Month: October 2024

Sissieretta Jones, the best known singer of her race, plays Wilson.

Trailblazing singer and entertainer M. Sissieretta Jones, known (to her discomfort and displeasure) as The Black Patti, brought her Troubadours to Wilson’s Lyceum Theatre in March 1911.

Wilson Times, 28 February 1911.

Wilson Times, 3 March 1911.

Wilson Times, 7 March 1911.

Learn about the incomparable M. Sissieretta Jones here.

Poster, “The Black Patti: Mme. M. Sissieretta Jones,” color lithograph, 1899, Prints and Photographs Division, United States Library of Congress.

A tribute to an ally and friend.

Wilson Daily Times, 31 October 1938.

South Carolina-born Russell L. Owings was a student at Duke University studying music and speech. He was only 23 when he died in a car crash. I can find no evidence that he ever lived in Wilson and am not sure what path led him to volunteer as a choral director  and voice coach at Saint John.

The obituary of Herman Taylor of New York City.

Wilson Daily Times, 12 October 1949.

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In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on East Nash Street, widow Lila Spicer, 50; daughter Mamie Taylor, 30, tobacco factory laborer; and grandchildren Ida, 13, Mildred, 11, James H., 9, Lila C., 7, Hermon, 5, and Bruce Taylor, 3; and roomer Henry Bullock, 25.

In the 1940 census of Manhattan borough, New York, New York: hat factory porter Herman Taylor, 24, lodger in the household of William Mitchell at 240 West 134th Street.

Herman Spicer Taylor registered for the World War II draft in 1940. Per his registration card, he was born 16 November 1915 in Wilson; lived in New York City; his contact was mother Mamie Taylor, 809 East Nash Street, Wilson; and he worked for Luther Smith.

Calvin Blount vs. Effie Blount.

On 9 July 1904, Calvin Blount, 67, of Wilson married Effie Hinnant, 28, of Lucama, in Wilson. Missionary Baptist minister William Baker performed the ceremony at Emma Barnes’ home in the presence of Moses Dupree, Washington Suggs, and Ben Wooten.

This May-December romance did not last. At May Term 1909, a Wilson County Superior Court judge granted Calvin Blount a divorce from Effie Blount on the grounds of adultery.

Orders & Decrees Volume 2; Wilson County Court Records 1904-1916, http://www.familysearch.org.

Another episode in the annals of voter suppression.

Wilson Daily Times, 4 June 1930.

Thirty-nine Black voters were hauled before Wilson County elections officials after their registrations as Democrats were challenged “because they are negroes and want to vote against Simmons.” Simmons was Furnifold M. Simmons, United States Senator and Father of Black Disenfranchisement. [There is a story behind this story that is surely worth telling. Who was organizing this strategy — if in fact Black voters were changing party affiliations in an attempt to thwart Simmons’ nomination?]

State vs. Spencer Gay.

To stave off responsibility for caring for poor women and their children, unwed mothers were regularly brought before justices of the peace to answer sharp questions about their circumstances.

On 4 September 1868, Ann Ruff admitted to Wilson County justice of the peace F.W. Taylor that she had given birth out of wedlock, and the child’s father was Spencer Gay. Taylor ordered that Gay be arrested and taken to a justice to answer Ruff’s charge.

The next day, Gay appeared before Taylor with his father Anthony Gay and James W. Davis and posted a two hundred-dollar bond to guarantee his appearance in court.

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  • Spencer Gay

On 9 August 1868, Spencer Gay, son of Anthony and Catherine Gay, married Adeline Barnes, daughter of Baalam and Jinny Barnes, in Wilson County.

In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farm laborer Spellman Moore, 24; wife Jane, 22; children William, 2, and Walter, 1 month; Adeline Gay, 20; and husband Spencer Gay, 20, farm laborer.

Spencer Gay is listed in the 1880 mortality schedule for Wilson, Wilson County, having died of consumption in February. He was a brick yard laborer.

  • Ann Ruff

On 4 October 1884, William Dailey, 45, married Ann Ruff, 31, in Wilson.

