Month: July 2021

Jail break.

I am not sure what to make of this story.

Ben Joyner was janitor of the Wilson County jail. In mid-June of 1924, Cora Moore, a prisoner, allegedly stole Joyner’s pistol and pawned it to fund an escape. (How did she make this happen from jail?) On July 7, she saw her chance as Joyner made his evening rounds. With an unnamed assistant, Moore jumped Joyner, took his keys, locked him in a cell, and escaped. I don’t know if she was recaptured.

(Moore apparently was in jail for her part in a stolen goods conspiracy. More about that some other time.)

Wilson Daily Times, 8 July 1924.

Lots in Dudley.

My grandmother, Hattie Henderson Ricks, inherited two lots in the southern Wayne County town of Dudley from Sarah Henderson Jacobs Silver, her great-aunt and foster mother. [Because she had been informally adopted by Sarah and her husband Jesse A. Jacobs Jr., my grandmother used the surname Jacobs until adulthood, when she reverted to Henderson.]

Sarah Jacobs, who moved to Wilson about 1905, supported her parents  in their final years, sending them food via train and building a small house in Dudley proper closer to neighbors and family. My grandfather recalled:

Mama had the lot where the house was, where Grandma Mag [Margaret Balkcum Henderson (1836-1915)] lived. Had that house built for her. The house they was staying in was up by the railroad, was just about to fall down. Somewhere down up there by where the Congregational Church is. And she built that house down there next to Babe Winn. I don’t think it was but one room. The porch, one room, and a little shed kitchen, a little, small, like a closet almost, and had the stove in it. Then had a stove in the room where she was, one of them round-bellied stoves where you take the top off and put wood in it. I remember that.

Just recently, we discovered documents related to the purchase of these lots. They were in this envelope from the Wayne County Register of Deeds, postmarked 11 August 1941 and addressed to my grandmother at 1109 Queen Street in Wilson. (She penciled in updated addresses as she moved in the 1940s and ’50s.) Sarah Jacobs Silver died in 1938, and I imagine my grandmother received this letter pursuant to the settlement of her estate.

There was this promissory note for the purchase for $20 of lots 15 and 16 of block number 2. It is signed “Sary Jackobs” by someone other than Sarah Jacobs.

And then another, dated 16 October 1911 at Dudley, that she did sign. (Her address was given as 106 Elba Street, Wilson, which was an early designation for 303 Elba.) A notation scribbled in pencil across it confirms that she timely paid off the purchase price.

Forty-four lots of the old Washington Suggs property at auction.

Wilson Daily Times, 18 October 1920.

“FORTY-FOUR LOTS REMAIN UNSOLD OF THE OLD WASHINGTON SUGGS PROPERTY LOCATED ON STANTONSBURG ROAD, NEAR THE COLORED GRADED SCHOOL IN WILSON, N.C. THESE WILL BE OFFERED AT AUCTION SATURDAY, OCTOB’R 30th AT 2:00 P.M.

“All lots are splendidly located, naturally drained building locations suitable for business or residential property. Only 3-4 mile from the business section of the city and the same distance from the railroad stations. All lots approximately 25×110 feet in size, furnished with city electric lights. Colored graded school just across the street, many large manufacturing establishments nearby. 

“Select the lots which you desire to purchase of those that remain in the old Washington Suggs Property. There were originally 109 lots in this subdivision and so great has been the demand for them that since June 10th all have been disposed of with the exception of 44. This is an opportunity well worth taking advantage of and an opportunity which will be lost after this sale on Saturday, October 30th. The terms have been arranged very easy, in fact, so easy that anyone who desires can purchase and hardly miss the payments as they become due monthly.

“THE BEAUTIFUL VICTROLA NO. 6 IS ON DISPLAY IN GRAHAM WINSTEAD’S MUSIC STORE WINDOW. THIS IS A MAHOGANY MACHINE AND HAS A GOOD TONE. IT WILL BE GIVEN AWAY SATURDAY OCT. 30, AT OUR SALE.”

Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.

Dew seeks son.

Isaac Dew published this notice in the Daily Times seeking information on the whereabouts of his 23 year-old son Willie Dew, whom he described as “insane.”

Wilson Daily Times, 6 July 1897.

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In the 1880 census of Crossroads township, Wilson County: farmer Isaac Dew, 30; wife Esther, 24; children Annie, 12, Willie, 9, Tobias, 8, Martha, 4, Lesie, 3, and Laura, 2; plus farmer Burden Barnes, 28, and his wife Delphina, 19, who were white.

Willie Dew is not listed in his parents’ household in 1900.

Studio shots, no. 180: Charles A. Bynum.

Charles Augusta Bynum (1885-1969) and wife Earle Gilmore Bynum.

Charles A. Bynum was the brother of Rachel Bynum Scarborough. They, their eldest siblings, and parents migrated from Wilson County to Lonoke County, Arkansas, in the early 1890s.

