The Hargrove heirs settle an inheritance.

Deed book 290, page 587, Wilson County Register of Deeds office.

We first met Duncan J. Hargrove here, going down slow after believing himself to be hoodooed. The deed above reveals a different source of stress in Hargrove’s latter years, financial foes that led to the loss of much of his real estate.

About 1913, Hargrove bought a lot on Carolina Street from Wilson Insurance & Realty Company. Sometime later, on a basis unstated here, a man named Hugh Sheppard won a substantial judgment against Hargrove and his wife Viney Hargrove. A thirty-foot-wide strip of the lot was set off for the Hargroves as homestead property, and the rest of the lot — a twenty-foot strip — was sold at public auction to R.E. Townsend, a white real estate manager with a fat East Wilson portfolio.

Duncan Hargrove died 27 May 1935, leaving his wife and four sons, Willie, Ben, Jacob, and John Hargrove. Viney Hargrove died 9 April 1943.

Via the deed above, Willie Hargrove and wife Mary Lou Hargrove of Wilson, Ben Hargrove and wife Alice of Washington, D.C., and Jacob Hargrove and wife Curtis Hargrove of Washington, D.C., sold their interest in the Carolina Street lot to John Hargrove of Wilson.

Freeman Blunt, Co. D., 37th United States Colored Infantry.

Freeman Blount, born in what is now Wilson County about 1830, enlisted in the Union Army on 31 January 1864 in Washington, North Carolina. He mustered in not quite three weeks later in Norfolk, Virginia.

Blunt mustered out of Company D, 37th United States Colored Infantry, in Raleigh, N.C., on 11 February 1867.

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Probably, in the 1870 census of Federal Point, New Hanover County, N.C.: farm laborer Freeman Blount, 50; wife Maggie, 31; and children John, 15, and Charles, 13.

And in the 1880 census of Wilmington, New Hanover County: laborer Freeman Blunt, 55; wife Maggie, 36; and Henry Mumford, 35, butcher.

Freeman Blount has not been found in further North Carolina, and the 1890 veterans’ schedule for New Hanover County lists “Maggie J. Blount, widow of Freeman Blount.”

However:

Per this Civil War pension index file, Freeman Blunt applied for an invalid’s pension on 6 April 1895, four and a half years after Maggie applied for a widow’s pension. Blunt applied from Florida. Florida marriage records list the marriage of Freeman Blunt and Susan Howard on 23 December 1882 in Duval County, Florida.

Had Freeman Blunt disappeared from Wilmington, leaving his wife to assume his death? Only to marry again and settle near Jacksonville, Florida?

Only the pension files can straighten this out. Stay tuned.

In memory of a beloved child, Parthenie Sanders.

In memory of our beloved child Parthenie Sanders daughter of Branch and Pollie Sanders Born Nov. 2, 1890 Died Aug. 19, 1892. We mourn your loss.

We protect cemeteries not only because they hold the remains of our loved ones, but because they document the lives of people whose existence is otherwise unrecorded.

Parthenie Sanders was born in 1890 and died not quite two years later in 1892. North Carolina required neither birth nor death certificates during her lifetime. She was born too late to have been counted in the 1890 census, which, in any case, was destroyed by fire for Wilson and nearly other county in the United States. She never attended school. If her birth or death were noted in church records, they have not survived. Her immediate family is long gone.

But in the old Elm City Colored Cemetery, now known as Heritage Cemetery, we find her parents’ memorial to their baby girl, and thus we remember Parthenie on the 132nd anniversary of her birth.

Seaman First Class James Goodman, sent to the South Pacific.

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James Goodman was born 11 July 1919 in Harmony township, Clarendon County, South Carolina, to Ed Goodman and Annie Blanding of Alcolu, S.C.

In the 1920 census of Plowden Mills, Clarendon County, South Carolina: farmer Edd Goodman, 26; wife Annie, 19; and James, 8 months.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: laborer Ed Goodman, 29; wife Annie, 26; and children James, 10, Authur, 9, Remel, 6, Louise, 3, Annie M., 2, and Gladys, 1.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Ed Goodman, 45, public service laborer; wife Annie, 36; and children James, 20, clothing store attendant, Arthur, 19, candy company deliveryman, Helen, 14, Annie Mae, 12, Gladys, 11, Isiah, 7, Dorthy, 6, and Eddie Jr., 4.

In 1940, James Goodman registered for the World War II draft in Wilson. Per his registration card, he was born 11 July 1919 in Manning, S.C.; lived at 214 South Reid Street, Wilson; his contact was mother Annie Goodman; and he worked for Moss & Co., Wilson. Goodman was described as six foot six inches, 170 pounds.

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 813 Viola, Pheny Williams, 78; son  James Goodman, 32; wife Lena, 28; and children Evon, 7, James Jr., 6, and Tyron, 3.

