Angela Venable, left, and Jeremy Pekarek

A Juneteenth Exhibit Reveals Gary's Connection To A Former Slave Turned Civil War Soldier

Contributed By: Lisa D. DeNeal

GARY - John Eubanks lived a life that could be featured in the documentary series, Finding Your Roots.

Eubanks was born into slavery on June 6, 1839 in Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky. His final resting place was Gary, where he lived with his daughter Bertha Sloss at 2713 Harrison Blvd. He was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery. The story of how his life as a slave turned Civil War veteran unfolded thanks to Jeremy Pekarek, an archivist at Indiana University Northwest.

Pekarek, who started working at IUN less than a year ago, discovered John Eubanks’ story while creating an exhibit honoring Juneteenth. Juneteenth, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden as a federal holiday, stands for June 19, 1865, the date when slaves in Galveston, Texas were told they were free.

Pekarek said he was working on an exhibit on Juneteenth that was going to be displayed at the campus’ Anderson Library. While getting information on the Juneteenth celebrations from 1866 to present day, as well as other historical facts, he felt the need to dwell into the actual stories of slaves. It was during his research that he discovered John Eubanks and his ties to Gary.

Pekarek found an interview in the WPA Slave Narratives located in the Library of Congress. John Eubanks interview is one of more than 2,300 first-person stories collected from the Federal Writers’ Project. Eubanks was 98-years-old when he was interviewed in 1937 by Archie Koritz from the Valparaiso, IN Federal Writers’ Project.

The documented interview, available at https://accessgenealogy.com/indiana/slave-narrative-of-john-eubanks.htm, is detailed with Eubanks’ story. Eubanks was one of seven children enslaved on the Everett plantation. At six years old, he was given to Master Everett’s daughter Becky as a wedding present when she married Tony Eubanks, hence John's last name. John was enslaved until his early twenties.

After the start of the Civil War, John joined the Union Army and was assigned to Company K of the 108th Kentucky Infantry. After the war he lived with his mother and relatives. He got married in 1866 and lived in Louisville until 1924 when he came to Gary.

While Pekarek hasn’t found any local descendants, he came across a researcher in Georgia named Angela Venable. Venable has a Facebook page titled, Barren/Warren County Kentucky-Glasgow Slave Descendants Community. “Angela’s maiden name is Everett and her family are descendants of the Everetts who owned the plantation,” Pekarek said.

Venable is a creative writer and has a YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/@angelavenablevideos2871.

The channel includes an animated video she created about Eubanks’ history, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDiHUBZTErI. The video is also on the Facebook page.

She discovered John Eubanks’ story three years ago while researching about Jesse Everett, her ancestor. “Jesse had a son named Ewell Nelms Everett. Ewell had a slave mistress named JQ or Caroline. The mistress had five children and one of the children was Charles Everett. Charles Everett had a son, Boone Everett, who was my great-grandfather. Boone Everett was also known as Pastor Pap. He died in the 1950s.” she said. “I was excited when Jeremy contacted me. I’m helping out as much as I can.”

Pekarek said he wants to do John’s story some justice and hopefully through interviews with the media, some descendants of John come forward and share their stories.
Pekarek is also the Assistant Librarian at the Anderson Library, home to the Calumet Region Archives.

The Archives holds a photo of Eubanks from the Post-Tribune in 1937, paying his respects to the fallen soldiers on Memorial Day in Gary. The article mentioned he participated in the Memorial Day parade in 1937 at the age of 97 as the last remaining member of the Union Army, the Grand Army of the Republic, in Gary.

Pekarek found Eubank’s headstone lying down and covered with vegetation. Pat Cave, of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), cleaned the headstone and Oak Hill placed it upright. A flag and GAR medallion were placed in his honor by the SUVCW.

Story Posted:07/20/2023