Wilson Daily Times, 10 February 1920.
- Celia Norwood — Cecilia Hill Norwood.
- “the wife of M.A. Spel” — This is actually Martha A. Spell (the wife of John S. Spell.)
Health
The case of caries of the tibia.
In 1828, the North American Medical and Surgical Journal published an account of Stantonsburg doctor Josiah R. Horn’s treatment of an undiagnosed bone disease in an enslaved man’s leg. The man is unnamed, and his suffering is unspeakable, despite Dr. Horn’s best efforts. Ultimately, his leg was amputated at the thigh, and he recovered.
Suffer the little children: death from infectious disease.
Well into the twentieth century, children faced harrowing odds against reaching adulthood. Disease, accidents, violence bore them away in sorrowful numbers. In the 1910s, 17% of American children died before age 5, a figure that was higher for Southern and African-American children. Few children in Wilson County were buried in marked graves. In town, original burials were in Oaklawn or the Masonic cemetery. The Oaklawn graves were exhumed and moved to Rest Haven in the 1940s, and headstones, if they ever existed, have been lost over time.
By allowing us to call their names again, this series of posts memorializes the lives of children who died in the first twenty years in which Wilson County maintained death records. May they rest in peace.
Typhoid fever
- On 4 August 1913, John Hicks, 14, of 137 Pender Street, Wilson, son of Olover and Catherin Hicks, of typhoid fever.
- On 31 July 1914, Eva Ellis, 7, of Saratoga township, daughter of Burt Ellis and Nancy Hall, died of typhoid fever, with exhaustion as a contributing factor. She had been born in Greene County and was buried on the W.R. Bynum farm by United Furniture Company of Stantonsburg.
- On 24 October 1924, Lillie Farmer, 9, died of typhoid fever.
- On 17 July 1917, Neally Williams, 16, of Wilson township, daughter of Isaac Williams and Frances Kates, died of typhoid fever. She had been born in Nash County and worked as a cook.
- On 29 July 1917, Easter Wright, 17, of Wilson, a tobacco factory laborer and daughter of William Wright and Annie Weeks, died of typhoid fever. Dr. William A. Mitchner was attending physician.
- On 11 August 1917, Aurther Barnes, 11, of Wilson, common laborer, son of W.S. Barnes and Emma Mincy, died of typhoid fever. Batts & Spell were undertakers.
- On 26 May 1918, Willie Graves, 4, of Saratoga township, son of Charlie Venston and Mattie Graves, died of typhoid fever. He was buried in Greene County.
- On 7 August 1918, Annie Beatrice Lucas, 9, of 525 South Lodge Street, Wilson, “school girl,” daughter of Frank E. Lucas and Iver Johnson, died of typhoid fever, which she had contracted in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. She was buried in “Wilson cemetery.”
- On 18 August 1918, Augustus Deans, 8, of Lucama, son of Lizzie Hines, died of typhoid. Edith Hines was informant, and he was buried in Dawson graveyard.
- On 6 October 1920, Lillie May Taylor, 10, of 153 East Street, Wilson, daughter of Joseph Taylor of Edgecombe County and Martha Ellis of Wilson County, died of typhoid fever.
- On 3 October 1923, Bunn Farmer, about 13, of Taylors township, son of Arch Strickland and Etta Farmer, died of typhoid fever.
Measles
- On 6 April 1911, Floyd Bynum, 2, of 501 Gay Street, Wilson, son of Cooper Bynum and Annie Woodard, both of Edgecombe County, died of measles. A.D. McGowan was undertaker. [Andrew D. McGowan was white, but his undertaking and furniture business, Quinn McGowan Company, regularly performed burials of African-Americans.]
- On 28 April 1913, Marshall Lee Tally, 5, of 110 Pender Street, Wilson, daughter of Rev. M.A. Tally, died of measles. Dr. Frank S. Hargrave was attending physician and informant. She was buried in Raleigh, N.C.
