Greensboro Daily News, 17 May 1939.
The “Wilson County negro” was a nine year-old boy.
Ned Kent was born 1 January 1930 in Wilson County to Isiah Kent and Clyde Pettieford; lived at Route 1, Wilson; and was a student. He was taken to Woodard-Herring Hospital, where he was pronounced dead of a fractured skull.
Wilson Daily Times, 6 March 1940.
Elm City’s first black high school was damaged beyond saving in a fire in early 1940. County school authorities quickly made plans to replace the building using Works Progress Administration funds. As to the question of the 334 “schoolless” students, no decision was ever made, and children whose families could not arrange to transfer them elsewhere sat out until the new facility — Frederick Douglass High School — opened in 1941.
On 15 July 1895, Clerk of Superior Court J.D. Bardin apprenticed Patsy Whitaker, 11, and Treasy Whitaker, 5 1/2, to Alford Jordan until they were 18 years old.
Alford Jordan was a black man, and the four of his neighbors — Nathan, Hardy, Perry, and Shade Bass — were called upon to vouch for his character: “Alfred Jordan has been living in our neighborhood Several years. He has a family of children and we never have heard of his cruelly treating them. Some of his children are grown and we never have heard any charges brought against them. Since Alfred moved into our neighborhood he has conducted himself fairly well so far as we know.”
In the 1900 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: farmer Alfred Jordan, 56; wife Cherry, 50; children Sallie, 14, Jannie, 12, George and Mary, 9; and Albert, 8; stepchildren [sic] William, 26, Frances, 20, Patsy, 17, and Creasy Farmer, 10; and brother [actually, son] Benjamin Jordan, 35.
When Dr. T.L. Brooks reported vaccinations in the Black Creek area in 1902, he listed Patsy Whitaker and Cresy Whitaker.
On 2 December 1908, E.F. Hooker, 19, of Wayne County, and Patsy Whitaker, 21, of Black Creek township, applied for a Wilson County marriage license.
In the 1910 census of Cross Roads township, Wilson County: widow Cherry Jordan, 60; children Rosetta, 22, Trecie, 20, Mary and George, 19, and Albert Jordan, 17; and grandchildren Lizina, 4, and Adlina Jordan, 3 months.
Emerson F. and Patsy Hooker eventually migrated to Richmond, Virginia, where Patsy Whitaker Hooker died in 1945. Per her Social Security application, she was born in February 1888 in Wilson County, N.C., to Jacob Whitaker and Viney Jordan.
These records reminds us that we cannot take census entries at face value. Patsy and Creasy Farmer are certainly Patsy and Treasy Whitaker, but (1) their surnames are inconsistent; (2) Treasy’s name is altered; (3) Patsy’s age is slightly off; and (3) they are described as Jordan’s stepchildren (and Treasy as Cherry Jordan’s child.)
Alford Jorden and Cherry Ellis married in August 1884, when he was 40 and she was 35. Given norms of the time, it stands to reason that both had prior marriages. (Per his death certificate, Benjamin Jordan — described as “brother” in the 1900 census — was actually Alford’s son.) The four Jordan children listed in the 1900 census were born after the marriage and presumably were Alford and Cherry’s together. Patsy could have been, but Treasy was too young to have been brought into Cherry’s marriage.
It appears that the Whitaker girls were close kin on their mother’s side to Alford Jordan. Their apprenticeship served essentially as an informal adoption into Alford Jordan’s family.
Apprentice 1895, Miscellaneous Records, Wilson County Records, North Carolina State Archives.
Hertford County Herald, 16 July 1942.
Bessie Mae Williams was actually just over three years old when she was struck on Wilson-Pinetops highway (now known as N.C. Highway 42) by a driver on the wrong side of the road. She lingered for two days at Mercy Hospital before succumbing to a brain injury.
I have not been able to determine if the driver, Mrs. J.J. Taylor, was charged.
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In the 1940 census of Gardners township, Wilson County: farmer Willie Williams, 30; wife Lucy, 22; and daughters Maggie L., 4, and Bessie M., infant.
On 3 June 1899, a Wilson County Superior Court clerk ordered brothers Alonzo Finch, 14, and Jack Finch, 5, bound as an apprentice to Zealous Howard. The arrangement proved disastrous for the elder boy.
On 2 October 1902, an attorney submitted a petition to the clerk of Superior Court In the Matter of Alonzo Finch, Apprentice. The document asserted that Finch had served Howard faithfully until forced to leave “by threats or other conduct.” Finch claimed Howard had failed to provide him with adequate clothing, that “outside parties” gave him clothes, and that he often had to work at night to earn money to buy clothes. Further, Howard had not educated him as required per the terms of his indenture, such that Finch “did not know the letters of the alphabet and therefore [was] unable to read and write.” Worse, Howard hired Finch out and took the money the boy earned. Because of Howard’s “cruel treatment,” Finch requested that the indenture be annulled and cancelled.
After hearing the evidence, clerk J.D. Bardin found Howard “morally unfit” and released Alonzo Finch from his indenture.
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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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.
This is who is scouring the internet, poking through the archives, and interviewing the elders.
This chunky toddler in knee-high socks, asleep in her high chair, gripping a chicken leg, is grateful to greet the risen sun on this 62nd turn in its orbit — sound in mind and body, nimble of toe and wit, surrounded by love, and always, always, always ready to put in work.
Black Wide-Awake is the gift that ricochets from me to you and back, and I am especially thankful on my birthday.
Photo in collection of Lisa Y. Henderson.
Wilson Daily Times, 16 July 1917.
These young musicians were likely the Jenkins’ Orphanage Band of Charleston, South Carolina. Watch this fantastic 1995 PBS documentary about the band here.
In the 1860 slave schedule of Wilson township, Wilson County, Larry Dew described two teenaged boys he enslaved, aged 16 and 19, as albino (and mulatto).
Twenty-three years later, Theophilus Barnes reported that a black woman on his farm had four children with albinism — two boys and two girls.
Wilson Advance, 30 November 1883.
