Month: June 2017

106 North Pender Street.

The twenty-fourth 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: “1925; 2 stories; L.A. Moore house; hip-roofed cubic house with simple Colonial Revival detail; end chimney with exposed face; aluminum sided; Moore was an insurance agent for North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company; builder was Short Barnes.”

In the 1870 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Idea Moore, 67; Samuel, 23, Vinah, 20, Lee, 7, Nellie, 6, and Jane Moore, 1 month; Sidney, 8, Frances, 7, Nancy, 13, and Edmond Moore, 14.

On 23 January 1873, Lawrence Moore, 30, married Vinah Moore, 25, in Wilson County. Minister London Johnson performed the service.

In the 1880 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: farmer Lawrence Moore, 38; wife Viny, 25; and children Lee, 16, Nellie, 13, Esther and Delah Ann, 10, John, 7, David, 5, and Austin, 2.

On 6 April 1886, Lee Moore, 21, and Louisa Morgan, 18, were married in Black Creek.

In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: merchant Lee Moore, 36, wife Louisa, 32, and son Ernest, 12.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Nash Street, life insurance agent Lee Moore, 40; wife Mary, 36; and son Earnest, 19.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 646 Nash Street, Leon A. Moore, 57, insurance agent; wife Virginia, 29; stepchildren Westry, 11, Wall C., 10, and Lula Darden, 9; and children Walter L., 5, Ruth, 3, and Xzimena Moore, 1.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 106 Pender Street, insurance agent Lee A. Moore, 59; wife Virginia, 37; and children Walter, 14, Ruth, 13, Simenia, 9, Bernard, 6, and Corteze, 4. The house was valued at $5000.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 106 Pender Street, insurance agent L.A. Moore, 70, retired insurance man; wife Virginia, 46, day laborer at tobacco factory; children Xizmenna, 19, E.R., 23, cafe waiter, Bernard, 17, drugstore delivery boy, and Cortez, 13.

Lee A. Moore died 17 February 1948 at Mercy Hospital after a stove explosion in his home. Per his death certificate, he was married to Virginia Moore; resided at 106 Pender Street; was born in Wilson County about 1863 to Lawrence and Vinnie Moore; and worked as an insurance agent. William C. Hines was the certifying physician, and Moore was buried in the Masonic cemetery.

Wilson Daily Times, 27 February 1948.

Photograph by Lisa Y. Henderson, May 2017.

[Update, 23 April 2018: The house at 108 North Pender Street was demolished in March 2018.]

 

Vicksburg Manor.

In 1925, Samuel H. Vick engaged a surveyor to lay out several hundred lots on a large tract of land he owned southeast of downtown Wilson. The subdivision was to be called Vicksburg Manor, and a Durham auction company handled sales. At twenty-five feet wide, these lots would have been marketed to developers and working-class buyers.Plans_Page_05 1

Nearly one hundred years later, the footprint of Vicksburg Manor remains largely the same — other than U.S. highway 301 slashing diagonally across it — though several original street names failed to stick. Elliott Street was instead named Elvie and Masonic Street is Lincoln. Douglas Street disappeared under the highway, but a truncated Dunbar exists. Irma (named for a daughter of Vick who died early), Graham and Davie Streets remain, as do the cross streets Manchester, Singletary and Hadley.

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Plat filed at Book 3, page 13 of Plat Book, Wilson County Register of Deeds office, Wilson.

Letter from a colored soldier.

Pages from WDT articles

Wilson Daily Times, 4 June 1918.

  • Tate — Most likely, barber Noah J. Tate.
  • Walter Hines – Barber Walter S. Hines.
  • Dr. Bess
  • J.F. Freeman — Julius F. Freeman Jr. was among scores of Wilson County men ordered to report for military duty in the spring of 1918.
  • Robert Best — Robert Best registered for the draft in June 1917. Per his registration card, he was born 17 July 1895 in Wilson and worked as bellhop at the Yarmouth Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He signed his name “J. Robert Bess.” (In the 1910 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: house carpenter Orange Best, 67; wife Hansy, 60, laundress; son Oscar, a widowed grocery owner; daughters Roberta, 22, laundress, and Bethena, 19; son Robert, 17, laborer; and granddaughter Sarah, 8.
  • “Old Dr.”
  • Mike — perhaps Roderick “Mike” Taylor.
  • Floyd — perhaps Floyd A. Mitchell.
  • Faulk — probably Hiram Abiff Faulk, who registered for the draft in 1918. Per his registration card, he was born 11 April 1918, worked as a barber for Tate & Hines, lived at 210 Pender, and his nearest kin was Azurlia Faulk.
  • Milton
  • Arthur — Perhaps Arthur Darring or, more likely, Arthur N. Darden, both of whom were called up in March 1918.