Meningitis
- On 9 June 1910, Albert Smith, 4, of 411 Pine Street, Wilson, son of Ed Smith and Sallie Louis, both of Virginia, died of meningitis following typhoid fever.
- On 24 January 1911, Willie Junius Dewey, 6, of 619 East Vance Street, Wilson, son of Thomas Dewey of Chatham County and Callie Smith of Harnett County, died of spinal meningitis “paralysis of respiratory muscle.” He was buried in Dunn, N.C.
- On 24 January 1914, Lillian Holland, 15, school girl, of Goldsboro Street, Wilson, died of meningitis.She was born in Cumberland County to Ben Holland and Charity [last name not given]. Charity Parker of Wilson was informant.
- On 20 February 1916, Annie Bell Waddell, 6, of Wilson, daughter of Eli Waddell of Virginia and Annis Holland of North Carolina, died of “meningitis, cerebral.” James L. Kearns of Wilson was informant.
Malaria
- On 12 May 1913, Lucy Woodard, 1, of 136 Suggs Street, Wilson, daughter of Willie Woodard and Lucy Harris, died of malarial fever,
- On 19 July 1914, Henry Taylor, 6, of Wilson, son of King H. Taylor and Lula Hines, died of malarial fever. Informant was Henry Hines.
- On 8 July 1924, Eunice Reid, 5, of Gardners township, daughter of Gray Reid of Edgecombe County and Mary Hagans of Wilson County, died of pernicious malaria.
Other
- On 28 June 1910, Rodney G. Green, 4 months, of 624 Viola Street, Wilson, son of J.W. Green of Pitt County and Bertha Wells of Wilson County, died of hereditary syphilis.
- On 5 August 1915, Amy Marshall, 2, of Wilson township, daughter of Coley Marshall and Calonia Campbell, died of “laryngeal diphtheria, treated by neighbors for asthma.” Informant was Ruben Campbell.
- On 21 May 1917, Earnestine Ford, 5 months, of Wilson township, daughter of Curtis Ford of Dillon, S.C., and Mamie Battle of Wayne County, died. “This child had what they call ‘white thrash’ and developed into ‘yellow thrash.'” Informant was Curtis Ford, 605 East Green Street, Wilson.
- On 15 February 1920, Beatrice Mincey, 16, of Wilson, son of John Mincey and Olivia Rand, died of “supposed tetanus.”
- On 6 June 1921, Mattie Jane Ward, 3, of Stantonsburg, daughter of Frank Ward of Greene County and Pearl Winstead of Wilson County, died of infantile paralysis.
- On 2 July 1923, Ethel Grey Barnes, 10, school girl, of Wilson, daughter of W.I. Barnes and Madie Taylor, died of infantile paralysis. She was buried by Thomas Yelverton Company, a white funeral business.
- On 16 December 1924, A.J. Barnes, 11, of Spring Hill township, son of J.C. Barnes and Spicy Jane Atkinson, died of “septicemia mixed beginning from tubercular arthritis in right foot.” The boy worked in farming.
- On 25 December 1925, Leonard Swinson, 10, of Greene County, son of Jim Swinson and Holland Woodard of Greene County, died at Wilson Colored Hospital of “tetanus following injury to hand by cap pistol.” He was buried in Green County by Artis & Flanagan.
- On 2 January 1926, Walter Darden, 9, of Walstonburg, son of Walter Darden and Mamie Farmer of Greene County, died of “tetanus (cap pistol wound)” at the colored hospital in Wilson. [“Toy-pistol tetanus” was very much a thing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.] He was buried in Greene County by C.H. Darden & Son.
Dr. Ward challenged Jim Crow.
Indiana History Blog published Nicole Poletika’s detailed look at Dr. Joseph H. Ward‘s role in challenging segregation as the head of Tuskegee, Alabama’s Veterans Hospital No. 91 in the 1920s and ’30s.
