Wilson Daily Times, 12 April 1957.
Medicine
Fine tea and program.
Pittsburgh Courier, 8 January 1949.
- Dr. W.H. Phillips — William H. Phillips was a dentist.
- Mrs. W.H. Phillips — Rena Carter Phillips was Dr. Phillips’ second wife.
- Addie D. Butterfield — Addie Davis Butterfield, daughter of Fred and Dinah Dunston Davis, was married to dentist George K. Butterfield.
- J.L. Cook — Jerry L. Cooke.
- Hartford Bess — Hartford E. Bess was a well-regarded singer.
- Ethel C. Hines — Ethel Cornwell Hines was married to William Hines.
- Mrs. J.F. Cowan — Annie Williamson Cowan.
- Flossie H. Barnes — Flossie Howard Barnes, a South Carolina native, was married to Dr. Boisie O. Barnes, a physician.
- C.W. Hines — Carl Wendell Hines, son of Walter and Sarah Dortch Hines, taught band and mathematics at Darden High School.
- Mrs. D.C. Yancey — Lelia B. Ireland Yancey, formerly of Wilson, was married to pharmacist Darcy C. Yancey.
Leonard Medical School students.
James Arthur Cotton appears in Leonard Medical School‘s 1888-’89 catalog with a notation that he done his collegiate studies at Saint Augustine’s College. (Perhaps he did not finish, as the Directory of Deceased American Physicians, 1804-1929 lists him as a 1897 graduate of Chicago’s Harvey Medical College.
Lincoln University graduate Charles Hudson Bynum appears in the 1892-’93 Leonard Medical School catalog.
Dr. T.C. Tinsley.
Five years ago, I was forwarded an email from a researcher looking for information about Dr. Thomas C. Tinsley for a book on African-American physicians who served during World War I. Dr. Tinsley, he said, had lived and worked in Wilson in the 1920s. I had never heard of him.
Doug Buckley and Joanne Fisher published African-American Doctors of World War I: The Lives of 104 Volunteers in 2015. Today, I stumbled across a reference to Dr. Tinsley in a Wilson record — the first I’ve seen. On 5 April 1926, at his office at 525 East Nash Street, he signed the death certificate of Caroline Brown, who had died the day before.
Dr. Thomas Clinton Tinsley was born in Henderson, Vance County, North Carolina in 1887. He received a bachelor’s degree from Shaw University. In 1910, he graduated from University of West Tennessee College of Medicine and Surgery. a defunct black medical school founded in 1900, and shortly after set up practice in Asheville, North Carolina.
Asheville Gazette-News, 20 July 1912.
Tinsley quickly moved on, however, and on 13 November 1913, Scotland Neck’s The Commonwealth published a welcome to Dr. Tinsley and his wife, Lois Hoffman Tinsley.
By 1917, however, Tinsley had returned to Henderson and from there volunteered for military service. He was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Army Medical Reserve Corps; trained at Fort Des Moines, Iowa; and served in France. Tinsley was awarded the Croix de Guerre and was honorably discharged in 1919.
“Ridgewood, N.J.,” New York Age, 22 June 1918.
In 1920, Tinsley briefly took a position in Mexico with Atlantic Refining Company. When he returned to the U.S. the next year, he established a practice in Durham, North Carolina, where he became a charter member and officer of the Durham alumni chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.
By 1925, Tinsley was in Wilson. On April 25, the Pittsburgh Courier reported that Dr. T.C. Tinsley of Wilson delivered a lecture on “Sinuses and Focal Infection as Effecting Dentists and Physicians” at the Old North State Dental Association convention in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The peripatetic Tinsley had moved on by 1930, however.
The photo accompanying Dr. Tinsley’s 1920 passport application. He had taken a job in Mexico.
Dr. Thomas C. Tinsley died in 1954 in Tuskegee, Alabama. He was buried in Henderson, North Carolina.
U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 [database on-line], http://www.Ancestry.com.
Dr. Phillips arrives.
New York Age, 28 September 1916.
In the 1900 census of Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina: cook Frank Phillips, 47; wife Margarett, 45; and children Mary, 25, Jeanett, 21, Dealian, [illegible], Frank, [illegible], Willie, 8, Bessie, 15, and Susie, 6.
In 1917, William Haywood Phillips registered for the World War I draft in Wilson. Per his registration card, he was born 23 December 1891 in Raleigh, North Carolina; lived at 530 1/2 Nash Street, Wilson; was single; and worked as a dentist.
