Month: March 2024

Dawson nuptials in Norfolk.

The New Pittsburgh Courier covered the 1947 wedding of A.D. and Lucy Hill Dawson‘s granddaughter Wilhelmina Elaine Dawson to Robert L. Smith in Norfolk, Virginia. The bride’s father, Alexander D. Dawson Jr., migrated from Wilson to Norfolk around 1915.

New Pittsburgh Courier, 28 June 1947.

  • Alexander D. Dawson

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: restaurant cook Alexander Dawson, 50; wife Lucy, 49; and children Sophie,  25, school teacher, Mattie, 23, stenographer, Virginia, 19, school teacher, Lucile, 17, Alexander, 15, Clarence, 13, Augusta, 11, and Arlander, 1.

In the 1912 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory Dawson Alex D Jr (c) barber h 505 E Vance

In 1917, Alexander Dawson registered for the World War I draft in Norfolk, Virginia. Per his registration card, he was born 26 July 1894 in Wilson, North Carolina; lived at 363 Queen Street, Norfolk; was single and had one child; and worked as a barber for J.H. Jackson, Norfolk.

In the 1920 census of Norfolk, Virginia: journeyman barber Alexander Dawson, 25, and wife Madie, 23.

In the 1930 Norfolk, Virginia, city directory: Dawson Alex D (c; Maddie) barber Terminal Barber Shop h 432 Lewis

  • Cora Fitch and son Jerome Fitch

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 516 Lodge, letter carrier Milton Fitch, 30; wife Cora, 31; children Jerome, 7, Milton, 3, Patricia, 2, and Ernestine and Christine, born the previous December; father-in-law Walter Whitted, 58; and mother-in-law Helen Whitted, 56, 6th grade school teacher.

  • Eva Hines

Probably, in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 303 Elba Street, Eva Hines, 50, household servant; son Charlie, 21, yard boy; and daughter Henrietta, 13, shared a household with Louis Hines Jr., 21, whiskey storage loader; wife Dolly M., 19, tobacco stemmer; and daughter Martha L., 6 months.

Studio shots, no. 238: Nora Williams Battle.

Nora Williams Battle (1883-1958)

In the 1900 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: widower Levi Williams, 55, widower, and children Maggie, 18, Norah, 16, James, 14, Joseph, 12, Arthur, 10, Walter, 8, Hattie, 6, and Ora, 4.

William Battle, 36, married Nora Williams, 22, in Wilson County on 4 November 1908 in Wilson. Primitive Baptist minister Jonah Williams performed the ceremony in the presence of Dempsey Lassiter, Harvey Mercer, and Jessie Whitehead.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 609 East Green Street, William Battle, 43; wife Nora, 30; and children Ester, 12, Jessie, 9, William Jr., 7, Aurtha L., 4, and Walter E., 1; and roomers William, 57, widower, and Mary Christmas, 24.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 609 East Green, widow Nora Battle, 49, washing; daughter Esther Moye, 30, widow, tobacco factory stemmer; and seven other families.

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 608 East Green, downstairs, widow Nora Battle, 65; son Jessie Battle, 35, cook; daughter Ester Moye, 37, widow, cook; grandchildren Fred Jr., 18, cook, Cornelius, 16, and William A. Moye, 13; and lodgers Arthur Cobb, 59, and Sally Phillips, 75.

Nora Elizabeth Battle died 4 March 1958 at her home at 701 Viola Street in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 10 February 1890 in Edgecombe County, N.C., to Levi Williams and Harriett Bullock and  was a widow.

Photo courtesy of Ancestry.com user PHILLYEVANS44.

Historic Black Business Series, no. 15: Jack Williamson’s blacksmith shop.

The 1872 map of Wilson shows Jack Williamson‘s blacksmith shop on Tarboro Street, west of Barnes Street. The approximate location is now a parking lot.

Williamson, born enslaved in the Rock Ridge area, came to Wilson shortly after Emancipation. His wife, Ann Jackson Williamson, learned blacksmithing and horseshoeing from him and worked alongside him and their son Charles Williamson.

Jack Williamson died in 1899.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, March 2024.

The death of T/5 Thomas Jones, Jr.

Wilson Daily Times, 5 March 1945.

——

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Tom Jones, 54, laborer, born in Ohio; wife Jannie, 39, born in Georgia; children Luburta, 22, Winsor, 18, Willie, 16, Oscar, 14, Annie, 11, Tom Jr., 5, and Acy B., 1; and grandson James Moore, 6.

In 1942, Thomas Jones Jr. registered for the World War II draft. Per his registration card, he was born 25 December 1923 in Wilson, N.C.; lived at Baily Road, Dorchester, Massachusetts, then 215 Pine Street, Cambridge, Mass., then 426 Pine Street, Cambridge, then care of John S. Isaacs, Ellendale, Delaware; his contact was Henrietta Whitlock, 211 Pine Street, Cambridge; and he worked for E.T. Webb, Janesville, Virginia.

On 16 October 1950, H.M. Fitts applied for a military headstone for Thomas Jones Jr. Per the application, Jones’ rank was Technician 5 and he served in the 810th Amphibious Truck Company. He was born 25 December 1923 and died 5 March 1944 and was buried in Rest Haven Cemetery.

Where we worked: livery stables, hostlers, and horseshoers.

Recent demolition in the 200 block of South Goldsboro has exposed this ghost sign for J.Y. Buchanan’s horse shoe repair shop.

