Jimmie Jack Sims.

“Jimmie Jack was one of three sons of Mary Sims. Born and raised in Black Creek he moved north quite young where he became a chef. Later he returned here and worked in the W.C. and W.H. Privette homes and store until his death. He was a dependable messenger who pushed the mail in a two-wheel cart from the railroad station to the post office daily.

“Lewis and Boots Sims, brothers of Jimmie Jack, were railroad section workers at a time when all work was manual. The ring of metal mallets on the steel spikes was a familiar sound. The rhythm of wielding the mallets required dexterity and perfect timing. The townspeople appreciated their labor under the watchful eye of the section foreman Mr. H.W. Ezzell, known to everyone as Captain Ezzell.”

In the 1910 census of Black Creek, Wilson County: on East Railroad Street, farm laborer James Sanders, 28, wife Mary, 36, and Lewis, 10, Jack, 9, Jesse, 5, George W., 4, and Jimmie S. Sanders, 2.

On 24 August 1913, Jim Saunders, 30, son of Allen and Classy Saunders, married Mary Simms, 34, daughter of Jack and Creasy Simms, at Mary Simms’ residence in Black Creek. [Note: per the marriage licenses of Mary’s siblings Reddick Simms and Frank Simms, her mother was in fact named Treasy.]

In the 1920 census of Black Creek, Wilson County: farmer James L. Sanders, 37, wife Mary, and Louis, 22, Jack, 19, Jesse, 16, George, 12, and James L. Sanders Jr., 10, all farm laborers.

In the 1930 census of Black Creek, Wilson County: farmer James Saunders, 45, wife Mary, 54, an odd job laborer, and stepsons steam sawmill laborer Lewis, 34, farm laborer Jesse, 22, steam railroad laborer George, 20, and farm laborer James, 19.

Mary Sanders died 8 October 1954 at Mercy Hospital in Wilson. She was a married resident of Black Creek and had been born 1 January 1873. Her father’s name was Jack Simms. She was buried in Black Creek cemetery.

Lewis Simms died 17 February 1967 at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Salisbury, North Carolina, of cardiac arrest. He was born 1 May 1895 in Wilson County to Mary Simms. He was single and a veteran of World War I. He was buried in Black Creek cemetery.

——

Rachel Smith with Chester and Lillie Lancaster.

Chester Lancaster was born in 1918, and his sister Lillie in 1919. This photo, then, was taken in early 1920.

——

Tina Pleasants, housekeeping employee at Lee Woodard School.

— From Black Creek: The First One Hundred Years, published by the Black Creek Historical Society in 1984.