Month: August 2025

The obituary of Sophia Dawson Artice of Cleveland, Ohio.

The Call and Post (Cleveland, Oh.), 7 June 1952.

Sophia Dawson Artice was another of Alexander D. and Lucy Hill Dawson‘s accomplished children. After graduating Scotia Seminary, she married Jesse A. Artice, but he died less than two years later. Artice taught for decades in Wilson County before migrating to Cleveland, Ohio.

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In the 1900 census of Concord Town, Township #12, Cabarrus County, N.C.: at Scotia Seminary,  student Sophia L. Dawson, 16.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: restaurant cook Alexander Dawson, 50; wife Lucy, 49; and children Sophie, 25, school teacher, Mattie, 23, stenographer, Virginia, 19, school teacher, Lucile, 17, Alexander, 15, Clarence, 13, Augusta, 11, and Arlander, 1.

Also, in the 1910 census of Huntington, Cabell County, West Virginia: at Colored Orphans Home, teacher Sophia L. Dawson, 25, born in N.C.

In the 1916 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Dawson Sophia (c) tchr h 505 E Vance

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: A.D. Dawson, 59, widower, and daughter Sophey Dawson, 28, public school teacher.

On 26 May 1920, Jesse Artis, 37, of Wayne County, son of Jesse and Lucinda Artis, married Sophia Dawson, 30, daughter of A.D. Dawson, in Wilson. Presbyterian minister H.B. Taylor performed the ceremony at 650 East Green Street in the presence of C.L. Darden, F.L. Artice, and Eugene Norman.

Jessie Arthur Artis died 9 March 1922 in Nahunta township, Wayne County, N.C. Per his death certificate, he was 39 years old; was born in Wayne County to Jessie Artis and Lucinda Hobbs; worked as a tenant farmer for his mother; and was buried in the “country” by C.H. Darden & Son. Sophia Artis of Wilson was informant.

Sophia Artis is listed in the 1925, 1928, and 1930 Wilson city directories.

Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory (1928).

In the 1950 census of Cleveland, Cuyahoga township, Ohio: Sophia Artice, 64, widow, and Lucy Artice, 38, lodgers.

The estate of Emma L. Evans.

Emma L. Evans‘ administrator, Major J. Loftin, paid $271.oo to C.H. Darden & Son for burial expenses, $25.00 for a tombstone, and $15.00 to rent three cars to transport mourners to the funeral.

Per her death certificate, Evans was buried in Wilson. In 1923, this generic designation usually meant Vick Cemetery (though Rountree, Odd Fellows, and, to a much lesser extent, Oakdale were possible.) I’ve never seen it. If Evans was laid to rest in Vick, her headstone is either deeply, and perhaps irretrievably, buried or destroyed. If in Odd Fellows or Rountree, perhaps it will be found.

Wilson County, N.C., Property Settlement Records 1923-1931, http://www.familysearch.org.

Where did they go?: Pennsylvania death certificates, no. 8.

The eighth in a series — Pennsylvania death certificates for Wilson County natives:

  • Amanda Merritt

In the 1870 census of Upper Conetoe township, Edgecombe County, N.C.: Salomon Merritt, 18, farm laborer.

In the 1880 census of Wilson township, Wilson County, N.C.: laborer Solomon Merritt, 24; wife Amanda, 23; and Robert, 1.

In the 1900 census of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania: at 1326 Wood Street, hostler Solomon Merritt, 39; wife Amanda, 40; and sons Robert, 20, and Kinney, 16, all born in North Carolina.

1918 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, city directory.

In the 1920 census of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania: at 951 Jessup Street, Amanda Merritt, 57, keeper of lodging house; nephew Earl J. Lane, 18, railroad station elevator operator; niece Nanie Kearney, 18, servant; boarder Lloyd J. Ross, 8; and lodgers Clifford Holtz, 26, lathe machinist at steel works; and Anner Butler, 22, restaurant cook.

Solomon Merritt died 10 April 1926 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Per his death certificate, he was 61 years old; was born in North Carolina; was married to Amanda Merritt; and worked as a driver.

In the 1930 census of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania: at 112 North 59th Street, widow Amanda Merritt, 65; granddaughter Dorthy Maller, 17; Clarence Miller, 23, grandson-in-law; granddaughter Reba Merritt, 12; great-grandson Clarence Miller, Jr.,

In the 1940 census of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania: widow Lulu Langford, 49; granddaughter Lulu Rucker, 16; and lodger Emanda Merritt, 83.

Amanda Merritt died 29 January 1942 in Philadelphia. Per her death certificate, she was born 1 May 1860 in Wilson to Clarssie Taylor; was a widow; and lived at 1604 Seybert Street.

  • Hattie Smith

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Stephens Smith, 40; wife Hattie, 31; and children Essie, 13, Bertie, 7, Mary, 2, and Marvin, 4 months.

In the 1930 census of Enfield township, Halifax County, N.C.: Stephen Smith, 60; wife Hattie, 38; and children Mary L., 12, Marvin, 10, Annie B., 8, Hattie B., 5, and Dorsey L. Smith, 5 months.