On 30 November 1917, William H. Phillips, 25, married Jewell Jennifer, 18, in Washington, D.C.
In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 332 South Spring, widow Ella Battle, 52, and her children Grace [Glace], 27, teacher Roberta, 29, tobacco worker John, 25, and Olga Battle, 11, shared their home with boarders Georgia Burks, 25, a Georgia-born teacher, and chauffeur Theodore Speight, 17; and roomers William Phillips, 35, a dentist, and his wife Jewel, 23.
On 6 May 1930, William Haywood Phillips, 36, divorced, son of Frank and Margarett Haywood Phillips, married Rena Manor Carter, 34, widow, daughter of Robert and Mary D. Carter, in Norfolk, Virginia.
In the 1930 census of Tarboro, Edgecombe County: renting at 115 Andrew Street, dentist William H. Phillips, 37, and wife Rena C., 33.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 405 Green Street, dentist William H. Phillips, 47, and wife Rena C., 45.
William Haywood Phillips died 26 October 1957 at his home at 405 Green Street, Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 23 December 1892 in Raleigh; was married to Rena J. Phillips; and worked as a dentist.
Caldwell, A.B., History of the American Negro and His Institutions, North Carolina Edition (1921).
Lee C. Jones, dentist.
For a brief period in the 1920s, a second African-American dentist plied his trade on East Nash Street in competition with Dr. William H. Phillips. He appears in the 1925 and 1928 Wilson city directories and, as far as known, nowhere else:
In the 1900 census of Raleigh, Wake County: on Cabarrus Street, lineman Richard Jones, 36; wife Alice, 34; and children Charlie, 15, Walter, 10, Palmer, 8, Leclair, 4, and Lewis V. Jones, 4; Sonnie Mitchell, 5 months; and mother-in-law Laura Gray, 55.
In the 1910 census of Raleigh, Wake County: on NWest Cabarrus Street, tobacco factory laborer Richard Jones, 42; wife Alice, 43; and children Charley, 24, Walter, 20, Lee C. and Louis V., 14, and Nathaniel, 10, plus mother-in-law Laura Gray, 59.
Lee Clarence Jones registered for the World War I draft in 1917 in Wake County, North Carolina. Per his draft card, he was born 2 September 1895; resided at 124 West Cabarrus; was unemployed; and was single.
Mess Attendant Lee C. Jones, left, on the deck of the USS Susquehanna during World War I, February 1918.
In the 1920 census of Raleigh, Wake County: at 124 West Cabarrus, Alice Jones, 56; sons Walter, 27, L.C. and Louis V., 22, and N.R., 19; and mother Laura Gray, 64.
On 8 November 1921, Lee Clarence Jones and Sadie Lee Coley were married in Washington, D.C.
In the 1925 Wilson city directory: Jones Lee C, dentist 553 E Nash h 111 N Pender
On 30 June 1926, Lee and Sadie Coley Jones’ twins Clinton Merrill Jones and Clarence Conte Jones were born in Wilson.
In the 1928 Wilson city directory: Jones Lee C (c; Sadie L), dentist 559 1/2 E Nash h 1010 Atlanta
In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1010 Atlantic Street, seamstress Sadie Jones, 32, and sons Emery L., 7, Clarance and Clinton, 3; and lodgers Catherine Joyner, 14, James Coley, 9, and Elaine Coley, 15. [Sadie Jones was described as “single” and presumably was divorced.]
In the 1940 census of Salisbury, Rowan County: at 116 North Lee, dentist Lee C. Jones, 35, and sons Emory L., 17, Clarence, 13, and Clinton M., 13. [The boys were also listed in their mother Sadie Jones’ household in the 1940 census of Washington, D.C.] Per the Salisbury Historic District (Boundary Amendment and Additional Documentation) form submitted to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999, Dr. Jones opened an office on North Lee as early as 1939, and he and his son Clinton practiced there in the 1950s.
Lee Clarence Jones died 27 October 1961 at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Durham, North Carolina. Per his death certificate, he was born 2 September 1895 to Richard Jones and Alice Stewart in Raleigh; resided in Salisbury; was married to Alice M. Jones; and worked as a dentist. He was a World War I veteran and was buried in Oakdale cemetery, Salisbury.
Photograph reprinted in the 26 January 2015 edition of the Salisbury Post, on-line here.
