More examples of angle-and-serif grave markers.

Last week, I stumbled across two examples of angle-and-serif concrete headstones in Rest Haven Cemetery. Though somewhat more restrained and lacking floral motifs, they appear to be the work of the same grave marker artist I first noticed in William Chapel church cemetery.

  • Mary L.B. and Charlie Morrison

  • Margaret L. Morrison

Margaret L. Morrison, daughter of Charlie and Mary Bethel Morrison, was a beloved teacher at Barnes School, a Rosenwald school on Airport Road.

  • Willie Edward Farr Jr.

Willie Edward Farr Jr. was a grandson of Charlie and Mary Morrison. His parents were Willie E. and Virginia Morrison Farr. The headstone of his paternal grandfather Walter Farr, in William Chapel church cemetery, is also an angle-and-serif work.

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, October 2026.

Where we worked: Wilson Marble & Granite Company.

Freddie Sauls‘ death certificate reveals that he, like Clarence B. Best, worked for a marble company in Wilson.

City directories show that Sauls and Turner Mitchell were employed as stone polishers as early as 1912. They likely worked for E.L. Cobb’s Wilson Marble and Granite Company (also known circa 1920 as Wilson Marble, Mantle & Tile), which was established in 1908 and succeeded J.C. Lanier’s Wilson Marble Company, which was active as early as 1891. Cobb’s business operated at 108 West Nash Street, then 106 North Railroad.

Wilson Mirror, 23 December 1891.

When Clarence Best registered for the World War I draft, he described himself as a stone rubber at Wilson Marble Mantle & Tile Company and, by 1920, as a marble cutter. Within a few years, Best was designing and cutting headstones for African-American clients as a side gig. In 1946, after 32 years with E.L. Cobb, Best opened his own monument business.

Though not a stone cutter, William J. Brake also worked for Wilson Marble, listing his occupation as driver in the 1928 Wilson city directory.

Wilson Times, 21 October 1921.

Bynum accidentally shoots son.

Wilson Daily Times, 5 August 1924.

Wilson Daily Times, 3 September 1924.

Though John Wesley Bynum‘s death certificate describes his father John H. Bynum as “drunken,” the elder Bynum was not charged in the boy’s accidental death.

In the 1900 census of Saratoga township, Wilson County: farmer Gray Bynum, 41; wife Hagar, 41; and children Rose, 17, John, 15, Martha, 9, Gray, 7, and Isaac, 12.

In the 1910 census of Gardners township, Wilson County: farmer John H. Bynum, 25; wife Carry, 20; daughter Queen E., 5; mother Cherry, 52; and sisters Cora, 18, and Leeoner, 15.

In the 1920 census of Saratoga township, Wilson County: farmer John Bynum, 35; wife Carrie, 29; children Rosetta, 6, and John, 4; and nephew and nieces Isaac, 7, and Jeneva Bynum, 4, and Susan Bridges, 19; laborer Bruce Daniel, 19, and niece Susie Ward, 15.

In the 1940 census of Saratoga township, Wilson County: on Fountain Road, farm laborer John H. Bynum, 55; wife Carrie, 44; children Johnnie Jr., 15, Carrie, 8, and Beatrice, 5; mother Hagar Best, 87; nephew John W. Baker, 8; and cousin Ruth Farmer, 23. [John Jr. was born shortly after John Wesley’s death.]

John Wesley Bynum, known as “Snap.”

Snap Bynum’s photo courtesy of Ancestry.com user tashiaj1.

Thomas Ellis, stationed at San Francisco.

In 1942, Thomas Ellis registered for the World War II draft in Washington, D.C. Per his death certificate, he was born 22 July 1924 in Wilson; lived at 1217-6th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.; his contact was Dora Ellis, 200 Pender Street, Wilson; and he worked at a Greek restaurant on Eye Street, N.W.

Thomas Ellis married Eva M. Young in Washington, D.C., on 22 September 1943.

In 1948, Ellis re-registered for the draft in Washington, D.C., declaring that he worked as a laborer for the Federal Works Agency.

In the 1950 census of Washington, D.C.: at 2401 – 16th Street, Thomas Ellis, 25, messenger at General Services Administration; wife Eva M., 29; sons Thomas G., 3, Phyllis, 2, and, Ronald M., born in March; mother-in-law Ella Young, 58; brother-in-law Lu W. Young, 28; and lodger William Hall, 34.

Thomas Ellis died 19 April 1973 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.

Image courtesy of Veterans of World War II Wilson County, spiral-bound volume, Wilson County Public Library.

Where did they go?: Louisiana death certificates.

