Month: August 2019

A Haskins family portrait.

Screen Shot 2019-08-24 at 10.16.06 PM.png

Wilson Daily Times, 2 July 1976.

“Large families helped to till the soil in bygone days. The family of ‘Damp’ Haskins, who worked for the late P.L. Woodard and others who farmed in the Black Creek area, is shown above. Damp worked for U.H. Cozart, H.G. Whitehead, and P.L. Woodard in tobacco and with Tom Washington in his livery stable. He gained a bit of fame for his skill as a dog caller in the hunting season, using the long, curved bone horn he carved from a steer horn. Sole survivor of this picture is Annie Haskins Jurgens, now living in a rest home in Enfield. Grandchildren living in Wilson are Robert D. Haskins, Elizabeth Haskins Batts, Damp Haskins III, Alice Haskins Shipman, Gail Haskins Diggens, Hester Pierce Davis, Susie Gray Haskins Davis, and James Thomas Haskins.”

[It may be true that Damp Haskins, his wife, and all but one their children were deceased by mid-1976, but this photo appears to include grandchildren as well.]

——

Demp Haskins, 23, married Hester Sharp, 19, on 11 February 1876 in #10 Township, Edgecombe County.

In the 1880 census of Lower Town Creek township, Edgecombe County, North Carolina: laborer Damp Haskins, 28, and wife Hester, 20.

In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: farm laborer Damp Haskins; wife Hester, 43; and children Dora, 24, Martha, 19, Lossie, 18, Robert, 16, William, 15, James, 13, Lesley, 10, John, 9, Norma, 7, Earnest, 4, and Damp, 1.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, WIlson County: on “N&S RR,” farmer Damp Haskins, 60; wife Stella, 52, servant; children Martha, 23, cook, James, 18, wagon factory laborer, Lessie, 16, lumber mill laborer, John, 15, lumber mill laborer, Annie, 8, Earnest, 7, and Damp, 3; plus grandsons Simeon, 15, retail grocery laborer, and Ambrose Hoskins, 7.

Damp Haskins died 22 April 1915 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 64 years old; was born to Charles Haskins and an unknown mother; and had been a farmer. William Haskins was informant.

John Haskins died 7 April 1915 in Wilson township. Per his death certificate, he was 19 years old; married; had no occupation; and was the son of Damp Haskins and Steller Sharp. William Haskins was informant.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Warren Street, Hester Haskins, 56; and children Estella, 18, Annie, 22, Martha, 36, Ernest, 21, Ambroga, 17, Damp, 12, and [grandson] Joseph, 8.

On 4 November 1925, Hester Haskins, 70, married Charles Barnes, 74, in Wilson.

Hester Haskins Barnes died 31 August 1931 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born in 1857 in Edgecombe County to Henry Sharp and Dianah Pitts; was married to Charles Barnes; and lived at 1105 Atlantic Street. Martha Pitts was informant.

Lossie Pierce died 15 April 1940 at Mercy Hospital, Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 55 years old; was born in Edgecombe County to Damp Haskins and Hester Sharp; was married to Andrew Pierce; and lived at 707 East Vance Street. Robert Haskins was informant.

Damp Haskins [Jr.] died 30 September 1945 at Eastern North Carolina Sanitarium in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 24 December 1909 in Wilson to Damp Haskins and Hester Sharp and was married to Sudie Bell Haskins.

Robert D. Haskins died 11 December 1966 in WIlson. Per his death certificate, he was born 15 June 1885 in Edgecombe County to Damp Haskins and Hester Sharp; was married to Gertrude Haskins; and lived at 1300 Atlantic Street.

Ernest Haskins died 27 June 1975 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 10 June 1900 to Damp Haskins; was a widower; and worked as a construction worker. Susie Gray Edwards was informant.

The garage museum.

When I was in Wilson this past weekend, I had the great good fortune to spend a couple of hours with Lewis and Tinia Howard Neal at Mr. Neal’s remarkable Garage Museum in Daniel Hill. The museum is, literally, packed to the rafters with photographs, news clippings, vintage tools and farm implements, political paraphernalia, and other items Mr. Neal has collected, curated and neatly labeled. His focus is local history and culture, with a strong emphasis on artifacts relevant to Wilson’s African American community.

