Religion

Darden senior preaches first sermon.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 1 October 1938.

Though Leroy Foster did not make his career in the pulpit, he remained a lifelong A.M.E. Zion lay leader.

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  • Leroy Foster

In the 1920 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: tenant farmer Claud Foster, 37; wife Cora, 37; and children Mammie, 16, Booker T., 12, Maggie, 9, Claud Jr., 7, Carry, 6, Leroy, 5, Sammie, 1, and Estell, 1 month.

In the 1930 census of Jackson township, Nash County, N.C.: farmer Claud Foster, 48; children Claud Jr., 16, Carrie Lee, 14, Leroy, 13, Samuel, 11, Cora, 10, Douglas, 8, and Marie, 6; and grandson Jimmie, 7.

In 1940, Leroy Foster registered for the World War II draft. Per his registration card, he was born 10 January 1917 in Wilson; lived at 303 North Vick Street; his contact was sister Carrie Highsmith, 1910 North 21st Street, Philadelphia; and he was a student at Livingstone College, Salisbury, N.C.

On 4 October 1944, Leroy Foster, 27, of Wilson, son of Claude and Cora Foster, married Lula Margaret Moore, 26, of Wilson, daughter of Louis Arrington and Lula Moore, in Wilson. A.M.E. Zion minister W.A. Hilliard performed the ceremony in the presence of Arthur Lee Battle, Viola McPhail, and Mary Elizabeth Thomas.

Leroy Foster interrupted his college education to serve in the United States Army from 1942 to 1946.

The Livingstonian yearbook (1947), Livingstone College.

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 925 Washington Street, science teacher Leroy Foster, 33; wife Lula M., 32; and aunt Delphia V. Battle, 57, presser.

Leroy Darden died 10 March 1978 in Greenville, North Carolina.

Wilson Daily Times, 12 March 1978.

The obituary of Hattie Dafney.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 13 February 1954.

I feature this obituary primarily for its mention of “Bishop S.C. Johnson’s Church” on Walnut Street, a church formally known The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith. and founded in 1930 by Edgecombe County native Sherrod C. Johnson. The church purchased several adjoining parcels — which were consolidated as 513 and 515 East Walnut Street — from Asa and Annie Locus in July 1950 after commencing a radio ministry earlier that year. Church trustee Isaiah Mercer founded the adjoining Whole Truth Lunchroom. The church’s adherents, known colloquially as “Bishop Johnsons,” were once numerous in Wilson.

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Hattie Dafney died 29 January 1954 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 10 February 1892 in Cumberland County, N.C.; was married; and lived at 927 Carolina Street. Mary McIntosh was informant.

Who was James H. Bynum?

I don’t know how I missed him, but I recently came across a Lincoln University catalog listing James H. Bynum of Wilson as a freshman in 1902-’03. Bynum graduated from Lincoln with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1906 and entered the university’s Theological Department.

I have not identified Bynum in Wilson records or found him after he left Lincoln. A search for “Rev. James H. Bynum” revealed a Methodist minister by that name in Mississippi, but he was already preaching when Bynum of Wilson was still a student.