Month: November 2017

The Edward and Cora Brantley Locus family.

This portrait of family members gathered for the funeral of Edward Locus (also known as Edward Lucas) was taken in 1947 in Taylor township, Wilson County.

Front: Edward Locus’s grandson L.J. Lucas First row: children Quentin Lucas (1920-??), Lottie Lucas McKinnon (1925-1978), Kennie Lucas (1924-??), Winnie Locus Rankin (1915-1961), John Edd Locus (1918-??), Nancy Locus Farmer (1930-1973), and Frank Locus (1928-2001). Back row: daughters Redelphia Locus Pone (1916-2000), Ella Lucas (1916-??), Maggie Lucas Dew (1914-1992), widow Cora Brantley Locus (circa 1892-1962), and sister Dora Locus Battle (1872-1960).

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On 19 July 1906, Ed Lucas, 21, of Wilson County, son of John and Delphy Lucas, married Cora Brantley, 18, of Nash County, daughter of Margaret Lucas, in Nash County.

In the 1920 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: farmer Edward Locus, 37; wife Cora, 27; and children Linwood, 10, Maggie, 9, Beulah, 8, Winnie, 6, Chicken, 4, Delphy, 3, John Ed., 1, and Quinton, 6 months.

In the 1930 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: farmer Ed Locus, 47; wife Cora, 35; and children Linward, 20, Maggie, 19, Ula, 18, Winnie, 17, Alma, 16, Redelpha, 13, John E., 11, Clinton, 10, Kenny, 9, Josephine, 7, Easter, 5, Louise, 4, Frank, 3, and Nancy, an infant.

Eddie Lucas died 14 June 1947 in Taylor township, Wilson County. Per his death certificate, he was born 17 October 1883 in Wilson County to John Locus and Louise Howard; was married to Cora Lucas; worked as a farmer; and was buried in the Lucas family cemetery, Wilson County.

Photograph courtesy of Locus/Lucas family historian Europe A. Farmer.

The once moral man is the father of the bastard child.

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News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), 2 November 1909.

Rev. Owen L.W. Smith had, of course, been a Presiding Elder of the A.M.E. Zion Church and United States minister to Liberia. The News & Observer‘s restraint in covering his downfall is especially remarkable when earlier coverage of the affair is considered. The Smith-Moye affair had scandalized black Wilson. Moye not only worked for the church, she was married, and her husband had been driven off by Smith’s peremptory claims to her time. Just as shocking — the magistrate’s dismissal of Smith’s suit!

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News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), 27 August 1908. 

“Delia R. Moye” was Delia A. Moye, listed in the 1908 city directory as a teacher residing at Goldsboro near Bank. Also at that address, her teenaged son, porter Albert Moye. In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 459 Goldsboro Street, widowed laundress Della Moye, 31, with her children Albert, 17, twins Hattie and Mattie, 9, and Ethel, 2, who was Smith’s child. (In subsequent city directories, too, Delia Moye was described as a laundress. She lost her teaching job as a result of her pregnancy. She also likely was not actually a widow.)

On 18 August 1944, Ethel Mae Moye, 35, daughter of O.L.W. Smith and Della Smith [sic], married David H. Coley, 49, son of W.H. and Luanna Coley, in Wilson. A.M.E. Zion minister W.A. Hilliard performed the ceremony in the presence of C.L. Darden, Norma Darden and Mrs. Ambrose Floyd.

Delia Ann Moye died 19 April 1955 at her home at 1207 East Washington Street, Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 27 March 1882 in Greene County to Sandy Malone and Mattie [maiden name unknown; was widowed; and was a retired school teacher. Informant was Ethel M. Coley, 1207 East Washington.

Mortality, no. 1: Stantonsburg township, 1870.

Each of the United States federal censuses from 1850 to 1880 included a mortality schedule enumerating  individuals who had died in the previous year. Each entry noted family number in the population schedule, name, age, sex, color, marital status, place of birth, month of death, occupation, and cause of death.

Here is the 1870 mortality schedule for Stantonsburg township, Wilson County:

  • Ward, No Name. Age 2 weeks, died in June, cholera infantum.

