John G Higgins

Sisters tell story of grandfather's invention of straightening comb, dramatic life in book

The Meridian Star
Story by Ida Brown
Feb. 6, 2009

It's not very difficult to understand why John G. Higgins, a Tennessee businessman and inventor of the Eureka straightening comb, didn't trust anyone but himself to tell his story. Even details of his death on March 5, 1919 – a suicide – were misinterpreted.

"He didn't trust anyone else to write his story; he even did his own publicity on his inventions and business ventures," said his granddaughter Evelyn Dorsey Polk of Meridian.

More than nine decades after his death, Higgins story is being told in "Eureka! He Invented It – The Eureka Straightening Comb: An Interesting Past – Pertaining to The Higgins and Dorsey Families of Chattanooga, Tennessee." The book was written by two of Higgins' granddaughters, Josephine Dorsey Wheeler and Polk.

The book is the end product of Wheeler's years and years of collecting material – handwritten notes, patent and designs, correspondences and family photos. Polk did additional research and composed the manuscript, making necessary corrections and additions. Four years in the works, the book was printed in early 2008. Wheeler died in March of that year, just days after approving the cover design and weeks before the final printing.

In the preface, Wheeler notes that the life stories of others are usually not identical and that her grandfather's life was "very interesting and there was a need for it to be told."

"Eureka! He Invented It" begins with the chapter titled "A Suicide Takes Place," which features the following The Daily Times newspaper's report of Higgins death:

"J.G. Higgins, aged 63 years, a respected negro who had lived in Chattanooga for thirty-two years engaged much of the time in the barber business, committed suicide yesterday morning at about 9 o'clock by cutting his throat with a razor at the home of his son-in-law ... the act was committed in the presence of the suicide's wife, daughter and granddaughter."

The newspaper article states that Higgins took his life because he was forced to close his business "when the war broke out and limitations were placed by the government upon the manufacture of non-essentials." The article also stated that according to friends, Higgins "enforced idleness and the cessation of a comfortable income" were factors in his taking his own life.

In the book, Wheeler notes that the newspaper reporter wrote his own reasons for the suicide without talking with any adult family members.

"The statement that Grandfather Higgins suspended his business is not correct," she wrote. "The business continued its operation without stopping until the year 1950."

Polk added that the business closed because the straightening comb was moving toward an electricity-based product.

And, the report that Higgins committed the suicide in the presence of several family members is also incorrect.

"I, the granddaughter," Wheeler wrote, "was the only person in the room when my grandfather took his razor and did the horrible mutilation to his neck."

Polk added that what led to grandfather's fateful demise was his fear that government was trying to take everything he had worked so hard to achieve.

The book's later chapters are most interesting. Chapter Six details the inception of the Eureka Straightening Comb, which transformed how women of color styled their hair.

"Captain Jack (a nickname given to Higgins by friends) had a genuine concern for the hair of colored people. He had noted that many black ladies went natural or combed their hair in the simplest coiffure possible. Since Negroid hair was kink and hard to comb, he knew that the metal comb he decided upon would lengthen the strands of hair by straightening them and making the strands easy to shape into attractive hair styles," Wheeler wrote.

The comb was so successful that a factory was built behind the family residence to manufacture it, Polk said. The chapter goes in great detail about the design of the factory, as well as the step-by-step process involved in manufacturing the comb.

In addition to the straightening comb, Higgins designed and patented an insect trap. However, he was unable to manufacture it because he could not get the needed materials, Polk said. He also owned several barbershops. His most prominent shop was the O.K. Shaving Parlor, located at 911 Market Street, Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was considered “one of the prettiest shops in the city, frequented by some of Chattanooga’s best citizens.”

Higgins wasn't the family's only entrepreneur. His wife, Jennie, was a beautician and owned the first beauty shops for whites in Chattanooga. After her husband's death, she continued with her and work and went into the real estate business, Polk said. And Wheeler and Polk's mother, Lenora Higgins Dorsey, assisted their grandmother in the operation of the beauty shop. Their story is revealed in Chapter 9.

Mr. Higgins portrait comes from the book cover.