social life

The incorporation of the Eureka Social Club.

29184
(Non-Stock)
Certificate of Incorporation
of
The Eureka Social Club, Incorporated

This is to Certify that we, the undersigned, do hereby associate ourselves into a non-stock corporation under and by virtue of the laws of the State of North Carolina as contained in Chapter 22 of the Consolidated Statutes, entitled “Corporations,” and the several amendments thereto, and to that end do hereby set forth:

1. The name of this Corporation is the Eureka Social Club, Incorporated.

2. The location of the principal office of the corporation in this state is at No. 417 East Nash Street, in the Town of Wilson, County of Wilson.

3. The objects for which this corporation is formed are as follows:

(a) To conduct and maintain a social club for the amusement and recreation of its members, to promote social intercourse among the members of the Eureka Social Club, Incorporated, and to provide rooms in which they can meet for recreation, amusement and social intercourse.

And in order properly to prosecute the objects and purposes above set forth, the Corporation shall have full power and authority to purchase, lease and otherwise acquire, hold, mortgage, convey and otherwise dispose of all kinds of property, both real and personal, located both in the state and in all other states, territories and dependencies of the United States, and generally to perform all acts which may be deemed necessary for the proper and successful prosecution of the objects and purposes for which the Corporation is created.

4. The Corporation is to have no capital stock.

5. The names and post office addresses of the incorporators are as follows:

O.N. Freeman — Wilson, N.C.
Charlie Woodard — Wilson, N.C.
Harry Brown — Wilson, N.C.

6. The period of existence of this corporation is limited to sixty years.

7. Members may be admitted after organization under the following terms: By ballot of the Board of Governors as set forth in the by-laws, and by paying an initiation fee prescribed by the by-laws.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and affixed our seals, this the 25 day of February, A.D. 1927.

O.N. Freeman (Seal)
Chas. Woodard (Seal)
Harry Brown (Seal)

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Eureka Social Club shared an address, 417 East Nash Street, with Lincoln Theatre and presumably rented space upstairs.

On 28 November 1908, Charlie Woodard, 22, son of Phoebe Woodard, married Georgia Clayton, 19, daughter of Sarah Clayton, at Sarah Clayton’s in Wilson. Baptist minister Fred M. Davis performed the ceremony in the presence of Luther Barbour, L.A. Moore, and James Taylor.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 528 Nash Street, May Akin, 40; Delma Branch, 24, dressmaker; Charlie Branch, 25, laborer; Mildred, 10, Helen, 7, Jessie L., 4, and Harry Branch, 2; laborer Charlie Woodard, 34; wife Georgia, 28; and sons Herbert, 4, and Charles Jr., 1; and laborers John Barnes, 22, Dave Barnes, 20, and Harry Carter, 34.

In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Woodard Chas (c; Georgia) barber 421 E Nash h 1000 Lincoln

  • Harry Brown

In the 1908 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Brown Harry (c; meatctr) h 132 Suggs

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Harry Brown, 35, and wife Mary, 22, both laborers.

On 26 July 1913, Harry Brown, 32, of Wilson, son of Jim and Viana Brown, married Loucina Spence, 20, of Wilson, daughter of John and Nancy Spence, at John Spence’s home in Wilson. Free Will Baptist minister B.F. Loftin performed the ceremony in the presence of E.F. Killette, T.S. Smith, and John Spence.

In 1917, William Harrison Brown registered for the World War I draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 25 September 1888 in Summerton, South Carolina; lived at 413 Stantonsburg, Wilson; and worked as a painter.

Corporations Book 3, page 171, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

AKAs hold annual bridge tournament.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 24 October 1942.

The local chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority held its annual bridge tournament at Reid Street Community Center on 8 October 1942.

Chapter members included Odelle Whitehead Barnes, Lucy Barnes, Nettie Daniels, Norma D. Darden, Marian Davis, Doris Freeman, Esther Brown Goodwin, Vera Greene, Dolores Hines, Mae Murray McKoy, Marion Howard Miller, Helen Townsend Parker, Cora Miller Washington, Rosalyn Whitehead, Thelma Reid Whitehead, and Rosa Kittrell Williams.

Local guests included Grace B. Swinney, Ruth Jones Plater, Grace McNeil Johnson, Ethel Gray Howell, Flossie Howard Barnes, Dorothy Grissom Parker, Dr. George K. Butterfield, Robert A. Johnson, Ethel Cornwell Hines, Levi Jones, Tempsie Robbins Jones, Addie Davis Butterfield, E. Dortche Fisher, Letitia Lovett Fisher, Sarah P. Hines, Eleanor P. Reid, Georgia Cooke Gant, Flossie Dunston, Marie Mitchner, Maggie Barnes Crawford, Lurean Barnes Zachary, Catherine Turner Watson, Margaret Edwards Kornegay, Myrtle Lane Mitchell, Annie Gilliam, Annie Dupree, and Margaret Hines.

Silas Green plays Wilson; performs tribute to former trouper.

