Month: July 2025

Affidavits of good behavior, no. 3.

I’ve been hunting for digitized evidence of the trade of Wilson County slavers like Wyatt Moye, Robert S. Adams, Stephenton Page Jr., and Joshua Barnes in Aberdeen, Mississippi. I finally found some in a deed book dated 1847-1850. (Wilson County, of course, had not yet formed, but these and other traders lived or had lived in parts of Edgecombe, Nash, Wayne, or Johnston Counties that are now Wilson County.) These registered affidavits attest to the affiants’ personal acquaintance with an enslaved person who had been sent from North Carolina to Mississippi for further sale.

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Deed Record 13, page 640. Chancery Clerk’s Office, Monroe County, Mississippi.

Know all men by these presents that we Jesse Simpson and Isaac Williamson Citizens and free holders of the County of Nash and State of North Carolina do hereby certify that we are acquainted with a negro man named Abram aged about twenty three years old a Stout Strong well musselled boy about five feet two inches high and darke culler and cross eied, furthermore that said Slave has not been guilty or convicted of murder arson burglary or felony within our knowledge or belief in said County nor no other County.  /s/ Jesse Simpson, Isaac Williamson

Deed Record 13, page 640. Chancery Clerk’s Office, Monroe County, Mississippi.

Know all men by these presents that we Jesse Simpson and Isaac Williamson Citizens and free holders of the County of Nash and State of North Carolina do hereby certify that we are acquainted with a negro man named Aberdeen aged about twenty three years old, a large Stout Strong Boy and of dark complection, furthermore that said Slave has not been guilty or convicted of murder arson burglary or felony within our knowledge or belief in said County of Nash or any other County.  /s/ Jesse Simpson, Isaac Williamson

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  • Abram and Aberdeen — Abram (or Abraham) and Aberdeen appear in the 1835 will of Elisha Applewhite, who devised them to his daughter Smithey D. Applewhite. Eventually, they came into the hands of Bartley Deans, whose daughter Elizabeth had married Smithey’s brother Robert Applewhite. In 1848, Deans placed both Abram and Aberdeen with the slavetradiing firm Moye & Adams to sell or hire out in Monroe County, Mississippi, a transaction that ended in litigation.
  • Jesse Simpson — Simpson is listed in the 1850 slave schedule of Nash County, N.C., with three enslaved people — two men, aged 55 and 33, and a young woman aged 16.
  • Isaac Williamson — Williamson is listed in the 1850 slave schedule of Nash County, N.C., with two enslaved people — two women, aged 40 and 24.

Documents reproduced at www.familysearch.org.

B.W.A. Historical Marker Series, no. 25: Dr. William A. Mitchner.

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.

DR. W.A. MITCHNER

Johnston County, N.C., native William A. Mitchner arrived in Wilson ca. 1908. Second known Black physician in Wilson County. Dr. Mitchner built this small office in 1936 in the middle of the Black business block and practiced here until his death in 1941.

Cornet player Worsley visits Suffolk.

Suffolk News-Herald, 17 May 1940.

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  • James Worsley

In the 1910 census of Tarboro, Edgecombe County, N.C.: on Saint James Street, Albert Worsly, 39; wife Maggie, 34; and children Lavinia, 15, George, 13, Johnny, 9, James, 6, Maud, 4, and Willis, 3.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 900 Mercer Street, owned and valued at $2000, James Worsley, 26, musician; wife Mabey, 26, laundry; son Frank, 12; and mother-in-law Martha Melton, 56, widow.

In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory:

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 900 Mercer Street, owned and valued at $1000, widow Marie Melton, 71; daughter Madie M. Worsley, 45, “in service”; grandson Frank Barnes, 25, scrap room overseer in tobacco factory; granddaughter Jewel Worsley, 8; nephew Jim Barnes, 39, gardener assistant; roomer Percy Farrell, 37, rolls hogsheads in redrying plant; grandson James Williams, 30, stick boy in redrying plant; and son-in-law James Worsley, 37, trumpet player in dance band.

In the 1950 census of Goldsboro, Wayne County: at 704 Crawford Street, James Worsley, 46, and Lillian Worsley, 27, were two of four minstrel show entertainers lodging in the household of Ransom Corbett.

James Albert Worsley Jr. died 17 August 1953 in Tarboro, Edgecombe County, N.C. Per his death certificate, he was born 16 December 1904 in Edgecombe County to Albert Worsley and Maggie Caine; was divorced; lived at 404 Wagner Street, Tarboro; was a musician; and was buried in Wilson Cemetery, Princeville, N.C.

Calling our elders!

Recently, I began interviewing my father’s Darden High School classmates and other elders born in or before 1945. I’ve spoken to about 15 people so far, and I ask about their memories of Wilson during their youth, including recollections of family life, school life, community, and work life. Each interview is conducted by telephone and is recorded. Afterward, I type up a transcript that I mail to the interviewee to share with his or her loved ones.

These interviews are sometimes rambling, sometimes focused, often funny, occasionally sad. They’ve yielded random names and places and detailed snippets of everyday life that have been largely forgotten. I am slowly working my way through a list of potential interviewees, mostly men and women that I’ve known since childhood. I’d love your help in reaching out to others willing to chat with me for thirty minutes or an hour or two. Our elders’ stories help us better understand our community’s history and the roots and branches of its culture.

