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
- Billie Banlock, livery stable laborer, 1910
- 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.