Month: March 2021

Lane Street Project: March 27 mini-projects.

Vick Cemetery, September 2020. The cherry tree at left is dead, smilax is overgrowing the rear, and shrubs and trees need hard pruning.

This Saturday, two teams of Lane Street Project volunteers will turn their attention to discrete tasks at the cemeteries. One group, headed by volunteer gardener Julia Newton, will focus on the 25-year-old planting of cherries, hollies, junipers, and eleagnus that has overtaken the memorial obelisk at Vick Cemetery. Anyone is welcome to join between 10:00 AM and noon, but she’d especially love to see “plant folks that know how to use pruners, loppers, and hand saws. Wheelbarrow operators also appreciated.” As always, masks and social distancing are required.

R. Briggs Sherwood will lead a second group working closely with a professional to apply an initial defoliant treatment to the areas previously cleared within the tree line at Odd Fellows Cemetery. We have made amazing progress clearing the growth strangling the cemetery, but without treatment much of our effort could be undone in the course of a single hot, humid growing season. Briggs anticipates that a few small teams of volunteers could handle this job effectively. Please note that this work involves chemical spraying, and volunteers should wear protective clothing, including coveralls, chemical-resistant gloves, goggles, and respirators. NO CHILDREN PLEASE.

Black businesses, 1913, no. 4: 400 block of East Nash Street.

Sanborn fire insurance map, Wilson, N.C., 1913.

Cross-referencing the 1912 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory and the 1913 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson reveals the specific locations of Black-owned businesses just after the turn of the century. Here’s a closer look at one side of the first block east of the railroad.

Though described as a restaurant in 1913, the 1912 city director listed Charles H. Knight‘s barbershop at 414 East Nash Street. In the 1910 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: barber Charles Knight, 35; wife Elsie, 37; and sons Charles, 8, and Frank, 6; plus boarders Ethel Coleman, 23, and Sarah Jackson, 28, both teachers.

Sarah Gaither operated a small eating house at 418 East Nash as early as 1908, per city directories. In the 1900 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: day laborer Rufus Gaither, 57; wife Sarah, 56; and children Julius, 22, Mandy, 18, Aaron, 17, and Clarence, 15, sharing a house with Ella Gaston, 30, and her sons Ralph, 10, and Albert, 2. Rufus and Sarah Parks Gaither married 2 February 1873 in Iredell County, N.C., and are listed in the 1880 census of Turnersburg, Iredell County, with their young children. Sarah Gaither died 1912-1915. Rufus Gaither died 23 July 1915 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 24 August 1853 and was a widower. Bertha Farmer was informant.

John Blount‘s barbershop occupied 422 East Nash. 

The three buildings that now occupy this block were built in the 1920s. However, Google Maps shows a modern barbershop operating in the footprint of Blount’s business.

Lane Street Project: recommended reading.

I’m not an archaeologist or an anthropologist or a preservationist, and I’ve studied history, but only recently begun to engage in public history. Thus, I need to get my game up as Lane Street Project moves from dreamy rumination to real work.

I’m reading Lynn Rainville’s Hidden History: African American Cemeteries in Central Virginia to start. Though the landscape, material culture, and history of the Charlottesville area are quite different than those of Wilson County, Rainville’s work illustrates best practices for assessing, cataloguing, and preserving historic Black cemeteries, and I’m both taking notes and brainstorming as I read.

“Gravestones can teach us lessons in American civics as told through portraits of individuals and their communities, depicted in the details found on their headstones. The storylines in these mortuary museums illustrate national values: the worth of the individual, the primacy of the family, the depth of religious beliefs, the importance of patriotism. … They can also demonstrate some of the darker aspects of our shared past, the legacies of slavery and segregation. Cemeteries are instructional spaces that, if read correctly, have much to teach us about our social and moral values and about our shared history.”

Mary Church Terrell gives lecture.

Add Mary Church Terrell to the surprising list of nationally prominent African-Americans with speaking engagements in Wilson in the first half of the twentieth century.

Wilson Daily Times, 15 April 1925.

This notice of Terrell’s appearance is curious. “Half the proceeds for the benefit of the Kenan Street school”? The Kenan Street School, later known as Frederick A. Woodard School, was a white-only elementary school. Why would Terrell, an activist for civil rights and women’s causes (and, especially, their intersection), appear at such a benefit?