Dr. Ward is on the front row, center (next to the nurse) in this 1933 photograph of Veterans Hospital staff. Photo courtesy of VA History Highlights, “First African American Hospital Director in VA History,” U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
For more on Dr. Ward, who was born in Wilson about 1869, see here and here and here and here and here.
[Sidenote: Dr. Ward was not born to “impoverished parents” per the article, though it is possible that he himself gave this gloss on his early life. Rather, his father was Napoleon Hagans, a prosperous freeborn farmer in nearby Wayne County, and his mother was Mittie Ward, a young freedwoman whose family moved into town after Emancipation from the plantation of Dr. David G.W. Ward near Stantonsburg.]
Hat tip to Zella Palmer for pointing me to this article. She is Dr. Ward’s great-granddaughter, and they are my cousins.
Poor Jim.
Wilson Mirror, 2 October 1889.
- Jim Thomas
The blind Williamson singers.
Wilson N.C. May 6. 1887
H.D. Norton/ Capt. &c
D Sir
Enclosed herewith you have a partial report of the condition of the unfortunates among the coloured population of the County, owing to the pressures of other duties. I have not been able to give the matter that attention necessary to give a full & correct report. If a longer time can be given I will give it further attention & report again — I would say that the case of the blind chidlren herein reported is one that calls loudly for sympathy & assistance, five in one family from their birth.
Yours Very Respy &c, J.W. Davis Shff Wilson Co
Table Showing the Number, Sex & Age of the class of ‘Unfortunates’ among the colored people of Wilson County, State of North Carolina
- Sarah Selby, age 54
- Wm. Williamson, age 8
- Edward Williamson, age 12
- Allice Williamson, age 4
- Pauline Williamson, age 5
- Aquilla Williamson, age 7
- Jno. Bailey
- Robt. Hinnant
In the 1880 census of Cross Roads township, Wilson County: farmer Edmund Williamson, 50; wife Thany, 44; and children William, 25, Nicie, 23, Eliza, 22, Eddie, 21, Ally, 19, Pollina, 17, Dolly Ann, 15, Isaac, 12, and Raiford, 7. The six hashmarks at right are in the column marked “Blind,” and the occupation of William, Eddie, Alice and Pauline was listed as “gives concerts.”
As described here, the Williamson siblings were educated at the state’s School for the Blind and earned a good living touring to showcase their remarkable voices.
On 12 October 1903, Edmund Williamson drafted his last will and testament. Per his wishes, his “two blind sons William Williamson and Edmund Williamson” and his “blind daughter Leany Williamson” were to equally divide a life estate in all his real estate and then to successive heirs “to remain in the Williamson family forever.” Daughter Dollie Ann Brownricks was to receive a life estate in all Williamson’s personal property, money, stock and crops, with her children Timothy, Bethania and Lizzie Seabury to receive the remainder.
North Carolina Freedmen’s Bureau Field Office Records, 1863-1872, Goldsboro (subassistant commissioner), Roll 16, Unregistered Letters Received Aug 1865-Feb 1868, http://www.familysearch.org
The value of an ambulance.
Wilson Daily Times, 25 August 1911.
- Romedy Gear
Report of vaccinations, pt. 5.
In the winter of 1902, doctors in Wilson County commenced a vaccination campaign to counter the spread of smallpox across North Carolina. Physicians in the county were paid ten cents per resident inoculated and sent in lists of patients to justify their fees. Dr. T.L. Brooks, who operated Brooks & Whitley, Druggists, with W.R. Whitley, practiced in Black Creek and surrounds. In February 1902, the County paid him $13.70 for fees and expenses related to 136 vaccinations.