Snaps, no. 17: Jennette Best Barnes.

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Jeannette Best Barnes (circa 1880-1947)

In the 1870 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: Isaac Winstead, 52; wife Jane, 35; and children Edith, 10, Robert, 7, Amanda, 3, and Aneliza, 1. [Edith and Robert’s last name was, in fact, Farmer; they were Jane’s children from a previous marriage.]

On 30 August 1877, Sam Best, 22, married Edith Winston, 20, at the residence of D.G.W. Ward, Justice of the Peace. Edward Whitehead, Lawrence Ward and Scott Ward were witnesses. [Note: One hundred years later, Sam and Edith’s granddaughter Minnie Bell Barnes Barnes rented the house that had been David D.G. Ward‘s.]

In the 1880 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farmer Isaac Winstead, 60; wife Jane; children Manda, 14, Ann, 12, Charlie, 10, Major, 7, Lucy, 4, and Levi, 1; stepchildren Ada [Edith] Best, 20, and Rob Farmer, 17; and grandchildren Sam, 3, and Mary Best, 1.

On 22 December 1898, Redman Barnes, 24, son of Calvin and Cely Barnes, married Jennet Best, 20, daughter of Sam Best and Edy Strickland, at W.H. Applewhite’s in Stantonsburg. Witnesses were Frank Farmer of Wilson County, Julius Ruffin of Stantonsburg and Charlie Ruffin of Moyton.

In the 1900 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farm laborer Redmond Barnes, 25; wife Genette, 21; and daughter Dora, 8 months.

In the 1920 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: tenant farmer Redman Barnes, 47; wife Genette, 43; children Dora, 20, Fred, 19, Mary E., 17, Minie B., 15, Eddie Bell, 13, Petcandy, 11, Nora Lee, 9, Alice, 7, Lula Mae, 4, and Redman Jr., 1.

In the 1930 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farmer Raymond Barnes, 59; wife Jeanette, 50; children Dora, 29, Fred, Fred, 25, Mary, 23, Minnie B., 20, Edith, 18, Bettie L., 17, Nora L., 16, Alice J., 14, Lula Mae, 12, Raymond Jr., 10, and John H., 8; and nephew Author Ellis, 20.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1116 East Nash Street, Mary Barnes, 33, who taught at Healthy Plains Grade School; her widowed mother Jenettie Barnes, 62; brothers Redman, 22, a shoe repairer at Rex Shoe Shop, and John, 19, a tobacco factory laborer; brother-in-law Doll Speight, 26, apartment elevator operator; sister Lula, 23, and their daughters Letrice, 2, and Bettie, 8 months.

Jennette Barnes died 3 April 1947 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 18 June 1886 in Wilson County to Samuel Best and Edith Winstead; was widowed; and resided at 1116 East Nash Street. Mary Estell Barnes of the same address was informant.

Photograph courtesy of Ancestry.com user skeeweept.

Community Chest drive.

community chest

Wilson Daily Times, 10 November 1933. 

