Month: September 2023

Plantation House Series: David Williams house.

David Williams is best known for his work in the state legislature with General Joshua Barnes create Wilson County from parts of Edgecombe, Nash, Johnston, and Wayne Counties. Williams’ house was in Edgecombe County during his lifetime, but a boundary adjustment in 1883 shifted it into Wilson. His enormous plantation sprawled into both counties, however.

The David Williams house, 1980. It has since been demolished.

Per the National Register of Historic Places Inventory — Nomination Form for Upper Town Creek Rural Historic District, prepared by Kate Ohno in 1982, the house was built between 1845 and 1860. “This square two-story double-pile Greek Revival house is typical of the kind of plantation house popular with the prosperous planters of this area during the fifteen years before the Civil War.

Detail of ceiling medallion, 1980. “The most outstanding feature of the interior is, however, the elaborate plaster ceiling medallions and cornices. The hall boasts the most elaborate round medallion, while the parlor has a simpler round one and an elaborate plaster cornice.”

Despite the dozens and dozens of number of people David Williams enslaved, I have only been able to identify a handful by name. The 1830 will of Drewry Williams, which entered probate in 1831, included bequests to son David of a “Negro girl by the name of Rose one Negro boy by the name of Amos and one Negro man by the name of George.” David Williams was also bequeathed a one-third interest in three enslaved people — Pink, Nan, and Peter — after the death of his mother.

In the 1850 federal slave schedule of Edgecombe County, North Carolina, David Williams is listed with 17 enslaved people.

In the 1860 federal slave schedule of Edgecombe County, North Carolina, Williams reported an astonishing 128 enslaved people, making him one of the largest slaveholders in the area. The quarters on his plantation included 20 houses, none of which was standing at the time the house was nominated for the historic register.

On 13 August 1866, Preston Williams and Betty Petteway registered their 15-year cohabitation with a Wilson County justice of the peace. W.D. Petway was a close neighbor of David Williams, and the couple may have been enslaved on their adjoining plantations.

In the 1870 census of Joyners township, Wilson County: farmer Preston Williams, 46; wife Bettie, 34; and children Samuel, 17, Warren, 14, Rose, 11, William, 6, and Virginia, 2. On 18 August 1870, Dicey Petway, daughter of Bettie Williams, married Red[mond] Braswell, son of Preston Wilson, at Joyners township. [Braswell was the surname of another slaveholder who lived near Williams and Petway.]

A Google Maps aerial showing the former site of the David Williams house at A. (William D. Petway’s house was located at B. The Edgecombe County line runs parallel to and a couple of hundred feet east of Orchard Road.

200 Negro newspapermen expected for the A.&T. game!

Wilson Daily Times, 30 September 1939.

The Daily Times predicted hundreds of pressmen for a match-up between A.&T. and Virginia Union at Wilson’s Municipal (later Fleming) Stadium in October 1939. White fans were expected, too, and “the grandstand will be divided, the third base line half for white spectators and the first base section of the stands for colored fans.”

Studio shots, no. 223: Walter Harris.

Walter Harris (1917-1936).

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In the 1930 census of Bailey township, Nash County: Martha Harris, 32, widow, farmer, and children James W., 14, Walter, 12, Mary, 10, Rosa, 8, and Leroy, 7.

On 21 November 1932, Walter Harris, 15, of Nash County, N.C., married Maggie Cotton, 16, of Old Fields township, in Old Fields township, Wilson County.

Walter Harris died 28 September 1936 at Mercy Hospital, Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 19 years old; was born in Wilson County to William Harris and Martha Newsome; was married to Maggie Harris; worked in farming. Martha Cotton of Bailey, N.C., was informant; he was buried in Nash County.

Photograph courtesy of Ancestry.com user Neshele Godfrey. Detail shown here.

Wilson’s 2043 comprehensive plan.

