Month: January 2022

Lane Street Project: an anniversary and a promise.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of my discovery in Odd Fellows cemetery of my great-grandmother Rachel Barnes Taylor‘s grave marker. I am again in Wilson unexpectedly, but that meant I was able to stop by to lend encouragement to the Senior Force and to meet two young men who stopped by out of curiosity.

Castonoble Hooks filled them in on the Lane Street Project and encouraged them to bring their friends to the next scheduled clean-up on February 12. I reeled off a few names of families buried in Odd Fellows. When I said “Artis,” the young man in the Rugrats sweatshirt looked up quickly. “I’m an Artis,” he said. I asked if he wanted to see the Artis headstones we’ve discovered, and he turned to his friend: “Cut the car off.”

I led the two back to the pile in which I found Rachel Taylor’s headstone, as well as those of Amelia Artis and her son Rufus Artis, who died in 1916 at age 16. Both agreed that more in the community should know about Lane Street Project’s work and promised to return next month.

Green Lassiter buys land in 1855.

Green Lassiter, a free man of color, bought just over fifty acres from William L. Farmer in December 1855 and registered the deed for his purchase about six weeks later. Wilson County formed in 1855, and this is the first known registered purchase of real property by a free person of color in the county. (The land Lassiter bought just north of the town of Wilson had been in Edgecombe County before Wilson County was established, and certainly free people of color had owned land — though they did not often register their deeds — in the parts of Edgecombe, Nash, Wayne, and Johnston Counties that later formed Wilson County.)

Lassiter had a close business relationship with William L. Farmer (who had been the administrator of Green’s father Hardy Lassiter‘s estate), and Farmer’s 1856 estate records show that he had extended Lassiter a number of small loans. 

Deed book 1, page 123, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office.

This Indenture made the 22nd day of December A.D. 1855 between Wm. L. Farmer of the first part & Green Lassiter of the second part all the county of Wilson State of North Carolina witnesseth that for and in consideration of the sum of Four Hundred Dollars the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged that said Wm. L. Farmer has given granted bargained sold & conveyed & by these presents does give grant bargain sell & convey unto the said Green Lassiter his heirs & assigns a certain tract or parcel of land lying in the County of Wilson adjoining the lands of Watson Rountree Washington Ruffin & others containing fifty & a half acres more or less to have & to hold the said Land with the said Green Lassiter his heirs & assigns and the said Wm. L. Farmer does hereby covenant & agree to for himself & his heirs executors & administrators to forever covenant & defend the title hereby conveyed to the said Green Lassiter his heirs & assigns forever In testimony whereof we hereunto set our hands & seals this the day & date above written       W.L. Farmer {seal}

Witness  Isaiah Farmer

Wilson County Feb 5th 1856 The Execution of the foregoing Deed is duly proven by the oath of Isaiah Farmer before me W. Barnes Clerk let it be Registered   W. Barnes Clerk

Received for registration this foregoing Deed the 6th day of Feb 1856  L.T. Sauls Registrar

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In the 1850 census of Edgecombe County: Hardy Laster, 73, wife Beady, 54, and children Mathew, 26, Silas, 26, Green, 25, Hardy, 21, and Rachel, 20; all described as mulatto. Hardy reported owning $650 of real property.

In the 1860 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Green Lassiter, 36, farmer, and his siblings Mary Lassiter, 24, Matthew Lassiter, 37, and Rachel Lassiter, 30, farm laborers. Green reported $750 in real estate.

Green Lassiter married Mary Ann Powell on 19 January 1860 in Wilson County at Dempsey Powell‘s residence. 

In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farm laborer Green Lassiter, 46; wife Mary, 31; and children Henry, 10, Sallie, 8, Hardy, 6, and John G., 1 month. Lassiter reported owning $500 in real property and $125 in personal property.

In the 1880 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farmer Green Lassiter, 55; wife Mary Ann, 42; and children Henry, 19, Sally Ann, 17, Hardy, 15, John Green, 10, Dempsey S., 5, and Mary C., 2.

Mary Mercer died 27 February 1912 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 31 years old; was born in Wilson County to Green Lester and Mary Powell; was married; and engaged in domestic work. Beadie Blackwell was informant.

Hardy Lassiter died 24 June 1928 in Pine Bluff, Jefferson County, Arkansas. Per his death certificate, he was 55 years old; was born in Wilson, N.C., to Green Lassiter; lived at 1601 Texas, Pine Bluff; was a laborer at a heading factory; and was married. Julius Lassiter was informant.

Dempsey Lassiter died 17 July 1946 at his home at 106 South East Street, Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 68 years old; was born in Wilson County to Green Lassiter and Mary Ann Powell; was engaged in farming; was married to Mary J. Lassiter; and was buried in Rountree [actually Odd Fellows] Cemetery.

Follow-up: the mystery of Julia Boyette Bailey’s grave.

I checked. Wilson County Register of Deeds office holds a volume, labeled “Grave Removals,” that contains records of every registered disinterment and/or reinterment in the county for the past 50 or so years. The volume contains no record of the removal of the graves of Julia Bailey, Andrew Terrell, or the 16-18 unknown others whose disinterment was publicized in 1998 ahead of the expansion of Buckhorn reservoir. As the headstones of Bailey and Terrell attest, the graves now lie at the edge or under the lake.

Here’s a detail from a 1974 plat map showing two tracts of Manuel and Sudie Boykin Sullivan’s land, a section of which held the cemetery. The map also shows the projected borders of the reservoir.

Detail from Plat Book 13, page 73.

A current aerial view reveals the striking accuracy of the projected edges of the lake.

