Sam Hall charged with B&E, theft.

Daily Journal (Wilmington, N.C.), 12 September 1871.

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In the 1850 census of North Side Neuse, Wayne County: Lucy Hall, 45, and children Sarah, 16, George, 15, Nathan, 13, Nicy, 10, Samuel, 3, and Esther Hall, 6, plus Alford Artis, 15, and John Artis, 14, and Rhoda Artis, 13, and her children Julia, 12, and Rheuben Artis, 10, plus Rufus Lane, 22.

In the 1860 census of Saratoga district, Wilson County: farm worker Noah Walker, 25; wife Polly, 21; and Samuel Hall, 13. The Walkers were white; Hall, “mulatto.”

In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: brick maker Samuel Hall, 22; wife Caroline, 20; and children Donas, 3, and John, 2 months [next door to Wyatt and Nicey Lynch.]

In the 1880 census of Speights Bridge township, Greene County, N.C.: laborer Sam Hall, 32; wife Caroline, 32; and children John W., 10, Jane E., 8, Sam, 6, and Baby, 1.

In the 1900 census of Bulloch County, Georgia: woodcutter Sam Hall, 50; wife Caroline, 50, washerwoman; children Sam Jr., 24, George, 21, Emma, 19, and Minnie, 10; and daughter-in-law Fannie, 23, washerwoman. All but Fannie were born in North Carolina.

In the 1910 census of Bulloch County, Georgia: farmer Sam Hall, 65; wife Caroline, 63; son-in-law John Kennedey, 31; daughter Maria, 19; and their children Pearl, 2, and John, 3 months.

What was the Independent School …?, part 2.

In a recent post, I queried the origins of the building used for the Independent School and found a 1897 reference to Silas Lucas moving an old Baptist to “the Tate lot” below the railroad.

Here’s what else I found:

On 26 December 1896, for $250, Hardy and Mary Tate sold Silas Lucas a lot on “____ Street, in or near the corporate limits of the town of Wilson” bounded on the east by the late J.A. Tynes’ property and on the west by the Perry Taylor lot. The lot was the same that Hester A. Winstead had sold J.A. Tynes (recorded in Deed book 25, page 22) and contained one-half acre. Deed Book 42, page 561. Penelope Tynes had inherited the property from her husband J.A. Tynes and had sold it to Mary Tate for $250 on 3 January 1895. Deed book 38, page 230.

In a nutshell:

Mary Tate bought a half-acre lot from Penelope Tynes in January 1895. It was located beyond town limits, i.e. the railroad, on an unnamed street.

In December 1896, Mary Tate and her husband Hardy Tate (because, at that time, what was hers was his) flipped the property to Silas Lucas for no profit.

In early 1897, Lucas moved a disused church to the site and renovated it as a tenement, i.e. a multi-family rental building. The building is first seen on the 1913 Sanborn fire insurance map on Vance Street, just east of Pender Street.

In 1904, Samuel H. Vick bought the tenement from Lucas.

And, in 1918, Vick offered it up for use as a private alternative school for children whose parents were boycotting the Colored Graded School.

To have and to hold said land, no. 7.

Abstracts of deeds recording the purchase of real property by African-Americans during the first fifty years of freedom:

  • On 16 March 1855, for $557.37, Robertson H. Baker sold Jacob Jones a 171 1/2-acre parcel on the east side of Shepards Branch near Poplar Spring Branch, adjoining Robert Simpson, Stephen Boykin, Jesse Simpson, and Baker. Deed Book 1, page 30.
  • On 24 July 1867, for $100, William and Charity Taylor sold Ivory [Ivey] Evans a 28-acre parcel adjoining William Taylor, James Taylor, and others. Deed Book 2, page 270.
  • On 7 August 1867, for $125 payable in two notes, David and Elizabeth Griffin sold James Mitchel a parcel adjacent to William E. Winstead and Theophilus Parker. Deed Book 3, page 64.
  • On 16 December 1867, for $35, Pennina Williamson and John Williamson sold Everett Dew a one-and-a-half acre plot near the old mill path, adjoining Louisa Barnes and John Williamson. Deed Book 2, page 340.
  • On 26 February 1870, for $820.70 payable in two notes, Wiley Simms sold Stephen Powell the land on which Powell lived, being the same land Isaac Farmer sold Benjamin Simms in 1834 and containing 186 acres. Deed Book 2-3, page 131.

Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

The Cave.