[Obviously, in this way, Mr. Neal is a kindred spirit, but it turns out that I also share ancestry with both him and Mrs. Neal. I haven’t figured out my DNA connection to him, but Mrs. Neal is a direct descendant of Nelson and Marinda Locust Eatmon (via their daughter Rhoda Eatmon, who married Zealous “Deal” Howard), and I am descended from Nelson Eatmon’s kinsman Toney Eatmon.]

Mr. Neal opens the doors of his museum as a community meeting space and welcomes visitors. Please call for an appointment.

Music lessons.

Though this image of Sister Antonio Spruill of Oblate Sisters of Providence was taken in the 1950s, just beyond the range of Black Wide Awake, it’s really just too great not to be included here. Barbara Farmer, at far left, identified the other girls as Josephine Collins, Gail Peacock, JoAnn Jenkins and Wilter Davis. (Thank you!)

“Music Class St. Alphonsus School in Wilson, N.C.”

In 1947, per the city directory, Saint Alphonsus Catholic School operated from 600 East Green Street, the large two-story house at the corner of Pender Street built for J.D. and Eleanor Reid. By 1950, the house was a nunnery for the Oblate Sisters.

Founded in 1828, the Oblate Sisters of Providence was the first permanent community of Roman Catholic sisters of African descent in the United States. Though small, the order remains active.

Wilson Daily Times, 25 May 1946.

Wilson Daily Times, 9 September 1948.

Photo courtesy of Pinterest. 

State v. Reddick Joyner and Wilmoth Eatman.

At October Term 1855 of Wilson County’s Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, a grand jury charged Reddick Joyner and Wilmoth Eatman “being lewd and vicious persons, and not united together in Marriage” who did “adulterously bed and cohabit together … and commit fornication and adultery …” contrary to law. However, after a hearing, the foreman returned the presentiment to the clerk of court as “not a true bill.” As a result, charges would have been dropped against both.

Per Eatmon’s descendants, the father of her first three children, William Joseph, Robert, and Margaret was Alexander Watson Wells, a white man who died in 1862 of wounds suffered as a Confederate soldier. The father of her youngest two, Kinion and Annie, was Hackney High. The father of two others, Crawford and Missouri, is unknown.

Adultery Records – 1855, Miscellaneous Records, Wilson County Records, North Carolina State Archives.

 

Hominy Swamp.

Hominy Swamp arises in western Wilson County, flows southeast of downtown and empties into Contentnea Creek near the Evansdale community. Prone to severe flooding, the creek has been channeled at several points along its length and from just above Tarboro Street south its plain is largely industrial. Hominy Swamp traditionally served as a boundary between certain black and white neighborhoods — Daniel Hill and Hominy Heights, and Happy Hill and Five Points, for example.

Per the Wilson Daily Times, in December 1924, the city contracted with a Raleigh contractor to build bridges spanning Hominy Swamp at Lodge Street, Goldsboro Street, Mercer Street, Tarboro Street and Park Avenue at a cost of $65,000.

I crossed over the Lodge Street bridge Saturday. It would seem to be $15,000 well-spent.

Here, Hominy Swamp Canal looking east from the Lodge Street bridge. North of the creek (to the left here) for most of the 20th century was a largely African-American neighborhood centered at Lodge and Banks Streets. South, Five Points, which was a white neighborhood until late in the 20th century.

Three years later, Hominy Swamp jumped its banks, climbing high enough to nearly overtop the walls of the bridge. Homes at Lodge and Mercer Streets flooded, requiring the rescue of a disabled 80 year-old African American woman.

Wilson Daily Times, 18 September 1928.

Studio shots, no. 118: Milly Ann Lassiter Strickland.

Milly Ann Lassiter Strickland (1861-1921).

——

In the 1860 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farmer Silas Lassiter, 38; wife Orpie, 34; children Sallie, 12, Mary, 11, James, 9, John, 7, Elizabeth, 5, Penina, 4, Hardy, 3, Silas, 1, and George, 2 months; and Delpha Simpson, 14.

In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farm laborer Silas Lassiter, 47, and children Ophelia, 25, Mary, 20, Elizabeth, 16, Handy, 14, Penninah, 15, Silas W., 12, Milly, 8, and Jerusha, 4.

