Month: January 2024

City Workers Club brings cheer to the elderly.

Wilson Daily Times, 18 January 1943.

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  • Joshua H. Neal —  Joshua H. Neal died 29 September 1947 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 6 October 1883 in Franklin County, N.C., to Abraham Neal and Louisa Brodie; was married to Vera Neal; worked as a laborer; and lived at 1319 East Nash Street.
  • John C. Dancy — John Christopher Dancy died 28 March 1972 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 10 October 1900 to John Dancy and Elizabeth May; was married to Pennie Mills Dancy; was a retired city laborer; and lived at 702 Suggs Street.
  • N.J. Jeffreys — Nathan Jefferies died 5 June 1952 at Mercy Hospital, Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 12 April 1886 in Raleigh, N.C.; was laborer; was a widower; and lived at 1307 East Nash Street. Janie Jefferies was informant.
  • Marcellus Farmer — Marcellus Farmer Sr. died 28 November 1964 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 9 April 1899 to Morrison Farmer and Gracie Sharpe; was a widower; and worked as a laborer.

Physician’s house bombed.

In January 1952, in the midst of the N.A.A.C.P.’s push to integrate Cairo, Illinois, schools, the home of Dr. Urbane F. Bass; his wife, Wilson native Mary Della Wilkins Bass; and their four children was rocked by a dynamite blast. No one was injured, but the rear of the house was heavily damaged. The bombing followed burning crosses set as a warning to Black parents seeking to transfer their children to all-white Cairo schools.

Clinton Daily Journal and Public Record, 30 January 1952.

Within days, the police arrested and charged five white men with the crime. A year later, used car salesman Robert Hogan pleaded guilty and received a one-year suspended sentence. Charges against the rest were dismissed.

The Patriotic Order of Ethiopians of America, Inc.

Asheville Citizen-Times, 24 January 1923.

One hundred years ago, the North Carolina Secretary of State awarded a charter to the Patriotic Order of Ethiopians of America, Inc., Wilson. Other than an award to Ben Mincey for bravery, I have found no further mention of the P.O.E.A., and the Secretary of State’s office has no record of the charter. (I’ve added them to the very long list of late nineteenth/early twentieth-century Wilson County African-American fraternal organizations.)

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  • John Alex Mebane

John A. Mebane was the son of Union soldier, educator and Reconstruction-era state legislator George Allen Mebane and Jennie Sanderson Mebane.

In the 1910 census of Elizabeth City township, Pasquotank County, North Carolina: house painter J.A. Mebane, 25; wife Rachel, 24; and children Jennie A., 6, Edmond A., 3, and Julian H., 1.

In 1918, John Alexander Mebane registered for the World War I draft in Perquimans County, North Carolina. Per his registration card, he was born 24 July 1884; was a minister at First Colored Baptist Church; and his nearest relative was Rachel Mebane.

Hattie Esther Mebane was born 10 May 1918 in Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C., to Rev. John A Mebane, 34, of Windsor, N.C., and Rachel Snowden, 33, of Snowden, N.C. She was the eighth of eight children.

Robert A. Mebane was born 10 July 1920 in Crawford township, Currituck County, N.C., to John A Mebane, 34, of Hertford County, N.C., and Rachel Snowden, 33, of Currituck County. He was the ninth of nine children.

In the 1920 census of Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C.: Baptist minister John A. Mebane, 33; wife Rachael, 34; and children Jennie A., 15, Edmund A., 13, Julian H., 11, Vivian B., 8, Myrtle M., 7, John A., Jr., 5, Margaret R., 3, and Ester B., 8 months.

Julian Mebane, The Normal Light, yearbook of Elizabeth City State Normal High School (1925).

On 12 June 1927, Julian H. Mebane, 23, of Elizabeth City, son of John A. and Rachel Mebane of Wilson, married Ollie McLaughlin, 19, of Zebulon, N.C., daughter of John W. and Julia McLaughlin of Zebulon.

In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Mebane Jno A Rev (c; Rachel) pastor Mt Sinai Missionary Baptist Ch h 1008 Woodard av. Also: Mebane Vivian B (c) student h 1008 Woodard av

In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Mebane Jno A Rev (c) H 308 Hackney

In the 1930 census of Manhattan, New York, New York: Rachel Mebane, 43, odd jobs house worker, and her children Vivian, 19, laundress, Myrtle, 18, restaurant waitress, John, 16, pin setter at bowling alley; Margaret, 13, Esther, 11, Robert, 9, and Omega, 2.

Walter Mebane was stillborn 6 August 1931 in Rocky Mount, N.C. Per his death certificate, he was born in Rocky Mount to John A. Mebane of Rocky Mount and Henrietta Foster of Wilson and was buried in Nash County.

William Allen Mebane was born 7 July 1933 in Tarboro, Edgecombe County, to John A. Mebane and Henrietta Foster.

Vivian Mebane died 30 March 1938 at Riverside Hospital, Bronx, New York. Per her death certificate, she was born 27 May 1910 to John Mebane and Rachel Snowden.