Me: Yeah. Now, what about the place – my daddy used to talk about a place called The Cave. Was that on –

Samuel C. Lathan: Yeah, man. That’s where I met my wife.

LYH: Really?

SCL: Yeah. I didn’t meet her there, but that’s where she and I would hang out. Now, The Cave was opened by Robert Vick.

LYH: Okay.

SCL: Robert Vick was a educator, and he was the principal of several schools, wonderful schools here. But when he came here, he brought a little New York down here.

LYH: Okay.

SCL: Because we didn’t have nothing. We had the Stop Light Grill.

LYH: Right.

SCL: But we didn’t have nothing like The Cave because The Cave had the sundaes. It had the milkshakes, it had the ice cream fancies. You know, it had all the little bar things that you would have, you know. Had good fried chicken in there and good sandwiches, you know, and brought the hoagie in, you know. Yeah, yeah, now. And Tom Woodard’s, and they had an excursion that Saturday — on that Friday night, there was a big excursion. A hayride. And the truck — was going to be two trucks would be at The Cave. Now, Robert Vick would put the things on like that. But I was sitting on my front porch because I could see – I was right across from The Cave.

Hill’s 1947 Wilson, N.C., city directory.

The Cave occupied a storefront in the two-story brick building Camillus Darden built at 561 East Nash Street.

Copy of tax return courtesy of Vicki Cowan; interview with Samuel C. Lathan copyrighted, all rights reserved.

The Sanchas-Bowden family fights to save their house.

On 22 September 1924, John Sanchas, his wife Mary Adams Bowden Sanchas, and her sons Timothy and Willie Bowden mortgaged their house on Finch Street to secure payment of a $150 loan from William Adams. The Sanchas-Bowden family paid off the loan, the mortgage deed was void. If they defaulted, the house would be sold at public auction.

The Sanchas-Bowden house at 210 Finch Street, as shown in the 1922 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson.

A note stamped across the document noted that the mortgage and note had been satisfied as of November 1925.

Deed book 155, page 24, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

In March 1928, John and Mary Sanchas took out another mortgage on their house. This time, however, they defaulted, and trustee D.S. Boykin advertised a public sale in March 1931. However, as late as 1937, Sanchas appears in published tax lists as owner of a lot on Finch Street.

Wilson Daily Times, 28 March 1931.

Moyton Odd Fellows buy a lot.

Six years before buying a lot at the corner of Broad Avenue and South Yelverton Street in Stantonsburg, Moyton Lodge #5101 bought a lot from the county school board on what is now N.C. Highway 58.

——

COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION

TO

TRUSTEES OF MOYTON LODGE NO. 5101 OF THE G.U.O. OF O.F. WILSON

Deed

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, WILSON COUNTY }

THIS DEED made this the 12th day of January, 1903, by John F. Bruton, Chairman, R.T. Barnes and Jesse A. Moore, composing “The County Board of Education of Wilson County” and James W. Hayes, Clerk of said Board, the parties of the first part, to Henry Burney, Lewis Williams, Daniel Harris, Sampson Edwards, Walter L. Atkinson, Ruffin Hatch, and George W. Applewhite, Trustees of Moyton Lodge No. 5101 of the G.U.O. of O.F., the parties of the second part,

WITNESSETH: That the parties of the first part, for and in consideration of the sum of Four Hundred Dollars in hand paid, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, has bargained, sold, and conveyed and do by these presents bargain, sell and convey unto the parties of the second part and their successors in office, that certain lot or parcel of land lying and being situate in Stantonsburg Township, Wilson County, North Carolina, and described as follows: —

One-half acre of land, on the west side of the road leading from Moyeton to Wilson, N.C. — the same being a square and marked by a lightwood postal each corner, and being formerly a portion of the David B. Hill tract and the Stancil and David Hill, School Committeemen of White Public School District No. 42 of Stantonsburg Township said deed being recorded in Book 29 on page 564 in the Register of Deeds Office of Wilson County, to which deed reference is hereby made for a more definite description.

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the above described lot of land to them, the parties of the second part, trustees of aforesaid, and their successors in office in fee-simple forever.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the said John F. Bruton, Chairman, R.T. Barnes, and Jesse A. Moore, composing “The County Board of Education of Wilson County” and James W. Hayes, Clerk of said Board, have hereunto set their hands and seals the day and year first above written.

