Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 18 November 1944.
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- Donnie McNeil and family
In the 1930 census of Bailey township, Nash County, N.C.: John McNeal, 42, laborer “logs wood”; wife Donnie, 24; and children Gertrude, 3, Thelma, 2, and Josephine, 3 months. The family is described as Indian of “mixed blood” or “full blood” descent. [Though described as “Cherokee,” the McNeil family were from Robeson County, North Carolina, and were likely members of the group we know now as Lumbee.]
1930 census, Bailey township, Nash County.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: widow Donnie McNeil, 36, housekeeper; children Gertrude, 14, Thelma, 12, Josephine, 9, and Bernice, 8; and lodger Celma McMillian, 25, housekeeper. All are described as “Neg.”
Bernice McNeil died 2 November 1944 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Per her death certificate, she was born 31 December 1930 in Rocky Mount, N.C., to J.C. McNeil and Donnell Hunt, both of Lumberton, N.C.; lived at 1132 West Oxford Street, Philadelphia; and was buried in Wilson, North Carolina.
Bernice McNeil’s burial site was likely in what we now know as Vick Cemetery, though described here as “Rountree cemetery.”
- Frances Melton
In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Thomas Melton, 49, tobacco factory mechanic; wife Frances, 34, tobacco factory sweeper; and daughter Doris, 10.