About
the Author
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Judge
Jackson was born in Montgomery County, eight miles west of Orion, March 12,
1883, near a little village named Bryhill, Alabama.
He lived there with his family for about nine years later moving to
Ansley, Alabama. He went to school for a short time, but school for African
Americans were not so much in those days especially in rural communities. Judge left home the first Sunday in January 1899 with his clothes in a small sack and only fifty cents in his pocket. He walked from Ansley, Alabama to Troy, Alabama. He stayed with his sister Ida and his brother in Troy that night. The next evening he left heading south and reached Brundidge early Tuesday morning and Ariton, Alabama Wednesday morning. He arrived in Ozark by the middle of Wednesday afternoon. He did not know anyone in Ozark, so he traveled to Ewell and then to Waterford, Alabama. By this time, night had fallen and went to some houses near the railroad and asked the people if they would let him stay overnight with them and they said no. He went back to the railroad feeling lonely and sad. He was in a strange land and had no where to go. He took his troubles to the Lord and asked the Lord to take care of him. He promised the Lord that he would serve Him. In this sad hour, he stepped off the railroad tracks and built a small fire. |
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After having
sat there for a while, two young men came up and wanted to know who he was and
where he was going. He told them
that he was going to Jenkins, Georgia. He
was hoping that they would take him home with them, but they told him to go the
section house. He went to the
section houses and found a man there who had just moved in that day. He let him spend the night with him. The floor served as his bed and cover.
The next morning, he asked for a job working on the railroad, but the
section boss said that he was too young. It
seemed to Judge that he had been mistreated there.
Nevertheless, as the Lord would have it, he went out northeast of this
place. He did not know where he was
going. He kept searching, and then
he accepted a job with a white man named Lark Bagger.
He worked for four dollars per month.
Judge felt as if the devil had him, but he trusted God and moved on.
Judge worked for Lark Bagger for about four months.
In May 1899, he began working for Emanuel Dickerson, a Christian hearted
black man, for four dollars and fifty cents per month.
It seemed to Judge that God had directed him to this man.
It was here that he learned more about serving God and more about
farming.
By the hand of God, Judge moved on.
In October 1899, Judge went to work with another aged man, Peter Wood who
had no family. It was Peter Wood
who would arouse his interest in praying night and morning.
Judge went back to his father’s home in January 1901 and lived there
until October 1901. He went back to
Ozark in October 1901 and worked for a while with a white man named Major
Carroll. He drove a wagon for him
until December 1901. At this time,
Judge began to think about the future. He
did not have a chair to sit in or a bed to lie on, so he bought some chairs and
a bed.
The next year, he worked for a colored man named Sam Webb for a part of
the crop. At this time, he had been
thinking and praying about his soul’s salvation and where he would spend
eternity. He decided that He would
pray one more time and if nothing happened, he would give up.
On the fifth Sunday in May 1902, he went down to a spring to pray his
last prayer, but the Holy Spirit met him there and set his soul on fire.
The blessings of the Lord began to manifest.
In the same year, October 1902, Judge married Lela Campbell.
In
1903, he stayed with is father-in-law farming with him on his land.
He did not do so well farming with him, so he moved about three miles
west of Ozark and farmed with Mr. Byrd for two years.
The
next year, Judge bought a farm eight miles southeast of Ozark.
It took him six years to pay for the farm.
He and his wife were living in a three room log cabin.
At this time his family had began to increase. In 1914, he built a six room frame house.
With God’s hand leading him, he continued to progress.
In
1922, he bought another farm five miles of Ozark.
In June 1928, he bought a half-acre lot in Ozark on the Enterprise
Highway and built one house on it by December of the same year.
In 1920, he bought seventeen acres of land in Ozark joining the half-acre
he bought in 1928. When he was
homeless and did not have a place to lay his head, God stayed with him. He continued to progress.
From 1936 until 1939 he built ten houses in Ozark.
From 1941 until 1949, he built five houses in Ozark.
He moved to Ozark October 4, 1941. Judge
states in his autobiography, “In all my buying land and building houses, it
was God’s hand that led me. ‘The
earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof’, I have nothing to boast
about; for my name is written in the Kingdom”.
Judge
had been a lover of Sacred Harp singing from his youth.
He went to as many Sacred Harp singings as he could.
Sacred Harp singing schools were very prevalent in those days. He would attend when he could. If he missed a class, his
friend Ben Thompson would go over the lesson for that class with him at night
using the fireplace as light. Judge
spent many nights teaching himself how to write Sacred Harp Music.
He had written several poems, and eventually set them to the music scale.
Judge
was in the organization of the Dale County Musical Institute in 1932 and later
became the President and served for many years.
In 1932, members of the Institute had a discussion, “What can we do to
improve”. After discussing for a
long time, it was decided that the Black people should have a Sacred Harp song
book. A committee was appointed on
composition (to write music) and Judge was appointed chairman of that committee.
After working this project for about two years, he was able to publish
the Colored Sacred Harp in
1934.
