Elm City Elevator, 28 February 1902.

Elm City Elevator, 21 March 1902.

Three weeks apart, the short-lived Elm City Elevator ran two short pieces featuring George A. Gaston. One is straightforward and factual. The second, purportedly authored by Gaston himself, is condescending and replete with stereotypes.

In the 1880 census of Town of Toisnot, Wilson County: George Gaston, 23, barber, is listed by himself.

In the 1900 census of Town of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Pender Street, barber and plasterer George W. Gaston, 44, wife Cilla, 44, a cook; and children Rosco, 18, bricklayer; John, 16, common laborer; Georgia, 15, cook; Addar, 12, nurse; Nina, 11, nurse; Mancy, 6; Lacy, 6; Augustas, 6; Boston, 1; and Dewey, 6 months.

In the 1910 census of Town of Elm City, Wilson County: on Wilson Street, barber George Gaston, 55, wife Priscilla, 53; and children Roscoe, 28, barber; John, 26, barber; Georgie, 25; Ada, 23, teacher; Nina, 21; Mancie, 17; Augustus, 16; Flossy, 16; Boisy, 14; Dewey, 9; and Lee J. Gaston, 7.

In the 1920 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: widowed farmer George Gaston, 69, and children [and grandchildren] Ada, 33, Nina, 31, August, 27, George J., 6, Lucile, 2, and Ernest, 9 months. (Also, in Gardners township, Wilson County: farmer Garfield Perkins, 36; wife Laura, 36; children Ethel, 15, and G. William, 12; and boarder P. Ada Gaston, 34, a teacher.

In the 1930 census of Elm City town, Toisnot township, next door to Dewey Gaston, 30, barber, and family, barbershop proprietor George Gaston, 72, and daughter Ada, a teacher, 43.