622 East Nash Street.

The two hundred-ninth 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. 1922; 1 story; Dickerson Grocery; parapet-roofed grocery with one-bay facade and metal veneer.” The building has been demolished.

The building appears in the 1922 Sanborn fire insurance map with a shed extension that had been demolished long before the photo above was taken in 1987. It was not assigned a street number.

There is no listing for the location in the 1928 or 1930 Hill’s city directories of Wilson.

However, in the 1941 Hill’s city directory of Wilson: Jackson Jos S (c; Annie H) fruits 614 E Nash h 618 E Green

And in the 1947 Hill’s city directory of Wilson: Stevens & Ricks Gro (c; David L Stevens J L Ricks) gros 620 E Nash

The two-story brick Knights of Solomon building is visible at rear.

The last owner of the grocery, Margaret H. Dickerson, died in 2002.

Wilson Daily Times, 21 February 2002.

N.87-12-1030-1033, Dickerson Grocery, 622 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.

To have and to hold said land, no. 9.

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

  • Pursuant to a Superior Court writ dated 21 June 1869 against Sarah Rose in favor of A.G. Brooks, on 6 September 1869 Wilson County sheriff B.F. Briggs auctioned off a 68-acre parcel of land in Cross Roads township adjacent to B.H. Tyson, Clary Raper, Benajah Scott and others. William Hawley was the high bidder at $50. (William Hawley had married Sarah Rose’s daughter Nancy Rose in 1867.) Deed book 3, page 145.
  • On 28 December 1871, for $500, R.J. and Sallie Taylor sold Thomas Brantley part of the “old Carpenter tract” on “the road” and measuring about 100 acres. Deed book 6, page 386.
  • On 1 January 1872, for $500, R.J. and Sallie Taylor sold George Rountree part of the “old Carpenter tract” bounded by Taylor, Tom Brantley, and “the road” and measuring about 100 acres. Deed book 5, page 506.
  • On 26 February 1872, for $300, Moses Adams bought Thomas Brantley and wife for “a part of the old Carpenter tract” deeded to Thomas Brantley by R.J. Taylor. The property was adjacent to Thomas Brantley, Hilliard Ellis, and George Rountree and contained about 58 acres. Deed book 13, page 417. Adams bought the property on credit, and if he timely paid the Brantleys $240.25 by 1 December 1873, the mortgage deed was void. If not, the land would be sold for cash at auction. Deed book 6, page 58.
  • On 3 March 1873, for $625, David and Edny Peel of Wayne County, N.C., sold Albert Adams of Wilson County a tract adjoining William Hawley, Mabrey Renfrow, Jesse H. Peel, and Sandy Run, containing 173 acres. Deed book 7, page 357.
  • Moses Hagans died intestate on about 20 March 1873, leaving a widow Treasey Hagans. On 17 April 1873, Thomas and Lucinda Brantley and Treasey Hagans agreed that the Brantleys would convey to Hagans as her dower about nine acres adjoining Ellick Eatmon. (Lucinda Brantley was Moses and Theresa Lassiter Hagans’ daughter. Moses Hagans’ estate was meager, and the conveyance apparently was made to provide Treasey Hagans some security.) Deed book 7, page 541.

Lane Street Project: buy a white rose.

Even if you can’t make the ceremony, you can celebrate the occasion and honor the ancestors with flowers. Each white rose will be placed alongside a large floral arrangement at Vick Cemetery.

Please place your order — early and often — with Braswell’s Flower Shop at (252) 218-4265 or (252) 903-7241 or via CashApp $gr480. Thank you!

John and Ida Clark, 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.

——

John H. Clark (1863-1949), mail carrier and Episcopal lay leader, and Ida R. Crenshaw Clark (1863-1942), teacher.

Bon voyage to the Butterfields; Dr. Ward stops through; and other social doings.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 18 July 1931.

——

 

1100 East Nash Street, revisited.

Known as the Sallie Barbour house, 1100 East Nash Street was demolished in the early 2000s.

Houses, 700-1497 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.