Corrine A. Huff
Corrine Annette Huff lived an extraordinary life. She was a beauty with an outgoing personality. Her early achievements were followed by what appeared to be glamorous opportunities, but were in large measure unfortunate entanglements.
Her grandmother Gladys was raised on a farm in western Pennsylvania, and married into a business family living in town. Gladys and husband Branfield Sheffer had two children, son Branfield Jr., and daughter Dorothy, (Corinne's mother). Successive tragedies struck the young Sheffer family as first the father and then the mother died before Dorothy was four years old. The orphaned children were housed by various aunts and uncles, and when Dorothy was six years old, her brother drowned while playing in the Allegheny River. She was moved from place to place out west with the Wonderlings, (a Sheffer aunt & her husband), and eventually her grandfather Sheffer tried to raise her, keeping her from becoming a ward of the state, although by that time she was beyond his abilities to guide her. Dorothy, much traumatized by the instability of her childhood, began at age sixteen a series of three failed marriages.
Between Dorothy's first and second marriage, daughter Corrine was born the child of a liaison with a Mr. Huff, a man whose heritage apparently included some black strain.
Corrine was raised by Mr. & Mrs. Russell Huff, he being an attorney and Corrine's uncle. She was possibly adopted by them, as one newspaper reported her as living with then,"her parents". Corrine lived with the Huff family in New Castle PA where she graduated from high school. The family, or perhaps only Corrine, then lived in Youngstown, OH where she enrolled at Youngstown University, studying to be a teacher.
At age 19 she became Miss Ohio, the first Black woman to compete in a major national pageant. She had been initially the runner-up in this contest until the first place contestant was disqualified and Corrine was promoted to first place. In the spirit of the times, she received hate messages in connection with entering this competition and earning this title. The effect of this early mixture of achievement and denunciation can only be guessed at. Fulfilling the expectations of her Miss Ohio title, she entered the Miss U.S.A. contest, where she was also a semi-finalist.
She became a secretary to Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. He had begun representing Harlem, NYC, in 1945, four years after Corrine was born. Powell was the first Black man from NY elected to the U. S. Congress. As chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, Powell was instrumental in passing social legislation during the administrations of presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Residents of Harlem took pride in Powell's representation and accomplishments.
At some point, despite Powell's three marriages, Corrine reportedly became his living companion, enjoying with him jaunts to Europe and elsewhere. He was accused of extravagance and high living at government expense and eventually faced more than one investigation on various charges of corruption and money-laundering practices based in the Bahamas.
Corinne at age 28 married Powell's Bimini-based fishing-boat captain, 25 year old Patrick Brown, but the marriage was brief.
Apparently, some of the money invested in the Bahamas was done in Corrine's name, through Huff Enterprises, a company likely set up by associates of Powell but nominally headed by Corrine.
She was unknown to her mother's side of the family except for her two step-siblings until several years after her death. This researcher deeply regrets not having known this complex woman. Her early beauty can be seen in the Aug. 4 1960 issue of JET magazine, where she appears in a swimsuit pose typical of the era's contest entrants. In that photo she strikingly resembles her maternal grandmother Beulah Gladys Kline. Several issues of JET magazine are archived online (see links below to photos); this Aug. 1960 issue unfortunately is not.
