Month: May 2017

Darden High School, in retrospect.

In the spring of 1974, Ruth Hart Harris ’52 and Hattie Henderson Ellis ’53 published a brief history of the first fifty years of Charles H. Darden High School’s history. Here, with annotations, is the memorial booklet in its entirety:

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  • Christine Armstrong — Ethel Christine McDaniel Venters Smith Armstrong (1912-1999) was the daughter of George and Minnie Hicks McDaniel.
  • Mary D. Bass — Mary Della Wilkins Bass.
  • B.T. Barnes — Beatrice Taylor Barnes.
  • Connie Banks — Connie Freeman Banks (1915-??) was the daughter of O. Nestus and Willie Hendley Freeman.
  • Odell Barnes — Odelle Whitehead Barnes.
  • E.M. Barnes — Edward Morrison Barnes.
  • Hartford Bess — Hartford Eugene Bess.
  • Hattie Ricks — Hattie Mae Henderson Ricks.
  • Martha Barnes
  • Norma Darden — Norma Duncan Darden.
  • Maria Delaney — Maria Richburg Delaney (1901-1982) was a native of Clarendon County, South Carolina. She and husband George A. Delaney (1893-1957) migrate to Wilson prior to 1930.
  • Cora Farmer — Cora Lee Rountree Farmer (1900-1990) was the daughter of Jack and Lucille Bergeron Rountree. She married Paul F. Farmer.
  • Minnie Ellis — Minnie Virginia Woodard Ellis (1903-1986) was the daughter of James and Jennie Farmer Woodard. She married James Cornell Ellis in Wilson in 1928.
  • Pauline Harris — Pauline Artis Harris.
  • C.W. Hines — Carl Wendell Hines.
  • William Hines
  • Lula Hayes — Lula Mae Sutton Hayes.
  • Robert Locus — Robert Locus (1912-1986) was the son of Luther and Eula Alston Locus.
  • Mattie Randolph — Mattie Burnett Randolph (1899-1998) was a native of South Carolina.
  • Sarah Shade — Sarah Luvenia Shade (1910-1992) was the daughter of Isaac and Estelle Lane Shade, see below.
  • S.J. Satchell — Spencer Jordan Satchell.
  • Willie Smith — Willie Hargrove Smith (1896-1983) was the daughter of Lawrence Hargrove.
  • Walter Whitted, Sr. — Walter Craig Whitted (1890-1975) was the son of James A. and Tempie Jordan Whitted. He was married to Helen Beckwith Whitted, below.
  • Cora Fitch — Cora Whitted Fitch (1918-1987) was the daughter of Walter and Helen Beckwith Whitted.

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  • I.W. St. Clair — Irvin Webster St. Clair.
  • Lucille St. Clair — Lucille Weaver St. Clair.
  • Alvin Pryor
  • Ruby Collins — Ruby F. Collins is listed in the 1925 Wilson city directory as a teacher at Wilson Colored High School. She resided at 111 North Pender Street.
  • Virginia Edmunds — Virginia L. Edmunds is listed in the 1925 Wilson city directory as a teacher at Wilson Colored High School. She resided at 602 East Green Street.
  • Estelle Shade — Estelle Lane Shade (1880-1961) was a native of Pocomoke City, Maryland. She and husband Isaac Shade, a pharmacist, settled in Wilson before 1920.
  • Annie Dupree — Anna Mae Parker Dupree (1905-1999) was the daughter Silas and Mahalia Parker Parker.
  • Alice Jones — probably, Alice Albright Jones (ca. 1892-1957), who was born in Lexington, North Carolina. In the 1930 census of Wilson, she is listed as a boarder in the household of Rosa Carter at 8808 East Vance Street.
  • Helen Whitted — Helen Delzelle Beckwith Whitted.
  • Mattie Baker
  • Artelia Barnes — Leo Artelia Barnes Jones Davis.
  • Thelma Barnes — Thelma Barnes Byers.
  • Louise Cherry — Louise Cherry Sherrod.
  • Nancy Dupree  — Nancy Dupree Nicholson.
  • Julia Hicks
  • Susan Peacock — Susan Peacock Prince.
  • Bessie Speight
  • Marie Thomas
  • Cora Bryant
  • Frank Hicks
  • Ruby Peacock — Ruby Peacock Sherrod (1906-1975) was the sister of Levi and Hannah Pike Peacock. She married Clarence Sherrod.
  • Della Whitehead — Della Whitehead Murrain.