When my paternal grandmother’s family arrived in Wilson circa 1905, two found work at Jefferson D. Farrior‘s livery stable in the 200 block of Tarboro Street. Farrior, in fact, gave Jesse Henderson his lifelong nickname, Jack, to distinguish the younger man from his uncle, Jesse A. Jacobs Jr. The care of horses was vital work well into the twentieth century, and this running list memorializes African-American livery stable owners and workers, hostlers, and horseshoers who worked in downtown Wilson.

  • Georgia W. Aiken, livery stable manager, 1920
  • John H. Aiken, livery stable owner, 1908; Crockett & Aiken, 1914
  • Robert Austin, hostler, 1908
  • James Barnes, horseshoer, Stallings & Riley, 1928
  • Cary Battle, horseshoer, J.Y. Buchanan, 1922
  • Charles Battle, blacksmith and horseshoer, 1896
  • William Best, hostler, 1908; stableman, J.H. Akins [Aiken], 1912
  • Mark Bullock, hostler, 1908
  • William Bullock, hostler, 1908
  • William Bullock, livery stable owner, 1908
  • Nick Chambers, employee, Wilson Livestock Company, 1918
  • Alexander Crockett, Crockett & Aiken, 1914
  • George Farmer, hostler, T.R. Lamm, 1908
  • Harvey Fox, horseshoer, 1912
  • Isaac Hagins, stableman, Maynard Livery & Transfer, 1912
  • James Hardy, livery employee, 1912
  • John Hardy, livery stable owner, Hardy & Holland, 1908
  • Theodore Hargrave, horseshoer, J.Y. Buchanan, 1916
  • George Hawkins, stable boy, Ed Dillard, 1917
  • Jesse Henderson, employee, Jefferson D. Farrior, 1910s
  • Thomas Holland, livery stable owner, Hardy & Holland, 1908
  • Frank Istine, horseshoer, I.J. Young, 1912
  • Jesse A. Jacobs Jr., employee, Jefferson D. Farrior, 1910s
  • Frank Jenkins, horseshoer, Holmes & Boykin, Centre Brick Warehouse, 191-
  • Sam Johnson, laborer, J.J. Clark’s stable, 1917
  • Thomas Joyner, stableman, 1912
  • Zollie Joyner, hostler, 1908
  • James H. Knight, horseshoer, J.Y. Buchanan, 1918
  • Fletcher Lee, horseshoer, J.Y. Buchanan, 1916
  • Almus Lovett, horseshoer, G.T. Purvis, 1916
  • John L. McKinley, stablehand, E.L. Hawkins, 1918
  • John Norfleet, stableman, L.J. Herring, 1916
  • Washington Pitt, horseshoer, 1908
  • Fred Pope, stable boy, Stantonsburg Livestock Company, 1917
  • Ed Underwood, sales stables, Ed Dillon, 1918
  • Braswell R. Winstead, livery stable owner, 1908
  • John Yancey, hostler, 1908
  • Henry Young, horseshoer, C.C. Culpepper, 1918

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, March 2024.

The obituary of Pfc. Alleyne R. Foster.

Wilson Daily Times, 23 March 1945.

——

In the 1940 census of Goldsboro, Wayne County, N.C.: laundress Mary M. Foster, 62, and children Edward P., 30, filling station attendant, Annie L., 23, life insurance cashier, and Alleyne R., 18, drugstore soda jerker. [To read about Richard A.G. Foster, see here and here, among other posts.]

In 1942, Alleyne Russell Foster registered for the World War II draft in New Haven, Connecticut. Per his registration card, Foster was born 12 July 1921 in Morehead City, N.C.; lived at 11 Charles Street, New Haven, Connecticut; his contact was the Methodist parsonage; and he worked for Majestic Laundry, corner of Ashmun and Lock Streets.

On 22 December 1943, Alleyne R. Foster, 22, of Chanute Field, Illinois, son of Walter S. and Mary Maude Foster, married Clyde Joan Dickerson, 22, of Wilson, daughter of Fred and Almeter Dickerson. C.L. Darden applied for the license, and A.M.E. Zion minister W.A. Hilliard performed the ceremony in Wilson.

The Edwin Barnes cemetery.

We’ve spoken here and here and here of the plantation of Dr. Edwin Barnes, whose house sat near the intersection of modern Old Stantonsburg Road and Fairfield Dairy Road near those of his brother William Barnes and relative Wiley Simms. (Gen. Joshua Barnes was another brother.)

Edwin Barnes’ house was destroyed by fire in 2005. The sole trace of his tenure on the land is a small family cemetery tucked a few hundred feet from the home site under an enormous, lush boxwood. Here are buried Edwin Barnes, who died in 1885 at age 69; his wife Elizabeth Simms Barnes (1824-1875); and about a dozen assorted relatives.

But where are buried the dozens and dozens of men and women who worked Elias Barnes’ fields?  We know the locations of just one or two slave cemeteries in Wilson County. Unmarked or impermanently marked, these sites are forgotten and largely untraceable — plowed under or overgrown in the decades since the last burial.

Wherever the dead may rest, we honor and pledge to preserve their memory.

The cemetery rattles with dried stalks of dog fennel.

Edwin Barnes’ marble stele. The cemetery on this early spring day was weedy and unkempt, but shows signs of at least fitful cleaning.

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, March 2024.