| Date | Location | Notes | Sources | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth | 14 June 1941 | expect PA | [13] | |
| Marriage, (divorced) | about 24 Oct 1969 | Bimini, Bahamas; Anglican ceremony , Our Lady and St. Stephen's Episcopal Parrish Hall | to Patrick Brown | [8][11][14] |
| Death | 17 Feb 2006 | Miami, FL | [8][13] |
Ancestry chart segment
"Generation 1" "Generation 2" "Generation 3"
+-- Beulah Gladys Kline
| (1890-1925)
+-- Dorothy Kline Sheffer --+
| (1918 - ????) |
| +-- William Otis Branfield Sheffer
Corrine A. Huff --+ (1887-1922)
|
| +-- Lafayette Huff
| |
+-- unknown Huff -----------+
(d. bef. 1960) |
|
Russell Huff -----------+
|
+-- Mary Cutshall
Sources: [5]
Places of Residence
| Location | Dates | Notes | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dalton, OH | by June 1950 | Russell Huff family of Dalton, visit to Floyd McCormick (of Bakersville in Coshocton area?) | [7] |
| 3 Tucker Way, New Castle, PA | in 1959 | "with parents" Mr. & Mrs Russell Huff | [3] |
| Coshocton, OH | by July 1960 | living with aunt and uncle, an attorney; working as Youngstown telephone operator; Miss Ohio title | [4] |
| Washington, D.C. | by Aug. 1963 | working for Adam Clayton Powell; trip to Europe | [5] |
| South Bimini Island, the Bahamas | [14] | ||
| Miami, FL | 2000 | "returned to Miami in 2000" | [8] |
Photo Gallery
Sources re. Family Genealogy
| Ref. Num. | Description | Image of original |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Castle News - Miss Ohio competition, New Castle News, July 2, 1960, New Castle, PA. See:,BR.http://search.ancestry.com/browse/view.aspx?dbid=51761&iid=News-PE-NE_CA_NE.1960_07_02_0001&rc=1033,1850,1155,1887;289,4954,371,4991;2248,3762,2423,3895;2083,5071,2230,5108;2251,5071,2356,5108;2042,5183,2149,5220;2149,5366,2231,5403;2187,5550,2270,5587;2046,5696,2123,5733;1857,6800,1944,6837&pid=503547905&ssrc=&fn=Corrine&ln=Huff&st=g " Corrine Huff, 1959 graduate of New Castle High School and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Russell Huff, 3 Tucker Way, is leaving tonight for Miami, Fla. to represent Ohio in the Miss Universe contest... Mrs. Huff said her daughter will be sophomore in the fall at Youngstown University...A brown eyed brunette, Miss Huff plans to teach in the elementary grades. She was a member of the Ne-Ca-Hi drill team." |
 |
| 2 | Coshocton Tribune - Miss Ohio competition, The Coshocton Tribune, July 2, 1960, Coshocton OH.See: http://search.ancestry.com/browse/view.aspx?dbid=6824&iid=NEWS-OH-CO_TR.1960_07_02_0001&rc=2657,1154,2756,1191;4628,1404,4707,1441;2065,5629,2207,5666;2227,5629,2329,5666;2101,6012,2181,6049;2731,5779,2829,5816;3340,5675,3422,5712;3371,5766,3471,5803&pid=503547905&ssrc=&fn=Corrine&ln=Huff&st=g "Winner of Miss Ohio Title Too Young;Negro Girl, Runner Up, Takes Her Place - Corrine Huff, a Negro, named Miss Ohio in June 26-27 contest; flew to Miami for Miss U.S.A. contest starting today. Miss Huff, a Youngstown telephone operator...age 19, lives here with her aunt and uncle who is an attorney . As runner-up, Huff was given the title after first place winner Kathy Justice found out she was too young to compete. Competition sponsor said the "contest was a very close one, both in the judges' minds and in the response of the audience". | |
| 3 | Marriage Corrine Huff & Patrick Brown, Time Magazine, Oct 24, 1969. See: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901612,00.html "Married. Corrine Huff, 28, onetime beauty queen and former secretary and No. 1 companion to high-living Congressman Adam Clayton Powell; and Patrick Brown, 25, until recently Powell's Bimini-based fishing-boat captain; both for the first time; in an Anglican ceremony; in Bimini, the Bahamas." | |
| 4 | Huff Brown Marriage ,Jet Magazine, 6 Nov. 1969, pg. 59.Wedding photos
http://books.google.com/books?id=FTkDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA59&dq=cORRINE+HUFF&hl=en&sa=X&ei=j82GT4ayOIW38AGoz_ScCA&ved=0CEMQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=cORRINE%20HUFF&f=false | |
