Jacob Rentfrow lived in the Black Creek area, in what was then Wayne County, North Carolina. Kedar Rountree, who had obtained a fifty-acre land grant in 1801, lived in the same area.
Rentfrow died in 1815. At Rentfrow’s estate sale on 2 January 1816, Rountree bought Jack, the sole enslaved person listed among Rentfrow’s assets.
North Carolina Land Grant Files 1693-1960, http://www.ancestry.com; North Carolina Wills and Probate Records 1665-1998, http://www.ancestry.com.
Wilson Daily Times, 7 January 1921.
The unidentified Judge Harrison was a popular speaker in Wilson, having delivered the first commencement address for graduates of the Wilson Normal and Industrial Institute two years earlier. That speech was notably conservative, and it’s no wonder the Times‘ editor approved.
Wilson Daily Times, 20 March 1930.
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Turner and Mattie Hinnant Stokes lost their house at 530 East Nash Street after defaulting on their mortgage early during the Great Depression.
I watched tonight’s city council meeting live on Vimeo and cheered all the way through.
First, let me give a deep bow and thunderous hand-clap to all — brown, black, white — who spoke in defense of Councilmember Eduardo Herrera-Picasso and the city’s immigrant community. I applaud your brave insistence that the City respectfully address the concerns of all its residents and that your neighbors understand that Wilson belongs to all of us.
And — Council unanimously passed the Vick Cemetery proposal. The resulting first order of business is the ground-penetrating radar of the right-of-way we have been demanding for years. Results of that survey will shape our next steps.
I could not get to Wilson this week, so I asked Castonoble Hooks to read brief remarks on my behalf during the public comment period. He followed with his own trenchant remarks (that I accidentally interrupted.) Thank you, Cass.
University of Pennsylvania-trained physician Lewis J. Dortch of Stantonsburg died in October 1854, leaving an estate that included nearly three dozen enslaved people. We examined here the disruption created by movement of these people into short-term hires in Stantonsburg and over the county line in Nahunta district, Wayne County.
In fact, W.T. Dortch, the Goldsboro lawyer appointed to administer his brother’s estate, placed multiple rounds of advertisements for the “sale of Negroes” as far away as the Wilmington Journal.
Receipt for ads placed in 1855 in Goldsboro newspapers the North Carolina Telegraph and the Tribune.
Receipt for 1859 ad in the Wilmington Journal.
I have not been able to find digital copies of the newspapers in which these notices were published.
Estate of L.J. Dortch, Probate Estate Case Files 1854-1959, Wilson County, N.C., http://www.familysearch.org.
We saw this 1923 plat map of Daniel C. Suggs‘ property here.
Plat Book 1, page 215.
The plat map below shows that most of Suggs’ property was purchased by W.E. Batts. In 1925, a Durham auction house prepared a new plat for the Batts property.
Plat Book 3, page 17.
Here’s a present-day view of the area. New Street kept its name, but a truncated Hines Street is now Blount Street at its west end, and Elvie School Drive at its east. This map makes clear that the south end of the old Oakdale Cemetery (“colored cemetery” on both plats) lay under the circular driveway and front law of Elvie Street School [later M.M. Daniels Learning Center.] Its graves (or some of them, anyway) were moved to Rest Haven in 1941.
In 1946, to assemble land on which to build a replacement for the Sallie Barbour School, the Board of Trustees of Wilson City Schools began to buy up parcels in the property, also known as Suggs Heights and adjacent lots, including these:
Josh and Annie Sharpe Batts.
In the 1910 census of Gardners township, Wilson County: on the Plank Road, farmer Jim Sharp, 38; wife Bettie, 35; and children Sarah, 15, Sunny, 13, Etta, 12, Mary, 10, Mahala, 9, Jimmie, 7, Della, 5, Bettie, 3, and Annie, 2.
In the 1910 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Rose Bud Church Road, Balin Batts, 30; wife Mary, 25; and children Mamie, 7, Josh, 3, Sam, 4, and Troy, 3 months.
In the 1920 census of Gardners township, Wilson County: on the Tarboro Road, farmer James Sharp, 47; wife Bettie, 40; and children Sonnie, 21, Effie, 18, Mahaly, 17, Jimmie, 15, Dolena, 14, Annie, 13, Bettie, 12, and Willie, 7.
In the 1920 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: on the Tarboro Road, Balaam Batts, 45; wife Mary, 38; and children Mamie, 18, Lemon, 16, Joshua, 13, Troy, 8, Charlie, 7, Arthur, 5, Alice, 3, Willie, 2, and Florence, 3 months.
On 21 January 1930, Joshua Batts, 21, married Annie Sharpe, 19, in Gardners township, Wilson County.
