social life

Daughters of Elks celebrate their 50th anniversary in 1973.

Ark of Covenant Temple No. 214, Daughters of Elks, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1973. Among the honorees at their anniversary banquet was Fannie Chester, the last surviving charter member.

Wilson Daily Times, 23 November 1973.

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In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Eliza Faison, 30, and children Willie, 12, Fannie, 7, and Joe, 3.

On 29 March 1911, Arthur Chestnut [sic], 20, married Fannie Faison, 19, in Wilson.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 206 Vick Street, house carpenter James Boykin, 49; wife Eliza, 47, tobacco factory worker; children Albert, 15, and Ruth, 9; son-in-law Arthur Chester, 28, transfer car driver; daughter Fannie, 28; and grandchildren Arthur Jr., 7, Joseph, 5, Irvin, 3, and Charlie, 1.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 204 Vick Street, Fannie Chester, 49, tobacco factory laborer.

In 1940, Ervin Chester registered for the World War II draft in New York, New York. Per his registration card, he was born 7 December 1917 in Wilson; lived at 237 – 135th Street, #3A, New York City; his contact was mother Fannie Chester, 204 Vick; and he worked for Small, 2446 – 7th Avenue.

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Fannie Chester, 59, and son Ervin, 33.

Fannie Faison Chester died 9 April 1976 in Wilson.

Miss Summers entertains.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 5 February 1927.

Miss Phenon A. Summers? At “her home” at 600 East Green? Weren’t J.D. and Eleanor Reid there then?

The following month, Phenon Summers again welcomed a guest to 600 East Green Street.

Journal and Guide, 12 March 1927.

And in April she did a little visiting herself.

Journal and Guide, 30 April 1927.

Phenon Adel Summers French Brown Jones — who reverted to her maiden name in between and after her divorces — was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1895. I have found nothing to shed light on her brief time in Wilson, and by 1928 she had moved on to teach at the Henderson Institute in Henderson, North Carolina. My best guess is that she was a lodger with the Reids and a teacher at either Wilson Colored High School or the Sallie Barbour School (also known as the Colored Graded School). By the summer of 1929, Summers was back in Columbus and seems to have remained there until her death in 1976.

The Cave.

Me: Yeah. Now, what about the place – my daddy used to talk about a place called The Cave. Was that on –

Samuel C. Lathan: Yeah, man. That’s where I met my wife.

LYH: Really?

SCL: Yeah. I didn’t meet her there, but that’s where she and I would hang out. Now, The Cave was opened by Robert Vick.

LYH: Okay.

SCL: Robert Vick was a educator, and he was the principal of several schools, wonderful schools here. But when he came here, he brought a little New York down here.

LYH: Okay.

SCL: Because we didn’t have nothing. We had the Stop Light Grill.

LYH: Right.

SCL: But we didn’t have nothing like The Cave because The Cave had the sundaes. It had the milkshakes, it had the ice cream fancies. You know, it had all the little bar things that you would have, you know. Had good fried chicken in there and good sandwiches, you know, and brought the hoagie in, you know. Yeah, yeah, now. And Tom Woodard’s, and they had an excursion that Saturday — on that Friday night, there was a big excursion. A hayride. And the truck — was going to be two trucks would be at The Cave. Now, Robert Vick would put the things on like that. But I was sitting on my front porch because I could see – I was right across from The Cave.

Hill’s 1947 Wilson, N.C., city directory.

The Cave occupied a storefront in the two-story brick building Camillus Darden built at 561 East Nash Street.

Copy of tax return courtesy of Vicki Cowan; interview with Samuel C. Lathan copyrighted, all rights reserved.

The Frogs host a hop.

In 1931, the Frog Social Club sponsored its second annual holiday party — the Frog Hop. Held in Samuel H. Vick‘s “casino” in the Odd Fellows building, the soiree promised a good time to the select with an “admit card.”

The Frog Club drew its members from the rarefied heights of Wilson’s African-American social circles.

The Journal and Guide‘s 10 January 1933 issue described the Frog’s first New Year’s party.

Founded by black movers and shakers, Frogs social clubs sprang up throughout the country in the decades prior to World War II. The legendary precursor to all of them was formed in Harlem in 1908 by legendary theatrical pioneers Bert Williams, George Walker, and Sam Corker. Named after Aristophanes’ play, The Frogs, the Harlem club’s peak years were the 1910s and 1920s, but its renown inspired the formation and tone of the clubs like the one in Wilson.

Thank you, Vicki Cowan, for sharing!

Indoor circuses and other social events.

Baltimore Afro-American, 12 May 1928.

