The Life of Jacob Francis Wheaton presented by Fred Chavis. Jacob Wheaton was born in Middletown, Maryland and moved to Hagerstown in the 1850s. He is believed to be the first African- American to vote in Maryland after the civil war, casting his vote in the Hagerstown Mayoral Election of 1868.

In 1897, he became the first African- American to sit on a petit jury in the county. He was also the first African-American court officer in Washington county, serving as a bailiff from the 1890s to 1924.

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Sponsored by, Visit Washington Co Visitors Bureau & African American Historical Association Western MD./Hosted by Washington County Library