Wilson Daily Times, 11 December 1922.
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[Note that several Jesse Artises lived in early 20th-century Wilson County, or in nearby northern Wayne County, including Jesse A. Artis, son of Jesse and Lucinda Hobbs Artis, who died in March 1922.]
Jessie Artis died 10 December 1922 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 50 years old; was a widower; was a farmer; and was born in Wilson County to Benjamin Artis [Sr.] and Feriby Woodard. Emma Moore was informant.
December 1935.
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In the 1870 census of the Town of Wilson, Wilson County: shoemaker Peter Rountree, 46; wife Lucinda, 30; and children Sarenena, 8, Peter, 4, and Sarah, 2.
In the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Nash Street, merchant Peter Rountree, 56; wife Lucinda, 40, born in Virginia; and children Serena, 17, Peter, 14, Sarah, 12, Burtie, 2, and Lucinda, 11 months.
Burt Bowser, born in Halifax County, married Sarah Rountree, daughter of Peter and Lucinda Rountree, on 4 December 1888 in Wilson. Reddin S. Wilkins, A.J. Lindsay and James W. Parrington were witnesses to the ceremony.
In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: shoemaker Peter Rountree, 76, wife Lucinda, 53, daughter Sarah Bowser, 32, son-in-law Burt L. Bowser, 36, grandsons Russell, 9, Astor B., 3, and Thomas F., 1, stepdaughters (?) Manda L., 18, and Rosa E. Rountree, 14.
In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Nash Street, Best Bowser, 48; wife Sarah, 40; sons Russell, 19, Astor B., 13, and Thomas F., 11; sister-in-law Rosa Rountree, 21, and brother-in-law James Rountree, 14; and mother Lucindia Bowser, 60, widow [actually, probably mother-in-law Lucinda Rountree.]
In the 1920 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: on Nash Street, Bert L. Brown [sic], 56; wife Sarah M., 49; sons Aster B., 25, and Thomas, 21; daughter-in-law Georgia B., 20; and mother-in-law Lucinda Roundtree, 70.
In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 528 East Nash, widow Sarah L. Bowser, 59, laundress, and roomers George Lee, 24, restaurant cook, and George Sledge, 21, barber.
Without comment, on 7 June 1917, the Wilson Daily Times published a lengthy list of names and addresses of children who were members of corn (for boys) and canning (girls) clubs in Wilson, Lucama, and Stantonsburg. The groups, supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, were the precursors to 4-H Clubs.
Given the canning club membership requirements, it’s astonishing that so many town girls were involved. Per Farm Life Readers, Book 5 (Bryan, Evans & Duncan, 1916, page 38): “Any girl between the ages of nine and eighteen in the county, where the work is organized may become a member. She must plant one-tenth of an acre to tomatoes, and must do all the work connected with her garden except preparing the soil for her plants. Prizes are offered for the largest yield, the largest net gain, the best display in glass jars, best history of garden work, the largest tomato, the most perfect tomato, the largest, neatest best collection of tomato recipes.”
Cover of notebook created by North Carolina canning club girl, 1915. Wilson County girls would have been required to create such a document. Jane Simpson McKimmon Papers (PC 234), State of Archives of North Carolina.
Below, the lists of children consolidated and alphabetized:
Lucama
Wilson
Stantonsburg
Wilson Daily Times, 8 July 1941.
Forsyth County, N.C., native Annie M. Thompson Hamilton and her husband Levi Hamilton Sr. were residents and owners of a funeral home in Goldsboro, N.C., but had recently opened a second location in Wilson. Hamilton Funeral Home served Wilson for more than 70 years.
Wilson Daily Times, 2 December 1935.
I have no further information about Mary Sims. There were few treatments for mental illness in the 1930s, and even fewer effective ones. Given the danger her alleged actions posed, it is possible that she was sent to the Eastern North Carolina Insane Asylum in Goldsboro (later known as Cherry Hospital), the state’s only psychiatric facility for African-Americans.
Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.
Wilson Daily Times, 3 December 1930.
After struggling financially for many years, in 1930 the African-American hospital on East Green Street reopened as non-profit Mercy Hospital, the name by which it is best known, with support from the Duke Foundation and the Julius Rosenwald Foundation. Though Mercy did not admit white patients, it had an integrated Board of Trustees. Its president and vice-president were white, but William Hines, secretary/treasurer, retained his duties as chief hospital administrator.
Wilson Daily Times, 6 December 1932.
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In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: John Rodgers, 30, day laborer; wife Mary E., 22; sister Minnie, 17; and boarder Sallie Barber, 35.
Turner Utley, 22, of Wilson County, and Mariah Williams, 24, of Wilson County, married 12 September 1901 in Wilson County. J.W. Rogers applied for the license, and Missionary Baptist minister Fred M. Davis performed the ceremony at Rogers’ residence in the presence of Irene Miller, Minnie Rogers and Bettie Davis.
In the 1930 census of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania: at 2215 Fitzwater Street, rented at $65/month, private domestic Minnie Rogers, 40; roomer Fred Tyler, 49, longshoremen on wharves; grandchildren Archie Washington, 34, and Naeisa, 31; and roomer William Tyler, 16. All were born in North Carolina.
Minnie Rodgers Prince died 3 December 1932 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Per her death certificate, she was 40 years old; was born in Wilson, N.C., to Peter Rodgers; was married [earlier that year, in Philadelphia] to Willis Prince; and lived at 710 South 11th Street, Philadelphia. She was buried in Wilson.
Wilson Daily Times, 9 December 1938.
The Negro Community Center, now known as Reid Street Community Center, was dedicated 14 December 1938.
Look what popped up in my Facebook Memories today:
I’ll confess it, y’all. My expectations were pretty low. I’d issued hopeful calls like this before and had ended up poking around by myself for a frigid hour or two. Maybe, though, something about that first pandemic year
we’d just been through made this appeal just hit different.
A dozen people showed up. (Even from out of town.) And a newspaper reporter. And before you knew it, Sam Vick‘s headstone emerged from the soil like a benediction, and Lane Street Project moved from wishful thinking to purposeful action.
A year later, and Vick Cemetery is on its way to re-recognition as a public cemetery. Odd Fellows has backslid a bit toward wilderness, but you can actually get in it without a machete. Rountree — well, we’ll get there.
Most importantly, a beautiful, organic, multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-generational coalition of Wilsonians and friends came together, bringing tools and time and energy to the reclamation of these sacred spaces.
I’ve thanked you for this work, and I’ll thank you often and forever.
And in advance.
Lane Street Project Season 2 kicks off in January 2022 during Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. If you or your church or your civic organization or your children or your co-workers or your cousins are looking for a way to be of service, a way to make a difference, please join us. Many hands make light work.
