Snaps, no. 122: Timothy Bowden.

Timothy Bowden (1902-1945).

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Texas-born laborer John Sanchas, 49, wife Mary, 39, and children Hattie, 21, Willie, 19, Timothy, 17, Herbert, 14, and John Jr., 11; all described as black. [Hattie, Willie, Timothy, and Herbert were Hattie’s children and carried the surname Bowden.]

On 26 March 1925, Timothy Bowden, 22, of Wilson, married Annie May Pitt, 19, of Wilson. Sam Allen, “minister of A.M.E. Zion connection,” performed the ceremony at his home on Robeson Street in the presence of Georgia Ward, Fannie Allen, and Cardain Allen.

In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Bowden Timothy (c; Annie M) hlpr h 305 Finch

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 307 Finch Street, Timothy Battle [Bowden], 27, chauffeur; wife Annie, 24; children William, 7, Timothy Jr., 5, Mary E., 4, Hurbert, 3, and Charlie, 1; mother-in-law Sallie White, 38, widow.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 528 East Nash, Grover Black, 50, dairy bottle washer; wife Lucinda, 36, laundress; children Harry, 19, grocery delivery boy Grover Jr., 11, and Pearline, 5; Oscar Dixon, 37, house cleaner, and wife Turthina, 35; Timothy Bowden, 37, servant; Jack Best, 32, servant; and John Roberson, 32, street department laborer.

Timothy Bowden registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County in 1942. Per his registration card, he was born 14 June 1902 in Wilson; lived at 539 East Nash Street; his contact was Willie Rufus Bowden of the same address; and he worked for W.W. Harrell, 202 West Nash.

Timothy Bowden died 18 March 1945 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 14 June 1902 to Mary Ellen Adams of Wilson County; was married to Annie Mae Bowden; lived at 413 East Green; and worked as a chauffeur.

Photo courtesy of Ancestry.com user Mildred Lawton Bowden.

A grave mystery.

For at least a decade, this headstone has lain between the sidewalk and a wall of Jackson Chapel First Baptist Church on the Pender Street side. There’s no grave here. In fact, Esther Vivian Griffin Baldwin, who was black, is buried under an identical headstone in Durham’s Beechwood Cemetery. Baldwin spent most of her life in Durham and has no obvious links to Jackson Chapel or Wilson.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, September 2026.

The affidavit of Sarah A. Coward.

Georgia Crockett Aiken died 17 August 1939 in Wilson. The following spring, Sarah A. Coward provided an affidavit attesting that Aiken’s sole heir was her niece Rachel Crockett Williams. Williams lived in New York City at the time of Aiken’s death, but by 1941 was living in the house she inherited at 120 North Pender Street.

Deed book 277, page 247, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

Libby McDonald McPhatter, 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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Libby McDonald McPhatter (1905-1981), restaurateuse and hotel owner.

Daughters of Elks celebrate their 50th anniversary in 1973.

Ark of Covenant Temple No. 214, Daughters of Elks, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1973. Among the honorees at their anniversary banquet was Fannie Chester, the last surviving charter member.

Wilson Daily Times, 23 November 1973.

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In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Eliza Faison, 30, and children Willie, 12, Fannie, 7, and Joe, 3.

On 29 March 1911, Arthur Chestnut [sic], 20, married Fannie Faison, 19, in Wilson.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 206 Vick Street, house carpenter James Boykin, 49; wife Eliza, 47, tobacco factory worker; children Albert, 15, and Ruth, 9; son-in-law Arthur Chester, 28, transfer car driver; daughter Fannie, 28; and grandchildren Arthur Jr., 7, Joseph, 5, Irvin, 3, and Charlie, 1.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 204 Vick Street, Fannie Chester, 49, tobacco factory laborer.

In 1940, Ervin Chester registered for the World War II draft in New York, New York. Per his registration card, he was born 7 December 1917 in Wilson; lived at 237 – 135th Street, #3A, New York City; his contact was mother Fannie Chester, 204 Vick; and he worked for Small, 2446 – 7th Avenue.

