News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), 21 May 1921.

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Lenoir County native Walter E. Flanagan sat for state embalmers’ examination in May 1921, as did Wilson’s Columbus E. Artis. Per the website of W.E. Flanagan Memorial Funeral Home, Flanagan established a funeral home on Second Street in Greenville, North Carolina, that same year. Artis went into business with Amos Batts for a few years, but in 1925 joined forces with Flanagan to form the short-lived undertaking establishment in Wilson.

The 1925 Wilson city directory carries an entry for ARTIS & FLANAGAN (C E Artis, W E Flanagan) funeral directors 563 E Nash — phone 1183.

Detail from death certificate of Dorothy Lee Simms, age 7, who died 25 June 1925 in Wilson.

Artis and Flanagan seemed to have parted company within a year.