This aerial shows the proximity of New Vester Missionary Baptist Church, to which the Baileys and Terrells belonged, to the approximate location of the drowned cemetery. Despite this, the notice of disinterment published in the Daily Times stated the graves would be moved to Bailey Cemetery in Nash County. As we see, this was never done.

Aerial images courtesy of Google Maps.

Zion Hall buys a lot.

Deed book 68, page 311, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office. 

On 2 January 1905, Orren and Hancy Best sold Caesar Moses and James Watson, trustees of Zion Hall No. 5952, Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, a 48 by 48-foot lot at the rear of their property “near the corporate limits of the Town of Wilson.” Orren and Hancy Best lived at the heart of Grabneck, and Zion Hall was one of at least eight African-American Odd Fellows lodges active in Wilson County in the early 20th century.

Silah and her daughter Lucinda mortgaged to pay the debts of James Viverette.

On 20 February 1855, James Viverett of Edgecombe County, North Carolina, conveyed to trustee James Wiggins “two Slaves one woman by the name of Silah & child name Lucinda three head of houses five head of cattle twenty five head hogs three goats all my featherbeds & furniture together with the whole of my house hold & kitchen furniture all my corn & blade fodder peas &c” as security for debts owed to six entities, most of which appear to have been mercantile outfits. If Viverett were to default, all the listed property would be sold at public auction to pay off his debt. Viverett and his creditors appear to have lived on either side of the Wilson County-Edgecombe County border in the Town Creek-Temperance Hall area.

One of the creditors, William J. Armstrong, a merchant in what is now Elm City, died two years later. His estate records show that “Scilla” and her unnamed children were among Armstrong’s enslaved property. Scilla and one unnamed child (presumably an infant born after the conveyance above) were given to Armstrong’s son-in-law Willie G. Barnes and Barnes’ wife (unnamed in the document, but Mary E. Armstrong Barnes.) A Lucinda, who may have been Scilla’s older child above, went to W.J. Armstrong’s son-in-law John H. Winstead and wife (who was Crissie Armstrong Winstead.) (Children over about age eight were listed individually in inventories and freely separated from their mothers.) Thus, in the space of two years, Scilla changed hands twice and was separated from a daughter who was probably no more than about age eight or nine.

The transaction is recorded in Deed Book 1, page 21, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office.

One hand reel.

The first page of the 1913 Sanborn fire insurance map contains a paragraph detailing the city’s fire protection. West of the tracks the fire department utilized horse-drawn equipment, including a steam fire engine, a hook and ladder truck with extension ladders, and 2500 feet of hose. East of the tracks, in “Colored Section” covering roughly sections 11, 12, most of 13, 22, and 23, there was one hand reel with 300 feet of hose — operated by the famous Red Hots.

Elderly trio loses all in fire.

Wilson Daily Times, 21 January 1942.

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In the 1870 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: farm laborer John Hegans, 31; wife Sarah, 20; children John, 3, Nancy A., 2, and Amos, 10; and Susan Hagans, 40, farm worker.

On 26 October 1889, Amos Hagans, 31, of Cross Roads township, son of John Hagans and Eliza Rich, married Jane Fields, 18, of Cross Roads township, daughter of Washington and Julia Fields, at Ben Binum’s in Cross Roads township, Wilson County.

On 21 February 1900, Amos Hagins, 39, son of John Hagins and Eliza Rich, married Lillie Richardson, 17, daughter of John and Mollie Richardson, at Mollie Richardson’s in Cross Roads township.

In the 1910 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: farmer Amos Hagans, 54; wife Lillie, 24; daughters Martha W., 5, and Mary E., 4; and hired man Oscar Talton, 13.

In the 1920 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: on Road to Horns Bridge, farmer Amos Hagan, 63; wife Lillie, 36; and daughters Martha, 14, and Mary, 13.

Martha McCoyie died 11 February 1923 in Cross Roads township, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was 17 years old; was married to Mack McCoyie; was born in Wilson County to Amos Hagans and Lillie Richardson; and was buried the family graveyard.

In the 1940 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: Amos Hagans, 83; wife Lillie, 54; and James Pate, 71. [Presumably, these are the three elderly people living in the house at the time of the fire. If so, Lillie Hagans’ age was exaggerated.]

Amos Heggins died 30 January 1943 in Springhill township, Wilson County. Per his death certificate, he was born in 1856 in Wilson County to John Heggins and Eliza Ricks; was married Lillie Heggins, age 56; and buried in Polly Watson cemetery near Lucama.

Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.

Rev. and Mrs. Hilliard welcomed to Saint John.

Wilson Daily Times, 19 January 1942.

William A. Hilliard’s World War II draft registration card, filed in Wilson County in 1942. Rev. Hilliard left Wilson in 1948 to assume the pastorate Saint Paul A.M.E. Zion Church.

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Bishop William Alexander Hilliard (1904-2008).

“Bishop William Alexander Hilliard, 103, retired bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, died March 13. He was reported to be the oldest living bishop in all of Methodism. The funeral was scheduled for March 22 at St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Detroit. Born in 1904 in Greenville, Texas, and educated in Kansas City, Mo., Hilliard received his higher education at Western University and Wayne State University. He was married for 71 years to Edra Mae Hilliard, who died in 1998. Called to the ministry in 1922, Hilliard was ordained a deacon in 1924 and an elder in 1927. He was pastor at more than nine different churches before becoming pastor at St. Paul A.M.E. Zion Church in Detroit. He was elected in 1960 as the 67th bishop in the AME Zion Church and retired from the episcopacy in 1980.” [Obituary unattributed, 21 March 2008]

Jet magazine, 20 October 1977.

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