The homepage of the website for Wilson’s 2043 Comprehensive Plan declares: “The City of Wilson is a place for innovation, ideas, and creativity. Wilson’s strengths lie in its welcoming community, arts and culture, and nationally recognized programs and infrastructure. In the coming decades, Wilson will be poised to harness growth from the Triangle and take advantage of its place in the region to continue to build a welcoming place for all.”

More: “The Comprehensive Plan is a roadmap that provides guidance on where and how a community will grow and change over a period of time. The City of Wilson uses this as a policy document to set priorities and make important land use and investment decisions. The 2043 Update will revise sections of the Wilson Growing Together: The 2030 Comprehensive Plan to reflect the changes that have occurred in the community in the past decade and to support a renewed vision for the future of the community. In some cases, issue areas will be added that are not part of the original 2030 Plan. …

“The updated Comprehensive Plan will address land use, development, transportation, public investment, and identify other community priorities. The Project Team, led by City of Wilson staff, was supported by local consultants at Clarion Associates and VHB. As part of this process, the City of Wilson gathered input from the community to guide the development of a renewed vision for Wilson.”

The image below is a detail from the Comprehensive Plan’s Future Land Use Map. The parcels shaded blue have been designated “institutional” for future land use zoning. “Institutional” land has “uses related to community services, such as fire stations, libraries, schools, civic buildings, water treatment plants, and the like.”

I placed the upper circle over Maplewood Cemetery, which is appropriately shaded blue. What is going on in the oval though?

Here’s a close-up of Bishop LN. Forbes Street. The blue blocks on the left represent various churches colored “institutional.” The blue block at the top is B.O. Barnes Elementary School. The smaller blue blocks below it are Rountree Missionary Baptist Church and the two halves of its cemetery on B.L.N.F. Street. Strangely, though, the other five cemeteries on the street are shaded maize, “2-4 units/acre (med-density residential),” and part of Odd Fellows is green, “agricultural residential (rural residential).” Huh?

Why would these cemeteries be marked for the same future use as the neighborhoods around them? An oversight? Nefarious design?

The City is holding two more Open Houses for the public to review and provide feedback on the draft Comprehensive Plan. Ask why Vick Cemetery and Odd Fellows Cemeteries and the other L.B.N.F. cemeteries are not “institutional.”

Thanks to Jon Wesley Mullins for bringing this to my attention!

[Update: 9/18/2023 — the map has been updated, and the Masonic, Hamilton, and Rest Haven Cemeteries are now blue! Vick remains in limbo, but we appreciate this start.]

Lane Street Project: in memory of infant Chapman-Adams (1929-1929).

I’ve spoken of the database I am developing of likely burials in Vick, Odd Fellows, and Rountree Cemeteries. My spreadsheet draws upon death certificates, obituaries, and other sources — most distressingly imprecise. The term “Rountree Cemetery” on these documents may refer to Vick, Odd Fellows, or Rountree. Some documents broadly refer only to burial in Wilson. However, in the absence of official burial records for any of the cemeteries, we make do.

This series honors the men, women, and children who never had grave markers, or whose stones have been lost or stolen or destroyed. Graves believed to be in Vick Cemetery, which the City of Wilson stripped of remaining markers in 1996, will be identified with a Vick Cemetery logo.

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A stillborn female was born 23 September 1929 in Wilson, Wilson County, to Charlie Chapman of Wilson County and Adlaide Adams of Greene County, North Carolina. Per her death certificate, she resided at 910 Roberson Street and was buried in Rountree Cemetery. Eliza Woodard was midwife at her birth, and Estella Adams was informant for the death certificate.

Darden graduates attend college.

Seventy-five years ago today, the Daily Times reported Darden High School graduates were attending college at Howard University, N.C. College [North Carolina Central University], A&T College [North Carolina State A&T University], Shaw University, Johnson C. Smith University, Barber-Scotia College, Virginia State University, West Virginia State University, Saint Augustine’s College [now University], Temple University, Cortez Peters Business School, and Winston-Salem Teachers College [now Winston-Salem State University.]

Wilson Daily Times, 15 September 1948.

Important sale.

Tarborough Southerner, 2 December 1854.

