The University of Virginia recently installed a plaque in front of the University Chapel which honors Henry Martin.
Martin was born a slave in 1826. He was a free man when hired by the university in 1847 as a janitor and to ring the bell in the university’s Rotunda. He rang the bell at dawn and every hour for the remainder of the day. After a fire in the Rotunda, the bell was moved to the University chapel. All told, Martin was the university’s bell ringer from 1847 to 1909, a period of 62 years.
The plaque was sponsored by the IDEA Fund, a group founded to promoted diversity on campus. IDEA stands for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access.
University Of Virginia Honors Man Who Rang College Bell For Sixty-Two Years
Published in Awards/Honors, Commemorations, Education and History
In looking through Albemarle Deed Book 59 I came across on page 376:
2 March 1861 Pompeio Jaccheri of Alb. to Ginseppe Jaccheri, my brother, of City of Barga, Province of Luca in Tuscany, all int. in est of my father, Gaspero Jaccheri in house in Barga Italy. signed “Pompreio Jaccheri, Janitor of UVA”
In the UVa alumni bulletin 1915 article (on line) about Henry Martin and other janitors at UVa does not mention Pompeio Jaccheri.
Sam