A new Ancestry.com database reveals these two women with Wilson County ties:

  • Minnie White

Minnie White died 16 February 1934 in Kinder, Allen Parish, Louisiana. Per her death certificate, she was born in 1893 in Douglass, Georgia, to Monroe Roundtree of New Bern, N.C., and Martha Jones of Wilson. She was a widow.

In the 1900 census of Douglas district, Coffee County, Georgia: Monroe Roundtree, 36, day laborer; wife Martha, 21; and daughter Minnie, 7. Both parents were listed as North Carolina-born.

In the 1910 census of Ward 7, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana: turpentine laborer Monroe Roundtree, 40, and wife Martha, 31.

In the 1920 census of Ward 3, Allen Parish, Louisiana: laborer Monroe Roundtree, 50; wife Martha, 44; and daughter Blanche, 12.

Louisiana Weekly (New Orleans, La.), 2 October 1926.

In the 1930 census of Kinder, Allen Parish, Louisiana: widow Martha Roundtree, 51; daughter Minnie White, 36, cook for private family; and grandson Charlie Ledd, 6.

In the 1940 census of Kinder, Allen Parish, Louisiana: widow Martha Roundtree, 61, laundry woman, and grandson Charlie Ladd, 17, farm laborer.

Louisiana Weekly (New Orleans, La.), 22 August 1942.

In the 1950 census of Kinder, Allen Parish, Louisiana: widow Martha Roundtree, 71, housework in private home.

Martha Jones Roundtree, age 83, died 25 May 1962 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Blanche Stewart died 27 January 1967 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Per her death certificate, she was born 31 May 1907 in Kinder, Louisiana, to Monroe Roundtree of South Carolina and Minnie White of Kinder, Louisiana. She was married to Sherman Stewart, age 69, and lived at 416 Flake Avenue, New Orleans.

  • Harriett Woodard

Harriett Woodard died 20 March 1935 in Shreveport, Caddo County, Louisiana. Per his death certificate, she was about 65 years old; was born in Wilson, N.C., to Austin Bonds and Tilda Anderson, both of Wilson; was the was widow of Handy Woodard; and Sam Woodard was informant. Cause of death: “injury by animal arm bit by mule and gas gangrene & fracture”.

In the 1910 census of Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts: at Concord Place, Matilda Bonds, 60, widow, born in N.C., laundress at steam laundry, and daughter Harriet, 38, born in N.C., laundress in steam laundry.

Matilda Bonds died 5 June 1912 in City Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. Per her death certificate, she lived at 5 Concord Place; was a widow; and was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery.

Perhaps: in the 1920 census of Otter Creek township, Edgecombe County, N.C.: Auston Bonds, 69, widower, farmer.

Perhaps: Austin Barnes died 30 January 1925 in Township No. 9, Edgecombe County, N.C. Per his death certificate, he was 76 years old; was born in Wilson County to James Barnes and Elvi Barnes; was married; was a farmer and landowner; and was buried near Macclesfield.

Louisiana State Death Records, 1825-1974, http://www.ancestry.com.

Vick Cemetery: Remembered & Restored — the flowers.

Today was sunny and cool, and Mildred Hall and I placed the floral wreath and 105 memorial white roses in Vick Cemetery. Mildred’s mother and my grandmother were first cousins, and two of her young uncles and one of mine, among other relatives, are buried in Vick. We thank all who contributed flowers for this special event — a group that includes both descendants and sympathetic friends:

Anonymous

Sondra Artis

Susette Artis

Dr. Michael Barnes

Rev. Dr. Michael S. Bell

Kerry Carmichael

Vicki Cowan

Wanda Darden and the Darden Family

Diann Dawson

Charmlyn Folkes

Ruby Ford and the Ford Family

Mildred Hall

In Memory of King Hargrove and Marjorie Robinson — Marla

In Memory of Ruby Hart — Marla

The Henderson Family

In Memory of Baby Boy Henderson — Lisa Y. Henderson

True Lewis

Lelia Neal

Olivia Neeley

Synethia D. Nelson

Portia Newman

Sita Redding

Miriam D. Smith

Tunya Smith

Patricia Tolliver

Vick Cemetery: Remembered & Restored — my remarks.

My remarks as a Voice of Vick required that I take off my Vick Cemetery Advisory Committee hat and put on my Black Wide-Awake/Lane Street Project hat:

In December 2025, city contractors dislodged and broke a marble vault while excavating the ditch at Vick Cemetery. I’d been shouting for years that there are graves in that ditch, and suddenly there was proof. This was the lowest point in my journey with Vick Cemetery, and I despaired that justice would ever come for the ancestors buried here. However, though the accident that disturbed this grave was awful (and avoidable), that awfulness has been transmuted. I am grateful to the unknown ancestor who, by losing his or her peaceful repose, opened a path for us to move forward in our fight for respect and due care for Vick Cemetery.

The Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” And the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.”

At Vick Cemetery, those cries, amplified by the cries of descendants, have finally been heard.

I’ve been told that every compelling story has the same set of fundamental characters. A villain, a victim, and a vindicator. The story of Vick Cemetery is certainly compelling. And I think we all recognize who the villain was and who the victim – the victims – were. They lie in the thousands beneath our feet.

However, for all its compelling quality, the story of Vick Cemetery is not unique. In fact, it’s a story with far too many iterations. Everywhere Jim Crow reigned, where social, political, and economic power were massed on one side of the tracks, there are Vick Cemeteries. But we now see that the story of Wilson’s Vick Cemetery is unusual. Because as that story moved toward its latter chapters, the accompanying arc of the moral universe began to dip. After 113 years in a long, stubborn, flat trajectory of neglect, the arc began to bend toward justice. As it tilted, it pulled villain and victim closer … and closer … until they met at the terrible point at which a backhoe struck a marble vault. In the aftermath of that shocking event, villain and victim finally joined — and together became the vindicators of Vick Cemetery. We’re here today to celebrate the fruits of a collaboration to reclaim this sacred space. That’s our unique story.

On the one hand, reclamation of Vick Cemetery would not have been possible without movement forward by enlightened leadership in the City of Wilson.

Without city council members willing to care about every corner of Wilson and to be unafraid to hold themselves accountable for the mistakes of their predecessors.

Without a city manager, himself a student of history, willing to open eyes and ears – to actually SEE and HEAR — and extend a hand at a crucial moment.

Without a mayor who is a man of faith and, by virtue of his and his family’s life’s work, understood five years ago why the wrongs done here must be righted.

And then there is the descendant community. We have elders approaching 100 years old who attended the funerals of their family members in Vick Cemetery. Folks who may not have spoken out publicly over the years, but who were hurt by the neglect of their kin. The families of the Lane Street cemeteries never abandoned their dead. Vick is a public cemetery. We didn’t own it. Yet, though we were not responsible for its upkeep, we did our best. Eventually, distance, or age, or responsibilities to the living kept us from coming to lay flowers or to chop weeds, but our ancestors were never abandoned. We knew our people were here, even if we didn’t know how best to reclaim them.

I am a part of that descendant community. I have not lived in Wilson for most of my life, but will always be of this place. My uncle, who was born and died in 1928, is buried in Vick. Eighteen of his aunts, uncles, and cousins are there. I am a lawyer. A public historian. A genealogist. With decades of education and experience in research and analysis and argument and a willingness to apply those skills in service to my community. So, when I began to piece together what had happened in Vick Cemetery, I could not stand by. To paraphrase something I heard recently, “I was in a good situation, for the situation.” The fine details of these six years of struggle are a story for another time. But from the beginning, the descendant community has rallied around me as I poked around, asked questions, raised concerns, demanded accountability.

Let me tell you a little story. This was three years ago, after the story broke that there were more than 4200 graves in Vick Cemetery. My mother and I were at Whole Truth restaurant and ran into a woman whose son was my mother’s former student. They chatted a while about where he is now, and I’m looking over at the steam table, when the lady turns to me: “Ain’t you that one always in the paper? About the cemetery?” And I laughed and said, “Yes, ma’am.” She paused and looked right in my eyes and said, “You doing good.”

The men and women of my community have kept me lifted and encouraged. They have been my proxies, my boots on the ground. Have kept eyes on this sacred space. Have learned and taught others about its significance. Have stood up at countless city council meetings to speak truth to power. Have prayed effectually and fervently. And what do such prayers do? AVAILETH MUCH.

So, I’m thankful to everyone. Both the day ones and the Johnny-come-latelys. Those who always believed and those who had to be convinced. Those whose people are buried here, and those who mourn at Maplewood. Setting aside hurts and fears, ignorance and arrogance, misinformation and mutual distrust, we merged and emerged as vindicators of Vick Cemetery.

There is still work to be done. More questions to be answered. What happened to the headstones? How is it that a power line was placed in this cemetery and in Rountree Cemetery in 1997? We’ll get to those answers.

But we asked for a descendant advisory committee. We have one. We asked for interpretive signage and additional ground-penetrating radar and a full survey. They’ve been done. We asked for better communication and increased transparency. Definite improvement. Today we hold space for what has been accomplished. For what we have done – together.

May we continue to walk in our purpose and always remember and honor our dead.

Thank you.

The stunning wreath stand, the memorial white roses, and the headstone that will be placed at the site of the marble vault.