Month: August 2024

Odd Fellows parade the streets.

Wilson Times, 22 October 1897.

A good time was had by all, but, 127 years later, so many questions….

  • who were the Odd Fellows lodge members in 1897? the officers?
  • who made up the lodge’s band?
  • what were the “entertainments of various kinds”?
  • which “Woodard’s warehouse”? The 1897 Sanborn maps of Wilson show Woodard Brothers Prize Houses on (or just off) South Street below Goldsboro — one located at the approximate spot of today’s Whirligig Park pavilion, and the other in the parking lot behind Casita Brewing. Woodard, Bobbitt & Company also owned a warehouse and a prize house in what is now the whirligig block.

The testimony concerning Officer Cooper.

In July 1915, Howard Barnes swore out a warrant against a police officer for striking him during an arrest. The Times reported some confusing jurisdiction and procedural matters and identified charges against Barnes himself — public drunkenness (to which he pleaded guilty) and resisting arrest. The paper then laid out the testimony concerning “Officer Cooper.” 

Howard Barnes was admittedly drunk and wandering from one cathouse to another in Wilson’s red light district. (These establishments were staffed by white sex workers for white clients.) He sat down to rest on the steps of “the colored Episcopal church,” Saint Mark’s, which stood at South and Lodge Streets. Then (or maybe before then — the timeline is hard to follow) Barnes stumbled around on the railroad tracks, perhaps falling and hitting his head. At some point, he crossed paths with Officer Cooper — and “Crazy Pete.” Cooper beat Barnes bloody. Or so Barnes claimed. Saint Mark’s rector, Rev. Robert N. Perry, was called to the stand. His testimony was notably circumspect. He “heard loud talking and heard two or three licks. Sound[ed] as if slaps with open hand. Went to door and saw officer going with Barnes.” In other words, he did not actually see what happened. Staying out of white folks’ business was a cultivated talent among African-Americans of the day. 

Wilson Daily Times, 9 July 1915.

Funeral Program Friday: Etta Bullock McAllister (1909-2002).

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In the 1910 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: George Bullock, 48; wife Ella, 39; and children Sallie A., 20, George, 17, Lovey, 15, Isaac, 13, Bettie, 12, Rosa, 9, Charlie, James, Etta, and Effie, .

On 14 October 1926, Henry Woodard, 18, of Toisnot township, Wilson County, son of Louis and Edie Woodard, married Etta Bullock, 18, of Toisnot township, daughter of George and Ella Bullock, in Elm City. Church of God minister A.J. Bowman performed the ceremony.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Eugene McAllister, 33; wife Ella, 29; and children Eugene, 4, and Yvonne, 8 months.

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Eugene McAllister, 42, truck driver for auto body manufacturing company; wife Etta, 39; children Eugene Jr., 13, Shirley, 12, Yvonne, 11, Annie D., 10, Alfred, 4, and Nathaniel, 3; and lodger Charlie L. Bullock, 35.

Eugene McAllister died 16 March 1963 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 12 May 1907 in Florence County, South Carolina, to Weldon McAllister and Beulah Smith; was married; worked as a laborer; and lived at 1506 Carolina Street. Informant was Etta McAllister, 1414 Atlantic Street.

Etta Bullock Woodard McAllister died 30 May 2002.

Lane Street Project: late summer at Odd Fellows.

Many thanks to LSP Senior Force member Castonoble Hooks, who has engaged Curtis Moore this week to assist in the clearing of dog fennel and other rambunctious weeds at Odd Fellows. Though our heavier work is done in winter and spring, without summer maintenance, the cemetery would quickly slide back into wilderness. 

We need your help. Please plan to volunteer during Season 5, and encourage your friends, family, coworkers, and other affiliates to join you. There are many ways to help beyond physical labor. Please contact us at lanestreetproject@gmail.com for opportunities.

Man walks eight miles to kill his neighbor.

Pittsburgh Courier, 8 February 1941.