Both Jonathan D. Rountree and William D. Thorne were merchants in Wilson. When Thorne failed to repay a large loan, Rountree forced the sale of, it appears, everything Thorne had, including “three young Negroes.” Day in, day out, the lives of enslaved people were upended by their owners’ bad decisions.

Lane Street Project: a 1995 aerial view of Vick Cemetery (or: aerial imagery shall set you free, Wilson).

And another one, this time from 1995. Lane Street (now Bishop L.N. Forbes Street) has been paved. What else can we see, besides “the devil is a lie”?

The upper left quadrant:

The wooden poles are clearly visible on the north side of the street and have been joined by a single wooden pole on the south side. That pole is still there, anchored by one guy wire. No sign of the steel poles yet. At (1) and encircled throughout are the headstones still standing after Vick was cleared of overgrowth in 1995. At (2), Lane Street is paved here. The dark line running parallel to the edge of the blacktop is the shadow of the higher southern edge of the ditch bank. Near the right side of the image, the shadow widens. This is high point of this edge of the cemetery. At (3), what appear to be tread marks from the heavy equipment used to clear the site. At (4), the sole exposed vault cover remaining in Vick today. (Actually, the sole grave marker of any kind.)

The upper right quadrant:

The cut in the ditch bank is a reliable landmark in Vick Cemetery. At (1), the access point for the “clean-up” of the cemetery. It’s now the entrance and parking lot. And look at Odd Fellows Cemetery! The trees up front, the clearing in the middle — both surprises to those who know its current state. At (2), the old Odd Fellows driveway. At (3), the short ditch between Odd Fellows and Rountree Cemeteries. At (4) and (5), two drainage ditches that once creased the east side of the cemetery. Though both were filled in when the site was graded, (4) is still detectable as a dark green stripe across the cemetery’s surface. At (6), several headstones are visible. At (7), this may be the pile of dumped concrete and other trash that we found in Odd Fellows near the fence between the cemeteries. At (8), headstones visible in Odd Fellows. The one directly below the 8 may be Henry Tart‘s obelisk.

The lower right quadrant:

At (4) and (5), the tail ends of the ditches identified above. 4 was deep enough to impact the placement of graves, as seen in the detail from ground-penetrating radar below. New South (incorrectly, I believe) concluded the ditch, partially detected and highlighted in yellow, was a buried path. I’ve extended its course with a dotted yellow line. At (6), note that there’s still no cut-through for the natural gas pipeline.

The lower left quadrant:

Graves and headstones clearly visible. Compare the area within the square to this detail from the GPR report:

Many thanks to Olivia Neeley for sharing this photograph, which was obtained via a public records request made to Wilson County GIS. (Kudos to an agency that understands its obligations under the law!)

Rules and regulations for patrollers.

Prior to Wilson County’s formation in 1855, much of its present-day territory lay in Edgecombe, including everything east of a line running a couple of miles inside present-day Interstate 95 and north of Contentnea Creek. In 1844, the Tarboro’ Press published “Rules and Regulations to be Observed by the Patrollers of the several Districts in the County of Edgecombe.” Slave patrols, known as patrollers or patty rollers, were government-sanctioned groups of armed men charged with monitoring and enforcing discipline upon enslaved people.

Edgecombe County patrollers operated under a set of comprehensive and precise rules. Tasked with visiting ever house inhabited by enslaved people at least once a month, they rode at night. They searched for firearms and “seditious publications” and kept a sharp lookout for any enslaved person out and about more than a mile from home. They could beat people — up to 15 lashes — for having too much fun. On Sundays, their job was to make sure enslaved people were not “strolling about” enjoying their one day off or selling trinkets for pocket change. Patrollers ran down runaways and, if met with “insolence,” could drop a whip 39 times across a black back. They were compensated for their services.

Tarboro’ Press, 9 March 1844.

Lane Street Project: Vick Cemetery update via Zoom.

Lane Street Project invites you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Vick Cemetery Update
Time: Sep 15, 2023 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84301549551

Meeting ID: 843 0154 9551

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