In the 1870 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farm laborer Nathan Ward, 46; wife Mariah, 26; and children Sarah, 15, Scott, 13, Waltin, 10, Larrence, 5, and Ida, 2; plus Lydia Moye, 58. Cholera infantum was a term for non-specific diarrhea and/or dysentery in children under age five.

  • Barnes, ____. Age 14, farm laborer, died in January, consumption.

In the 1870 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farmer Hardy Barnes, 50; wife Mary, 49; and children Alfred, 21, Riley, 24, Jacob, 22, Isaac, 19, Warren, 17, Lilly, 12, Mary, 9, and Wade, 6. Consumption is an archaic term for pulmonary tuberculosis.

  • Speight, Mary S. Age 1 month, died in October, cholera infantum.
  • Speight, Mary E. Age 2 months, died in November, cholera infantum.

In the 1870 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farm laborer Hilliard Speight, 22, and wife Mary, 22; Penny Thomson, 48, and son Noah, 14; and Jane Speight, 2.

  • Donald, Sylvesta. Age 2, died in April, [illegible].

In the 1870 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farm laborer Lawson Donald, 23; wife Mariah, 20; and Ellic, 6, and Rufus, 1; and likely brother Hamilton, 12.

  • Ellis, No Name. Age 1 month, died March, cholera infantum.

In the 1870 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County, family number 67 is a Barnes family. Number 68, however, is: farm laborer Littleton Ellis, 30, wife Judah, 21, and children Bryant, 4, and Martha, 3.

  • Barnes, Jackson. Age 19, farm laborer, died in July, inflammation bowels.

In the 1870 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: Henry Barnes, 22, Nelly, 23, Mary J., 1, Henrietta, 2, Short, 9, Anaka, 50, Sherard, 16, Hilliard, 18, Clara, 40, Jason, 19, and William, 1.

  • Barefoot, No Name. Age 3 hours(?), died in January, asphyxia.

In the 1870 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farm laborer Stephen Moore, 23, wife Rodah, 23, and Lazarus, 8 months.

  • Lindsay, Susan. Age 1 month, died in April, pertussis.

In the 1870 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farm laborer Amos Ellis, 47; wife Mary, 40; children Adeline, 23, Authur, 19, Learh, 17, Mary, 15, Jane, 11, and Lewis, 10; and Authur Barnes, 60, and wife Betsey, 60.

  • Barnes, Mouring. Age 5, died in May, pertussis.
  • Barnes, Austin. Age 4, died in May, pertussis.
  • Barnes, Loyd. Age 2, died in May, pertussis.
  • Barnes, Richard. Age 1, died in May, pertussis.
  • Barnes, Mary. Age 9 months, died in April, pertussis.

In the 1870 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farm laborer Austin Barnes, 45; wife Cintha, 33; and their remaining children Fonser, 12, and Etna, 7. Remarks: “These children in this family (113) all died within a period of five weeks. The Physician attending says their deaths were due to filth as much as to the disease.” Pertussis, or whooping cough, is a highly contagious bacterial respiratory disease.

  • Edmundson, No Name. Age 4 hours(?), died in September, asphyxia.

In the 1870 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farm laborer John Edmondson, 27; wife Mary, 22; and children Richard, 2, and Kate, 10.

  • Thomson, Ally. Age 38, died in February, worked on farmer, consumption.

In the 1870 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farm laborer Lewis Ellis, 36; wife Milly, 35; and children John, 17, Daniel, 10, Adeline, 5, Mary, 3, and Martha, 1.

  • Peacock, Clara. Age 18, died in July, consumption.

In the 1870 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farm laborer Ellic Peacock, 51, and Elizabeth, 22, Soloman, 11, George W., 8, George L., 8, and Jason, 7.

  • Barnes, Redmond. Age 47, married, died in April, farm laborer, scrofula.

In the 1870 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: George, 24, Dempsey, 23, Calvin, 22, Esther, 44, Alice, 18, Anna, 19, Robert, 20, and Jane Barnes, 19, all farm laborers except Esther. Scrofula is tuberculosis of the lymph nodes of the neck.

  • Stanton, Violet. Age 59, farm laborer, died in September, scrofula.

Remarks: “Stanton, Violet of no family. Living alone at time of death.”

He will not do so.

On 7 October 1889, Amy Kimble swore that her husband Edmund Kimble had abandoned her and their child. Witnesses testified for her, and a justice of the peace sustained the charge, ordering Kimble’s arrest. He was picked up nine days later.

