The Lambert Family

Wash Lambert (b. 1867) worked at Hampden-Sydney as a waiter, janitor, and bell ringer. He is mentioned briefly in a 1933 Record article titled “Some Colored Celebrities of By-Gone Days”–“Then again there was Wash Lambert, who was employed by the College, and besides waiting on the students, he also became the bell ringer after John Evans retired. He is the father of Armistead Lambert, who is now one of the college firemen.”

He was also the father of Dora Lambert, who married John Thomas Anderson–a cook in Minnie Lacy’s boarding house. In his later years at the college, he worked with William Paige as a janitor in Cushing Hall, and served as Head Deacon at Mercy Seat Baptist Church. John and Dora had seven children: William (b. 1918), John H. (b. 1919), Catherine (b. 1925), Elsie (b. 1928), Edward (b. 1933), Louise (b. 1931), and Dorothy (b. 1934). His daughter Catherine married Lester Stokes, who worked in the college gym washing uniforms. Catherine and Lester’s sons, James, Alton, and Rudolph, also went on to work at the college. Specifically, Rudolph did yard maintenance at H-SC in the late 1950s/early 1960s following the infamous school closings in Farmville. Members of this wonderful family still reside in the Mercy Seat community. John and Dora Anderson are buried in the Mercy Seat Baptist Church cemetery.