Wilson Daily Times, 29 August 1925.
In 1925, 1401 East Nash Street was just beyond eastern city limits. I have not been able to find anything else about Old Cabin Lunch. I’m not at all sure it was a Black-owned business, though it was located in an African-American residential area. Three years later, the address was the location of William Wells‘ auto repair garage.
Hill’s Wilson, N.C., City Directory (1928).
Wilson Daily Times, 14 July 1922.
The (county?) health department rated five “colored” cafes during a monthly inspection in July 1922.
Tate’s Cafe, as drawn in the 1922 Sanborn fire insurance maps of Wilson.
Central Cafe, as drawn in the 1922 Sanborn fire insurance maps of Wilson.
Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.
Wilson Daily Times, 29 August 1925.
I have not been able to find more about Eugene Bingle.
Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.
This house is not within the bounds of East Wilson Historic District. However, the blocks of Mercer Street southwest of the Norfolk & Southern Railroad lines have been an African-American residential area since the early twentieth century.
906 Mercer appears in the 1922 Sanborn fire insurance maps of Wilson.
In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Outlaw Arthur (c; Mary) fishermn h 906 Mercer
In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Oates Henry (c; Minnie) driver Clark Hdw Co Inc h 906 Mercer
In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 906 Mercer, rented for $21/month, Henry Oates, 34, hardware store truck driver; wife Minnie L., 26; and children Willie, 9, Albert L., 8, Fredie, 6, and Bubbie, 2.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 906 Mercer, Lettie Smith, 48, widow, works at stemming machine at redrying plant; her children Harvey, 28, gas station attendant, Mary, 15, Herbert, 13, and Elijah and Elisha, 11; and grandson Donald Ray, 8.
The house is listed as vacant in the 1941 city directory, but in the 1947 directory was occupied by tobacco worker Lena Whitley. (Whitley died in 1965 at her home at 918 Mercer. The informant on her death certificate was Eula King, 906 Mercer.)
Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, April 2021.
Wilson native Willard C. Sharpe married Mildred C. Putnam in Syracuse, New York, on 21 September 1926.
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In the 1910 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Mack Sharp, 43; wife Katie, 29; and children Harvey, 12, Williard C., 10, Earnest, 8, Samson, 6, Nellie B., 3, and Elexander, 18 months.
In 1918, Willard Clarence Sharp registered for the World War I draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 1 August 1900; lived at the corner of Robeson and Reid Streets; and was a laborer for Export Leaf Tobacco Company. Katie Sharp was his nearest relative.
In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: widow Katie Sharpe, 37, and children Harvey, 21, Willard, 19, Ernest, 17, Samson, 15, Gladys T., 15, Nellie, 13, Alexander, 11, Kathryn, 9, Mack, 6, and John, 4.
Entry in Episcopal church records for the September 1926 marriage of Willard C. Sharpe and Mildred Catherine Putman.
In the 1931 Syracuse, N.Y., city directory: Sharpe Willard C (Mildred) laborer res 618 Harrison
In the 1931 Syracuse, N.Y., city directory: Sharpe Willard C (Mildred) chauff h 518 E Adams
Syracuse Herald, 29 June 1937.
In the 1940 census of Attica State Prison, Wyoming County, New York: Willard C. Sharpe, 38, married, born in South [sic] Carolina; resided in Syracuse, Onondaga County in 1935. [Mildred Sharpe is listed in her mother’s household in Syracuse.]
In 1942, Willard Clarence Sharp registered for the World War II draft in Erie County, New York. Per his registration card, he was born 1 September 1900 in Wilson, N.C.; lived at 236 North Div[ision]; worked for S.W. Minor, Oldsmobile Motor Company, Buffalo, New York; his contact was Mrs. Smith, 236 North Div.; and he had a scar on the left side of his face.
New York, Episcopal Diocese of Central New York Church Records, 1800-1970, ancestry.com.
I live in my head. So I’ve been carrying the seeds of Black Wide-Awake and Lane Street Project a very long time, but only recently stretched out my hands to sow them.
The harvest has been immense.
Among the bounty — Castonoble Hooks, who has championed my work since Dr. Joseph H. Ward. He has become both my student and teacher, and I am immensely grateful for his wisdom, friendship, and support.
On July 28 at 7:00 PM, Mr. Hooks will deliver a lecture on Wilson’s early civil rights history at Our Wilson, 501 Nash Street E.
Wilson Daily Times, 19 July 1912.
The two-faced house at 309 Elba Street, once owned by veterinarian Elijah L. Reid and family, is one of my favorite in East Wilson. It’s in terrible shape though. Years of water running off the porch roof have rotted a corner of the house completely through, compromising its structural integrity.