In the 1940 census of Tarboro, Edgecombe County, N.C.: church minister John A. Mebane, 54; wife Henrietta, 38, registered nurse; and children William A., 6, and Florence, 5.

Grace Mebane died 7 February 1940 in Tarboro, North Carolina. Per her death certificate, she was born 11 April 1926 in Petersburg, Virginia, to John Mebane of Bertie County, N.C., and Henrietta Foster of Wilson County; and was buried in Wilson, N.C.

Margaret Rachel Mebane died 18 November 1942 in Manhattan, New York, New York. Per her death certificate, she was born 30 September 1893 in North Carolina to Edmund and Hester Snowden; lived at 54 Morningside Avenue; and was married to John A. Mebane. [Surely, they were divorced. They were certainly long separated, and John Mebane had remarried.]

In the 1950 census of Tarboro, Edgecombe County, N.C.: painter John A. Mebane, 64; wife Heneretta A., 48, public health nurse; and daughter Florence Y., 14.

Henrietta Alline Foster Mebane died 2 June 1950 in Tarboro, Edgecombe County, N.C. Per her death certificate, she was born 24 August 1901 in North Carolina to Walter Foster and Nettie Young; worked as a nurse; was married; and was buried in Rountree Cemetery “near Wilson, N.C.” John A. Mebane was informant.

Rev. John A. Mebane died 27 December 1974 and was buried next to his wife Henrietta in Rest Haven Cemetery, Wilson. [Presumably, Henrietta Foster Mebane’s body was exhumed from the Foster family plot and re-interred in Rest Haven.]

  • W.E. DuBissette — this was surely Dr. Michael E. DuBissette, who practiced medicine in Wilson during this period.
  • Dan Rogers

Rooted in Faith: the 160 Year History of First African Baptist Church.

Not Wilson, but 25 miles down the road (and I’m sure with a Wilson link or two if I dug hard enough.) I hope to be able to take in this Wayne County Museum exhibit about venerable First African Baptist Church. Please add it to your Black History Month doings!

Methodist Episcopal church?

This little clapboard church appears on South Lodge Street, directly across from Imperial Tobacco, on page 9 of the 1913 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson. It was labeled “M.E. Church (Negro),” but which Methodist Episcopal church was it?

A look in the city directory only deepens the mystery. Here are the two Black Methodist churches:

The first church was today’s Saint John A.M.E. Zion Church. The second was today’s Saint Luke A.M.E. Church. Neither is the church on the map above.

Here’s the entry for Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church:

That seems close, but not quite. Saint Mark’s was in the next block of South Lodge just across South Street.

I’ll let you know if I figure this out.

George Farmer, barbecue.

This intriguing entry appears in the 1912 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory:

Did George Farmer own his own barbecue restaurant? (If so, where was it?) Was he a pit master?

In the 1880 census of Wilson township, Wilson County, we find farm laborer George Farmer, 28; wife Bettie, 25; and children Annie, 7, George, 3, and Mena, 8 months.

In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: teamster George Farmer, 51; wife Bettie, 46; and children George N., 21, Miner, 19, Aulander, 18, Willie, 17, Johney, 15, and Emma, 12.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Finch’s Rd, George Farmer, 78, livery laborer; wife Bettie, 62; and children John, 18, and Emma, 16. [There’s a 27-year discrepancy in George Farmer’s age over this ten-year period, and 16 years for Bettie Farmer. I’d wager their actual ages were closer to the 1900 designation. Finch’s Road, by the way, was described in the 1912 directory as the “continuation of Kenan at junction of Bynum.”  Today, this would be Kenan past Raleigh Road Parkway. More about this African-American neighborhood here.]

George Farmer appears to have died before 1920.

We salute George Farmer and honor his place in the pantheon of barbecue masters whose tradition Ed and Ryan Mitchell carry on!

The obituary of Margaret Barnes Watkins of Baltimore, Maryland.

Baltimore Afro-American, 22 January 1972.

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In the 1910 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: on Saratoga Road, Jesse Barnes, 37, farmer; wife Sarah, 31, public school teacher; and children Lucresia, 16, Ned, 14, Nancy, 12, Lemon, 11, Jessie Bell, 10, Maggie May, 7, and Ardenia, 5.

In the 1920 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: on Saratoga Road, farmer Jesse Barnes, 46; wife Sarah, 47; and children Ned, 23, Nancy, 22, Lemon, 20, Jessie Belle, 18, Maggie, 15, Ardenia, 13, Frank, 11, James, 6, and Mildred, 3.

In the 1930 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: on Powell Street, farmer Jessie R. Barnes, 55; wife Sarah, 56; and children Mildred, 16, James, 13, and Frank, 18; granddaughter Alma, 10; daughter Nancey Farmer, 30, and son-in-law Andrew Farmer, 29, truck driver for Wilson Sales Grocery.

In the 1930 census of Baltimore, Maryland: Margaret Watkins, 35, born in North Carolina, house work for private family, roomer in the household of Carrie White at 1124 Whatcoat Street.