In the 1930 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farmer Bailum Batts, 50; wife Mary, 48; children Seller, 25, Joshua, 23, Troy, 19, Charlie, 17, Authur, 14, Alice, 12, and Willie B., 10, Florence, 9, [daughters-in-law] Nettie B., 20, and Annie, 19; and grandchildren Robert, 1, and Minnie, 1.
In 1940, Josh Batts registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 31 March 1907 in Elm City, N.C.; lived at Route 4, Box 25-A, Wilson; his contact was landlord J.D. Lee; and he worked for J.D. Lee.
In the 1940 census of Gardners township, Wilson County: farmer Josh Batts, 33; wife Annie, 23; children Minnie L., 12, Ray L., 6, Mary, 5, and Josh D., 2; and father-in-law Jim Sharpe, 60, widow.
In the 1950 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farmer Josh Batts, 44; wife Annie, 34; children Minnie L., 20, Roy L., 18, Mary A., 17, Josh D., 15, Jimmy N. and Mary D., 12; and grandson James, 2.
Annie Lee Batts died 5 November 1961 in Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was born 1 June 1921 [sic] in Wilson County to James Sharpe and Bettie E. Batts and was married to Josh Batts.
Photo courtesy of Ancestry.com user GeraldNelson31.
Finally, item 13 on the 19 March 2026 Wilson City Council Agenda:
These supporting materials have been presented to council members for review and are available online.
The Agenda Item Cover Sheet, subject line “Vick Cemetery Plan,” summarizes Item 13 and sets forth City Manager Rodger Lentz’s recommendation.
This document sets forth the Vick Cemetery Plan in detail. The plan is proposed in three phases by order of urgency, with some additional future actions, and includes a summary of archaeological firm New South Associates’ recommendations.
Council previously approved placement of boundary markers, paid for with state grant money. The next documents suggest placement and appearance.
(Nobody asked me, but as between these three, I’d go with the simplest — C. I might also pick a different font, maybe Gill Sans or Optima, though the Roman matches the existing pillars at the entrance to the parking lot.)
(There’s something a little off about the larger scale for “Vick” below. A, with same size lettering?)
New South Associates’ proposal and budget for additional ground-penetrating radar at Vick, which include confirmation that the pieces of stone dislodged in December were marble vault fragments associated with a grave in the right-of-way.
I am confident that City Manager Lentz’s recommendations will be adopted, and the City will move forward with alacrity to begin implementation. The results of this round of GPR will dictate the manner in which many of the proposals can be carried out and whether even more action is warranted. Vick Cemetery has suffered more than a century of indifference, neglect, and active harm, and its issues won’t be remediated overnight. However, this recommendation goes a long way toward addressing our oft-repeated demands, and for the first time I am sanguine about the cemetery’s future.
Thanks again to Mayor Carlton Stevens, City Manager Rodger Lentz, Assistant City Managers Bill Bass and Albert Alston, and Councilmember Susan Kellum for righting the City’s ship on this issue. Thank you to Castonoble Hooks, Briggs Sherwood, Dr. Judy Rashid, Lisa Benoy Gamble, Jen Kehrer, Tiyatti Speight, Chris Facey, and all who kept a close eye on Vick over the last few months, documented its condition, or spoke truth to power on its behalf. Thanks also to the Wilson Times for its close and ongoing coverage of Vick Cemetery issues. A robust local press matters!
Goldsboro News-Argus, 27 September 1950.
Though this obituary states Lillian Fields was buried in 1950 in “Rountree” Cemetery, her death certificate lists Hooks Grove Cemetery in Wayne County, which seems more likely as she lived all but a few years in Wayne County. (A reminder to always cross-check references.)
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In the 1940 census of Saratoga township, Wilson County: Ormond Fields, 50; wife Lillian, 38; daughter Eva M., 15; son George, 13; son-in-law Zebedee Coley, 32; daughter Henrietta, 22; and grandchildren Yvonne, 3, Vaillie D., 2, and Rudolph, 6 months.
This aerial photograph of C.H. Darden High School likely dates to the late 1960s. The original Rosenwald-funded section of the school, with later added wings, at right. The building with a central entrance at lower center, adjacent to the original building, is an addition that dates to the 1940s. The buildings behind, which included an auditorium, gymnasium, lunchroom, and additional classroom space, were added in the 1950s and ’60s.
The photo is also interesting for the glimpse of the surrounding neighborhood. The streets behind the school were developed starting in the 1950s from a large parcel owned by Martha Woodard, Louise Fike, and Hadley Blake. Darden faced Carroll Street, of course, and the termini of Viola and East Green Streets. The houses that once stood on land now occupied by Seeds of Hope Wilson’s garden are visible near bottom left.
Vick Elementary School now stands on the site.
Photo courtesy of C.H. Darden High School Alumni Association.