Wilson Daily Times, 14 November 1922.
Baptist minister Alfred L.E. Weeks posted this notice of the sale of lots in an unspecified part of the “colored residential section.”
Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Thomas III.
Pittsburgh Courier, 3 July 1937.
Richmond Pender worked a regular job as a drayman for a grocery store. He operated a side business, though, selling wood, likely mostly to feed stoves and furnaces throughout East Wilson. In April 1928, he suffered a devastating injury when his arm was pulled into a wood saw in his back yard.
Wilson Daily Times, 28 April 1922.
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In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: farmer Gray Pender, 37; wife Katie, 36; and children Richard, 16, Louvenia, 13, Caroline, 10, Wilson, 6, Floyd, 4, and Jonah, 11 months. [Gray and Louvenia Pender’s headstones have been found in Rountree Cemetery.]
In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Green Street, Katey Pender, 47, laundress, and children Richman, 26, grocery store delivery; Carrie, 16, private nurse; Willie, 16, farmer; Floyd, 14, laborer; and Joseph, 10.
On 26 May 1912, Richmond Pender, 28, of Wilson, son of Gray and Kate Pender, married Marinda Howard, 21, of Wilson, daughter of Jesse and Martha Howard, in Wilson. W.H. Kittrell applied for the license, and Rev. H.B. Taylor performed the ceremony in the presence of C.L. Darden, Wm. Hines, and C.R. Cannon.
Richmond Pender registered for the World War I draft in Wilson in 1918. Per his registration card, he was born 9 July 1883; lived at 505 East Vance; his nearest relative was Marinda Pender; and he worked as a drayman for J.H. Gill of East Nash Street.
In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Richmond Pender, 35, drayman for grocery store; wife Marinda, 25; and son Jessie, 7.
Marinda Lilian Pender died 25 November 1925 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 16 June 1890 in Wilson County to Jesse Howard and Martha Ruffin; was married to Richmond Pender; and lived at 504 East Vance.
On 9 January 1927, Richmond Pender, 44, of Wilson, married Mamie E. Jones, 27, of Wilson, in Wilson. Presbyterian minister A.H. George performed the ceremony in the presence of S.A. Coward, Jesse Gray Pender, and Ruel Bulluck.
Richmond Pender wrote out a will a few weeks after his second marriage. He directed a burial in the Masonic cemetery (not to exceed $400 in cost) and specified that he did not want a headstone (at least not one paid for by his estate.) His house and lot on Vance Street and two lots on Nash Street were to go to son Jesse Gray Pender. Mamie Pender was to receive household furnishings and any money left in the estate. William Hines was named guardian of the property of Jesse Pender, who was a minor, as well as executor of the estate.
Richmond Pender died 3 March 1930 in Wilson of apoplexy [stroke]. Per his death certificate, he was 49 years old; was married to Mamie Pender; lived at 504 Vance; was a dealer in wood; and was born in Wilson County to Gray Pender and Katie Woodard.
Like many, Pender was apparently both a Prince Hall Mason and an Odd Fellow and was a member of the volunteer Red Hot Reel Company. Ben Mincey requested that all firemen assemble at the Odd Fellows Hall to go together to Pender’s funeral.
Wilson Daily Times, 5 March 1930.
Almost exactly 24 years after Richmond Pender’s injury, his only child was killed in an ammunition dump explosion in Newark, New Jersey.
Wilson Daily Times, 26 March 1946.
Wilson Daily Times, 21 October 1921.
“An institution organized, owned and operated by negroes for the making of a bigger and better community — consequently for race advancement.
“It is the purpose of this bank to render the best service possible. All we ask is a chance to prove ourselves worthy of your expectation. Will you grant us this institution which will be a credit to your city and race.
“In the words of the past ‘To thine own self be true.’ Don’t betray thy nature and thy name. But show to the world that you are a true-blooded Negro, proud of your race and willing to help build it up.
“Bring your earnings to the bank and build up a savings account for yourself and prepare for that rainy day that is sure to come; we are amply prepared to take care of them for you. We are expecting every Negro in Wilson and Wilson county to open an account with us during this, our first year in operation. Are you loyal or are you disloyal? Time will answer the question.”
“Join the band of race and community builders and open a savings account with the Commercial Bank of Wilson.”
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Black Wilson rallied to this sharp-edged appeal and opened hundreds of accounts at Commercial Bank. The bank operated throughout the Roaring Twenties, but by 1929 the cracks were showing. A suspicious fire on September 23 led to the bank’s immediate closure and the subsequent arrest and conviction of two of its officers, J.D. Reid and Henry S. Stanback.
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Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.
Last week in Wilson.
My thanks to Wilson County Historical Association, Wilson County Tourism Development Authority, Drew C. Wilson of Wilson Times (where you can read the accompanying article), Reginald Speight of Congressman G.K. Butterfield Jr.‘s office, and local elected officials and members of the public who took time to show interest and support.
The one hundred thirty-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.
In this grainy Polaroid, me in front of my friends’ house at 1324 Carolina, circa 1973.
As described in the nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District: “ca. 1917; 1 story; shotgun with shed-roofed porch and gable returns; Masonite veneer.” 1324 is one of a row of endway houses on the south side of Carolina between Wainwright and Powell Streets. Shifts in the numbering of houses in this block make it difficult to trace its first few decades of inhabitants.
Per the 15 October 1971 Wilson Daily Times, Wilson’s city council ordered the demolition of 1324 as “unsafe and dangerous to life and property.” Its owner, Luther Jones, agreed to repair the house, and city council revoked the order in 1974. The house still stands.