Isaiah George DeGrasse

Isaiah George DeGrasse (1813-1841) was a minister. He was the son of George DeGrasse and Maria Van Surley DeGrasse and was born on 19 July 1813 in New York. Isaiah DeGrasse attended the New York African Free School. He was ordained a deacon on 11 July 1838 by the bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in St. Phillips Church, New York City. DeGrasse worked as a missionary in Jamaica, where he died on 11 January 1841.

John Van Surley DeGrasse

John Van Surley DeGrasse (1825-1868) was a medical doctor. He was born in New York in June 1825, the youngest son of George DeGrasse and Maria Van Surley DeGrasse. He took some academic courses at a college in France, studied medicine with Dr. Samuel R. Childs in New York City in 1845, and finished his studies at Bowdoin College in May 1849, where he passed the required exams and received a Doctor in Medicine degree. In 1849, DeGrasse toured hospitals in France, England, Italy, and Switzerland.

DeGrasse married Cordelia L. Howard on 5 August 1852 in Boston and, two years later, established a medical practice there. When he was elected to membership in the Massachusetts Medical Society on 24 August 1854, he became the first African American to belong to a medical association in that state. He was the first African American medical officer in the U.S. Army. He was mustered in on 18 May 1863 and served as an assistant surgeon for the 35th Regiment of U.S. Colored Infantry (the First Regiment, North Carolina, Colored Volunteers). He and his wife had one daughter, Georgenia Cordelia DeGrasse, born 5 December 1855. He died in Boston on 25 November 1868.

Edwin Clarence Howard

Edwin Clarence Howard (1846-1912) was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents were Edwin Frederick Howard of Boston and Joan Louise Turpin Howard of New York City. (Edwin C. Howard was the nephew of Cordelia L. Howard DeGrasse.) He attended Liberia College in Monrovia from 1861-1865, but withdrew from the program before receiving a degree. In 1866, Howard attended Harvard University Medical School and graduated in 1869. He practiced medicine in Philadelphia and distinguished himself during the 1870 smallpox epidemic. He was a member of the Philadelphia County Medical Society, the Pennsylvania State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association. He was a visiting physician at the Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and lecturer and chairman of the Nurses' Training School. Dr. Howard never married. He was buried in Eden Cemetery in Darby, located outside Philadelphia.

George T. Downing

George T. Downing (1819-1903) was a civil rights leader and successful businessman. He was born in 1819, the son of Thomas Downing. He married Serena Leanora DeGrasse on 24 November 1841, and they had four daughters and three sons. George T. Downing was an abolitionist, actively worked towards school desegregation, and was a spokesman who urged politicians to support the Civil Rights Bill. Downing lived in Newport, R.I., where he had a catering business, owned real estate, and made contributions towards civic improvements.

Howard DeGrasse Asbury

Howard DeGrasse Asbury (1907-1978) was minister of the St. Paul Methodist Church in Jamaica, New York. Interested in African American history, he actively collected information and manuscripts about his ancestors, who included members of the DeGrasse, Howard, Downing, Gardner, and Asbury families. (Asbury was the great-grandson of John Van Surley DeGrasse and Cordelia L. Howard DeGrasse.) He loaned materials to various institutions (including the Brooklyn Public Library, New York Cultural Center, and Museum of Afro American History in Boston, Mass.) for exhibitions about African Americans. He was a member of the Negro History Associates.