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  • Freddie Blue — Frederick Blue is listed in the 1930 Wilson city directory as a student living at 1220 Carolina Street. He was the son of Joseph and Ella Blue.
  • Delvell Chapman — Delzell Chapman is listed in the 1928 Wilson City directory as a school teacher residing at 201 Stantonsburg Street. In the 1940 census of Kinston, North Carolina: farmhand Delzell McNeil, 35, widow, with her mother Hattie Chapman, 67, widow, at 203 Springhill. Both reported living in Wilson in 1935.
  • Elaine DuBissette
  • George Grogan — George Grogan is listed as a student residing at 719 East Green in the 1925, 1928 and 1930 Wilson city directories.
  • Catherine Hines
  • Martha Parker — Probably the Martha Parker, born about 1909, who was the daughter of Allison and Mary Hilliard Parker.
  • Magdeline Parker
  • Ruth Strong
  • Addie Speight — Addie M. Speight is listed in the 1928 Wilson city directory as a school teacher living at 700 East Green Street.
  • Mildred Taylor — Mildred Taylor (1909-??) was the daughter of James and Mamie Spicer Taylor.
  • Ester Battle — This may have been Esther Battle, born about 1905, who was the daughter of William and Nonie Battle.
  • Mary Barnes
  • George Brodie — George Edward Brodie (1907-1985), a Johnston County native, was the son of George and Gertrude Brodie.
  • Mary Dawson
  • Beatrice Faulkland — Beatrice Faulkland Kanakanaka Williams (1907-2007) was the daughter of Willie and Pearl Barnes Faulkland.
  • Milton Fisher — Milton Wallace Fisher.
  • Mary Haskins
  • Walter Patterson— Walter Patterson (1905-1957), a Robeson County native, was the son of Silas and Zelphia Covington Patterson.)
  • Sarah Shade — see above.

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Kanaka maoli.

Wilson’s “colored” population was not always African-American. In addition to the Latino residents featured here, at least one Native Hawaiian resided in east Wilson as early as 1930.

On 18 September 1929, Beatrice Falkland [Faulkland], 21, of Nash County [but a native of Wilson], daughter of Will and Pearl Falkland, married K.P. Kanakanaka, 28, of Rocky Mount, son of Joshua and Hannah Kanakanaka of the Hawaiian Islands. Both were described as colored.

The 1930 Wilson city directory lists: Kanakanaka, Paaukalana (Beatrice), 716 Viola.  In the 1930 census, Beatrice Kanakanaka, 22, is listed in her parents’ household. She is described as married, but her husband is not enumerated. Their only child was born the same year.

I have found no further record of Paaukalana Kanakanaka.

Eulogistic Service for Mrs. Ruth J. Brown.

The funeral of Ruth Jones Brown (1904-1970), daughter of Charles T. and Gertrude Johnson Jones, took place 27 September 1970 at Saint John A.M.E. Zion Church.

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In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 667 Nash Street,  minister Charlie Jones, 41; wife Gertrude, 39; children Ruth, 16, Charlie, 14, Elwood, 12, Louise, 10, and Sudie, 4; plus mother-in-law Louisa Johnson, 65.

On 24 December 1926, Simon Plater, 30, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, son of Simon and Birdie Plater, married Ruth Jones, 22, daughter of Charles and Gertrude Jones of Wilson. The bride’s father, a Missionary Baptist minister, performed the service in the presence of Gertrude Jones, Louisa Johnson, and W.E. [William Elwood] Jones.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 412 Viola, owned and valued at $2000; Charles Jones, 61, janitor at Vick School; wife Gertrude, 59, a tobacco factory stemmer; daughter Ruth Plater, 35, divorced, teacher; grandsons Torrey S., 12, and Charles S. Plater, 11; son-in-law Ruel Bullock, 35; daughter Louise, 30; grandsons Jacobia, 7, Robert, 6, Harold, 4, and Rudolph, 7 months; and granddaughter Barbara Jones, 6.