Jno. F. Bruton, Chairman, R.T. Barnes, Jesse A. Moore, James W. Hayes, Clerk

——

  • Henry Burney — in the 1910 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farmer Henry Burney, 60; wife Hannah, 40; daughter Lillie Applewhite, 23, farm laborer; and grandsons John, 8, farm laborer, and Marlvin Applewhite, 7.
  • Lewis Williams
  • Daniel Harris — in the 1900 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farmer Daniel Harris, 49; wife Arkansas F., 38; and children Laurena, 18, Daniel, 14, Paul, 11, and Joseph, 1.
  • Sampson Edwards — Sampson Edwards died 9 January 1933 in Stantonsburg, Wilson County. Per his death certificate, he was 12 March 1852 in Greene County, N.C., to Porter and Delsie Edwards; was married to Celia Edwards; worked as a tenant farmer; and was buried in Wilson County. John Edwards of Stantonsburg was informant.
  • Walter L. Atkinson
  • Ruffin Hatch — in the 1900 census of Bullhead district, Greene County, N.C., Ruffin Hach, 50; wife Persesea, 43; and children Liddia A., 21, Matha, 18, James, 17, Richard, 11, Delia, 17, Presilia, 7, Febia, 10, George, 6, Benjman, 1, and Ruffin, 1.
  • George W. Applewhite — in the 1910 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: George Applewhite, 45; wife Jane, 45; and children Dora A., 14, George P., 13, Virginia, 10, Nettie, 9, Cherrie C., 6, Sallie and Sarah, 4, and Maeron, 1.

Deed Book 65, page 288, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

A card of thanks from Piccola Reid’s family.

Wilson Daily Times, 16 December 1938.

——

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 300 Vick Street, carpenter Barnie Rudd, 37; wife Anna, 27; children Earl F., 6, and Pecolla, 3; and sister-in-law Irine Taybron, 23, teacher.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 300 Vick Street, building carpenter Barney Reid, 43; wife Anna, 39; children Earl, 4, Piccola, 13, and Fitzhugh, 9; and in-laws Harriot, 69, and John Tayborn, 80.

Pecola Mae Reid died 10 December 1938 in Mercy Hospital, Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born in June 1916 in Wilson to Berney Reid and Anna Tabron; she lived at 300 North Vick Street; and she worked as county school teacher. She was buried in Wilson [likely, Vick Cemetery.]

Dock Royall’s honorable discharge.

Dock Royall relocated to Wilson from Sampson County, N.C., after his service in World War I. 

——

On 10 August 1928, Dockery Royall, 28, of Wilson, married Ossie Mae Jenkins, 25, in Wilson. Walter M. Foster applied for the license, and Baptist minister B.F. Jordan performed the ceremony.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 321 Hackney, Doc Royall, 34, body plant laborer, and wife Ossie May, 26, cook.

Dock Royall died 31 March 1938 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 14 September 1898 in Sampson County, N.C., to Samuel and Rachel Royall; was married to Ossie Mae Royall; worked as a mechanic at Hackney Body Company; and was buried in Wilson [probably Vick, but possibly Rest Haven, Cemetery.]

Enlistment (1919), Miscellaneous Records, Wilson County Records, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh.

Nina Hardy Faison, as imagined.

I am ambivalent about using artificial intelligence to restore photographs. Or, more specifically, I’m concerned about manipulated photographs supplanting original images and further blurring the line between reality and misinformation. However, the allure of AI-enhanced images is strong, as I often contend with blurry, poorly lit photographs in unnatural sepia or black-and-white tones. Photographs whose condition sometimes exacerbates the distance between us and our ancestors.

I have been experimenting with ChatGPT lately, feeding it queries and images to be restored and colorized. The results are somewhat haphazard, with many images weird and off-putting. Other times, the images are breathtakingly sharp and … alive. Black Wide-Awake exists to resurrect forgotten lives, and I believe these images are valuable to help us connect with the men and women we read about in these posts. From time to time, I’ll share the better ones here, clearly marked as AI-generated.

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Nina Frances Faison Kornegay Hardy (1882-1969), cook and nursemaid.

 

Update on Park-Mercer Wetland.

Two years in, the Park-Mercer Wetland Project has reshaped a scarred floodplain to clean waterflow moving downstream from downtown Wilson. North Carolina State University’s Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering designed the project, which pumps water out of a tributary of Hominy Swamp and allows gravity to move it through a channel with five deep ponds.

Pond at the corner of Banks and Mercer Streets. As I approached, a muffled plink revealed a frog diving underwater.

When this project began, large signboards onsite educated the community about the wetland’s function and purpose. I hope permanent replacements are in the works.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, September 2026.