Month: March 2017

Progressive citizens, pt. 1.

Sometime in 1914, the Wilson Times published a three-page insert highlighting the achievements of the town’s African-American community. “Wilson is fortunate in having a large proportion of sensible negroes,” the writer opined, and counted among the laudable such well-known citizens and institutions as Samuel H. Vick; J.D. Reid; Dr. Frank S. Hargrave; Charles, Camillus and Arthur Darden; Levi Jones; William Hines; Henry Tart; and H.G. Barnes; Wilson Hospital and Tubercular Home for Colored People; the Colored Graded School; First Baptist Church; Saint John A.M.E. Zion Church; C.H. Darden & Sons Undertakers; and Lincoln Benefit Society.

On page one, the main text of digitized version of the insert is difficult to read, but the advertisements and photographs are clear. Surrounding an image of the just-opened Wilson Hospital and Tubercular Home are ads placed by Henry Tart, “The Transfer Man”; York Pressing Shop; and C.H. Darden Undertakers. In addition to their funeral business, the Dardens touted their bicycle and firearm dealerships and their status as agents for Victor talking machines and records. The proprietors of the pressing club are listed only as Reed and Whitty. I have not been able to identify Whitty, but Reed seems to have been Lonnie Reid (a cousin of J.D. Reid), who is listed in the 1912 Hill’s city directory of Wilson operating a clothes cleaning shop at 603 East Nash Street. York was short-lived, as in the 1916 directory Reid was in business with Dunn, North Carolina, resident William Bates. Their tailor shop, Bates & Reid, also operated from 603 East Nash.

141061 (1)_Page_1

Original document in the collection of the Freeman Round House Museum, Wilson, and digitized at www.digitalnc.org.

Studio shots, no. 26: Mary Howard Gaston McPhail.

Screen Shot 2017-03-12 at 10.07.42 PM

In the 1920 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: on the Elm City and Wilson Road, farmer Junius Rosser, 59, wife Lizzie, 46, children Daniel, 14, Annie, 12, Bennie, 10, and Lizzie, 8, and boarder Mary Howard, 19, a teacher.

On 8 March 1923, Dewey Gaston, 23, son of George and Priscilla Gaston, all of Wilson County, married Mary B. Howard, 24, of Edgecombe County, daughter of Mary E. Darden. Dewey’s brother Mancie Gaston applied for the license, and Rev. R.E. Sentelle performed the ceremony in Edgecombe County in the presence of Mancie Gaston and Fannie F. Ricks of Elm City.

In the 1930 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: barber Dewey Gaston, 30, wife Mary, 20 [sic], and children Doris L., 5, and Victor H., 3.

In the 1940 census of the Town of Elm City, Wilson County: on Dixon Street, barber Dewey Gaston, 40, wife Mary, 38, a teacher, and children Dorris, 15, and Victor H., 13.

Dewey Milton Gaston died 14 February 1946 in Elm City. Per his death certificate, he was born 15 November 1899 in Elm City to George Gaston and Priscilla (no maiden name listed); worked as a self-employed barber; was married to Mary Gaston; and was buried in Elm City cemetery. Mary Gaston was informant.

On 21 January 1951, Mary B. Gaston, 47, of Elm City, daughter of Victor and Mamie Howard, married Hector H. McPhail, 48, of Wilson, son of R.J. and Laura Waddell McPhail. A.M.E. Zion minister Allen J. Kirk performed the ceremony in Elm City. Mrs. C.L. Darden, Dr. J.B. Rosemond, and Mrs. Grace Artis were witnesses.

Mary Howard Gaston McPhail died 7 July 1985 in Wilson.

Photograph courtesy of Maria Rosemond Logan — many thanks.

210 North Pender Street.

The twelfth 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.

img_0608

As described in the nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District: “ca. 1913; 1 story; J.D. Reid Tenant House; double-pile, hip-roofed, side-hall cottage with patterned-tin roof and turned-post porch; built by Reid for tenant, including bank clerk Harry Stanback.”

J.D. Reid wore many hats — school principal, banker, hospital administrator, real estate investor. In the 1922 and 1925 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directories, 210 Pender is shown occupied by carpenter Nathan Boyette and wife Emma.

Virginia native Harry Sylvester Stanback arrived in Wilson in the easily 1920s to serve as cashier of the black-owned Commercial Bank. He is shown in the 1925 and 1928 Wilson directories residing at 210 Pender. Two years later, landlord and tenant were convicted of embezzlement, forgery and other bank fraud crimes and sent to the state penitentiary.

Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory for 1930 shows 210 Pender occupied by barber Mack D. Cannon and his wife Bettie, a maid at the “Federal Building.” They were recent arrivals, as the 1930 census of Wilson shows them sharing a duplex nearby at 527 Church Street. 210 Pender is not listed in the directory and may have been vacant.

Mack D. Cannon died 15 December 1938 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he resided at 210 Pender; was married to Bettie Cannon; was employed as a barber; was born in Oxford, North Carolina, to Henry Cannon and Mary Dinger; and was buried in Wilson. Marie Mathews was informant.

Bettie Cannon remained in the house until her death in Wilson on 17 February 1963. Per her death certificate, Bettie Elizabeth Cannon was born 1 August 1879 in Brunswick County, Virginia; worked as a laborer at the post office; and was widowed. Lula Sims, of the home, was informant.

[The empty lot at the right of the photo is the former site of the Clinton Bess house at 208 North Pender.]

Photograph by Lisa Y. Henderson, November 2016.

Benjamin Frank Barnes.

IMG_9266

Cornerstone, Mount Hebron Lodge.

In the 1880 census of Gardners township, Wilson County: farm laborer Charley Barnes, 50, wife Beckey, 36, and children John, 10, Frank, 6, Ann, 4, William C., 3, Thomas, 1, and Corah H., 1 month.

On 3 May 1899, Benjamin F. Barnes, 25, son of Charles and Rebecca Barnes of Wilson County, married Prudy Miller, 20, daughter of Prissy Miller, in Wilson. Rev. S.B. Hunter performed the ceremony at Saint John A.M. E. Zion in the presence of L.A. Moore, Charlotte Aycock and Annie V.C. Hunt.

In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: house mover Frank Barnes, 28, wife Prudence, 21, mother-in-law Priscillia Miller, 45, and her son John, 14.

On 14 September 1904, B.F. Barnes, 31, of Wilson County, son of Charles and Rebecca Barnes, married Nicey A. Harper, 30, daughter of John and Edna Harper of Greene County, in Snow Hill township, Greene County.

In the 1908 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory, Benj. F. Barnes, bricklayer, is listed residing at 221 Pender Street.

In the 1910 census of Snow Hill, Greene County: in the household of John and Edna Harper, son-in-law Frank Barnes, 37, married twice, brickmason, and daughter Nicie A., 38.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 418 Green Street, brickmason Frank Barnes, and wife Nicey, 47.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: brickmason Frank Barnes, 68, wife Nicey, 69, and brother-in-law Will Harper, 62.

Photograph by Lisa Y. Henderson, July 2016.

Go, TC!

Screen Shot 2017-03-12 at 11.56.34 AM

This 1945 photograph of Winston-Salem Teachers College’s pep squad depicts, front: senior Carl Hargraves, president of squad, Winston-Salem, N.C. and freshman William Stevenson, Winston-Salem; back: senior Ethel Ellerbe, Morven, N.C.; senior Joy Mae Hairston, Winston-Salem; sophomore Effie Dunston, Warrenton, N.C.; junior Marie Darden, Washington, D.C.; sophomore Hattie Russell, Manson, N.C.; and sophomore Dora Dickerson, Wilson, N.C.

Photograph courtesy of http://www.digitalforsyth.org/photos/7388.

 

 

Wilson County Negro Library.

negro library trustee board

Board of Trustees, Wilson County Negro Library, 1948: clockwise around the table, Willie Mae Freeman, Carter Foster, Anna Johnson, D’arcy Yancey, Barbara Foster, James Whitfield, Elizabeth Jenkins, G.K. Butterfield Sr., William Hines.

library

Willie Mae Freeman, Elizabeth Jenkins, Dora Dickerson.

This early iteration of the Negro library was located in a first-floor storefront of Mount Hebron Masonic Lodge No. 42, 115 North Pender Street.

Photographs courtesy of Freeman Round House Museum, Wilson, North Carolina, and digitized at http://www.digitalnc.org.

The Negro ministers were well received.

pc 3 12 1938

Pittsburgh Courier, 12 March 1938.

  • Richard A.G. Foster — As shown here, Rev. Foster was a steadfast and enthusiastic proponent of civil rights.
  • E.O. Saunders — South Carolina native Otto Eugene Sanders was newly arrived from Charlotte, North Carolina.
  • Bryant P. Coward