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  • Herbert Bynum

Perhaps, in the 1940 census of Rocky Mount township, Edgecombe County, North Carolina: Herbert Bynum, 26, bottling company laborer, in the household of Mary Battle.

In 1940, Herbert Bynum registered for the World War II draft in Elm City, Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 7 June 1913 in Wilson County; lived in Sharpsburg, Wilson County; his contact was friend Claude Albritton; and he was unemployed.

On 1 September 1940, Herbert Bynum, 27, of Edgecombe County, son of Joe and Emma Bynum, married Mary Lee Ellis, 17, of Wilson County, daughter of Robert and Ida Ellis, at Herbert Bynum’s home in Number 14 township, Edgecombe County. Missionary Baptist minister J.W. Fuller performed the ceremony in the presence of Dempsey Batts and Sam Wright of Sharpsburg and Robert Ellis of Elm City.

Herbert Bynum died 9 February 1962 in Chapel Hill, Orange County, North Carolina. Per his death certificate, he was born 6 June 1913 to Joe Bynum and Mary McMillon; his usual residence was Sharpsburg, Nash County; he had never been married [sic]; and he was buried in Poplar Springs Cemetery, Sharpsburg.

[Note: a different Herbert Bynum, born about 1910, is found in Orange County records. He died in 1980.]

  • Adam Farmer

In the 1910 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: Edmond Farmer, 49; wife Elvia, 26; and children Tena, 16, Minnie, 14, Della, 12, Luke, 11, James, 8, Adam, 6, Lowd, 4, and Isabella, 3 months.

In the 1920 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: Ed Farmer, 57; wife Elva, 38; and children Lossie, 20, Minnie, 19, Mary Della, 18, Luke, 17, Adam, 15, Lode, 14, Isabla, 12, Lizzie, 10, Thad, 8, Ed B., 5, Annie, 3, and Ed Jr., 8 months.

In the 1940 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farm laborer Adam Farmer, 33; wife Dorothy, 24; children Vanzella, 2, and Frank Alton, 9 months; and mother-in-law Etta Ruffins, 70, widow.

In 1940, Adam Farmer registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 15 May 1916 in Edgecombe County, N.C.; lived at Route 2, Elm City; his contact was mother Elva Campbell Farmer, Scotland Neck, Halifax County, N.C.; and he worked for Raleigh Granite Company, Sims, N.C.

Adam Farmer died 27 January 1941 in Toisnot township, Wilson County, of “gunshot wound of chest.” Per his death certificate, he was born 13 May 1905 in Wilson County to Ed Farmer and Elvie Campbell; was married to Dicey Ward Farmer; resided in Sharpsburg, Wilson County; worked as a laborer; and was buried in Williams Cemetery. Load Farmer was informant.

B.W.A. Historical Marker Series, no. 13: Oakdale Cemetery.

In this series, which will post on occasional Wednesdays, I populate the landscape of Wilson County with imaginary “historical markers” commemorating people, places, and events significant to African-American history or culture.

We been here.

OAKDALE CEMETERY

Also known as Oakland or Oaklawn. City-owned African-American cemetery established c. 1895. Last burial in early 1920s. Nearby Cemetery Street named for site. In 1940, city disinterred graves and moved to newly opened Rest Haven Cemetery.

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I took this photo on New Street at the opening of an alley leading to an open field at the rear of former Elvie Street School. No evidence of Oakdale Cemetery remains on the site. The cemetery’s exact boundaries have not been determined, but evidence is strong that this area was within its territory. Wilson Cemetery Commission has no maps of Oakdale Cemetery or records of its burials. Nor are there records pertaining to the disinterment of bodies from Oakdale and reburial in Rest Haven. Read more about this forgotten burial ground here and here and here and here and here.

Mary McRae visits Laurinburg Institute.

New York Age, 28 August 1926.

“The campus” was Laurinburg Normal and Industrial Institute, which jazz pioneer Dizzy Gillespie attended in the mid-1930s. Founded in 1904, Laurinburg Institute is now a preparatory school.

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Perhaps, in the 1925 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: McRae Mary (c) h Powell cor Finch