed to rotate through the Hospital Center at the time were still mostly white, ivy league medical school graduates. While training young docs in this environment, Dr. Cabaniss continued teaching and training young docs at Howard Medical School and Howard Hospital, an environment that was predominantly African-American. Bridging the gap, Doctor Cabaniss served to unite a community of medical professionals that remained bifurcated well into the 1970's, and was likely the first black doctor in the country to do so in this way.

Doctor Cabaniss continued teaching and practicing medicine until his sudden death, September 18, 1979.

FREEMAN

George Freeman was born in Virginia, the child of a black man (identity not known) and a white woman from a Virginia family. Nothing certain is known about the nature of the relationship or the family from whence she came, except that money was regularly sent to the black woman who raised young George until aged sixteen (known to the family only as 'Aunt Katie'); and sent away north by the family.

From about the age of sixteen, George worked for the Belding family, wealthy manufacturers of silk, at Patchogue, Long Island. According to family lore, when Mrs. Belding, originally from Sweden, rode to a passenger ship (?name) to meet Johanna and her brother Henrik, George drove the carriage. Johanna, 16, and George had an immediate attraction, and when Johanna hit the age of 18, she and George eloped to DC where there were many racially mixed couples. Johanna's siblings never spoke with her again except for Henrik. When he struck it rich, he returned to Sweden, but he left in his will $8000 for each of his siblings, a princely sum in the early 1900s.

Above information provided by Sid Reedy. Cousin Sidney is the son of Drs. Sidney J. Reedy and Hilda Lawson Reedy. Hilda Reedy was the second child (of four) of George and Johanna's eldest child, daughter Florence Freeman.

Cabaniss family history notes compiled by Charles M. Cabaniss Jr, from 1999 to 2005.

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REFERENCES AND ADDITIONAL LINKS

*(1)"The Crisis" W. E. B. DuBois, March 1920, pp. 92 & 93, The Moorland Spingarn Research Center, Howard University Washington, DC.

*(2)"The Twentieth Century Union League Directory, Colored Washington" January 1901, p. 150.

*(3)"The Southern Reader" August 31, 1912.

Henry Cabaniss And His Descendants John Plath Green, 1956. Ten generations of Cabaniss genealogy in the USA beginning with the 1699 arrival of the immigrant French Huguenot Henri Cabanis with his wife and son. Adobe Acrobat Reader required.

"Henry Cavinis, The Immigrant Infant And Some of His Descendants" Alloa Caviness Anderson, 1971.

"Henry Cavinis, Additions and Corrections" Alloa Caviniss Anderson, 1996.

Joe Cabaniss from Texas provides documents in pdf format regarding Cabaniss family history and genealogy, as well as links to interesting web sites by other members of "Familie Cabanis."

Sidney Snead's personal web site featuring a highly referrenced account of his Cabaniss/Caviness family connection.

Copyright © 2000-2004 by Charles M. Cabaniss, Jr.
All rights reserved. All text by the above referenced author is the sole property of the copyright holder and author of this web site, Charles M. Cabaniss, Jr (author). All images of family and property contained within this site are the sole property of said author, for display purposes only, and cannot be reproduced without permission from the author or author's family.