The Technician (Raleigh, NC), September 29, 1939
Title
The Technician (Raleigh, NC), September 29, 1939
Description
First published in 1920, The Technician is North Carolina State University's oldest student newspaper. This issue from 1939 includes an article on page three about "Aunt" Ellen McGuire, as she was known to many students. A former slave and long-time employee at the college's infirmary, McGuire was set to retire when this article was published. The article details her background, work history, and family connections.
Creator
E.P. Davidson, Editor
Source
E.P. Davidson, The Technician (Raleigh, NC), vol. 20, no. 3, September 29, 1939.
Date
1939-09-29
Contributor
Rose Buchanan
Subject
Ellen McGuire
Format
PDF
Language
English
Type
document
Text
AUNT ELLEN MCGUIRE SAW COLLEGE BEGIN
Infirmary Worker Has Been Connected With Campus Fifty Years; Is Known to Hundreds of Students and Alumni
Aunt Ellen McGuire, as she is affectionally known by hundreds of State College students and alumni, has been associated with State College since its beginning in 1889. Born Ellen Buffaloe, May 30, 1860, on the plantation of Mr. John Smith near Wiley’s Grove, 4 1/2 miles east of Raleigh, Ellen was the oldest of 16 children of Martha and Jim Buffaloe. Following the Civil War she moved with her family to Major Gaston Wilder’s plantation, also near Wiley’s Grove, where she lived until she married Pat McGuire in 1875 and settled In the Oberlin section of Raleigh.
Ellen’s husband was from Orange County and bis mother was a servant at the University of North Carolina. Pat was also employed as a servant at the University before he came to Raleigh in 1876 to work for the Raleigh-Gaston railroad. He worked as a freight delivery man from 1875 until his death in 1905.
Attributing her long and active life to hard work, Aunt Ellen still reports for work at the College Infirmary, where she has worked for 31 consecutive years. Arrangements have been made for her retirement on a part-pay basis, but Aunt Ellen has no intention of giving up her work entirely.
Before she started working in the College Infirmary in 1908, Aunt Ellen worked in the college dining room which was located at that time in the basement of Pullen Hall. Although the dining room job was Aunt Ellen’s first full-time job at the college, she had been employed on various part-time jobs in Holladay Hall since the opening of the college In 1889. Her first job was to mend mattresses and pillows that had been used as "implements of war†and otherwise. She also helped with the canning of fruits and vegetables from the college farm and assisted at hog killings, house cleanings and other places whenever she was needed. In addition to her work for the college, for 50 years Aunt Ellen has done washing and ironing for students. In her younger days she washed and ironed for as many as 26 students a week.
When she saw the breaking of ground for Holladay Hall in 1889 it was nothing more than the beginning of another building to Ellen McGuire, but today that building, the other buildings, the campus, the faculty, the students, the alumni and everybody else that is or has been associated with State College, are respected and loved by Aunt Ellen. She says proudly, "I has seen dis yer college come from a long ways.â€
Since the time of her humble beginning as a slave in 1860 until the present time Aunt Ellen has either belonged to or has been employed by white people. Her cheerful disposition, her faithfulness, her good work and her desire to be of service to others has endeared her to her various employers and these qualities have won for her the respect, the admiration and the affection of the hundreds and thousands of people who have known her.
Her busy life has not kept Aunt Ellen from being active among the people of her own race. In addition to bringing up a very creditable family of her own, Aunt Ellen has given generously of her time, her strength and her means to the less fortunate of her race. She is an active worker in her church and In her community and she takes a great deal of pride in her home, which is well kept by her.
Infirmary Worker Has Been Connected With Campus Fifty Years; Is Known to Hundreds of Students and Alumni
Aunt Ellen McGuire, as she is affectionally known by hundreds of State College students and alumni, has been associated with State College since its beginning in 1889. Born Ellen Buffaloe, May 30, 1860, on the plantation of Mr. John Smith near Wiley’s Grove, 4 1/2 miles east of Raleigh, Ellen was the oldest of 16 children of Martha and Jim Buffaloe. Following the Civil War she moved with her family to Major Gaston Wilder’s plantation, also near Wiley’s Grove, where she lived until she married Pat McGuire in 1875 and settled In the Oberlin section of Raleigh.
Ellen’s husband was from Orange County and bis mother was a servant at the University of North Carolina. Pat was also employed as a servant at the University before he came to Raleigh in 1876 to work for the Raleigh-Gaston railroad. He worked as a freight delivery man from 1875 until his death in 1905.
Attributing her long and active life to hard work, Aunt Ellen still reports for work at the College Infirmary, where she has worked for 31 consecutive years. Arrangements have been made for her retirement on a part-pay basis, but Aunt Ellen has no intention of giving up her work entirely.
Before she started working in the College Infirmary in 1908, Aunt Ellen worked in the college dining room which was located at that time in the basement of Pullen Hall. Although the dining room job was Aunt Ellen’s first full-time job at the college, she had been employed on various part-time jobs in Holladay Hall since the opening of the college In 1889. Her first job was to mend mattresses and pillows that had been used as "implements of war†and otherwise. She also helped with the canning of fruits and vegetables from the college farm and assisted at hog killings, house cleanings and other places whenever she was needed. In addition to her work for the college, for 50 years Aunt Ellen has done washing and ironing for students. In her younger days she washed and ironed for as many as 26 students a week.
When she saw the breaking of ground for Holladay Hall in 1889 it was nothing more than the beginning of another building to Ellen McGuire, but today that building, the other buildings, the campus, the faculty, the students, the alumni and everybody else that is or has been associated with State College, are respected and loved by Aunt Ellen. She says proudly, "I has seen dis yer college come from a long ways.â€
Since the time of her humble beginning as a slave in 1860 until the present time Aunt Ellen has either belonged to or has been employed by white people. Her cheerful disposition, her faithfulness, her good work and her desire to be of service to others has endeared her to her various employers and these qualities have won for her the respect, the admiration and the affection of the hundreds and thousands of people who have known her.
Her busy life has not kept Aunt Ellen from being active among the people of her own race. In addition to bringing up a very creditable family of her own, Aunt Ellen has given generously of her time, her strength and her means to the less fortunate of her race. She is an active worker in her church and In her community and she takes a great deal of pride in her home, which is well kept by her.
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E.P. Davidson, Editor, “The Technician (Raleigh, NC), September 29, 1939,” The State of History, accessed April 30, 2024, https://soh.omeka.chass.ncsu.edu/items/show/544.