1940s

Mr. and Mrs. Johnnie Johnson quietly marry.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 8 May 1943.

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In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 903 Nash, lumber company engineer William Barnes, 37; wife Julia, 33; daughters Evelyn, 4, and Mary, 2; and roomer Gladys Jones, 16.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1020 Wainwright, owned and valued at $900, lumber mill laborer William Barnes, 46; wife Julia, 42; and children Evelyn, 13, Mary B., 11, and William Jr., 8.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1020 Wainwright, owned and valued at $1800, cotton mill engineer William Barnes, 58; wife Julia, 55; daughters Evylene, 25, beauty parlor beautician, and Mary, 19; adopted daughter Nebraska, 11.

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Wainwright, Evelyn Johnson, 34, beauty shop proprietor, and Johnnie Johnson, 43.

Evelyn Barnes Johnson died 12 May 1957 at her home at 1020 Wainwright Avenue, Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 21 December 1914 in Wilson to William Barnes Sr. and Julia Fields; was a beautician; and was married to Monk Johnson. She was buried in the Masonic cemetery, Wilson.

News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), 13 May 1957.

Edwards family holds 9th annual reunion in Elm City.

Like clockwork, the Edwards family gathers on the Fourth of July. This past Friday’s reunion was extra-special as the family also celebrated the 100th birthday of Amanda Mitchell Cameron. Mrs. Cameron was present at the very first reunion in 1934 and every reunion since, including this one in 1943:

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 17 July 1943.

Nurse Colvert assumes supervisory position.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 2 October 1948.

Before she was visiting nurse for Metropolitan Life, Henrietta Colvert was a staff nurse at Wilson Hospital and Tubercular Home/Mercy Hospital and lived in Wilson for fifteen or more years. (She was also my mother‘s maternal great-aunt, and thus the first of the Colvert family to settle here.)

The obituary of Marjarena Bunn, age 98.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.,) 25 April 1942.

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In the 1870 census of Upper Town Creek township, Edgecombe County, N.C.: Margiana Smith, 12, domestic servant in the household of Benjamin Mills, 33, black.

On 28 October 1874, Amos Bunn, 22, married Morgann Gowins, 20, in Edgecombe County.

In the 1880 census of Upper Town Creek township, Edgecombe County, N.C.: blacksmith Amos Bunn, 26; wife Morgia, 23; children Matilda, 3, John Henry, 2, and Amos, 11 months; and servant Mary Sharp, 16.

In the 1900 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farmer Amos Bunn, 51; wife Mojano, 40; children Tildy, 24, Amos, 21, William G., 19, Lewis B., 17, Genetta B., 14, Sallie B., 13, Jonas B., 10, Louisannie, 7, Eddie B., 3, and James W., 2; and mother Tobitha, 80, widow.

In the 1910 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farmer Amos B. Bunn, 58; wife Margeanner, 45; and children Sudie, 23, Sam, 19, Lender, 17, and Ed Mc., 14.

In the 1920 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Winstead Road, Amos Bunn, 65; wife Anna, 48; and sons Junie, 24, Lundie, 23; and Ed, 22.

Marganna Bunn died 8 April 1942 in Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was born 23 March 1853 in Thelma [sic], N.C.; was the widow of Amos Bunn; and was buried in Elm City Cemetery. Mitilda Clark, 1405 North 18th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was informant.

Sudie Bunn Johnson died 8 April 1947 in Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was born 8 April 1888 in Wilson County to Amos Bunn of Wilson County and Margie Anna Jones of Halifax County; was married to Bennie Johnson; and was buried in Elm City Cemetery.

Lubert Thompson departed this life.

Wilson Daily Times, 14 May 1940.

I have not found a North Carolina death certificate for Lubert Thompson.

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  • Rena Saunders

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: widow Lula Sanders, 39, farm laborer, and children Rosa, 22, Rena, 19, Odessa, 13, James, 11, and Rubby, 4.

 

Trailblazers for school transportation.

During a recent visit to Wilson, I drove out toward Elm City to visit with Amanda Mitchell Cameron and follow up on the delightful interview she gave me last month. At 99, Ms. Cameron is a fount of information about her part of the county, and the people and places she mentioned will keep me researching for months.

Among the topics she touched on was the fight by rural African-American parents for school buses to transport students to the new Elm City and Williamson Colored High Schools:

“That first year, we were able to get a bus. That was in ’41 that we got it. … [A]nd my second oldest brother drove the school bus, but getting those buses was not easy. My father [Kester R. Mitchell] and Phil Lindsey, Sidney Harris, Johnny Parker, Robert Mitchell, all of them joined Howard Farmer. They went to Raleigh to talk about getting a bus for these children to ride school, and Mr. Curtis, I think was the name, Mr. [Kader R.] Curtis, told him at that time, “Well, we can furnish you — what you do, you go back to you to your superintendent,” and, well, you know, at that time we had two superintendents. Elm City had a superintendent and Wilson, but Curtis was the county superintendent. He was the county. And that group of men came back at some point, from what I heard, went to Mr. Curtis, and Mr. Curtis furnished two buses. As I said, my brother drove one, and the other one was Fred Armstrong, and he lived way out what now you call 42, not 42 — Langley Road. 

“… And then later on they found out that two buses were not enough to pick up. They were only picking up high school students, not the elementary students. Not grammar. You know, you had to be a high school student. And so, they added on one other bus, and that bus was to be driven by Roosevelt Sharp. …”

During my visit, Mrs. Cameron showed me a display prepared by Frederick Douglass High School students in honor of those who led the demand for buses and the early drivers, which also included Thelma Ward Williams.

Interview with Amanda M. Cameron, all rights reserved; image courtesy of Amanda M. Cameron.

The death of Henry Ray.

Wilson Daily Times, 6 October 1945.

I don’t know Henry Ray or his frame of mind, but I am suspicious of this quick conclusion about his manner of death. His death certificate underscores the cursory nature of any investigation into his shooting, listing his cause of death as “probably suicide gun shot wound in chest” (emphasis added.)

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In 1942, Henry Ray registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was lived in Sharpsburg, Wilson County; was born 23 October 1923 in Nash County, N.C.; his contact was H.P. Massengill, Sharpsburg; and he worked on the Claud Albritton farm, Sharpsburg, Nash County, N.C.

Henry Ray died 5 October 1945 in Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County. Per his death certificate, he was single; was 20 years old; was born in Nash County to Coley Ray of Nash County and Ida Barnes of Wilson County; he worked in farming; and he was buried in Sharpsburg.