White roses represent loyalty, honor, spiritual kinship, reverence, and new beginnings. Have you ordered yours yet?
Mine honor Baby Boy Henderson and his eighteen known aunts, uncles, and cousins buried in Vick Cemetery.
Order roses no later than October 10 at Braswell’s Flower Shop, (252)218-4265, (252)903-7241 or CashApp $gr480. Thank you!!
When Wiley (or Willie, as his name was sometimes spelled) Rountree made out his will on 12 May 1847, he left land for his sons Willie and Jonathan Rountree on Contentnea Creek and Hominy Swamp, directed that his personal property be sold, and specified that “it is my will and desire that my Negroes be divided as follows among my children and my granddaughter Mary Ann Rountree, that is for my girl children each to have a full share of all my Negro property, and my boys and my granddaughter … one half share of the same.”
Rountree died weeks later, and his executors (who had married two of Rountree’s daughters) published this notice in a Tarboro newspaper:
Tarboro Press, 12 June 1847.
On January 1, 1850, Larry Dew, L.D. Farmer, and Joshua Barnes divided the 23 remaining enslaved people in Rountree’s estate among his surviving heirs:
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In 1866, Bob Rountree and Tempy Horn registered their 30-year cohabitation in Wilson County. [Note that Temperance declined to adopt Rountree or Batts as her maiden name. Horn was the name of the enslaver who sold her to Wiley Rountree.]
In 1866, Merion Rountree and Jane Barnes registered their seven-year cohabitation in Wilson County.
On 27 August 1866, David Rountree and Nancy Farmer registered their twelve-year cohabitation in Wilson County.
In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Robert Rountree, 62, farm laborer; wife Temperance, 49; Ann, 21, farm laborer; and Dora, 1.
In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farm laborer David Rountree, 35; wife Nancy, 33; and children Winnie, 12, Jonas, 11, Allen, 9, Tillie, 4, Laurence, 5, and Angeline, 1.
On 25 April 1872, Robert Rountree, son of Robert and Tempy Rountree, married Pricey Williamson, in Wilson County.
In the 1880 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Robert Rountree, 82; wife Tempy, 68; daughter-in-law Priscilla, 30, and her son Willie, 7.
In the 1880 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: David Rountree, 46; wife Nancy, 45; and children Winnie, 21, Lawrence, 14, Jennie, 12, Dinah, 10, Sarah, 8, David, 6, Charlie, 4, and Jonas, 20, and Bettie, 1.
The two hundred-eleventh in a series of posts highlighting buildings in East Wilson Historic District, a national historic district located at Wilson, North Carolina. As originally approved, the district encompasses 858 contributing buildings and two contributing structures in a historically African-American section of Wilson. (A significant number have since been lost.) The district was developed between about 1890 to 1940 and includes notable examples of Queen Anne, Bungalow/American Craftsman, and Shotgun-style architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
As described in the nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District: “ca. 1913; 1 story; Clarence Best house; L-plan cottage with intact turned-post porch and balustrade; Best was a marble worker and operated monument works.”
The house apparently was unnumbered until the 1930s, when it was assigned 1302, then, around 1942, 1306.
In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on East Nash Street, marble works polisher Clearance Best, 37, wife Geneva, 37, and son Clearance, 11.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: marble dresser Clarence Best, 46, wife Geneva, 46, and son Clarence H. Best, 21, tobacco stemmer, plus nephew Frank Brake, 14.
In the 1941 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Best Clarence B (c; Geneva) hlpr Wilson Marble & Granite Co h 1302 E Nash
In 1943, Clarence Herman Best registered for the World War II draft. He reported his home address as 1306 East Nash Street, Wilson; his date of birth as 3 October 1918; and his closest relative as Clarence Benjamin Best, his father. His employer was Johnson C. Smith University, Charlotte, North Carolina.
Wilson Daily Times, 30 November 1946.
Wilson Daily Times, 22 August 1947.
In the 1947 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Best Clarence B (c; Eva; East Nash Street Monument Co) h 1302 E Nash
Wilson Daily Times, 5 April 1948.
Wilson Daily Times, 10 September 1949.
In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1306 East Nash, monument plant proprietor Clarence Best, 56; wife Geneva, 56; and lodger George Williams, 38, hotel bellhop.
Wilson Daily Times, 20 November 1980.
Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson.
Deed Book 21, page 415, Edgecombe County register of Deeds Office, Tarboro, N.C.
On 21 February 1835, Willie (Wiley) Rountree, who lived on Contentnea Creek in what is now Wilson County, purchased an enslaved woman named Temperance and her children Marian and David for $812 from William Horn of Wayne County, North Carolina.
Wilson Daily Times, 29 September 2026.
Wilson Daily Times, 1 August 1940.
Just two years after daughter Piccola Mae Reid died, a branch of the Reid family lost its patriarch, William Barney Reid. [Whose idea was the inclusion of “(col.)” in the notice?]
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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 Barney 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.]
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 300 Vick Street, Barna Reid, 55, carpenter/contractor; wife Anna D., 42, teacher; son Jessie S., 19, construction helper; nephew Chester Taborn, 14; and roomers Irene Whitley, 24, Floricie Dunston, 28, both Wayne County teachers, and Clarence Artist, 24, tobacco factory laborer.
William Barney Reid died 20 July 1941 at his home at 300 North Vick Street, Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 55 years old; was born in Wayne County, N.C., to Jesse Reid and Sallie Ann [no maiden name given]; was married to Anna Reid; worked as a carpenter; and was buried in Rest Haven Cemetery.
Vick Cemetery: Remembered & Restored is a city-sponsored event. If you’d have told me in the dark days at the beginning of this year that this is where we would be come fall, I would have scoffed. Come celebrate progress at Vick Cemetery!
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 28 September 1929.
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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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Samuel H. Vick (1861-1947), Renaissance man.
The two hundred-tenth in a series of posts highlighting buildings in East Wilson Historic District, a national historic district located in Wilson, North Carolina. As originally approved, the district encompasses 858 contributing buildings and two contributing structures in a historically African-American section of Wilson. (A significant number have since been lost.) The district was developed between about 1890 to 1940 and includes notable examples of Queen Anne, Bungalow/American Craftsman, and Shotgun-style architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
In the nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District, described 611 and 613 East Nash as: “ca. 1908; shotgun with double-pile main block and kitchen wing.” They were built as rental housing, and occupants changed regularly. Both houses, and a third shotgun at 615, have been demolished.
Until about 1921, the houses were numbered 612 and 614. In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 612, Amos Johnson, 26, wagon factory laborer; wife Alice, 24; and daughter Elnora, 4.
The 1922 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson shows houses crowding the north side of the 600 block of East Nash Street. All are gone.
In Hill’s 1928 Wilson, N.C., city directory:
In Hill’s 1930 Wilson, N.C., city directory:
Wilson Daily Times, 23 August 1939.
Approximate location of 611 and 613 East Nash Street today, via Google Maps.
N.87-12-919-921, E. Nash, N. Side, 400 Block, 601-619 E. Nash Street, East Wilson Historic District, Wilson, Wilson County, Survey and National Register Branch, State Historic Preservation Office, Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and Records, Raleigh.