Dr. Joseph F. Cowan.
Wilson Daily Times, 19 July 1985.
In the 1900 census of Abbeville, Abbeville County, South Carolina: farmer Edward Cowan, 43; wife Harriet, 41; and children Edward, 22, Governor Moses, 17, Lawyer Squire, 15; James, 13, Hattie, 11, Johnnie, 6, and Effie [Joseph Franklin], 4.
In the 1910 census of Abbeville, Abbeville County, South Carolina: on Vienna Road, widow Hattie Cowan, 49; children Edward, 27, James, 22, John, 16, and Effie, 13; and grandchildren Lillie, 14, Ernest, 8, and Samuel Ware, 7.
Joseph Franklin Cowan registered for the World War I draft in Wilson County in 1918. Per his registration card, he lived in Blue Hill, Abbeville County, South Carolina; was born 28 September 1899; was a picker hand at Abbeville Cotton Mills; and his nearest relative was his mother Harriet Cowan.
As the annual city directory shows, Dr. Joseph Franklin Cowan arrived in Wilson as early as 1928 to set up practice at Mercy Hospital.
Shortly thereafter, he delivered an address at Calvary Presbyterian on “social hygiene,” i.e. sex education with an emphasis on prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and related topics.
Wilson Daily Times, 9 November 1929.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: medical doctor Joseph Cowan, 42; wife Annie, 35, receptionist in doctor’s office; and son Joseph Jr., 12; plus Julia Green, 59. Cowan was a native of Abbeville, South Carolina.
In 1942, John Franklin Cowan registered for the World War II draft in Wilson. Per his draft registration card, he lived at 1115 East Nash Street; was born 27 September 1898 in Abbeville, South Carolina; was a self-employed medical doctor; and his contact person was Edward Cowan, Abbeville.
J.F. Cowan died 17 September 1985 in Wilson.
Studio shots, no. 11: Thomas Levi Peacock.
Tom Peacock, mid-1940s.
——
In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 204 Vick Street, hotel bellboy Levi Peacock, 30; wife Elouise, 28, a public school teacher; children Jewel D., 4, and Thomas L., 14; and mother-in-law Etta Reaves, 50, post office maid. [This entry contains serious errors. Jual D. Peacock was a daughter, rather than son, of Levi and Eloise Peacock, and Thomas was in fact just over a year old in 1930.]
Thomas Levi Peacock registered for the World War II draft in Wilson in 1946. Per his registration card, he was born 6 December 1928 in Wilson County; resided at 414 North Reid Street; his contact was Levi Harry Peacock; and he was a student at Darden High School.
Thomas Levi Peacock graduated from Darden in 1947 and entered Howard University in Washington, D.C. He pledged Alpha Chapter of Omega Psi Phi fraternity in 1948 and graduated in 1951.
The Bison (1951).
Peacock enlisted in the Air Force after graduation and in 1952 graduated from Officer Candidate School.
Wilson Daily Times, 12 July 1952.
Peacock went on to Meharry Medical College’s Dental School and in 1958 was licensed to practice dentistry in North Carolina:
Within a few years, Dr. Peacock opened a practice in Jamaica, Queens, New York, where he immediately rose to prominence in social, as well as professional circles …
Baltimore Afro-American, 17 December 1963.
… and was named one of the “Bachelors for 1964” in the August 1964 issue of Ebony magazine.
Dr. Peacock is retired and, after returning to live in Wilson for several years, now resides in Florida.
Photograph in the collection of Hattie Henderson Ricks, now in possession of Lisa Y. Henderson.
A good day.
Yesterday, I attended the dedication by Wilson County Historical Association of an historical marker commemorating the establishment of Wilson Hospital and Tubercular Home, later known as Mercy Hospital. For much of the 20th century, Mercy was the only hospital open to African Americans in northeastern North Carolina. I was born there in its final months of operation.
A little later, I made a presentation about this blog to Association members at the group’s annual meeting.
It was a good day.
Shouts out to Perry Morrison of W.C.H.A. for spearheading the effort to establish the marker, and to Barbara Blackston and Wilson Community Improvement Association for their excellent stewardship of this building.
[John Mack Barnes, who lived next door, built this hospital as well as Saint John A.M.E. Zion and other fine brick buildings in Wilson. He was partial to this dark red brick and white marble cornerstone combination. See here.]
Dedication of Mercy Hospital historical marker.
