The race is on to find gravestones in Odd Fellows Cemetery before spring foliage engulfs them again. This little headstone was trapped under multiple bands of wisteria vine.

There were two Junius Peacocks, father and son. This marker most likely heads the grave of Junius Wesley Peacock, the son, who died in 1935.

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In the 1880 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: in the household of 27 year-old white farmer William Bynum, Henry Peacock, 30, works on farm; wife Zetta, 28; and children Henry, 12, John, 7, Junius, 5, Sarah, 4, and Emma, 2.

Junius Peacock, 22, of Wilson, son of Henry and Rosetta Peacock, married Nora Haskins, 17, of Wilson, daughter of Martha Haskins, on 30 March 1898 at Martha Haskins’ in Wilson. Primitive Baptist minister J.W. Williams performed the ceremony in the presence of J. Bradley Exum, Noah Tate, and C.B. Gay.

In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Junious Peacock, 23, bartender; wife Nora, 19; son Junious, 7 months; mother [in-law] Martha Haskins, 60, washing; sister[in-law] Addie, 34; and Addie’s children Rosko, 13, Nathan, 4, and Allen, 3.

In the 1912 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Peacock Junius (c) cook h E Chestnut

In the 1916 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Peacock Junius (c) elev opr Oettinger’s

In 1918, Junius Wesley Peacock registered for the World War I draft in Norfolk, Virginia. Per his registration card, he was born 30 December 1935; lived at 316 Kent Street, Norfolk; worked as a bellboy at a Turkish bath, 416 Atlantic Street; and his nearest relative was Nora Stokes, 535 East Nash Street, Wilson. [Nora Peacock, likely a widow, had married Turner Stokes in Wilson in 1916.]

Junius Peacock, 21, of Norfolk, Virginia, son of Junius and Nora Peacock, married Ethel Wilson, 22, of Norfolk, Virginia, daughter of F. and A. Wilson, in Norfolk, Virginia, on 24 October 1918.

In the 1922 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Peacock Junius W (c) barber h 524 E Nash

In the 1925 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Peacock Junius W (c) barber Coley & Taylor h 525 E Nash

In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Peacock Junius (c; Ethel) barber Walter S Hines h 817 E Green

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 807 Green Street, barber Junius Peacock, 30, barber, and wife Ethel, 34, maid.

Junius Wesley Peacock died 28 April 1935 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 35 years old; was born in Wilson to Julius Peacock and Nora Haskins; was married to Ethel Peacock; lived at 817 East Green Street; and worked as a barber. 

Ethel M. Peacock died 25 May 1974 in Norfolk, Virginia. Per her death certificate, she was born 23 October 1893 in Norfolk to Fred Wilson and Ann Brooks; was the widow of Junius Peacock; and was buried in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Photos courtesy of Joseph Stair.