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Fannie Chester, 59, and son Ervin, 33.

Fannie Faison Chester died 9 April 1976 in Wilson.

Lane Street Project: Old Eastview Cemetery, Rome, Georgia.

Though I will always be of Wilson, I have lived in Atlanta nearly all of my adult life. It is very much “home” for me, too, and is a bottomless well of African-American culture and history that often informs the way I process research and work related to Black Wide-Awake and Lane Street Project.

I’ve begun visiting metro Atlanta’s historic African-American burial grounds. How have they weathered exploding population growth, shifting demographics, outmigration, land loss, and other pressures? The tenth in a series — Old Eastview Cemetery in Rome, Georgia.

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Old Eastview Cemetery lies southeast of downtown Rome. Dating to at least 1919, the 16-acre privately owned cemetery holds more than 750 graves and is sporadically maintained with volunteer efforts.

A small sign at the intersection of Callier Springs Road and Lincoln Street signal Old Eastview’s location.

Monuments to the cemetery’s many veterans cluster near the front section.

Japanese stiltgrass is rampant and English ivy chokes nearly every tree.

Several of the headstones were locally made. I didn’t see any Eldren Bailey-made markers, but I didn’t venture deep into the cemetery.

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, August 2026.

 

Miss Summers entertains.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 5 February 1927.

Miss Phenon A. Summers? At “her home” at 600 East Green? Weren’t J.D. and Eleanor Reid there then?

The following month, Phenon Summers again welcomed a guest to 600 East Green Street.

Journal and Guide, 12 March 1927.

And in April she did a little visiting herself.

Journal and Guide, 30 April 1927.

Phenon Adel Summers French Brown Jones — who reverted to her maiden name in between and after her divorces — was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1895. I have found nothing to shed light on her brief time in Wilson, and by 1928 she had moved on to teach at the Henderson Institute in Henderson, North Carolina. My best guess is that she was a lodger with the Reids and a teacher at either Wilson Colored High School or the Sallie Barbour School (also known as the Colored Graded School). By the summer of 1929, Summers was back in Columbus and seems to have remained there until her death in 1976.

1001 Washington Street.

The two hundred-eighth 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.

As described in the nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District: “ca. 1930; 2 stories; gable-end apartment house with engaged porch; built by Barney Reid particularly to house teachers.”

However, in 1928, Bessie Wingate Matthews and her children lived in the house:

Wilson, N.C., city directory (1928).

And on 22 July 1930, the Daily Times listed Eddie Wingate as delinquent for 1929 property taxes on the house:

In the 1930 Wilson, N.C., city directory: Matthews Bessie (c) lndrs 1001 Washington

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1001 Washington, widow Bessie Matthews, 38, laundress; daughter Lula McNair, 23, and grandson Alton McNair, 7; daughter Edith Brooks, 18, and grandchildren Lucile, 9, Johnny, 5, and James Brooks, 2; and lodgers James, 26, oil mill laborer, and Harvey Craddle, 32, tobacco factory packer; James Floyd, 19, building painter; Walter Thomas, 32, barber; Essie Brooks, 29, tobacco factory stemmer; and Eddie McNair, 25, tobacco factory packer.

In the 1947 Wilson, N.C., city directory: James Herman (c; Mildred K) lab Hackney Wagon h 1001 Washington

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1001 Washington, downstairs, Herman James, 43, shop foreman at body company; wife Mildred, 41; children Willie, 20, Herman Jr., 19, Delores, 16, Alma, 12, Hilton, 11, Waddell, 10, Clyde, 8, and Mildred, infant; and mother Lucy Knight, 69, widow; and upstairs, Tom Speight, 37, making tobacco barrels, and wife Emma, 26, cook.

In 1968, N.E. Darden applied for permits to make repairs to 1001 Washington and 300 North Vick (Barney Reid’s former home).

Wilson Daily Times, 27 September 1968.

Wilson Daily Times, 21 February 1981.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, August 2026.

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.