The following list of African-American patients is abstracted from the roll Dr. Brooks submitted to the County:
Earnest Parker, 17
Fred Dawson, 19
Francis Farmer, 22
Nettie Atkinson, 22
Nellie Atkinson, 19
Julia Fields, 18
Naomy Atkinson, 15
Sallie Jordan, 16
Lucy Atkinson, 14
Jane Jordan, 13
Cresy Whitaker, 12
Charity Fields, 8
Rosa Jordan, 13
Nettie Newsome, 10
Lewis H. Newsome, 7
Alford Jordan, 9
George Jordan, 11
Patsy Whitaker, 19
Mary Jordan, 9
Matthew Whitley, 16
Clara Crumidee, 13
Orangy Barnes, 23
Geo. Dew, 26
Bud Crawford, 26
Frank Tomlin, 30
Bud Tomlin, 18
John Whitley, 56
Richard Whitley, 19
I could use my arms and limbs like a boy.
The Houston Post, 16 February 1919.
I believe “Mr. N. Green” to have been Neverson Green, who operated a grocery store on Spring Street.
Report of vaccinations, no. 4.
In the winter of 1902, doctors in Wilson County commenced a vaccination campaign to counter the spread of smallpox across North Carolina. Physicians in the county were paid ten cents per resident inoculated and sent in lists of patients to justify their fees. Dr. Edwin G. Moore practiced in Elm City and surrounds. On 3 February 1902, the County paid him $52.70 for fees and expenses related to 164 vaccinations (including ten pounds of sulphur used to treat three houses.)
The following list of African-American patients is abstracted from the roll Dr. Moore submitted to the County:
Sidney Harriss, 8 January 1902, age 18
Clarence Drake, 8 January 1902, age 14
Fred Gaston, “, age 12
Ivy Barnes, “, age 15
Nellie Ellis, “, age 17
Blanche Barnes, “, age 12
Haywood Ellis, “, age 13
Martha Ellis, 9 January 1902, age 20
Haywood Ellis, “, age 10
Lily Hall, “, age 18
Cora Gaston, “, age 16
Violet Bullock, “, age 16
Lena Armstrong, “, age 18
Wm. Armstrong, “, age 7
Ricks Whitaker, “, age 14
Ben Whitehead, 10 January 1902, age 19
Jennie Bunn, “, age 16
Ivrah Farmer, “, age 23
Almeta Williams, “, age 14
Mag Bullock, “, age 12
Elmer Gaston, 11 January 1902, age 9
Alma Gaston, “, age 7
Tom Coggins, “, age 16
Mag Armstrong, “, age 14
Etta Kelly, “, age 14
Pearly Mitchell, “, age 11
Viola Kelly, “, age 8
Flossie Gaston, “, age 7
Ada Gaston, “, age 15
Georgia Gaston, “, age 17
Serena Hunter, “, age 12
Julius Mitchell, 13 January 1902, age 10
Nina Gaston, “, age 13
Walter Locus, “, age 11
James Rosser, “, age 9
Maggie Ricks, “, age 16
Mancy Gaston, “, 9
Gus Gaston, “, 7
Malvina Johnson, 14 January 1902, age 16
Arie Williams, “, age 15
Catherine Hall, “, age 6
Anna Belle Hall, 15 January 1902, age 12
Minerva Anderson, 16 January 1902, age 15
James Anderson, “, age 9
Jno. Red Barnes, “, age 18
Redmond Barnes, “, age 66
Kinny Ellis, ” , age 17
Will Barnes, 17 January 1902, age 26
Scilla Parker, “, age 40
Nathan Williams, 18 January 1902, age 60
Alice Williams, “, age 40
Emma Williams, “, age 14
Melvina Whitehead, “, age 42
Wily Bynum, “, age 38
John Ellis Sr., “, age 46
Ed Barnes, “, age 27
Caroline Reid, 20 January 1902, age 21
Farro Sanders, 21 January 1902, age 13
George Sanders, “, age 13
Wily Barnes, 30 January 1902, age 30
Jno. Ellis Jr., “, age 19
Nan Williams, “, age 13
Miscellaneous Records, Wilson County Records, North Carolina State Archives.