James Goodman died 15 May 1963 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 11 July 1919 in Manning, S.C., to Edward Goodman and Annie Blanding; was married to Lena Cherry Goodman; lived at 813 Viola Street, Wilson; and was a World War II veteran.

Lane Street Project: a headstone workshop.

I first visited College View Cemetery in July 2025. Though the edge closest to a neighboring church was kept mowed, the cemetery was in rough shape. Collapsed vaults, broken headstones, exploding kudzu. Back in February, though, One Square Mile Project Inc. began to tackle College View’s disrepair. Their progress in just eight months is astounding and worthy of loud praise. 

This morning I went back out to College View for a hands-on workshop on documenting, restoring, resetting, and cleaning headstones. 

A new marker reveals that College View was founded about 1896 and is roughly the size of Wilson’s Vick Cemetery.

One Square Mile Project is a community-driven initiative in College Park focused on restoring College View Cemetery and honoring the history of the surrounding African-American community. 

I was excited to see that the workshop was led by Ashley Shares of Oakland Cemetery and Level Spirit Preservation and Kellea Roberson, a recent Georgia State University Master of Heritage Preservation graduate.

Now on my to-do list: create a form like this for a survey of Odd Fellows.

College View is full of Eldren Bailey markers.

Cox Brothers Funeral Home offered Cadillac goods and services, like the fancy metal plate on this headstone.

Repairing an Eldren Bailey headstone.

Resetting a row of headstones. 

Many thanks to One Square Mile for their preservation efforts at College Park and for the wonderful opportunity to learn best practices.

Lane Street Project: the Season 7 clean-up schedule is out!

Great things are happening at Vick Cemetery — now help us prepare Odd Fellows Cemetery for its glow-up!

Who do we want? You — and your friends, family, classmates, sorors and frat brothers, lodge members, church organizations, youth groups, alumni organizations, coworkers and colleagues, and students. All are welcome.

To do what? Clear debris from small felled trees, cut vines, chop weeds, cut grass, clean headstones, chart grave GPS coordinates, donate funds for ongoing and future projects (including ground-penetrating radar, an interpretive sign, professional defoliation services, and headstone stabilization), say prayers for safety and success, document.

What do I need to do? Please read last year’s What To Expect. (Conditions have changed a bit, for the better, but it’s still a useful guide.) We have had volunteers ranging from toddlers to seasoned seniors over the past six seasons. We welcome all to contribute as they are able, but please be aware that there are safety risks associated with clean-up of a forested space. So far, no one has been injured while working in Odd Fellows, and we want to keep it that way. You will be required to sign a waiver. Wear appropriate shoes, long pants, long-sleeved shirts, and gloves. Watch out for holes in the ground. Do not attempt to cut down trees. Do not lean on, push, or pull grave markers.

Got it. Now what? Gather your team, and let us know you’re coming! Our past partners have included Greenfield School, Barton College, Saint Timothy’s Episcopal Church, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Delta Sigma Theta and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sororities, Homeschoolers Honoring Ancestors, Wilson Police Department and Fire/Rescue Services, and Mount Hebron Lodge No. 42. We’ve also welcomed folks from Raleigh, Durham, Fayetteville, Richmond, Brooklyn, and elsewhere who have been drawn to our mission to reclaim this sacred space. We hope you’ll join us!!

Rest in peace, Henrietta Hines McIntosh.

I awoke this morning to the sad news that Mrs. Henrietta Hines McIntosh had gone to glory to join the ancestors.

After my father’s family moved to Queen Street, Eva Hines moved her family into 303 Elba Street. As a child, Mrs. McIntosh walked with her mother from Elba to Vick Cemetery on Sunday afternoons to visit her father Charles Hines‘ grave. I first heard of her deep personal connection to Vick in May 2023, when she attended Vick Cemetery: Past, Present, Future as a guest of Mayor Carlton Stevens. In August of that year, I asked and Mrs. McIntosh graciously agreed to speak with a WRAL reporter about the ongoing injustice her family had experienced due to decades of neglect and damage at Vick. A day later, she sat front and center at the Reconsecration ceremony Lane Street Project held at the cemetery.

For more than two years after Reconsecration, the City effectively sidelined Vick Cemetery, and Mrs. McIntosh was forced to continue to wait for respect to be restored to this sacred space. In early 2026, the wheels began to turn again with the creation of a descendant advisory council, and not two weeks ago we celebrated the progress made in reclaiming Vick Cemetery. Mrs. McIntosh understandably did not venture out into chilly rain to join us, but her son Charles A. McIntosh delivered remarks on her behalf.

Mrs. McIntosh embodied ninety-nine years of wisdom, resilience, and hope. I am endlessly grateful that her long journey allowed her to witness the dawn of the positive changes she championed.

Rest in perfect peace, Henrietta Hines McIntosh. My deepest condolences to the Hines-McIntosh family and to all who loved her. Please know how deeply we share your loss.