Early in 1868, Ishmael Wilder and his son Josiah Wilder gave a note to Jefferson D. Farrior to secure payment of $100 for their purchase of two mules, one sorrel and the other gray.
Deed book 46, page 201, Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.
1890s
Sunday School at Calvary, no. 2.
A Sunday school class posing outside the newly built Calvary Presbyterian Church, circa 1895. Samuel H. Vick, who helped found Calvary, was a prominent proponent of Sunday school education.
Photograph courtesy of the North Carolina Division of Archives and History, Raleigh.
Rev. Melton paints his house.
On 1 February 1898, Leavy J. Melton purchased $39.13 of paint and other materials on credit for improvement of a house at the corner of Pender and Green Streets. Melton bought the paint from George D. Green and in exchange gave him a lien on the house, which he had purchased from Green in 1893.
Deed book 46, page, Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.
She is proud of her name.
Wilson Advance, 7 May 1891.
In 1891, the Advance and the Tarboro Southerner ran a contest for longest name. In this round, the Advance proffered that of an eight year-old girl living on James Woodard’s large farm — Nina Ann Elizabeth Sarah Eliza Jane Monora Carrie Mabel Virginia Bethella Woodard.
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Perhaps: on 3 June 1917, Nina Woodard, 30, of Saratoga, daughter of Louis Brooks and Sue Woodard, married Adam Carter, 21, of Saratoga, son of Stephen and Hattie Carter. H.H. Sanders, Missionary Baptist minister performed the ceremony at “the church in Saratoga” in the presence of Ernest May and Jessie Darden of Saratoga and William Pierce of Wilson.
Taborn’s tune.
Wilson Mirror, 6 May 1891.
Whether in fact this was Lemon Taborn‘s favorite song, this brief piece preserves a bit of personal information about one of Wilson’s earliest barbers — his love of fishing.
Williamson buys a wagon.
On 1 October 1898, Alex Williamson purchased a two-horse wagon from Hackney Brothers for $22.50 on credit.
Meeksville was an unincorporated area of Springhill township with a post office from 1878 to 1901.
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On 9 September 1869, Alex Williamson, son of Samuel Bass and Silvy Williams, married Grace Shaw, daughter of Thomas Narron and Katty Williamson, at Thomas Shaw‘s in Wilson County.
In the 1870 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: farmer Ellic Williamson, 33; wife Gracy, 24; and children Ellic, 4, and Eugenia, 1.
In the 1880 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: farmer Elic Williamson, 44; wife Gracy, 29; and children John, 14, Lugen, 11, Joseph, 9, Jennie, 7, Mary, 6, Clem, 4, Sarah J., 2, and Pall, 1.
In the 1900 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: farmer Alex Williamson, 63; wife Gracy, 50; children Genny Whitley, 26, and Sarah, 22, Paul, 21, Daniel, 19, Henietta, 15, Edna, 15, and Katie Williamson, 12; and grandchildren Nancy, 8, Della, 5, and Pearle Whitley, 4.
On 23 November 1904, Paul Williamson, 25, son of Alex and Grace Williamson of Springhill township, married Mary Hinnant, 23, daughter of Joe and Rhoda Hinnant of Spring Hill township. W.H. Hortonof the Christian denomination performed the ceremony at Thom Hinnant‘s house in the presence of J.T. Hinnant, L.H. Horton and W.H. Shaw.
In the 1910 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: on Wilson and Smithfield Branch Road, farmer Alexander Williamson, 72; wife Gracy, 62; widowed daughter Jennie Williamson, 38; daughters Sarah, 20, and Henrietta, 26; and grandchildren Nancy, 18, Della, 17, Hattie, 15, and Pearle Whitley, 14.
In the 1920 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: on Old Clayton and Wilson Road, farmer Alexandria Williamson, 83; divorced daughter Janie W. Williamson, 37; granddaughter Dezell Bailey, 4; and stepson [son-in-law?] McKinley Bailey, 28, house carpenter.
Alexander Williamson died 6 April 1921 in Springhill township, Wilson County. Per his death certificate, he was born in 1837 in Wilson County; was the widower of Gracy Williamson; was a farmer; and was buried in the Williamson graveyard.
Deed book 46, page, Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.
A.V.C. Hunt in good times.
In January 1898, grocer Annie V.C. Hunt bought a sorrel mare from horse dealers Selby & Hare for $110 (which seems a very high price.) The parties registered the note in Wilson County Superior Court.
Disaster struck both parties ten months later when a fire started in Hunt’s store and swept through her Goldsboro Street block, destroying Selby & Hare’s stables. Coincidentally, both businesses rented their premises from Jefferson D. Farrior, and his suspicions about the source of the conflagration led to the slaughter of Hunt’s husband.
Wilson Advance, 17 November 1898.
Deed Book 46, page 128, Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.
Foster buys butcher supplies.
In April 1898, Grant T. Foster entered into a contract to purchase on credit $85 worth of equipment from Cincinnati Butchers’ Supply Company. To secure the purchase, he gave the company a mortgage on his business. On 23 June 1898, having been paid in full, Cincinnati Butchers released Foster from the mortgage. Their notice to the Register of Deeds was pasted into the deed volume, so the details of the transaction are obscured, but a reference to a cooler measuring 4 feet by six feet by nine feet is visible.
This note was placed in the deed book as well.
An advertisement touting Foster’s meat market can be found here.
Deed book 46, page 523, Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.
The new minister to Liberia.
Cleveland Gazette, 29 January 1898.
A curious comment on the appointment of Owen L.W. Smith as minister to Liberia.
Studio shots, no. 40: Benjamin and Phereby Barnes Artis.
Benjamin and Phereby Artis, Winstead Studio, Wilson, circa 1895.
This photograph was published in a 1987 Daily Times article about the history of photographers in Wilson. The caption identified the subjects as Benjamin Artis Jr. and wife Phariby Woodard Artis. However, this identification is incorrect (if understandably so). Benjamin Artis Senior, born about 1824, married Phereby [Phariby, Ferebee, etc.] Woodard, daughter of London and Venus Woodard. Their son, Benjamin Artis Junior, born about 1849, married a woman with the same name as his mother, Phereby Barnes, daughter of Silas and Rose Barnes. The photograph above — whose subjects are middle-aged, rather than in their 70s — depicts Ben Artis Jr. and Phereby Barnes Artis.
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For an earlier post about this photograph, please see here.
Photograph contributed by the late Wilson historian Hugh B. Johnston Jr. for “Say Cheese!,” Wilson Daily Times, 23 May 1987.
