Meet the “Laval Family”

Meet The Laval Family…"As time passed and Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil War brought about America’s Reconstruction Period, scores of former slaves and their offspring removed to settle in the North, including parts of Bergen County. It has become this community’s reward and material satisfaction that many of these blacks came to Rutherford. And despite the painful past, these African-American men and women invested their life energy and talents in raising families and contributing to their community and churches.

 Some former slaves, like Emanuel Cooper, were able to invest in property in Rutherford which enabled him to later support the endeavors of a family member, Christopher Walton, who became Cooper’s brother-in-law. Walton was an industrious church deacon who became one of Rutherford’s most successful carpenter-builders. He built homes throughout Rutherford, including Wheaton Place, where one of the houses he built was leased to Moses and Ella Laval, Ella being the sister of Calvin Spann, aviation hero of the Tuskegee Airmen. Moses Laval, a veteran porter for the Pullman Company, and his wife raised eight children in their home at 153 Wheaton Place (extant). There were six boys who served this country during WWII, including John Robert Laval, who was awarded the Purple Heart for his service in Italy. The youngest of two Laval daughters, Florence, was a National Honor Society scholar when she graduated from Rutherford High School.

 In spite of his older brother Mark’s advice, Albert Laval pursued his lifelong dream to become a Navy seaman. With the recommendation of Gerald M. Tamblyn, for whom Tamblyn Field is named, Albert enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1943. Before he enlisted, Albert recalled that in the 1930’s he was the only black kid at Pierrepont School. He later worked in a shoe repair shop at the corner of Pierrepont and Park Avenue, despite the fact that few if any blacks were hired in those days for employment on Rutherford’s Park Avenue. He achieved the rank of coxswain, or chief petty officer, and boilermaker on a Navy ship. But that was not his dream post. “They (the Navy) didn’t want blacks on board the ship unless it was in the kitchen,” he said. Nevertheless, with his five brothers, Albert made Rutherford proud. People like US Senator Cory Booker saluted their bravery and selflessness. They marveled at the fact that Moses and Ella Laval could say they were the only black parents in the United States to have six sons who served simultaneously during WWII."

 Rod Leith, Rutherford Borough Historian, “Black History In Rutherford and Neighboring Towns”- July 2020

Text Rod Leith

Editing Elisa Rosa

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