The Wilson County roots of Bishop J. Delano Ellis.

Bishop Jesse Delano Ellis II of the Pentecostal Church of Christ was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Jesse Lee Ellis, a migrant from Wilson County, North Carolina, and Lucy Mae Harris Ellis.

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In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 508 East Walnut Street, ice plant laborer Calvin Ellis, 33; wife Matha, 29; and son Jessie L., 10; plus roomers Wilson Webb, 47, a Contentnea Guano laborer, wife Victoria, 40, and daughter Minnie Webb, 2.

In the 1940 census 0f Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: domestic Martha Ellis, 39, widow; sister Lucy Lucas, 33; and son Jessie, 20, coal yard laborer. In 1935, Martha Ellis had lived in Atlantic City, New Jersey; Lucas, in Philadelphia; and Jesse Ellis in Wilson, North Carolina.

In 1940, Jesse Lee Ellis registered for the World War II draft in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Per his registration card, he was born 18 August 1919 in Wilson, N.C.; his contact was mother Martha Ellis; and he worked for the 1355th Company, Civilian Conservation Corps, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Jesse and Lucy Mae Ellis, presumably at their 1943 wedding in Philadelphia.

In the 1950 census of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Martha Ellis, 49, widow; son Jesse L. 30, stevedore on docks; daughter-in-law Lucy Mae, 21; and grandsons Jesse D., 5, James B., 1, and John C., born in November [1949].

In 1950, Jesse L. Ellis applied for World War II compensation in Pennsylvania. Per his application, he was born 18 August 1919 in Wilson; lived at 616 Mercy Street, Philadelphia; and his dates of service were 22 June 1942 to 26 March 1943.

Photo courtesy of Ancestry.com user Dawn Speaks. 

Back of the house at an oyster saloon.

Julius C. Rhodes and G.M. Smith were partners in Smith & Rhodes, a Goldsboro Street oyster bar, saloon, and billiard parlor. Rhodes died intestate in December 1886, setting off a battle for the equitable distribution of the business’ assets. Rhodes’ estate file contains pages and pages of testimony from employees, associates, and even his physician about Rhodes’ alcoholism, his excessive generosity, and the free withdrawal and commingling of funds that marked Smith & Rhodes’ affairs and offer a rare glimpse into the workings of a late nineteenth-century Wilson social space.

Rhodes lived in rooms at the rear of the store and took his meals in its restaurant. Full board cost $12.50 to $16 a month, but Samuel Farmer paid in firewood. Rhodes kept a private gaming room upstairs, which was not profitable. He gave away shots of whiskey on Sundays to regular customers — many showed up for “treats” after church. He also gave out loans from the cash drawer.

Among the witnesses were cooks Andrew Pearce and Burt Bowser. Pearce testified that Rhodes ate at the store, but only about one small meal day. (His mother often sent him chicken soup and pickles.) Smith did not eat there often, but ate more than Pearce when he did. Smith had a private family residence, and mostly ate at the restaurant during the busy season. [From other testimony, we know that was fall.] Pearce sometimes went to Smith’s house to get vegetables for the restaurant. The lamp oil and coal Rhodes used in his rooms came from the firm’s supplies.

Burt Bowser preceded Pearce as cook. His testimony was brief: he cooked special meals for Rhodes; Smith ate at the restaurant more often than Rhodes; and Smith sometimes supplied vegetables to the restaurant.

Peter Taylor was subpoenaed to testimony, but either did not appear or was not called. Dave Barnes is briefly named as someone who “kept” the gaming room. This may have been Dave Barnes who was later a porter at Briggs Hotel. Hilliard Ellis was named as owing a small debt to the firm. Rhodes’ widow and administrator Louisa Rhodes filed an account in March 1889 that noted a payment of $2.50 to barber Alfred Robinson and $1.50 to blacksmith Charles Battle.

Estate of J.C. Rhodes (1887), Wilson County Probate Estate Case Files, 1954-1959, http://www.familysearch.org.