The black-owned tent show “Silas Green from New Orleans” toured for fifty years with singers, dancers, comedians, and musicians playing one-night stands across the South. Lead actress Ada Lockhart Booker, who began her theatrical career with Sissieretta Jones, The Black Patti, wrote “letters” to the Chicago Defender from the road, sharing tour news, touting acts, and gassing up the show’s owner Charles Collier.

In May 1924, Ada Booker wrote from Wilson. After briefly mentioning her hospital stay in Cordele, Georgia, Booker introduces readers to the show’s personnel. “We are in the strawberry section now,” she noted in closing, though this was not, strictly speaking, true. North Carolina’s historic strawberry-growing region was further southeast.

Chicago Defender, 31 May 1924.

A week later, Silas Green was 75 miles down the road in New Bern. Booker noted that “the boys on parade [had] paid a very fitting tribute” to the memory of Warren “Stiffy” Thorne, a Wilson native who had passed the previous November and “was quite well thought of in his home town.” “Dear Old Pal of Mine” was a popular World War I tune and, sung on circle with Bill Jones surrounded by choristers, must have been a moving experience.

Chicago Defender, 7 June 1924.

Four years later, Silas Green show advertised for new troupe members, including clarinetists, a novelty act, and “neat, attractive chorus girls of good character.” Wilson was listed among the show’s eastern North Carolina stops over the next few weeks.

Chicago Defender, 19 May 1928.

The era of black minstrel shows is fascinating, but poorly remembered and little-studied. If you want to know more, start with Alex Albright’s essay — chock-full of oral interviews and photographs — “Noon Parade and Midnight Ramble: Black Traveling Tent Shows in North Carolina,” in Good Country People: An Irregular Journal of The Cultures of Eastern North Carolina (1995). You can buy it for ten bucks at rafountain.com.

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  • Warren Thorne

In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Hattie Grissom, 25; son Herman, 8; sister Anie, 23, and brother Warren [Thorne], 15, day laborer.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Vick Street, Herman Grisson, 30, barber at Tate & Hines; wife Lydia, 26; children Dorothy, 5, Vivian, 3, and Ruth, 7 months; mother Hattie, 46; and uncle Warren Thorn, 35, musician.

Warren Thorne died 6 November 1923 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 15 October 1886 in Wilson County to Preston Thorne of Edgecombe County, N.C., and Edna Adams of Greene County, N.C.; lived at 203 Vick Street; worked as a musician; and was buried in Wilson [probably, Vick Cemetery.] Hattie Grissom [his sister] was informant.

[Sidenote: Warren Thorne was not the only musician in his family. His brother Isaiah Prophet Thorne joined Sherwood Orphans’ School brass band, traveled to London, and spent decades touring Europe before washing up in Istanbul in 1942 and writing the Daily Times for help reconnecting with family.]

The Independent School thrives!

Just months after it opened, the Independent School was thriving.

In January 1919, enrollment had climbed over 500 pupils and, at a meeting at Saint John A.M.E. Zion, supporters donated $677.84 (about $13,300 in today’s money.)

Wilson Daily Times, 21 January 1919.

In March 1919, a fundraiser at First Baptist Church netted $1020.23 (about $19,000 today), and almost half came through the efforts of teachers and students like Lillian Wilson. We learn something else about the Independent School here — in the tradition of Fisk University, it fielded a corps of jubilee singers!

Wilson Daily Times, 25 March 1919.

In May 1919, the anticipated crowd for the school’s first commencement exercises was so large that organizers had to go to Goldsboro to secure a 1500-person tent. (Per the 1920 census, the population of the whole town of Wilson was only 10,612, and black people constituted about 40% of that total.)

Wilson Daily Times, 27 May 1919.

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Though nearly 20 years old, Lillian Wilson was an eighth-grade graduate of the Independent School — formally, Wilson Normal and Industrial Institute — in 1919. Her journey was common. Whether because of health challenges or need to work to help support their families, few students started school at age 6 or completed eight grades in eight years.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Newbern Street, William Wilson, 52, livery stable groomer; wife Sarah, 48; and daughters Ellen, 23, and Lillian, 21, both tobacco factory laborers.

In the 1922 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Wilson Lillian (c) dom 1010 Woodard av

On 28 September 1923, Rufus Wooten, 22, of Wilson, son of Arthur and Susie Wooten, married Lillian Wilson, 19, of Wilson, daughter of Will and Sarah Wilson, in Wilson. Missionary Baptist minister George Cooper performed the ceremony in the presence of George W. Barnes, L.G. Harvey, and R.L. Harvey.

Howell and Crawford serve as recreational hostesses.

Washington (D.C.) Afro-American, 29 September 1945.

Recreational hostesses were civilian women who served with the American Red Cross or the United States Army’s Special Services to provide entertainment and wholesome companionship for soldiers. Nicknamed “Donut Dollies,” they often traveled military bases in mobile units delivering coffee, doughnuts, music, and conversation.