  • North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company
  • Community Chest
  • Rev. C.H. Richmond — C.H. Richmond was a Presbyterian minister.
  • C.S. Thomas — Charles S. Thomas (1878-1937), an insurance agent, was a native of Bennettsville, South Carolina.
  • Dr. W.A. Mitchner — William Arthur Mitchner.
  • William Hines
  • Levi Jones — Levi Hunter Jones.
  • John H. Clark — John Henry Clark.
  • Walter Hines — Walter Scott Hines.
  • Rev. B.F. Jordan — B.F. Jordan was a Missionary Baptist minister.
  • Dr. G.K. Butterfield — George Kenneth Butterfield.
  • Dr. Z.M. Johnson — Bertie County, North Carolina, native Zebulon Myer Johnson (1873-1934) was a chiropodist.
  • G.J. Faison
  • Loyd Thomas — Brickmason Lloyd Cheatam Thomas (1890-1968) was a native of Forest, Virginia.
  • Daniel Vick — Known as “Bud,” Daniel Leon (or Lionel) Vick (1898-1975) was a son of Samuel and Annie Washington Vick.
  • A.A. Lovette — Blacksmith Almus Ashton Lovette (1877-1938) was a native of Sylvania, Georgia.
  • James Crockett — James Crockett (1868-1935) was a native of Goldsboro, North Carolina. He was the brother of Georgia Crockett Aiken.
  • Andrew Townsend — Person County native Andrew Townsend (1881-1960) worked as a laborer.
  • Washington Wilkins — Washington Wilkins (1894-1958) was a plumber and laborer for the city. He was the son of Richmond and Patsy Armstrong Wilkins.
  • Rev. R.A. Horton
  • Golden Robinson — Golden Robinson (1897-1948) was the nephew of Alfred Robinson and a native of Wilmington, North Carolina.
  • James E. Stokes — Probably James Stokes (born circa 1895), who worked as a barber.
  • Ed Humphrey — James Edward Humphrey (1874-1936) was a carpenter.
  • Dr. B.O. Barnes — Boisey Otha Barnes.
  • N.A. Pierce — Nazareth Andrew Pierce.
  • S.H. Vick — Samuel Hines Vick.
  • C.E. Artis — Columbus Estelle Artis.
  • L.A. Moore — Lee Andrew Moore.
  • Rev. I.A. Moore
  • John M. Barnes — John Mack Barnes.
  • Prof. Edward Barnes — Edward Morrison Barnes.
  • Prof. Johnson
  • J.J. Langley — Jarrett Judge Langley (1878-1967) was a grocer.
  • O.N. Freeman — Oliver Nestus Freeman.
  • Wesley Rogers — John Wesley Rogers.
  • H.C. Brower
  • Clarence McCullers — Clarence McCullers (1885-1945) was a Johnston County, North Carolina, native.
  • George White — Either George Washington White (1877-1939), a city boiler operator, or George C. White (1901-1945), a cook and native of Franklin County, North Carolina.
  • Robert Haskins — Robert Douglas Haskins.
  • George Hagins — Possibly, George Hagans (1900-1978), a farmer.
  • Clarence Best — Clarence Benjamin Best.
  • Roderick Taylor
  • Wm. Barnes
  • John Battle — Probably John Parker Battle (1890-1945).
  • Prof. H.M. Fitts — Howard Monroe Fitts.
  • Rev. H.E. Edward
  • James Whitfield — James Ashley Whitfield.
  • E.W. Fisher — Virginia native Edwin W. Fisher (1873-??) was a district manager for North Carolina Mutual.
  • Dr. I.A. Shade — Isaac Albert Shade.
  • Rev. J.S. Jackson — Joseph Sylvester Jackson Sr. (1870-1942) was a Granville County, North Carolina, native.
  • Dr. J.F. Cowan — Physician Joseph Franklin Cowan (1901-1985) was a native of Abbeville, South Carolina.
  • Rev. Fred Davis — Fred Marshon Davis.
  • Levi Arrington — Levi V. Arrington (1887-1964), carpenter, was a native of Nash County, North Carolina.
  • J.H. Knight — James Henry Knight (1886-1951), was a grocery merchant.
  • Dr. S.H. Vick — is this a duplicate entry for Samuel H. Vick?
  • J.H. Cook
  • W.M. Bethel — Wilton Maxwell Bethel.
  • Ash Hines — Ashley Hines (1895-??) was a laborer.
  • A.J. McCoy — Probably Alfred McCoy (1874-1953), a laborer employed by the city of Wilson and a native of Edgecombe County.
  • A.N. Neil — Austin N. Neal.
  • Rev. Eddie Cox — Wayne County, North Carolina, native Eddie Harrison Cox was a Baptist minister.
  • Clinton Best — Bricklayer Clinton Bess (1885-??) was the son of Noah and Sarah Bess.
  • Edgar Diggs — Barber Edgar Hiram Diggs (1891-1970) was a Wayne County native.
  • Walter Whitted — Walter Craig Whitted.
  • C.L. Darden — Camillus Lewis Darden.