| 5 | Death NoticeTranscription from this site, no longer available: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_13_109/ai_n16346254/?tag=content;col1 "A former secretary of Harlem Rep. Adam Clayton Powell and the first Black woman to win a USA state beauty pageant, Corrine Huff-Brown, died in Miami at the age of 64. In Bimini, she married boat Captain Patrick Brown but divorced him a few years later. Spending most of her years in the Bahamas, the beauty pioneer returned to Miami in 2000." | |
| 6 | Ancestry.com Social Security Death Index - Corrine A. Huff Brown
• Name: Corrine A. Huff Brown SSN:(omitted here) Last Residence: 33173 Miami, Miami-Dade, Florida | |
| 7 | Elizabeth Wilson Williams, (granddaughter of Winnifred May Kline) and second cousin of Corrine Huff ( granddaughter of Beulah Gladys Kline). Family knowledge, family interviews & correspondences. | N/A
|
Sources re. Adult Life
| Ref. Num. | Description | Image of original |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tucson Daily Citizen - trip to Europe, Tucson Daily Citizen, Wednesday evening, Jan. 8, 1964. See: http://search.ancestry.com/browse/view.aspx?dbid=52141&iid=News-AR-TU_DA_CI.1964_01_08-0014&rc=1021,3208,1110,3241;8273,1717,8370,1750;9218,883,9354,916;8993,921,9082,954;8942,1133,9019,1166&pid=505454606&ssrc=&fn=Corrine&ln=Huff&st=g "One August... Powell disappeared from Washington...gone to Europe to study Economics of Common Market, and equal pay for women. He sailed on the Queen Mary with two companions - Miss Corrine Annette Huff, first American Negro ever to compete in the Miss Universe contest in which she was runner up...Miss Huff was listed as a congressional clerk. | |
| 2 | Book, Masters of Paradise, Organized Crime and the Internal Revenue Service in the Bahamas, by Alan A. Block. See: http://books.google.com/books?id=trFcGY20LX8C&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=%22Corrine+Huff%22+-Connie&source=bl&ots=PJrPZ8ahFg&sig=_pRWOKZz18TrgA4oNdK4a3eVl0U&hl=en&ei=iac2SpGJIInwMuX0kf8J&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7 p. 75 "Three days after the Post story (Bahamian Prime Minister)Pindling was in New York announcing he was going to make it more difficult for racketeers to use the Bahamas as a haven for illegal business. But a new note of discord had crept into the proceedings. Reporters wanted to know if he had any business connections or links with Rep- (p. 76) resentative Adam Clayton Powell, the tarnished New York Democrat, then living on Bimini island in the Bahamas. At that moment, Powell was under investigation by a congressional committee for various misdeeds. Pindling said he had no significant business connections with Powell. He did admit when pressed, though, to a minor and meaningless exception. The prime minister owned a share in Huff enterprises, a Bahamian corporation set up by some of Powell's associates and headed by Corrine Huff, a former beauty queen and Powell's mistress who appeared on his congressional payroll as a secretary. The company had been organized to secretly funnel money from the States into Bahamian ventures." | |
| 3 | Bimini Museum Website/Famous Visitors,with photo of Powell. See: http://www.biminimuseum.com/famous_visitors.html "US Congressman The Rev Adam Clayton Powell, Jr, the grandfather of the American civil rights movement, came to Bimini in the mid 1960s. Taken by the beauty of the island and the friendliness of the people he acquired a home on South Bimini. His fishing yacht, Adam's Fancy, was tied at Brown's Dock...While in Bimini, his companion, Corrine Huff --- a beautiful woman who had won the Miss Ohio competition and was a contestant for Miss America, left Powell and married his Bimini boat captain, Patrick Brown. Their wedding was featured in JET magazine. " | |
| 4 | Jet Magazine, 2 Oct 1969, p. 7 photos of Corrine Huff, Adam Clayton Powell.See: http://books.google.com/books?id=jDgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=cORRINE+HUFF&source=bl&ots=qOv5ebjWz4&sig=h6B-H7P0CJZY3_SgqcWnUGGJ9ik&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result Article notes separation of the two for reasons unknown. (This publication was shortly before her marriage to Patrick Brown) | |
| 5 | Jet Magazine, various issues with photos of Corrine Huff
|
Research Sources - Unconfirmed Connection
