Wilson Daily Times, 30 November 1945.
Month: November 2022
414 North Reid Street.
The one hundred eighty-fifth 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.
As described in the nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District: “ca. 1913; 1 story; Levi Peacock House; Queen Anne cottage with hip roof and double-pile plan; aluminum sided but retains distinctive patterned-tin roof; Peacock was a barber.” The patterned-tin roof has been replaced by ordinary shingles.
The original address of this house, as shown in the detail below from the 1922 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson, appears to have been 418. The drawing of the house shows that the porch wrapping around the Green Street elevation and the front extension were later modifications.
From the 1922 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson, page 31. Note that East Green Street dead-ended at North Reid at the time, and Queen Street did not yet exist.
Prior to the Peacocks, Henry and Julia Clark Tart owned this house. Henry Tart was a well-regarded drayman, and his headstone is one of the most imposing in Odd Fellows Cemetery.
Henry Tart registered for the World War I draft on 18 September 1918. He recorded his address as the corner of Green and Reid Streets, his birth date as 11 April 1884, and his occupation as self-employed in the transfer business. His wife Julia C. Tart was his next-of-kin, and he signed his card in a neat, well-spaced hand.
In the 1920 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Tart Julia (c) laundress h Reid cor E Green
In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Tart Julia (c) lndrs h 418 N Reid
In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Tart Julia (c) h 418 N Reid; also, Tart Olivia (c) student r 418 N Reid
Thomas Levi Peacock registered for the World War II draft in Wilson in 1946. Per his registration card, he was born 6 December 1928 in Wilson County; resided at 414 North Reid Street; his contact was Levi Harry Peacock; and he was a student at Darden High School.
Elouise R. Peacock died 15 June 1951 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 4 July 1906 in Wilson to Etta Fain; was a public school teacher; was married; and resided at 414 North Reid Street. Informant was Jeuetta Anderson.
The front room modification. Wilson Daily Times, 27 April 1962.
Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, November 2022.
A big contest of songs!
Washington, D.C.’s Heavenly Gospel Singers performed at Reid Street Community Center in October 1945.
Wilson Daily Times, 18 October 1945.
Good Samaritans and Daughters of Samaria.
The first quarter of the twentieth century may have been the hey-day of fraternal and benevolent societies in Wilson’s African-American community. The 1908 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory listed the Grand United Order of Good Samaritans and Daughters of Samaria, which rented meeting space at Mount Hebron Masonic Lodge every Tuesday evening.
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- L.A. Moore — Lee A. Moore.
- Ella Overstreet — in the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on “N.&S.” [Norfolk & Southern Railroad], gardner Amos Whitley, 57, widower, and daughter Ester, 16, servant; daughter Blanch Hagins, 20, tobacco factory laborer, and her children Nettie B., 2, Pearl, 1, and Gladis, 0. Also [apparently in the other half of a duplex], Thomas Overstreet, 43, railroad laborer, and wife Ella, 29, laundress.
- Samuel Gay
- William Washington — in the 1908 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Washington Wm (c) lab h 307 Moore
Mother Emma F. Winstead of Saint Luke F.W.B. Church.
Emma Ford Winstead (1891-1950).
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On 21 July 1917, Emma Ford, 22, of Stantonsburg, daughter of Smith and Mary Ford, married Walter Winstead, 20, of Stantonsburg, son of James and Eliza Winstead, in Wilson.
In the 1920 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farm tenant Walter Winstead, 23; wife Emma, 24; and daughter Anlizer, 2.
In the 1930 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farmer Walter Winstead, 39; wife Emma, 30, washwoman; and children Anna Liza, 12, Nancy B., 10, Clara, 8. Walter L., 6, Milton, 5, Clarence, 3, and Willie, 1.
In 1942, Walter Lee Winstead registered for the World War II in Wilson County, North Carolina. Per his registration card, he was born 12 October 1924 in Wilson County, N.C.; lived in Stantonsburg; his contact was his mother Emma Winstead; he worked “helping father on farm,” and had a scar on his right cheek.
In the 1950 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farmer Walter Winstead, 45; wife Emma, 50; and children Nancy, 28, Walter, 23, Clarence, 20, Willie, 19, Lois, 18, Jessie, 10, and William, 6.
Photo courtesy of Saint Luke Free Will Baptist Church, Stantonsburg. Thank you!
The death of George Sharp.
George Sharp, a 17 year-old boy with intellectual disabilities, died after being struck by train in Wilson in June 1913. I have not been able to discover more about the incident.
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In the 1900 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farmer Daniel Sharp, 58; wife Lucindy, 25; and sons Joseph L., 6, George W., 4, and James H., 2.
The obituary of Magnolia Batts, member of Flat Rock Disciples.
Wilson Daily Times, 20 November 1948.
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Magnolia Batts died 19 November 1948 on Oldfields township, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was born 1 August 1898 in Wilson County to Jesse Winstead and Susie Moore; was widowed; and was engaged in farming.
Lane Street Project: Season 3.
Nine opportunities to make a difference.
Burial in “Round Tree.”
Laura Williams Sutton was born in Nash County and died in Farmville, Pitt County, in 1930, but her body was brought to Wilson, where she had lived for decades, for burial in Rountree Cemetery.
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On 21 March 1906, William Sutton, 27, of Wilson, son of Providence and Marguret Sutton, married Laura Williams, 24, of Wilson, at the Graded School. Free Will Baptist minister John Steward performed the ceremony.
William Sutton registered for the World War I draft in Wilson County in 1918. Per his registration card, he was born 30 June 1878; lived at 620 Stantonsburg Street; worked as a laborer for Southern Oil Mill; and his nearest relative was wife Laura Sutton.
In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Robinson [Robeson] Street, oil mill laborer Willie Sutton, 41; wife Laura, 37; and daughter Dora, 2; boarders Fannie Brown, 18, private nurse; Willie Taylor, 19, oil mill laborer; Geneva Jones, 20, cook; and Nelson Thompson, 20, oil mill laborer; and roomer Sadie Hardy, 40, tobacco factory laborer.
Laura Sutton died 23 June 1930 in Farmville, Pitt County. Per her death certificate, she was born 15 December 1888 in Nash County to Jake and Kizzie Williams; was married to Willie Sutton; and was buried in “Round Tree” Cemetery, Wilson.
Schoolhouse “I do.”
Well into the twentieth century, African-American couples married overwhelmingly at an office of a justice of the peace or the home of a relative. However, on 21 March 1906, as carefully noted a Wilson County marriage register, William Sutton and Laura Williams tied the knot at Wilson’s Colored Graded School. Free Will Baptist minister John Steward performed the ceremony, and Charles Best, Charley Dawson, Minnie Sutton, and Henry Garnett.
