Newspapers

Howard shoots and injures three.

Wilson Daily Times, 10 December 1945.

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In the 1910 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: on Howards Path, farmer William Howard, 26; wife Lula A., 26; and children Percy Lee, 3, and Essie May, 11 months.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Atlantic Street, Lucy Howard, 35, and children Parcy, 13, Lizzie, 9, Lola Bell, 8, William, 6, Aurtha P., 4, and Walter L., 3.

In the 1925 New York state census, Percy Howard is listed as a waiter living at Forest Hills Inn, Station Square, Queens. 

On 4 March 1926, Percy Howard and Marie Robinson were married in Wilson.

In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Howard Percy (c; Marie) barber E L Artis h 717 E Green. [Ernest L. Artis‘ barbershop was at 517 East Nash Street.]

In the 1930 census of Manhattan, New York, New York, Percy Howard, 23, born in North Carolina, billiard parlor porter, was a lodger at 746 Saint Nicholas.

In the 1940 census of Manhattan, New York, New York, Percy L. Howard, 34, and wife Frances, 28, were lodgers at 119 West 115th Street.

In 1940, Percy Lee Howard registered for the World War II draft in Manhattan, New York, New York. Per his registration card, he was born 16 May 1906 in Wilson, N.C.; lived at 119 West 115 Street (also, 267 West 114 Street #1, 267 West 114 Street #3W); his contact was mother Lulu Ennie Howard; and he was self-employed. The registrar noted that Howard’s “left facial muscles paralyzed from stroke.”

Wilson Daily Times, 7 February 1946.

Percy Lee Howard’s obituary was published in the Wilson Daily Times on 19 December 1968. He died in New York City.

The obituary of Lavinia M.P. Johnson, hotel maid.

Wilson Daily Times, 23 November 1949.

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In the  1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Pierce David (c; Livinia) deliverymn h 317 Hackney

In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Pierce Livinia (c) maid Briggs Hotel h 317 Hackney

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on North Hackney, Levenia Pierce, 36, hotel maid; Sandra Pierce, 19, farm laborer; and Clara Pierce, 1; Cesar Williams, 20, hotel bellboy; Darthy L. Williams, 16; and Boyed L. Williams, 7 months; Estelle Butler, 30, private cook; and John Kitchen, 30, barber.

Louvenia Pierce Johnson died 22 November 1949 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 3 March 1896 in Edgecombe County, N.C., t0 unknown parents; lived at 317 Hackney Street; and was married. Clyde Cooper was informant.

Rodgers promoted to corporal.

Wilson Daily Times, 20 December 1943.

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In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on East Green Street, Coney Rodgers, 24, guano plant laborer; wife Clyde, 24; and children Earnest Lee, 6, Mosses, 4, Levay, 2, and Nina, 2 months.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Connie Rodgers, 33, widower, sewer project laborer, and children Ernest, 16, Moses, 13, Janey L., 12, Nina R., 9, and Queenella, 6; and Penny Bynum, 30.

In 1942, Ernest Lee Rogers registered for the World War II draft in Wilson, Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 18 December 1923 in Wilson; his contact was Mary Rogers, 612 Atlantic Street; and he worked for a government program in Goldsboro. He signed his card “Earnest Lee Rodgers.”

A little cocaine to make you crazy; or, Julius Webb’s secret to success.

“Blind tigers” were a pressing concern in Wilson in 1911, as we see here and here and here and here. Descriptions of the operations of these joints inevitably came wrapped in the purplest prose.

Wilson Daily Times, 8 December 1911.

“With one gallon of liquor which costs $2.00, some red pepper steeped over night, the addition of a gallon of water, a little sweetening to make it mellow, a little cocaine to make you crazy and you have a good fighting fluid which yields a hundred per cent profit but goes to the lawyer who defends the seller, places the seller on the road and the consumer in the lockup, from $7.50 to $15.00 in the city treasury and later the consumer in his coffin if he keeps it up.”

The Knox Brothers, William and Wilton, operated a general store at 214 South Goldsboro Street. The 1913 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson shows a restaurant at 214, with a grocery at 216, which both perhaps were Knox businesses.

I have not been able to trace the enterprising Julius Webb.

The golden anniversary of Colon and Christine Artis Currie.

Wilson Daily Times, 17 November 1982.

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In the 1920 census of Fountain township, Pitt County: Fred Artis, 33; wife Mattie, 23; and children Christine, 5, and Fred, 4.

In the 1920 census of Saint Pauls township, Robeson County: Worth Currie, 34; wife Bell, 33; and children David, 15, Katie, 14, Blanch, 13, Colon, 10, and Rossie B. Currie; daughter Snodie Mc[Ilwain?], 20, and her daughter Lee E., 1.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 101 Reid Street, school janitor Fred Artist, 56; children Christine, 16, and Mildred, 11; and lodger Suddie Brown, 22.

On 1 November 1932, Colon Currie, 23, of Wilson, son of Worth and Isabel Currie, married Christine Artis, 18, of Wilson, daughter of Fred and Mattie Artis, at the bride’s home. Missionary Baptist minister R.A. Murphy performed the ceremony.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Coleman Curry, 31, Williams Lumber Company laborer, and wife Christine, 25, cooking.

In 1940, Colon Franklin Currie registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 29 January 1919 in Robeson County, N.C.; lived at 1202 Wainwright Avenue, Wilson; his contact was wife Christian Currie; and he worked for Williams Lumber.

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1208 East Nash, Colon Currie, 39, truck driver for local lumber company, and wife Christine, 35, practical nurse at local T.B. hospital.

Christine A. Currie died 9 October 1984. Colon F. Currie died 28 October 1993.

“Two years later, true reform still eludes cemetery commission”

While I am generally pleased with the maintenance work Wilson Cemetery Commission is doing at Vick Cemetery, I am mindful of the pervasive and unresolved problems with its fiscal management and continue to urge City Council to address the issues set out in the city’s own 2021 audit.

Charles P. Farris Jr. has beaten a steady drum on this matter, and I amplify his recent letter to the editor published in Wilson Times.

N.A.A.C.P. calls for removal of Confederate monument.

We’ve examined the Confederate monument that stands on front of the Wilson County Courthouse here and here. Recently, Wilson’s N.A.A.C.P. called upon Wilson County Commissioners to remove the 1926 monument, which once featured segregated water fountains.

Wilson Times, 14 November 2023.

The death of Julius Finch of Whitaker, Pennsylvania.

In the 1940 census of Whitaker township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: Julius Finch, 34, W.P.A. worker, born in North Carolina, and wife Emily, 28, born in Georgia.

In 1942, Julius Finch registered for the World War II draft in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Per his registration card, he was born in Wilson, North Carolina; his contact was Emily Finch; and he worked for the Eighth Street Foundry in Braddock, Pennsylvania.

In the 1950 census of Whitaker, Allegheny township, Pennsylvania: at 1214 River Road, upstairs, Julius Finch, 55, supplyman at electrical appliance manufacturer, and wife Emily C., 39.

Pittsburgh Press, 10 December 1974.

Per his application for military headstone, Julius Finch was buried in Homewood Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was born in 1895 and died in 1974 and served as a private in the United States Army during World War I.