Hattie Smith died 24 May 1937 in Philadelphia. Per her death certificate, she was 52 years old; was born in Wilson, N.C., to William Porter and Louisa Barnes; was married; lived at 611 North 36th Street; and was a housewife. S.B. Smith was informant. [In fact, per census records, Hattie Smith was born in Georgia.]

  • Emma Bunn

In the 1870 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: farmer Hilliard Ellis, 43; wife Feribee, 40; and children Caroline, 16, William, 14, George, 11, Emily, 9, Hilliard, 6, Mary H., 4, and Warren, 8 months.

On 8 April 1880, Joshua Bunn, 21, married Emma Hill, 19, in Wilson County.

In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Joshua Bunn, 40; wife Emma, 37; daughter Hattie T., 22; son-in-law James Thorpe, 22; lodgers Bettie Lucas, 21, and Calonia Lane, 19; adopted daughter Nora Bunn, 8.

In the 1930 census of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania: at 1819 Van Pelt Street, owned and valued at $1800, Emma Bunn, 65; daughter Hattie Stevens, 46; son-in-law Samuel, 46, laborer for City of Philadelphia; grandchildren Walter, 12, and Joseph Stevens, 6; and several roomers.

  • Theodosia Parker

In the 1910 census of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania: at 1735 Woodstock Street, Henry Parker, 37; wife Charity, 34; and children Leon, 12, and Theodosia, 9; four lodgers; and boarder Samuel Parker, 27. All the Parkers were born in North Carolina.

Theodosia Parker died 31 March 1918 in Philadelphia. Per her death certificate, she was 17 years old; was born in Wilson, N.C., to Henderson Parker and Charity Hunter; lived at 1911 Montgomery Avenue; was a school girl; and was buried in Elm City, N.C.

  • Etta E. Logan

In the 1920 census of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania: at 922 South 17th Street, widow Martha Roundtree, 42, restaurant cook, and daughter Etta Logan, 22.

Etta E. Logan died 17 August 1920 in Philadelphia. Per her death certificate, she was born in 1895 in Wilson, N.C., to Windsor [no surname listed] and Martha Daniel; lived to 922 South 17th Street; and was married. Joseph L. Logan was informant.

Wilson news, August 1930.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 23 August 1930.

The various African-American social clubs of the early 1900s deserve of a post of their own, and it’s coming soon. Meanwhile, we meet the Ever Ready Club, which gave a “social” at the Whitley on a Friday night in August 1930.

Where was Green Wreath/Green Reef Park?

The “local graduate nurses club” was probably the Mary Mahoney Nurses Club. Its officers were Ada D. Artis (Mrs. C.E. Artis), Charlotte M. Faison, and Henrietta Colvert. Picnic guests were Sarah E. Hines, Elba Vick Valle (Mrs. Carlos C. Valle) and her daughter Mabel Valle, Catherine Clark, Lelia Washington, and Willie L. Hargrove.

Hartford Bess, though unable to complete his studies at Fisk, went on to make an enduring musical mark in Wilson.

Before Pender Crossing.

This week, the Wilson Times reported “Residents are already moving in at Pender Crossing, a 48-unit affordable apartment community on the site of the former Pender Street Park. A grand opening event with a ribbon-cutting was held Tuesday morning.

“Pender Crossing is a 2.13-acre development owned and managed by Woda Cooper Companies. A new city park is being built on the same block and will open soon.”

Pender Crossing stands on Pender Street between Gay and Stemmery Streets. This area was on the edge of Wilson’s earliest industrial district, close to Little Richmond, which sprang up in the shadow of Richmond Maury Tobacco Factory. Later, Southern Cotton Oil Mill,  Farmers Cotton Oil Mill, and Wilson County Gin Company added clangor and pungency to the air of the neighborhood.

Moore Street once was the western edge of a trapezoid formed by Stantonsburg (now Pender), Stemmery, and Robeson (now Gay) Streets, separating a residential block from the Southern Oil Mill complex. (The enormous cotton seed house built on the site about 1945 — it replaced a smaller one — was dismantled and moved to a location north of the city in 2018.)

Wilson Daily Times, 11 February 1930.

By 1930, per a Sanborn fire insurance map, the block contained a bottling plant, a wood yard, three stores, four shotgun houses, and two larger dwellings facing Stantonsburg/Pender Street.

Wilson Daily Times, 20 October 1930.

One house fronted on Moore, and a set of mirror-image L-shaped houses stood on Stemmery. The easternmost of the twins was the last dwelling in the block, having been demolished after 2019.

The twin houses and the old cotton seed house in June 2012, per Google Street View.

Changes at Darden High School.

New Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 13 August 1938.

In 1938, Darden High School added two new faculty members, an optional twelfth grade, and an extra month to the school year.

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Community leaders.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 27 May 1933.

  • Rev. C.H. Richmond
  • C.E. Artis — “Years of experience in both the U.S. postal service and the state department”? This bears additional research. [Sidenote: C.E. Artis was nearly 50 years old when this article was published, and the photograph used was taken much earlier in his life. As photos of this remarkable businessman are rare, and as he is my kinsman, it’s nice to see what he looked like in early adulthood.]
  • Dr. G.K. Butterfield — Though the founding date of Wilson’s N.A.A.C.P. is often cited as the late 1940s, this article makes clear that it was in operation as early as 1933, then famed national secretary Walter F. White spoke in Wilson.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 27 May 1933.