Mrs. Betsch Tourist Home

Mrs. Betsch Tourist Home was advertised in the Green Book from 1940-1941 and was listed as “Mrs. Betch [sp]--219 Rockspring St.” under “Tourist Homes.” Mrs. Mattie B. Betsch operated the tourist home at her residence, located at 219 Rockspring Street in Henderson, North Carolina.¹
    
Mrs. Betsch’s tourist home appeared in the Green Book for two years, in 1940 and 1941. Mattie and John J. Betsch moved to Rockspring Street in Henderson, North Carolina, in 1900. Twenty-six years later, in 1926, they built their own home at 219 Rockspring Street. In 2019, the home was listed as having 7 bedrooms and 2 baths and was 3,569 square feet -- an ideal tourist home.²

Mattie Betsch, whose maiden name was Shines, was born in Halifax, North Carolina, in the mid-1870s. She first married John Kelly in 1895. Kelly passed away soon after, and Mattie married John J. Betsch in 1900. John J. Betsch, a prominent brick mason, was the founding vice president of the Henderson chapter of the National Negro Business League. He and Mattie had one son, John Thomas Betsch, and an adopted daughter, Cleo Betsch. John J. Betsch passed away in 1933.³

Mrs. Betsch was already offering her home to boarders by the time it was listed in the Green Book. In 1940, there were three boarders living in the home - two mechanics working at a local garage and a public grammar school teacher. Mattie’s daughter, Cleo, who was also a widow, lived in the home and worked as a registered nurse at a hospital. Hexie Henderson, who was 17 years old and lived with Mattie Betsch for at least five years, was listed as the residence’s “helper” in the 1940 census.⁴

Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole, who moved into her grandmother Mattie Betsch’s home in Washington, DC, to attend school when she was eight years old, visited the tourist home as a young child in the late 1930s and early 1940s. She recalled that her grandmother woke her up early to make up the beds and that her grandmother served her a simple lunch of white bread and sandwich spread every day. Dr. Cole noted that she and her grandmother grew to be close and that she was a source of inspiration to her.⁵

Today, 219 Rockspring Street is a private rental home.⁶

Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2019

Notes

1. Victor Green, 1940 Green Book, 35; Green, 1941 Green Book, 35.
2. Listing for 219 W Rockspring St, Henderson, NC 27536, accessed from https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/219-W-Rockspring-St_H…; Mattie B. Shines and J. J. Betsch, February 14, 1900, Halifax, Halifax County, North Carolina, Marriage Records, 1741-2011, accessed from www.ancestry.com; 1900 United States Census, Henderson, Vance County, NC, digital images s.v. "Mattie Betsch,” accessed from www.ancestry.com.
3. 1910 United States Census, Henderson, Vance County, NC, digital images s.v. "Mattie B. Betsch,” accessed from www.ancestry.com; Organizer of National Negro Business League,” The Golden Leaf (Henderson, NC), March 31, 1910, p. 2, accessed from https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn91068402/1910-03-31/ed-1/seq-…; Brian Lamb and Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, “Q&A with Johnnetta B. Cole,” C-SPAN, August 13, 2014, accessed from https://www.c-span.org/video/?320982-1/qa-johnnetta-cole; “Husband, Wife Team Get PhD Degrees,” The Pittsburgh Courier, November 4, 1967, p. 10; J.J. Betsch, July 15, 1933, Henderson, Vance County, North Carolina Death Certificates, 1909-1976, accessed from www.ancestry.com.
4. 1940 United States Census, Henderson, Vance County, NC, digital images s.v. "Mattie B. Betsch,” accessed from www.ancestry.com.
5. Johnneta B. Cole interviewed by Julian Bond, Explorations in Black Leadership, November 14, 2001, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, accessed from http://blackleadership.virginia.edu/interview/cole-johnnetta%20. 
6. Listing for 219 W Rockspring St, Henderson, NC 27536, accessed from https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/219-W-Rockspring-St_H…