Wilson Daily Times, 15 April 1925.

A companion piece penned by J.D. Reid, principal of Wilson’s Colored Graded School, named a different beneficiary — the County Commencement of the Colored Schools, which were to be held at Banner Warehouse in downtown Wilson. “Prof. J.L. Cooke” — Jerry L. Cooke, who was not a professor at all, but a railway postal clerk — was in charge of the local entertainment, which included James Weldon Johnson’s poem “O Southland!” and a selection of Negro spirituals. The ever-popular Excelsior Band was also on the bill.

Terrell around the time she visited Wilson. Photo courtesy of “You Can’t Keep Her Out”: Mary Church Terrell’s Fight for Equality in America, http://www.americanfeminisms.org.

Clippings courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.

The obituary of Nathan McGowan, railroad employee.

Indianapolis Star, 22 March 1914.

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In the 1870 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Setta Whitfield, 37, domestic servant; Gross Conner, 18, a white news dealer; Tillman McGown, 35, farm laborer, wife Charity, 36, and children Amy, 17, Lucinda, 15, Aaron, 20, Ira, 5, Delia A., 7, Nathan, 3, and Courtney, 1.

In the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County: farmer Tilman McGown, 43, wife Charity, 49,  and children Delia A., 18, Ira R., 15, and Nathan, 13.

In the 1900 census of Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana: at 1021 South West Street, day laborer, William Hester, 55; wife Louisa, 53; daughter Clasia McGown, 23; son-in-law Nathan McGown, 25, poster on railroad car; and their children Harreld, 5, and Babe McGown, 2 months.

In the 1910 census of Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana: train cook Ned McGowan, 36; wife Clara, 36; children Harold, 15, and Abbie, 11; William, 62, and Louisa Hester, 58.

The death of Washington Fields, supercentenarian?

Wilson Daily Times, 9 February 1925.

Both George Washington Fields and Julia Moore Fields were probably somewhere closer to 80-90 years old at the times of their deaths. 

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George W. Fields married Julia Moore on 26 March 1869 in Pitt County, North Carolina.

In the 1870 census of California township, Pitt County: farmer Wash Fields, 35; wife Julia, 35; and children Haywood, 10, Mary, 4, and Jane, 1.

In the 1880 census of Cross Roads township, Wilson County: farmer Washington Fields, 30; wife Julia, 35; and children Renda, 12, Penninah, 11, Jane, 9, Christany, 8, London, 6, William, 5, and twins Isaac and Jacob, 3.

In the 1900 census of Cross Roads township, Wilson County: farmer Washington Fields, 60; wife Julia, 53; daughters Chrischanie, 25, Amanda, 15, and Lutory, 10; grandson Peter, 10; and granddaughters Julia, 5, and Lillie, 7 months.

In the 1910 census of Cross Roads township, Wilson County: farmer Washington Fields, 68; wife Julia, 70; grandson Peter J., 18; and granddaughters Julia A., 14, and Mary Lilly, 9.

In the 1920 census of Cross Roads township, Wilson County: farmer George W. Fields, 65; wife Julia M., 70; daughter Christina, 48; and grandson Willie, 10.

Julia Fields died 20 June 1924 in Cross Roads township, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was 102 years old; was married to Wash Fields; was born in Greene County, N.C., to Peter Woodard and Renda Woodard; and was buried in a family cemetery. William Fields was informant. 

Washington Fields died 7 February 1925 in Cross Roads township, Wilson County. Per his death certificate, he was 115 years old; was a widower; was born in Wilson County; and was buried in a family cemetery. Ira Barnes was informant.

Christchana Allen died 20 May 1944 near Lucama, Cross Roads township, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was born 10 April 1876 in Wilson County to Washington Fields and Julia [maiden name unknown]; was the widow of William Allen; and was buried in Lamon cemetery near Lucama. Julia Fields Rountree was informant.

Amanda Lipscombe died 27 December 1967 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born October 1873 in Wilson County to Washington Field and Julia [maiden name unknown]; worked in farming; and was buried at Mary Grove cemetery. Lessie Lipscombe of Wilson was informant.

Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.