Edmund “Kimble” is likely the Edmund Kimbrough listed as a laborer residing at 219 South Railroad in the 1908 Hill’s Wilson, N.C. city directory. I have found no documentation of Amy Kimble/Kimbrough or their children.

Miscellaneous Records, Records of Wilson County, North Carolina State Archives.

In memoriam: Dr. Johnny Lee Greene.

When I woke up in the middle of the night Monday and read that Dr. J. Lee Greene had died, my heart broke a little. I don’t even know how to explain what this man did for my little provincial teen-aged mind. His lecture topics ranged from Toni Morrison to Richard Ellison to Eldzier Cortor to Hughie Lee-Smith and were jewels not just for the anointing he put on works of literature and art, but for the solid-gold aphorisms he dished in between.

During the years in which we lost touch after I graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, both Dr. Greene and I discovered a ministry in the preservation of local African-American history and heritage. He offered early and much-valued encouragement of my mission with Black Wide-Awake, and today I made a donation in his honor and memory to Rutherford County’s African American Heritage Museum, which he founded in 2012.

Rest in peace, Lee Greene.

Where did they go?: Pennsylvania death certificates, no. 6.

The sixth in a series — Pennsylvania death certificates for Wilson County natives:

  •  Clarence Bullock

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In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Georgia-born day laborer Will Bullock, 29; wife Martha, 27; and son Clarence W., 2, and Walter N., 8 months; half-siblings Alice, 12, and Mack Scott, 10; and boarder Will Bullock, 29.

  • Pearl E. Lindsey Carr

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In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: widowed schoolteacher Ida Lindsay, 30, and children Pearl, 8, Clara, 6, and Joseph, 4.

  • Mary Reid Chambliss

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  • George Clarke

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  • Edgar Edwards

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He left her and her children begotten by him.

On 29 June 1894, Senora Farmer swore that her husband Thomas Farmer had abandoned her and their children. Witnesses testified for and against Thomas, and a justice of the peace sustained the charge, sending the case to Wilson County Criminal Court’s Fall Term.

Thomas Farmer, 22, married Cenora Bennett, 18, on 11 January 1883 in Taylor township. Minister Daniel Sanders performed the ceremony in the presence of Lucy An Miller, Cindie Bennett and Julia Bennett.

In the 1900 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: farm laborer Thomas Farmer, 39, living alone, though described as married.

  • Smith Bennett — in the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: widowed brickmason Smith Bennett, 47, and daughter Addie, 20, with boarder Robert Wilkerson, 36; and lodgers Archie Williams, 34, and Samuel Wooten, 18.
  • Penny Moore — in the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: widow Pennie Moore, 45; children Florence, 22, Victora, 20, Cornetta, 18, Besse, 15, Turner, 14, and Gussie L., 1; and granddaughter Garlen, 1.
  • Emma Bunn
  • Ach Thompson
  • Rewbin White — in the 1880 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: ditcher Reubin Taylor, 23, and wife Annis, 22.
  • Tekel Ricks
  • Bryant Moore

Miscellaneous Records, Records of Wilson County, North Carolina State Archives.

State vs. Jim, a slave.

State of North Carolina, County of Wilson   }  Superior Court of Law, Fall Term AD 1858

The jurors for the State upon their oath present that Jim, a slave, the property of Jacob Robbins, late of the County Wilson, not having the fear of God before his eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil, in the first day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight with force and arms , at and in the said County of Wilson, int and upon one Jacob D. Robbins in the peace of the State then and there being feloniously, wilfully and his malice aforethought did make an assault: and that the said Jim with a certain axe, of the value of one dollar, which he the said Jim, then and there in both his hands had and held, him the said Jacob D. Robbins in and upon the right side of the head of him the said Jack D. Robbins, then and there feloniously, wilfully and and of his malice aforethought did hit and strike; and that the said Jim did then and there give unto him the said Jacob D. Robbins by such striking and hitting of him the said Jacob D. Robbins with the axe aforesaid one mortal wound of the length of two inches, and of the breadth of one inch in and upon the said right side of the head of him the said Jacob D. Robbins, of which said mortal wound the said Jacob D. Robbins then and there instantly died; and so the jurors aforesaid upon their oath aforesaid do say that the said Jim, him the said Jacob D. Robbins, then and there, in manner and form aforesaid feloniously, wilfully and of his malice aforethought did kill and murder against the peace and dignity of the State.