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In the 1900 census of Richwoods township, Lonoke County, Arkansas: Lawrence Bynum, 55; wife Edna, 39; children Ed, 25, Mary, 19, Charlie, 17, Hattie, 16, Rachel, 9, Lewis, 6, Cora, 3, and Lawrence, 11 months; grandsons Mack and Romie Notsie(?), 3 months; and son-in-law Ed Notsie(?), 25, farm laborer. The four oldest children were born in North Carolina.

Chas. Bynum, 24, married Earl Woods, 19, on 22 December 1908 in Lonoke County, Arkansas.

In 1918, Charlie Bynum registered for the World War I draft in Lonoke County, Arkansas. Per his registration card, he was born 16 January 1882; lived in Scott, Lonoke County; farmed for Edna Bynum; and his nearest relative was Earl Bynum.

In the 1920 census of Walls township, Lonoke County, Arkansas: farmer C.A. Binam, 37; wife Earl, 27; and cons Collie, 4, and Ollie, 23 months.

In the 1930 census of Walls township, Lonoke County, Arkansas: farmer Charley Bynum, 48; wife Earle, 38; and children Collie, 14, Ollie, 11, Nettie, 9, and Freddie, 3.

In the 1940 census of Walls township, Lonoke County, Arkansas: farmer Charlie A. Bynum, 55; wife Pearl, 50; and children Collie, 24, Ollie, 22, Freddie, 12, and Minnie, 8.

In 1942, Charley Augusta Bynum registered for the World War II draft in Lonoke County, Arkansas. Per his registration card, he was born 16 January 1885 in Saratoga, North Carolina; lived in Scott, Lonoke County, Arkansas; his contact was Earl Bynum; and was a self-employed farmer in Keo, Lonoke County.

Charles Bynum died 28 June 1969 in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Per his death certificate, he was born 16 January 1882 in North Carolina to Lawrence Bynum and Edna [unknown]; was a retired farmer; lived at 904 G St., Dixie Addition; and was buried in Sullivan cemetery, Lonoke, Arkansas. Collie Bynum was informant.

Photo courtesy of Ancestry.com user chazsmiles.

Millie Locus leaves Kansas.

Manhattan (Ks.) Republic, 5 July 1923. 

Was this Millie Locus the daughter of Wiley and Avie Taylor Locus? If so, what was she doing in Manhattan, Kansas?

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In the 1900 census of Nahunta township, Wayne County: farmer Wiley Locus, 44; wife Avey, 31; children Hyman, 12, Annie, 10, Mary, 9, Millie, 6, Wade H., 2, and Emma, 9 months; and boarder Silvia Taylor, 15.

In the 1910 census of Nahunta township, Wayne County: Willie Locust, 56; wife Avie, 45; “husband’s son” Hyman H.R., 22; children Sylva, 25, Annie, 18, Mollie, 17, Millie, 16, Emma, 11, Wade A., 12, Leona, 8, Clinton, 6, Levi E.D., 5, and Isiacar, 1 month; and grandson Kilgo, 4, and David Locust, 1.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on West Nash Street, A.D. Woodard, 60, widow, and lodgers G.S. Willard, 25, high school teacher; C.G. Shreve, 30, high school teacher; and Millie Locus, 30, cook.

Millie Locus died 3 August 1968 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 10 August 1900 in Wayne County, N.C., to Wiley Locus and Avie Taylor; was never married; and lived at 305 North Vick. Leora Hines, 812 East Hines, was informant.

Irene Frances Hinnant Exum, age 102.


Irene Hinnant Exum (21 July 1918-25 June 2021). Rest in peace.

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In the 1920 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: farmer Ezekiel Hinnant, 31; wife Annie L., 24; and daughters Bessie M., 3, and Irene, 18 months.

On 19 December 1938, Irene Hinton [sic], 20, married James Exum, 22, in Johnston County, North Carolina.

In the 1940 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: farmer Walter Exum, 23; wife Irene, 21; and daughter Velma R., 5 months.

In 1940, Walter Exum registered for the World War II in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 3 July 1916 in Johnston County, N.C.; his contact was wife Irene Exum; he lived at R.F.D. #3, Kenly, Wilson, N.C.; and worked for Guy Bullock.

James Walter Exum died 19 November 1941 in Springhill township, Wilson County. Per his death certificate, he was born 19 September 1941 in Wilson County to Walter Exum of Johnston County and Irene Hinnant of Wilson County.

Lewis, former sailor, hangs himself.

Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 2 July 1910.

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Possibly, in the 1900 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Clarisea Lewis, 43, widow, farmer; and children Emma, 18,, 15, Gertrude, 12, Whit, 10, George, 8, Mattie, 6, and Hattie, 3.

In the 1910 census of Connecticut State Prison, Wethersfield town, Hartford County, Connecticut: Edward Lewis, 25, prisoner, born in N.C., does not work; “This man is insane.”

The Government Hospital for the Insane was later known as Saint Elizabeths Hospital.