In the 1880 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farmer Silas Lassiter, 56; wife Orpa, 50; and children Pennina, 24, Pharaoh, 20, Milly Ann, 19, and Gerusha Ann Lassiter, 14; plus daughter Sally Barefoot, 32, and her children Mary, 9, George, 6, and Warren Barefoot, 5.

On 11 February 1891, Henry Strickland, 42, son of Miles and Mourning Strickland, married Milly Laster, 28, daughter of Silas and Orphie Laster, in Taylor township.

In the 1900 census of Wilson  township, Wilson County: Henry Strickland, 54; wife Millie A., 36; and son Jessie, 11. [This was Millie Ann’s son, Jesse C. Lassiter.]

In the 1910 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Henry Strickland, 57, farmer; wife Millie, 40; and son Jessie, 21.

In the 1920 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: on Raleigh Road, farmer Henry Strickland, 70, and wife Anna, 55.

Millie And Streckley [sic] died 25 June 1921 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 57 years old; and was born in Wilson County to Silas Lassiter and Sarah Lassiter. J.C. Lassiter was informant, and Batts Brothers & Artis handled her burial.

Many thanks to Bernard Lassiter for the photograph.

1619.

Today marks the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Africans to Tidewater Virginia.

I give honor to the unknown millions of enslaved men and women who built this country and, via Black Wide Awake, seek to name those who lived and died in the corner of this country that I know best.

Screen Shot 2019-08-25 at 10.10.42 PM.png

This illustration accompanies USA Today‘s graphic essay explaining the growth of slavery in the United States. You can find it here.

The “colored” who gave all.

The walls of the narrow entryway into the Wilson County Court House are lined with large bronze plaques commemorating the county’s war dead. Look carefully at the World War I and World War II/Korean Conflict plaques. The areas containing veterans’ names are lighter than the surrounding surfaces; the names are picked out in a shinier paint. Why?

The names are embossed on plates secured to the plaques at each corner by small rosettes disguising bolts. These plates are replacements. The originals contained segregated lists. In other words, “colored” men “who gave the last full measure of devotion” were listed separately from their white counterparts.

A 10 April 1976 Wilson Daily Times article about the installation of a Vietnam vets plaque reveals photographs of the original plaques for the earlier wars:

The colored: Henry Ellis, killed 6 October 1918 (Wilson’s African-American post of the American Legion was named for Ellis); Benjamin Horne, died 10 October 1918; Pharaoh Coleman, died 17 October 1918; Luther Harris, died 17 October 1918; Strat Barnes, died 5 December 1918; West Vick, died 11 March 1919; Charles Barnes, died 28 July 1919; and Charles Samuel Clay, died 17 August 1919.

The colored: Levi Adger, Robert E. Ashford, Norman Gilliam, Victor Emanuel Hayes, Less Hinnant, Bobby H. Hyman, James Johnson, Thomas Jones Jr., Claude Kenan Jr., Willie J. Lassiter, Charles Leak, William R. Robinson, Thomas J. Rutland, Herbert L. Simms, Bekay Thompson and Mayo Ward.

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, August 2019.

Kennedy family photos.

Tennessee native Rev. John E. Kennedy was pastor of Saint John A.M.E. Zion Church from about 1925 to about 1930. (The family is not listed in the 1930 census of Wilson.) He had married Annie L. Moore, whose mother Serena Suggs Moore was a native of Wilson and a daughter of G. Washington and Esther Suggs.

This photograph was taken on the front steps of Saint John’s parsonage, next door to the church. The Kennedys’ youngest child, son James Reginald, was born in Wilson.

The Kennedy family in 1929 — Rev. John Kennedy, Annie Moore Kennedy, James R. Kennedy and Ruby E. Kennedy.

Screen Shot 2019-08-19 at 9.08.40 PM.png

Rev. Dr. John E. Kennedy (1876-1944).

Screen Shot 2019-08-19 at 9.10.18 PM.png

Annie Lucretia Moore Kennedy (1883-1942).

Screen Shot 2019-08-19 at 9.11.46 PM.png

Rubye Eloise Kennedy (1917-1993).

Screen Shot 2019-08-19 at 9.13.55 PM.png

James Reginald Kennedy (1925-1997).

The parsonage at 121 North Pender Street, Wilson. The shed-roof porch is unfortunate recent add-on.

Kennedy family photos courtesy of Ancestry.com user JamesKennedy621; photo of parsonage taken by Lisa Y. Henderson, August 2019.