Business

Fine cemetery memorials!

Nearly all grave markers from the last 40 years or so are machine-cut, their lettering precise and even and utterly predictable. In Wilson County’s African-American cemeteries, however, even a casual perusal of older markers reveals artisanal work, almost always anonymous. Though there are many hand-cut styles, one repeatedly snags the eye with its distinctive font — squared letters with flared serifs and, especially, 9’s with long, pointed tails. These carvings are the work of marble cutter Clarence Benjamin Best, who chiseled stars, crosses, flowers, lambs, and Masonic emblems, as well as grammatically idiosyncratic epitaphs, into slabs of stone for more than 50 years. I have found his work in rural Wilson County cemeteries and as far afield as Wayne, Edgecombe, and Greene Counties, but Rest Haven Cemetery is the ground zero of his oeuvre.

Best got his start as a marble cutter at Wilson Marble Mantle & Tile Company on North Railroad Street. By the early 1920s, he was designing and cutting headstones for African-American clients as a side gig. Operating from a backyard workshop, Best worked at every price point, often repurposing scrap stone or headstone seconds to create custom monuments that collectively testify to his skill and endless creativity. He opened his own business in 1946, advertising FINE CEMETERY MEMORIALS, and worked another 30 years.

As a tribute to this unsung vernacular artist, I’ve set out to photograph every monument I can attribute to Clarence B. Best and will feature his stand-out pieces in a dedicated Instagram account. Stay tuned.

Behold the Lamb of God. Clarence B. Best’s work is well-represented in Saint Delight Cemetery, near Walstonburg, Greene County, North Carolina.

Vick buys shares in McGirt Publishing Company.

In December 1909, Samuel H. Vick purchased fifteen shares of the capital stock of The McGirt Publishing Company and was issued this certificate: 

Robeson County native James E. McGirt was poet of very modest talent who published a few collections of verse before moving to Philadelphia and founding McGirt’s Magazine, a monthly dedicated to African-American arts, literature, and general affairs. Public accommodationist declarations notwithstanding, Sam Vick was a race man, and his investment in this Black-owned business is not a surprise. It was a risky move, however, and in 1910 McGirt’s went under.

Where we worked: The Oak filling station.

This photograph of the Wilson Bus Center and the Oak Filling Station (built around the truck of its namesake tree) was probably taken not long after they opened in 1938. An African-American man is pumping gas at the rear of a vehicle. Another African-American man stands near its front fender. 

Detail from photo above.

Wilson Daily Times, 22 September 1938.

Photo courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.

Certificate No. 6919, Lincoln Benefit Society.

Lincoln Benefit Society of Wilson, N.C., established by Dr. Frank S. Hargrave and Samuel H. Vick, issued burial policies across eastern North Carolina.

Wilson Daily Times, 18 June 1912.

The documents below relate to a policy Lincoln Benefit Society issued in December 1912 to George E. Elliott, a resident of Manchester, Cumberland County, North Carolina. (There were two George E. Elliotts, father and son, and it is not clear which carried the policy.)

Elliott paid thirty cents a month on his policy.

I have not been able to identify J.J. Jordan, who issued Elliott’s initial fee receipt, or his collector H.K. Johnson.

Special thanks to J. Robert Boykin III for sharing these documents.

 

Lincoln Benefit Society pin-back button.

I happened upon this amazing artifact today. On 20 February 2020, Cowan’s Auctions of Chicago offered two buttons in “Lot 14: Lincoln and Sojourner Truth Related Pinbacks, ca. 1910-1913.” The on-line catalogue described one of the pin-back buttons as “Lincoln Benefit Society,” ca 1910. Verso back paper: “Manufactured by / St. Louis Button Co / St. Louis, Mo. / Pat. Aug. 8 ’99.” Diam. 1 in. (25 mm). Pictures Abraham Lincoln standing over a seated Sojourner Truth. The Lincoln Benefit Society was a fraternal and insurance organization for African Americans in Wilson, North Carolina led by prominent citizen and postmaster, Samuel Vick.”

I’m crushed that I’m three years too late to bid on this lot, which was sold that day.

B&G Cafe, “All White–All American Service.”

“We now employ white people only, which we feel is just what the home people of Wilson want. Our motto stands for itself, …” Wilson Daily Times, 22 February 1928.

Mollie E. Farrell and Allie C. Lamm operated B&G Cafe at 112 East Nash Street, across the street from the Wilson County Courthouse. John D. Marsh was their cook. Their collective idea about what the home people wanted seems to have been off the mark. B&G was gone before 1930.

Statement of condition of G.U.O.O.F., Endowment Department of Wilson, 1903.

The Odd Fellows offered burial policies to members and their families, and state law required that yearly filing of statements of assets and liabilities, which were made public. Among other things, president W.W. Lawrence and secretary S.H. Vick reported the Endowment Department of Wilson had written 2357 hundred-dollar policies during the year.

News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), 1 June 1904.

  • W.W. Lawrence — I have not been able to identify Lawrence.
  • S.H. Vick — Samuel H. Vick.