| Ref. Num. | Description | Image of original | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | Obituary of Mrs Sadie (Huff) Haller, The Coshocton Tribune, Tue. evening April 12, 1960. See pg. 10: http://search.ancestry.com/browse/view.aspx?dbid=6824&iid=NEWS-OH-CO_TR.1960_04_13_0002&rc=1520,162,1605,199;2187,562,2286,599;2243,867,2372,904;2390,867,2482,904;4600,754,4675,791;1689,4221,1936,4325&pid=503460866&ssrc=&fn=Russell&ln=Huff&st=g Mrs. Sadie Bell Haller, 79, native of Coshocton county, died Monday...She was born April 25, 1880 a daughter of Lafayette and Mary Cutshall Huff and was married 20 Dec. 1905 to Harry H. Haller who died May 14, 1946.... Surviving are two daughters... one brother Russell Huff of this city, two sisters...two brothers are deceased. Member First Baptist Church. Burial South Lawn Cemetery. |
||
| R2 | The Coshocton Ohio Tribune - Russell Huff family of Dalton, Sat. evening June 17, 1950, Pg. 5, col. 6 under "Bakersville".See: http://search.ancestry.com/browse/view.aspx?dbid=6824&iid=NEWS-OH-CO_TR.1950_06_17_0005&rc=2030,2108,2162,2133;4575,1071,4783,1096;929,3429,1075,3479;2796,2421,2879,2446;3028,2479,3107,2504;2700,2629,2777,2654;1549,4938,1682,4963;2392,4567,2465,4592;2445,4683,2524,4708;3417,4154,3558,4192;3578,4154,3658,4192;3589,4808,3744,4846&pid=498287621&ssrc=&fn=Russell&ln=Huff&st=g "The Russell Huff family of Dalton visited Floyd McCormick Sunday." Note: Dalton OH is on Rt. 30 just west of Massilon OH. Bakersville not located on OH or PA maps in Youngstown/New Castle area. | ||
| R3 | 1940 US Census, Coshocton Ohio, Tuscarora Twp., Coshocton Co. OH. Date of census 29 April 1940. Lines 13-14: Address 232 S. 4th St. Rented home, $24/month. Russell Huff, white male, age 45, married, highest grade in school - H4 (4 yrs high schoool). Born in Ohio. On 1 April 1935 lived in same town, different house. Works as a foreman, State Highway; worked 52 weeks in 1939. Ada, white female age 38, schooling H4, housework. |
 |
Research notes
- 1880 census Oxford, Coshocton Co., OH. Lafayette Huff age 29, laborer, he & parents b. OH. Mary M., wife, age 26, she & parents b. OH. Daughter Alzoda, age 7, b. OH. daughter Viola, age 5, b. OH. Infant age 1 month, daughter b. OH.
- 1900 census Oxford Twp., Coshocton Co., OH. Lafayette Huff age 52, b. 1848, white male, married 27 yrs., he & parents b.OH; farmer, owns farm free of mortgage.
Wife Mary M., age 44, b. 1855, white female married 27 yrs., bore 9 children/8 living; she & parents b. OH.
All children b. OH. Daughter Sadie age 20 b.Apr 1880; dau. Lillis B. age 16, b. Feb 1884; dau. Erma E. age 13, b. June 1886; son Floyd E. age 9, b. Aug. 1890; dau. Neva B. age 7, b. June 1892; son James R. age 1, b. Apr 1899; dau. Viola Binning, age 25, b. Mar. 1875.
- 1910 census Coshocton Ward 4, Coshocton Co., OH. Lafayette Huff age 51, widowed; laborer, odd jobs. Son Earl M. Huff age 19, laborer, odd jobs, in school; son James R. Huff age 11, in school.
- 1920 census Coshocton, Coshocton Co., OH.Lafayette Huff age 63, wife Sadie E. Huff age 54, niece Sarah J. Smith age 14, son Russell Huff age 22, glove worker, Cosh(Coshocton?) Glove Co.
- NOTE: The family of Lafayette Huff in these 4 census accounts correctly for the family described in the obituary of Sadie Huff Haller (Source R4). Sadie is described as the sister of Russell Huff,(listed in census as James R. Huff).
- NOTE: While Corrine Huff is known as the first black winner of the Miss Ohio contest, it must be noted that her mother Dorothy Sheffer was white, of German ancestry. The Russell Huff, named in news articles as her father but possibly her uncle, is listed in census as white, as are both her Huff grandparents. It is apparent then that the Huff family lived in the white culture. It is possible to conjecture that one of the Huff ancestry had some undeclared percentage of African American lineage. Possibly, Corrine in entering the contest feared she would be excluded unless she reported this detail. Or possibly being raised by an aunt & uncle, as a teen-ager she rejected them and decided to make this detail public. Or perhaps she was indignant that this heritage was frowned upon and decided to publicly defend and own it.
