Daily News (Wilson, N.C.), 20 September 1900.
Minstrel shows were sure-fire crowdpleasers for white audiences well into the twentieth century. Al. G. Field’s Big Minstrels’ national touring company brought forty minstrel stars to town, including Welby & Pearl, America’s Fin de Siecle Exponents of Refined Negro Comedy — who were not decidedly not Negro.
Well, now. Here’s an idea.
“The city of Goldsboro dedicated the James and Pine Black Business District Memorial Parklet on Saturday.
“The parklet, at 401 S. James St., is dedicated to honor Goldsboro’s historic James and Pine Black Business District which “was a major center of Black economic, cultural, and social life from roughly the 1920s through the 1970s, during segregation, when Black residents built a self-sustaining commercial district that served as a hub for entrepreneurship, community gathering, and empowerment,” according to the event program.
“The project is meant to be a ‘living park’ to honor the legacy that was left behind by the Black business owners and community leaders who built the district into a place for the community to gather.
“Councilwoman Hiawatha Jones and Barabara Dantonio, James and Pine Black Business District Committee chair, introduced the work completed by the Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp. Design Committee, Bill Ellis of Playtime Installers who designed the park and the city for the installation and planning support.
“Continued efforts to capture the heritage and stories, and identify future funding will be carried out by the James and Pine Black Business District Committee, according to organizers.
“The committee will work to preserve the history of the district, develop a storytelling place to tell the history of the district, and revitalize the area to support new Black-owned businesses in the future. …”
From “Park dedicated to honor legacy of Black business owners,” Aynaelyssa Thomas-Frunk, http://www.newsargus.com, 24 June 2006.
Wilson Daily Times, 7 June 1943.
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In the 1900 census of Cross Roads township, Wilson County: farmer Elbert Kent, 55, widower, and children Joseph, 18, Albert, 15, Bettie, 8, Rebecca, 7, and Isaiah, 4; plus daughter Martha Barnes, 23, widow, and her children Rebecca, 4, and Joseph, 2.
In the 1910 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: farmer Elbert Kent, 64; wife Lizzie, 43; and children Bettie, 18, Rebecca, 17, and Isiah, 15.
In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 217 Pender Street, farmer Sam Collins, 61; wife Bell, 52; daughter Early May, 8; and lodger Rebecca Kintz, 25, seamstress.
On 16 November 1921, Walter Thorp, 44, of Wilson, son of Anderson and Lucinda Thorp, married Rebecca Kent, 28, of Wilson County, daughter of Elbert and Lissie Kent, at the A.M.E. Zion church in Wilson.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1111 Washington Street, carpenter Walter Thorp, 63; wife Rebecca, 46, sewing; and roomer Jane Boyd, 36, county home demonstration agent.
Walter T. Thorpe died 21 January 1941 in Mercy Hospital, Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 47 years old; was born in Granville County, N.C., to Anderson and Lucy Thorpe; was married to Rebecca Thorpe; and lived at 1111 Washington Street.
Wilson Daily Times, 1 June 1933.
Wilson Daily Times, 21 June 1948.
Almeda Bynum Morgan was a longtime member of Rountree Missionary Baptist, and the flower club may have been affiliated with the church.
We were talking about Wilson County surnames that you don’t really find among black people. One said, “Lamm.” Then, “Fulghum.” I said, “Bunn,” but Grover Jones Jr. said, “Tarheel Slim! His real name was Allen Bunn,” and that sent me down a rabbit hole.
It turns out Tarheel Slim was born in Nash County, but he had Wilson County roots, and he and his family frequently moved back and forth across the Wilson-Nash line. That’s plenty reason to call his name this Black Music Month.
Alden Bunn was a guitarist, singer, and songwriter whose work spanned gospel, blues, doo-wop, R&B, pop, and rockabilly. He was born in 1924 near Bailey in Nash County (or maybe near Lucama in Wilson County) to a sharecropping family. In the early 1940s, he sang with local gospel groups the Gospel Four and the Selah Jubilee Singers, but eventually moved into secular music. He married Carrie Ella Dingle, whose family had migrated to Wilson County from South Carolina. Bunn joined Wilson native David McNeil as a member of The Larks before migrating to New York City around 1950. He achieved his greatest acclaim recording with his second wife Anna Lee “Little Ann” Sandford circa 1960, then enjoyed a new album and a revival on college campuses and in hipster circles in the early 1970s.
Tarheel Slim’s “Number 9 Train,” Fury Records, 1958.
Bridgeport (Conn.) Telegram, 19 March 1960.
Washington (D.C.) Daily News, 23 January 1961.
Alden “Tarheel Slim” Bunn died in August 1977.
New York Times, 26 August 1977.
A few years after his death: “Charly, the independent blues and R ‘n B label, has delved back into the 50s and 60s for an enterprising reissue series of 25 three-track singles.” One of the records showcased Tarheel Slim.
Manchester (England) Evening News, 26 September 1980.
In the early 1990s, the era of feverish CD reissues of whole catalogs of nearly forgotten labels, Tarheel Slim and Little Ann appeared on a two-disc compilation of songs recorded by the Harlem-based Fire and Fury labels.
Hartford (Conn.) Courant, 18 April 1993.
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In 1918, Henry Ramphson Bunn registered for the World War I draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 4 July 1899; lived in Lucama, Wilson County; and worked for Jim Bunn.
On 26 January 1919, Henry Bunn, 19, of Cross Roads township, son of Jim and Millie Bunn, married Leona Owens, 20, of Cross Roads, in Lucama, Wilson County. Missionary Baptist minister R. Crockett performed the ceremony at the Baptist church in Lucama in the presence of Rev. C.D. Dew, Rev. Emson Hooks, and J.H. Battle.
In the 1920 census of Cross Roads township, Wilson County: laborer Henry Bunn, 23; wife Leonia A., 24; and son Valise, 3 months.
Nash County, North Carolina, birth records indexes show Allen Rathel Bunn born 24 September 1923 in Bailey, Nash County, to Henry R. Bunn and Leona Owens.
On 23 July 1927, Israel Thomas, 38, married Leona Bunn, 23, in Wilson. Church of God minister Hattie L. Daniels performed the ceremony at her church at 207 East Reid Street in the presence of Andrew Williams, Bettie Cooper, and T.W. Owens.
In the 1930 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: Isrel Thomas, 46; wife Leonia, 34; and [her] sons Valee, 11, and Alten B., 7.
In the 1940 census of Mannings township, Nash County: Isarel Thomas, 57; wife Leona Thomas, 43; and stepsons Vailience, 20, and Alden Bunn, 16, all day laborers. Israel Thomas reported that the family was living in Wilson County in 1935.
In 1942, Alden Rathell Bunn registered for the World War II draft in Nash County. Per his registration card, he was born 24 September 1924 in Nash County; lived at R.F.D. #2, Middlesex, Nash County; his contact was Leonia Thomas; and he worked for Rufus Fulghum. He was described as 6’3″ and 172 lbs.
Leonia Thomas died 5 November 1947 in Lucama, Springhill township, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was born 3 July 1897 in South Carolina to Mack Owens and Mary Gardner; was married to Issrael Thomas; and was buried in Rest Haven Cemetery, Wilson. Allen Bunn, Route 1, Lucama, was informant.
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.
Founded in 1926 on the eastern bank of the Chowan River, about 100 miles northeast of Wilson, Chowan Beach was a thriving African-American resort for decades, drawing family vacationers and legendary chitlin circuit musicians for decades. In this slim book packed with photographs, Frank Stephenson brings to life a favored vacation spot for generations of Wilsonians.
Wilson Daily Times, 26 July 1940.