  • M. Lenard
  • Mrs. J.D. Reid — Eleanor P. Reid.
  • Mrs. Aline Darden
  • Mrs. Sarah Wilson — probably, in the 1930 Wilson, N.C., city directory: Wilson Sarah L (c) tchr Stantonsburg St Graded Sch r 209 N Reid
  • Mrs. M.S. Gilliam — Annie L. Gilliam.
  • Mrs. C.L. Darden — Norma D. Darden.
  • Artelia Barnes — Leo Artelia Barnes.
  • Inez White
  • Elroy Barnes
  • M. Fisher — probably, Milton Fisher.
  • William McCullers — in the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1008 Washington Street, Clarence McCullers, 42, hardware store laborer; wife Rosa E., 37, who did washing; and son William E., 17.
  • Fletcher Pearce
  • Jesse Bullock — in the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: farmer Joshuy Bulluck, 47; wife [illegible], 43; children Kattie, 23, Ruel, 21, Jessie, 20, Percy, 18, Maggie, 17, Joshuy, 16, Lonnie, 13, Mark, 12, James A., 10, Hermon, 9, Zeb, 5, Annie L., 8, and Wytelluse, 4.
  • Ruel Bullock 
  • Esmond Langley
  • Ameta Ellis — Ometa Ellis died 3 May 1928 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was married to Morriss Ellis; resided at 702 Nash Street; was 42 years old; and had been born in Wilmington, North Carolina, to Weldon Perrington of Wilmington and Louisa Scarborough of Wilson. Louisa Parrington was informant.
  • Sarah Williams
  • James H. Clarke — John H. Clark?
  • Thelma Barnes
  • Scott Hines — Elizabeth Scott Hines.
  • Rosa Lee Kittrell
  • Gerald Barnes — probably, Jerrell Randolph Barnes, who died 14 December 1929 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 7 May 1909; was single; worked as a common laborer; and was born to Ned Barnes and Louisa Gay. Informant was Alice Bryant, Wilson.
  • John E. Farmer — perhaps, in the 1940 csus of Wilson, Wilson County: widow Eula Farmer, 51, household servant; son John E., 30, laborer; and daughter Clifton, 24, movie theatre cashier.
  • Rufus Speights — Rufus Speight. in the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Speight Rufus (c) porter Wm Hines h 624 Viola. In 1940, Rufus Edward Speight registered for the World War II draft. Per his registration card, he lived at 624 East Viola; was born 4 October 1907 in Whitaker, North Carolina; his contact was brother Theodore Speight; and he worked for Bill Hines at 130 South Goldsboro Street.
  • Klondike Club
  • Herbert Mitchner — Hubert Mitchner.
  • Andrew Tate — in the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 307 North Pender, seamstress Hattie Tate, 44, widow, and children Hellen, 23, insurance agent, and Andrew, 21, hotel bellboy, as well as lodger Lucy Davis, a public school teacher.
  • Douglass Ellis — in the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 411 Pine, Windsor Ellis, 42, greenhouse gardener; wife Rachel, 34; children Douglas, 20, John H., 10, and Elaine, 5; and lodger Fred Moye, 26, cafe cook.
  • Charlie Thomas

The Kent-Lucas family reunion celebrates 46 years!

Congrats to the Kent-Lucas family, which celebrated its 46th family reunion this past weekend! I was honored that Black Wide-Awake was helpful to the family in documenting its ancestors and was thrilled that Rev. James Robert Kent shared with me the family history report distributed to attendees. The report contains priceless oral history accounts, as well as copies of marriage and death certificates and of funeral programs, as well as posts from Black Wide-Awake.

Kudos to the Kent-Lucas family historians, who are doing this thing right!

Signal Boost: Goldsboro’s James & Pine Black Business District.

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.

Taylor’s Spring Club news.

Wilson Daily Times, 7 July 1944.

Where was Taylor’s Spring? Presumably, based on the reference to Mitchell School, somewhere west of Elm City.

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  • Bertha Lee Evans
  • Rosie Lee Evans — probably, in the 1940 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farmer John Evans, 34; wife Rosa, 30; and children Rosa Lee, 12, Effie Pearl, 11, John Evert, 10, Penny Roberta, 8, Annie Doris, 7, Karl Randolph, 4, and Rayfield, 2.
  • Sadie Isom
  • Pearlie Savage — in the 1940 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farmer Henry Locus, 67; wife Ida, 64; daughter Lula, 38; granddaughters Elsie, 18, and Pearley Mae Savage, 13; and grandsons Clinton, 6, and Irelander Armstrong, 4.
  • Viola Scafe — Earnest and Viola Hill Scafe likely were migrants from South Carolina. They settled in Toisnot township in the late 1930s, had at least three children there between 1937 and 1942, and migrated to New Jersey before 1950.
  • Florence McKinnon — in the 1940 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Will McKinnon, 55; wife Elizabeth W., 53; children Ada Belle, 19, Mary E., 16, Florence G., 15, Charlie S., 12, and Benjamin F., 23; daughter-in-law Mary V., 19; grandson Benjamin F. Jr., 1; son James W., 21, and daughter-in-law Cora C., 18.
  • J.A. Boyd

Rebecca Thorpe hosts a church social.

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.