I can be reached at blackwideawake@gmail.com and would be happy to provide more info about the interview process. I look forward to hearing from you — and your aunts, uncles, and grandparents!

Notice of tax sales in Lucama and Elm City.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 5 November 1948.

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  • Edward Dew — in the 1950 census of Lucama, Cross Roads township, Wilson County: truck driver Edward N. Dew, 33; wife Omida, 31; and children Charlie, 14, John E., 11, Daniel L., 9, Jaicile, 7, Cora B., 5, and Hester, 3.
  • Mabel Ellis
  • William T. Armstrong — probably, in the 1940 census of Rocky Mount, Edgecombe County, N.C.: William T. Armstrong, 65, blacksmith helper in railroad shop; wife Lucy, 53; and daughter Mildred, 10.
  • Wiley Barnes
  • Willie Cooper Sr. — probably, in the 1940 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: Willie Cooper, 49; wife Georgianna, 26; adopted daughter Nellie Moss, 14; and lodger George Saunders, 18.
  • Mary and Duffie Chisel — in the 1950 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Branch Street, Duffie Chisel, 46, lumber mill helper; wife Mary, 41; daughter Lossie Artis, 17.
  • Walter R. Lucas — in the 1940 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: widower Will Lucas, 67, clothes presser at Star Cleaners; son Walter, 50, clothes presser at Star Cleaners; and grandson Cleveland Anderson, 21, farm laborer.
  • Will Lucas — see above.

Hilda G. Younger, Mary Potter ’49.

The Ram (1949), the annual of Mary Potter Academy.

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In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 909 Washington Street, Sam Harris, 35, laborer; wife Edna, 27, tobacco factory stemmer; daughter Hilda Younger, 9; mother Maggie Younger, 48, cook; sister Sarah Speight, 24, cook; and brother James Younger, 22, odd jobs and tobacco factory laborer.

Drummer moves to his own beat.

I’ve been interviewing folks lately and stopped by to see my friend Samuel C. Lathan when I was recently at home. As always, I thoroughly enjoyed our visit and, also per usual, learned lots of new things to research further. Here’s a 23 February 2008 Wilson Daily Times feature on Mr. Lathan, who is now 96.

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By Keith Barnes | Daily Times Photojournalist

Sam Lathan’s life has always been about the music.

Whether it was keeping rhythm as a child while banging on cardboard boxes on his grandmother’s porch or performing in later years with big-name musical groups, it has always been that way.

Most of his performing now involves playing drums with The Monitors, a local group, but Lathan, 78, reminisced recently about the early days of his long musical career, recalling the many people and groups who have influenced him.

He said beating on the boxes helped him develop rhythm, which led to his fascination with the drums.

When he was about 12 years old, he remembers, a group called “Winston’s [Winstead’s] Mighty Minstrels” came to Wilson and paraded through the streets to draw an audience for the group’s midnight shows.

Lathan got his first chance to perform in front of people when the Minstrels let him play the drums with them during one of the parades.

Following that early experience, he later played the cymbals for the Darden High School marching band in the 1940s and while at Darden also helped form a swing music band called “The Fourteen Flames of Rhythm.”

The group played at Wilson locales such as the Cherry Hotel, Briggs Hotel and the teenage center at the corner of Pine and Broad streets.

“We only made about 75 cents apiece, but we were just happy to be playing,” he said.

While with the group, Lathan met Steve Coleman, who was part of another Wilson group called the “Carolina Stompers.”

The Stompers had a drummer named Dank Dunn, and Dunn allowed Lathan some playing time at the drums during the group’s rehearsals.

By the time he was 17 years old, Lathan was playing on weekends in another group of Steve Coleman’s, and it was there he met Wallace Kemp, who greatly influenced his musical style and taught him a different, better way of playing.

“I learned from him not to beat the drums, but instead to play the drums,” Lathan said.

Playing gigs whenever he could find them, Lathan continued to hone his musical skills in several groups over the next few years including an eastern North Carolina tour with the Lloyd Price Orchestra.

In 1955, Lathan was offered a job to play in a Jacksonville band called “Jimmy Hines & The Four Dukes.”

He took it and was paid $75 a week, which was “more money than I had ever seen,” said Lathan.

When that group broke up, he stayed in Jacksonville, playing with another band called the “Jazzeroos,” a name taken from the club called Jazz Land where it performed.

“We filled the place up every night, mostly with Marines,” he said.

Lathan stayed with that group until 1959 when he went to Washington, D.C., to join a band called the “Billy Clark Trio” which had a bass guitar player named Sam Thomas.

After being there about a year Lathan returned to Wilson and got a job at Burlington Mills.

Then, one day he got the type of break most musicians dream of when he received a telegram from Sam Thomas telling him to call James Brown in New Orleans.

Lathan made the call and spoke with the legendary performer who had heard about his drum-playing through Thomas.

“They tell me you can play,” Brown said.

“Yes sir, I can,” said Lathan.

Brown and his band, The Famous Flames, were scheduled perform in Wilson two weeks later at Reid Street Community Center, and Lathan auditioned for him before the show.

Brown liked what he saw, and Lathan joined the group as its drummer, traveling and performing with them for two years.

Shortly thereafter, in 1963, Lathan joined The Monitors and has been playing with the group ever since.

“Music has been my life,” Lathan said. “I’ve never wanted to do anything else. But, I’ve always been fascinated with writing music, and if I had it to do over again I would like to have written more.”