And the jurors aforesaid on their oath aforesaid do further present that the said Jim a slave the property of Jacob Robbins, late of said County of Wilson, not having the fear of God before his eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil, afterwards to wit on the day and year aforesaid, with force and arms, at and in the County aforesaid, in and upon one Jacob D. Robbins in the peace of the State, then & there being, feloniously, willfully and of his malice aforethought did make an assault and that he the said Jim, witth a certain axe of the value of one dollar, which he the said Jim, then and there, in both his hands had and held him the said Jacob D. Robbins, in and upon the right sight of the head, and in and upon the face of him the said Jacob D. Robbins, then and there feloniously, wilfully and of his malice aforethought divers times did beat and strike, giving to him the said Jacob D. Robbins, then & there by striking and beating him as aforesaid with the axe aforesaid several mortal wounds of the length of one inch and the depth of one inch in and upon the right side of the head and in and upon the face of him the said Jacob D. Robbins, of which said mortal wounds the said Jacob D. Robbins then and there instantly died, and so the jurors aforesaid on their oath aforesaid do say that the said Jim him the said Jacob D. Robbins then and there in manner and form aforesaid feloniously willfully and of his malice aforethought did kill and murder against the peace and dignity of the State.   /s/ Geo. A Stevenson Sol.

Court Cases Involving Slaves, Slave Records, Wilson County Records, North Carolina State Archives.

The last will and testament of Zebulon M. Johnson.

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On 19 November 1905, Zebulon Johnson, 33, son of Jere and Minnie Johnson, all of Northampton County, married Armittie Powell, 25, daughter of Isaac and Georgia Powell, at Jerusalem Church, Rich Square township, Northampton County, North Carolina.

In the 1910 census of Rich Square, Northampton County: Armittie Johnson, 28, and her children Elvalene, 3, and Allene, 1 1/2, are listed in the household of her mother Georgianna Powell, 61. Armittie is described as married, but her husband Zebulon is not found.

In 1918, Zebulon Myer Johnson registered for the World War I draft in Nash County. Per his registration card, he resided at R.F.D. 3, Rocky Mount; was born 17 September 1872; was employed as a chiropodist and farmer; and his nearest relative was wife Mittie Johnson. [Where did Johnson receive his medical training? Was he actually a physician?]

On 1 December 1926, Zebulon Johnson, 48, of Wilson, married Roberta Battle, 38, of Wilson. Missionary Baptist minister Fred M. Davis performed the ceremony in the presence of Mamie Lucas, Ella Allen and Henry Lucas.

In 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1008 East Nash Street, chiropodist Zebulon M. Johnson, 56, and wife Roberta, 37.

On 13 July 1934, Zebulon Myer Johnson died in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 61 years old; born in Bertie County to Jerry and Winnie Johnson; was married to Robetta Johnson; and worked as a chiropodist. He was buried in Rich Square, North Carolina.

As noted in the document above, Johnson’s will entered probate ten days after his death. As required, for several months, his executrix ran an ad in the local newspaper, notifying claimants and debtors of their obligations.

Wilson Daily Times, 21 August 1934.

There was a response — likely, unexpected. Armittie Powell Johnson, who lived in Rocky Mount, stepped forward to file a claim. By the brief notation handwritten in the will book, above, it appears that she asserted that she, and not Roberta, was Zebulon Johnson’s legal widow. I have no further information on the outcome of this challenge, but it is clear that Roberta Johnson remained in the house she had been bequeathed in the will.

Roberta Battle Johnson died 28 July 1958 at Mercy Hospital. Per her death certificate, she was born 3 October 1889 in Wilson to Parker Battle and Ella (last name unknown); was widowed; resided at 1108 East Nash; and worked as business manager for Mercy. Informant was Grace Battle Black, 1108 East Nash Street.

[Sidenote: Zebulon Myer Johnson was the grandfather of noted Nash County educator and activist Kanawha Zebulon “K.Z.” Chavis (1930-1986), whose mother was Arlin Johnson Chavis.]