1910s

The Vicks sell property downtown.

On 22 September 1913, Samuel H. and Annie M. Vick sold mail carrier Albert S. Barnes and blacksmith Hilliard T. Thomas a lot on the south side of Tarboro Street adjoining the property of Wilson Oil Mill and W.J. Davis Machinery Company. Vick had purchased the 40 foot by 150 foot lot from Silas Lucas and wife.

W.J. Davis Machinery, formerly Davis & Winstead, was on the south side of South Tarboro, at the Kenan Street end of the block. (Wilson Oil Mill owned a lot there, but their facility was on Grace Street at Stemmery Street.) The Vicks were among a very few African Americans who invested in real estate in early twentieth-century Wilson’s industrial blocks.

Deed book 97, page 235, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

Trustees buy school land for a church.

On 30 May 1913, the Wilson County Board of Education sold Frank Baines and Thomas Jones, trustees of an unnamed church, a one-quarter acre tract “in the northwest corner of the school lot, District #2 colored, Old Fields Township” to be used for a church.

Deed book 97, page 258, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

Where in Old Fields was the District #2 colored school? Was this the land upon which Jones Hill Primitive Baptist Church was built?

Irving and Margaret Locus sell five acres.

On 10 May 1913, Irving and Margaret Locus sold Susan Strickland five acres in Taylors township. The land had belonged to Robert Eatman and represented Margaret Locus’ one-quarter share in his estate. It lay adjacent to the lands of Gilbert Howard, Asa Locus, Wilmouth Eatman, and Mrs. J.E. Farmer.

Deed book 97, page 146, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

The apprenticeship of Edward and William H. Fields (1910).

On 26 December 1910, a Wilson County Superior Court judge ordered Edward Fields, 14, and John Henry Fields, 13, bound as apprentices to their maternal grandfather Washington Fields until they reached 18 years of age.

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  • Edward Fields
  • William Henry Fields

In 1918, William Henry Fields registered for the World War I draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born in August 1896 in Wilson County; lived in Lucama; his nearest relative was his grandfather Washington Fields, Lucama; and he worked as a tenant farmer for Ira Barnes. 

On 16 November 1918, Wm. H. Fields, 21, of Cross Roads, son of Henry Barnes and Lurindy Fields, married Eliza Woodard, 21, of Cross Roads, daughter of William Woodard, in Wilson County.

In the 1920 census of Cross Roads township, Wilson County: farmer William H. Fields, 22, and wife Eliza W., 23.

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 200 East, William H. Fields, 52, “feeding the belt” at local canal mill; wife Liza, 51; niece Dorothy M. Woodard, 13, and nephew John Woodard Jr., 11.

Eliza O. Fields died 2 June 1950 at Mercy Hospital, Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 4 July 1900 in Wilson County to William Woodard; was married; lived at 200 North East Street; and worked as a tobacco laborer. William Henry Fields was informant.

William Henry Fields died 13 November 1958 in Bailey, Nash County, N.C. Per his death certificate, he was born 1 January 1897 to William Henry Barnes and Marinda Fields; was a widower; and lived at 200 North East Street. Informant was Mattie Newsome, 200 North East Street.

Apprentice 1910, Miscellaneous Records, Wilson County Records, North Carolina State Archives.

On the hunt for alleged murderer Pool.

Durham Sun, 25 July 1911.

Not long after he completed a stint on Wilson County roads for a murder, Andrew Pool allegedly stabbed Caesar Wooten to death during a church service. (This Caesar Wooten was not the same Caesar Wooten who eluded authorities for years after murdering Mittie Strickland at the Green Street railroad tracks — but he had been among the dozens of men rounded up for the crime.)

Wilson Daily Times, 25 July 1911.

Pool was spotted near Faro, in northern Wayne County and was believed to be trying to get to his mother’s house near Black Creek.

Wilson Daily Times, 25 July 1911.

On July 29, a man who had witnessed the stabbing burst into Wilson’s police headquarters — Pool was Anderson Dew‘s house at Lodge and Spruce! A posse marched to the house, but Pool gave them the slip. (By the way, Anderson Dew had an eventful 1911.)

The Farmer and Mechanic (Raleigh, N.C.), 1 August 1911.

The Greene County sheriff offered a $50 reward for Pool’s arrest. The notice contained a rather menacing description of the suspect, except for his size 9, patent leather leather low-quarter shoes. (These may have been opera pumps, but perhaps were more likely a cap-toed oxford worn “dandy” style like Dock Jacobs.)

News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), 4 August 1911.

Andrew Pool and Caesar Wooten abruptly disappeared from newspaper coverage after just a couple of weeks. I have not been able to determine if Pool was ever caught, tried, or convicted.

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  • Andrew Pool

On 19 January 1910, Andrew Pool, 28, of Greene County, married Eva Farmer, 19, of Stantonsburg, daughter of Marshall and Grace Farmer, in Stantonsburg, Wilson County.

In the 1910 census of Bullhead township, Greene County: farm laborer Andrew Pool, 22, and wife Eaver, 19.

  • Anderson Dew

On 15 August 1908, Anderson Dew, 35, son of Amos and Ruth Dew, married Dora Finch, 32, daughter of Bennett and Annie Finch, in Wilson.

In the 1910 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: on Raleigh Road, planing mill laborer Anderson Dew, 34; wife Dora, 24; and daughter Ardella, 10 months.

Anderson Dew died 16 October 1917 in Goldsboro, Fork township, Wayne County, N.C. Per his death certificate, he was 41 years old; was married; worked as a laborer; and his usual residence was Wilson. He was buried at the State Hospital, Goldsboro.

Carolina Telephone & Telegraph comes to Elm City.

In September 1915, Carolina Telephone & Telegraph Company obtained utility easements from property owners in Toisnot township, including G.A. Gaston and J.R. Rosser.

Deed Book 106, page 41, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office.

Deed Book 106, page 42, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office.

The Vicks sell four lots to S.E. Clark.

Deed Book 76, page 298, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office.

On 31 January 1916, for $1000, Samuel H. and Annie M. Vick sold Sue Elma Clark, an unmarried white woman, three lots and part of a fourth in Winona subdivision. Clark likely bought the property as an investment and, per the 1922 Sanborn fire insurance maps of Wilson, it does not appear that she built on the lots for several years, if ever.