On my recent obligatory pass-by of 303 Elba, I noticed that the front door of 309 was wide open. Thinking “now or never,” but also “watch your step,” I went no further than the front room, but snapped these two images of the interior.
Below, the house’s central staircase. Note the original newel posts, the paneled stringer, and the curved plaster ceiling. The landing juts out from the house into a sort of oriel; the four-over-one window looks west.
One of the original five-panel doors with large brass knobs and plates.
Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, June 2021.
When Algiers Augustus Walker, a Watson Warehouse employee boarding with Rev. R. Buxton Taylor, registered for the World War II draft in Wilson, the registrar reported “tattooing” as “obvious physical characteristics that will aid in identification.”
This entry in the 1928 Hill’s Wilson city directory is what first caught my eye:
Odessa Beatrice Reid was the daughter of Ietta R. M. Reid and noted veterinarian Elijah L. Reid. Why did she occupy a space at the rear of 109 1/2 West Nash Street? Lawrence Brett & Company were civil engineers; John D. Wells was a tobacconist. Odessa B. Reid, it turns out, was a hairdresser who catered to white women and located her business accordingly.
Reid announced her opening in October 1918, having graduated from a course in the Elizabeth Kink System (about which I can find absolutely nothing). Her beauty parlor was on the second floor of the Carolina Building on Goldsboro Street. (This location is not clear. The building most commonly known as “the Carolina” was at 105 North Tarboro Street, just beyond Nash Street. Interestingly, it had been the site of Lemon Taborn‘s 19th-century barbershop.) Reid kept an 11-hour day and made her client pool clear.
Wilson Daily Times, 3 October 1918.
Nine years later, Madame Reid announced a move to the space over the World Theatre in the Wells Building, today the site of a dance studio.
Wilson Daily Times, 29 October 1927.
She didn’t stay long. A year later, she was in the Tarboro Street Carolina Building in room 12, second floor. She asked that her clients call her home for appointments between 5 and 10 P.M. “on account of the illness of my mother.”
Wilson Daily Times, 2 October 1928.
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In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Eliza [sic] Reid, 38, veterinary surgeon; wife Ietta, 36; and daughter Beatrice, 13.
In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 650 Viola Street, Eligha Reid, 50, doctor [sic] in general practice; wife Ietta, 44; and daughter Odess, 22, beauty parlor manager.
On 26 September 1923, Heathen Sorrell, 25, of Rocky Mount, N.C, son of Lizzie Sorrell, married Odessa B. Reid, 26, of Wilson, daughter of E.L. and Ietta R.M. Reid. Presbyterian minister A.H. George performed the ceremony in the presence of Levi Jones, Norma E. Duncan, and Ethel L. Hines. (The marriage ended quickly.)
For several weeks in December 1924, the Wilson Daily Times published a Notice of Summons and Warrant of Attachment in Odessa Reid Sorrell vs. Leslie Boise Pender, a case in which Reid Sorrell was seeking a $370.00 judgment. I have no further information about the lawsuit.
On 23 February 1925, Alfred G. Spicer, 24, of Washington, D.C., son of Addie Spicer, married Odessa B. Reid, 27, of Wilson, daughter of E.L. and Ietta Reid, in Wilson. M.E. DuBissette, M.D., applied for the license, and Primitive Baptist Elder Tom Dickens performed the ceremony at Dr. E.L. Reid’s residence in the presence of DuBissette, Reid, and A.T. Spicer of Rocky Mount.
In the 1930 census: at 309 Elba, doctor of veterinary surgery Eliria L. Reed, 67; daughter Odessa B. Spicer, 28, a beauty parlor operator; and wife Ietta Reid, 57. The house was valued at $5000.
On 31 December 1931, in Arlington County, Virginia, Alfred G. Spicer, 31, of South Washington, Virginia, was awarded a divorce from Odessa B. Spicer, 309 North Elba Street, Wilson, on the grounds of desertion.
Odessa Reid Sorrell Spicer, perhaps during her beauty salon years.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 505 East Green, rented for $20/month, veterinarian Elijah L. Reid, 78; wife Ietta R., 65; and daughter Odessa B., 30, a graduate nurse. [When and where did Odessa Reid train as a nurse?]
Dr. Elijah L. Reid died 8 November 1948 at home at 811 Viola Street, Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 25 January 1881 in Wayne County, N.C., to Wash Reid; was married to Ietta Reid; and worked as “doctor (veterinarian).” Odessa Reid, 811 Viola, was informant.
Ietta R.M. Reid died 14 February 1961 at home at 816 Elvie Street, Wilson. Per her death certificate; she was born 12 August 1867 in Edgecombe County to Jairett Staton; was a widow; and was a retired teacher. Odessa Reid, 816 Elvie, was informant.
Photo courtesy of Amazon.com user Joyce Rucker-Barnes.