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  • Ethel G. Howell
  • Vertist Crawford

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 617 Green, carpenter Short W. Barnes, 60; wife Francis, 62; son-in-law Clarence A. Crawford, 28, brickmason; daughter Maggie L., 26; and grandchildren Verest A., 2, and Clarence A., Jr., 9 months.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: carpenter Short W. Barnes, 70, wife Francis, 71, daughter Maggie Crawford, 36, son-in-law Clarance Crawford, 39, and their children Verda, 13, Clarance, 10, and Annie, 8.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 617 Green, carpenter Short W. Barnes, 80; daughter Maggie Crawford, 46, and grandchildren Vertist, 22, truck driver Clarance, 20, and Annie F., 18.

On 29 May 1952, the list of outbound passengers aboard the USNS General Alexander M. Patch included:

U.S. Departing Passenger and Crew Lists 1914-1966, http://www.ancestry.com.

White man killed by a mob.

The Miners Journal (Pottsville, Pa.), 15 May 1903.

This brief account of the murder of T. Percy Jones snatched at my eye. A man killed by a mob in Wilson in 1903? The backstory is complicated … and surprising.

Jones was a white insurance salesman from Little Rock, Arkansas, who had been boarding at the Fryar Building downtown for several weeks. A crowd of at least eleven white men broke into Jones’ room to confront him about (1) black women occupying his room and (2) suspicions that he was a detective investigating Wilson’s flourishing gambling dens. Allegedly two weeks earlier, the police had gone to Jones’ room looking for Fannie Adams, a black woman from Goldsboro wanted for stealing a watch. Adams was not there, but a letter addressed to her was found, as was a different black woman. Jones allegedly also had been spotted in a “Negro eating house” with a black woman. A posse sent a message to Jones to get out of town. Anticipating conflict, Jones kept a loaded shotgun at the head of his bed. When the mob broke down Jones’ door, guns blazing, Jones fired back. His shot lodged in the ceiling, Jones was struck in the abdomen. (Two of the mob caught friendly fire as well.) The men scattered, jumping out of windows and shimmying down ladders.

The police rounded up fish dealer J.B. Piver, merchant tailor Samuel J. Walls; brickyard laborer, prison guard and whiskey still operator John Pittman; Times pressman George Whitley, who also drove a hose wagon for Wilson Fire Company; W.P. Croom; carpenter William W. Barnes; Lawrence Morgan, who ran a gambling house; William H. Rich, a cotton mill superintendent from Alabama; farmer J. Thomas Bass of Wayne County, N.C.; barkeep Gil D. Ward, originally of Wayne County; and barkeep and Pitt County native John R. Allen, the man who was shot. At the coroner’s inquest, Mayor Doane Herring, who was among the first on the scene, gave testimony unfavorable to the arrested men, and feeling in town ran against them. Additional testimony hinted that police officers W.P. Snakenburg (a 21-year veteran and former police chief), Frank Felton, and George Mumford had been encouraged to make themselves scarce the night of the attack, and A.C.L. Railroad night watchman Peter Nichols had failed to stir when he saw the crowd moving. (Snakenburg was soon fired; Felton drew a ten-day suspension; and Nichols was stripped of police power.)

At trial, Barnes turned state’s evidence, and others each swore their innocence, claiming they had never conspired with their codefendants, were not on the scene, and in general knew nothing about the incident. A single black witness, George Moye, testified:

The Farmer and Mechanic (Raleigh, N.C.), 19 May 1903. This paper carried a blow-by-blow of both the coroner’s inquest and the trial.

In his summation, defense attorney Frederick A. Woodard thundered: “… when this crime came to my knowledge there also came to my mind the fact that a man was living here in sight of a church steeple in adultery with a negro woman. … And had he gotten what his acts deserved he would have been driven out and this horrible killing would have been averted.” Prosecutor F.S. Spruill, who had been brought in from Louisburg, N.C., shot back, “They not only killed the body but this defense has attempted to raise over this body the black name of infamy. Let those who are not guilty throw the first stone. Rich, in [Cora Duty‘s] bawdy house; Morgan in the home of a harlot when arrested and Ward, the slayer of his [black] mistress [in Wayne County.] Can these man point at a man who, it is claimed, has committed adultery?”

The first trial ended in mistrial, but in February 1904, Whitley, Ward, Rich, Pittman, Allen, and Bass were found guilty of the reduced charge of manslaughter and given sentences of six to ten months’ hard labor at the state penitentiary. Piver and Walls were tried separate from the others and were acquitted.

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In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: kinship laborer George Moye, 52, widow, and boarders Annie Graves, 40, widow, and Cora Williamson, 23, both day laborers.

Wilson news, August 1930.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 23 August 1930.

The various African-American social clubs of the early 1900s deserve of a post of their own, and it’s coming soon. Meanwhile, we meet the Ever Ready Club, which gave a “social” at the Whitley on a Friday night in August 1930.

Where was Green Wreath/Green Reef Park?

The “local graduate nurses club” was probably the Mary Mahoney Nurses Club. Its officers were Ada D. Artis (Mrs. C.E. Artis), Charlotte M. Faison, and Henrietta Colvert. Picnic guests were Sarah E. Hines, Elba Vick Valle (Mrs. Carlos C. Valle) and her daughter Mabel Valle, Catherine Clark, Lelia Washington, and Willie L. Hargrove.

Hartford Bess, though unable to complete his studies at Fisk, went on to make an enduring musical mark in Wilson.