Dr. Boisey O. Barnes was administrator of his mother Della Hines Barnes‘ estate.
Like her sons William Hines and Walter S. Hines, Della Hines Barnes owned multiple tenant houses in Wilson, and monthly rents from and sales of those properties made up the estate’s receipts from January 1936 to June 1937.
A few hundred dollars in disbursements went to repairs and upkeep of Barnes’ properties — water bills, paint, plumbing, electrical, insurance, lumbers, carpenters. The estate paid $100 to Cobb Marble Works for the lovely marker that still stands at Odd Fellows Cemetery’s highest point (and inspired Lane Street Project’s logo) and $100 for “balance on funeral expenses,” which probably went to C.H. Darden & Son. Finally, Della Hines Barnes’ five heirs — sons William and Walter Hines and Boisey and Dave Barnes and granddaughter Charmaine T. White — equally shared a little over $4000 cash. Equivalent to about $90,000 in 2024 money, Barnes’ estate represented a remarkable accumulation of wealth by a woman born into slavery.
Della Hines Barnes’ headstone in Odd Fellows Cemetery.
Wilson County, North Carolina, Property Settlement Records 1932-1937, http://www.familysearch.org; photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, May 2023.