Month: March 2019

The new Darden Memorial.

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Wilson Daily Times, 11 June 1949.

“Established in 1875, the Darden Memorial Funeral Home has given Wilson almost 75 years of continuous service, and with the occupation of its new building is now prepared to render even more efficient service in the future.

“The new building, which boasts the most modern conveniences, is designed to provide beautiful and comforting funeral service, and includes the slumber room, a chapel and a large casket display room.”

——

As described in the nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District, this building is: 608-610 East Nash Street, “1949; 2 stories; (former) Darden Funeral Home; brick-veneered Tudor Revival structure with hip-roof and half-timber decor on upper story; building replaced earlier funeral home on this site established by Charles H. Darden, North Carolina’s first black licensed mortician.”

The building has been demolished.

 

Colored churches of Wilson.

The Wilson Daily Times posted this list of “colored” churches in Wilson and Wilson County in August 1946. It’s a long roster, but incomplete. Notable omissions — all still meeting in 2019 — include London Primitive Baptist Church, Ellis Chapel Free Will Baptist Church, William Chapel Baptist Church, Rocky Branch United Church of Christ, Jerusalem Grove Primitive Baptist Church, Mary Grove Missionary Baptist Church, New Vester Missionary Baptist Church, Oaky Grove Primitive Baptist Church, and the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Saint Delight Missionary Baptist near Walstonsburg, which is actually in Greene County, is listed, but not Saint Delight Original Free Will Baptist, just north of Kenly. These churches are now defunct, but were certainly active during the 1940s: Friendship Baptist, Pilgrim Rest Primitive Baptist, and Little Union Primitive Baptist.

Churches marked * remain active today.

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Wilson Daily Times, 16 August 1946.

  • Saint Mark’s Church, Rev. F.W. Williams
  • Saint Mary’s Church, Rev. F.W. Williams
  • Dixon Chapel, Rev. C.B. Smith
  • Bethel Mount Zion Church, Rev. W.B. McCoy [Bethel A.M.E. Zion?]
  • Saint James [Holy] Church,* Rev. W.H. Holliday
  • Saint Delight,* Rev. W.C. Cotton
  • Saint Joseph A.M.E. Zion Church, Rev. C.D. Cotton
  • Saint Joseph A.M.E. Zion Church, Rev. C.D. Ward [sic]
  • Patterson Chapel Holiness Church of God,* Rev. Carrie Tabron
  • Saint Paul’s Holiness Church, Rev. E.Z. Coley
  • Hardy’s Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church, Rev. C.D. Ward
  • Mount Olive A.M.E. Zion Church, Rev. R.A. Murphy
  • Saint Rose Pentecostal Church,* Rev. W.H. Bailey
  • Owens Chapel Free Will Baptist Church,* Rev. N.D. Beamon [actually, this is a white church]

She passed away at a ripe old age.

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Wilson Mirror, 3 February 1892.

The 1880 census of the Town of Wilson, Wilson County, shows Amanda Kenedy, 65, listed as a servant in the household of trader B.H. Tyson. The grouping of names suggests that she was employed by S.D. [Sidney Delzell Crawford] Kennedy, Benjamin Tyson’s mother-in-law. Esther Crawford, 23, who had a one-month old son, Alexander, also lived in the household as a servant. (Note: if Kennedy were 65 in 1880, she was much younger than 100 in 1892.)

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Sidney Crawford Kennedy was a native of Washington, Beaufort County, North Carolina. She was born about 1811 to Charles D. and Sidney Bryan Crawford and married William Lee Kennedy circa 1830. Their daughter Virginia Kennedy married Benjamin Hawkins Tyson, a Pitt County native, in 1873. A brief search suggests that the Tysons, and presumably Amanda Kennedy with them, did not move to Wilson County until the 1870s.

The “noble-hearted” Mrs. Tyson’s mother, Sidney Crawford Kennedy, likely Amanda Kennedy’s last owner.

Photo of Kennedy courtesy of Ancestry.com user cpcarter2.

The obituary of Hercules Hill Hinnant.

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Wilson Daily Times, 22 June 1934.

——

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: garden laborer Joe Hill, 71, and wife Annie, 68, housemaid; daughter Elizabeth Hinnant, 23, laundress; son-in-law Frank, 37, store drayman; grandson Hercules, 1 month; daughter Estell Hill, 20, cook; son-in-law(?) Lela Hill, 16, laundress; son-in-law Edgar Barnes, 20, odd jobs laborer, and daughter Mary, 19, laundress.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Mercer Street, widow Louise Hinyard, 58; son Frank, 34, hardware store truck driver; daughter-in-law Elizabeth, 31, tobacco factory worker; and grandson Hercules, 10.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 306 Pender Street, rented for $20/month, widow Anna Hill, 75, private maid; grandson Herkie Lee Hill, 19, drugstore deliveryman; lodgers Willie Bryant, 18, bicycle shop laborer, and Elixandora Sharp, 21, barbershop bootblack; roomer John Sharp, 13; and granddaughter Rosa Simmons, 17, laundress.

In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Hinnant Hercules (c; porter) 306 N Pender

Per his death certificate, Hercules Hinnant died 17 June 1934 in Wilson. He was born 21 August 1910 to Frank Hinnant and Elizabeth Hill; resided at 306 Pender; was single; and worked as a laborer.

  • Saint John A.M.E. Zion Church
  • Rev. I. Albert Moore
  • Rev. B.F. Jordan — Benjamin F. Jordan.
  • Rev. Eddie Cox
  • Rountree cemetery
  • Wilson Drug Company — per the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory, Wilson Drug Company was at 114 South Tarboro Street.
  • Miller Drug Company — the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory, Miller’s Drug Store was at 200 East Nash.
  • Samuel Robinson
  • Willie Bryant — see above.
  • Mack Sharpe — probably, in the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: widow Katie Sharpe, 37; and children Harvey, 21, Willard, 19, Ernest, 17, Samson and Gladys T., 15, Nellie, 13, Alexander, 11, Kathryn, 9, Mack, 6, and John, 4.
  • Freeman Ennis — in the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 904 Viola, rented for $15/month, Maggie Ennis, 45, sons Freeman, 22, barbershop bootblack, and Ennis, 12, daughter Hennie, 10; and roomer Julus Barnes, 27, Hackney body plant laborer.
  • Samuel Farmer
  • Willie Neale — probably, in the 1930 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: on Highway 91, Jaushue Neal, 45; wife Pearcy, 39; and children Willie, 18, Louise, 16, Mattie, 13, Essie M., 12, and Charlie, 11.

 

306 North Vick Street.

The one-hundred-first 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, this building is: “ca. 1945; 1 story; Tudor Revival cottage; brick veneered; handsome, late example of the type.”

The 1947 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory lists 306 North Vick as vacant. (The house was built for and occupied into the 1960’s by Separise P. and Grace Whitehead Artis. A door on the Washington Street side of the property still shows a decorative A on the screen door insert.)

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, February 2019.

 

The legacy of O. Nestus Freeman.

Beating me to the punch, Preservation of Wilson has compiled an inventory of the known surviving work of stonemason Oliver Nestus Freeman. Here you’ll find a photograph and brief description of each building or object, including the Round House and several residences across Wilson. Some have been highlighted in Black Wide-Awake here: 204 North Vick Street, 1115 East Nash Street, 1117 East Nash Street, 1209 East Nash Street, and 1300 East Nash Street.

Freeman constructed the stone exterior of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, 612 Vance Street NE, circa 1941.

Preservation of Wilson is an organization dedicated to the revitalization of Wilson’s architectural heritage.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, February 2019.