Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 28 February 1942.
Dr. John W. Darden, friend of Booker T. Washington, arrived in Opelika, Alabama, in 1902. His younger brother James B. Darden briefly served as pharmacist in his drugstore before settling in Petersburg, Virginia.
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 27 May 1933.
——
Though he is little-remembered now, for several decades in the early-to-mid 1900s, Columbus E. Artis was the premier black undertaker in Wilson. Here’s what Samuel C. Lathan recently told me about him:
SCL: … One time, I remember C.E. Artis — I think it was a ‘48 hearse. They went to Detroit and bought that thing. And it had a record player in it. And then it had a hydraulic cable in it where, when you open up the side, that hydraulic would raise up and come out, and the casket would come out by itself.
LYH: Wow.
SCL: And the pallbearers would stand right there and take it right out. Oh, man, it was all kind of – them people would wear hickory-stripe pants, black wool and silk jacket with the vest. Aw, man …. Wont no patent leather. Everybody’s shoes was just shined.
…
LYH: And it’s funny because you talk about things that people don’t talk about. When I, you know, when I tell people that at one time C.E. Artis and Darden were rivals.
SCL: That’s right.
LYH: I mean, C.E. Artis was just as big as Darden was.
SCL: Yeah. Yeah.
…
SCL: And then Darden didn’t have the business that C.E. had.
LYH: Mm-hmm.
SCL: Darden was the old-fashioned thing. Even … I remember one time I was talking to Charles [Darden James], … [and] Charles was saying, “Well, you know, we’re the old standby.” I never will forget that, you know? But C.E. – see, until Hamilton came to Wilson, C.E. was the sporting one. C.E. was the town. C.E. was the thing, man. C.E. was the thing. Yessir buddy. Yeah.
We first met Lou Blackwell Robbins here, giving summer art lessons to children at the Colored Graded School in 1936. I still have not been able to find her in county records, but several Journal and Globe articles published over the next year or so provide some clues to her life.
In this 14 November 1936 piece, Robbins’ vocation is listed as “artist.” She had given a demonstration on making pottery to members of the Black Creek Home Demonstration Club, which met at the home of Mrs. L.D. Tomlinson. (Sallie Owens Tomlinson and Louise Rainwater, who demonstrated cake-making to the club, were white women. Robbins’ invitation into Tomlinson’s home to demonstrate pottery-making must have been a remarkable event.) Robbins had also founded the Professional Women’s Art Club in Wilson, whose officers drew from Black Wilson’s upper crust (such as it was.)
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 14 November 1936.
Three months later, Robbins was in Norfolk, Virginia, lecturing and exhibiting her work. A March 13 article “explained something of her life and her past experience in the field of art and her ambitions for the remainder of her life.”
There’s a lot to digest.
We learn that Robbins graduated from Wilson High School (later known as Darden High) in 1934. She had two adopted daughters. Her interest in art was encouraged by a high school teacher, leading her to give up “medicine and a career as a doctor.” (What?) She produced art across multiple genres, was a lecturer and a teacher, and was writing a history of Negroes in North Carolina. She sculpted in North Carolina clay and had carved busts of numerous prominent men.
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 13 March 1937.
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 8 May 1937.
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 19 June 1937.
In late summer, Lou Blackwell Robbins returned to Norfolk to compete in a talent contest at the Booker-T Theatre. Once again, we get a complex picture of Robbins’ talents. She told the reporter that she had been inspired by Voo Doo Fire, a book given her by an Army veteran, to make percussion instruments by hand, assisted by children in Saint John A.M.E. Zion’s music program. [Richard A. Loederer’s Voodoo Fire in Haiti, published in 1935?] Captivated by the instruments, the children formed the Jungle Babies Band and booked performances at Saint John and Vick’s Casino, the nightclub operated by Samuel H. Vick Jr. in his father’s old Globe Theatre space in the Odd Fellows Building on East Nash Street. Inspired by the “delighted” audience response, Robbins went to Norfolk to try to book the Jungle Babies there. Encouraged to enter the contest, she secured Eloise Hunter as an accompanist on piano and took third place. However, the reporter’s description of the performance is just snarky enough to cast doubt on Robbins’ musical prowess.
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 11 September 1937.
Lou Blackwell Robbins’ time in Norfolk was not entirely positive. A lengthy 13 August 1938 article about troubles at Queen Street Baptist Church mentioned that Robbins had filed unspecified charges against its pastor, Rev. P.P. Eaton, resulting in his reprimand.
I’ve found no other reference to Lou Blackwell Robbins. Was she a Wilson native? Who were her husband and children? If she left Wilson, where did she go? What became of her art and writings?
——
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 9 May 1942.
Sallie Barbour‘s credit as Wilson County’s earliest proponent of the Rosenwald Fund is an interesting detail in this obituary. It’s also puzzling. The Stantonsburg School was in Stantonsburg. The Stantonsburg Street School, formerly known as the Colored Graded School and later formally renamed for Barbour, was on Stantonsburg Street in Wilson, but was built well before the Rosenwald era.
I’ve been interviewing folks lately and stopped by to see my friend Samuel C. Lathan when I was recently at home. As always, I thoroughly enjoyed our visit and, also per usual, learned lots of new things to research further. Here’s a 23 February 2008 Wilson Daily Times feature on Mr. Lathan, who is now 96.
——
By Keith Barnes | Daily Times Photojournalist
Sam Lathan’s life has always been about the music.
Whether it was keeping rhythm as a child while banging on cardboard boxes on his grandmother’s porch or performing in later years with big-name musical groups, it has always been that way.
Most of his performing now involves playing drums with The Monitors, a local group, but Lathan, 78, reminisced recently about the early days of his long musical career, recalling the many people and groups who have influenced him.
He said beating on the boxes helped him develop rhythm, which led to his fascination with the drums.
When he was about 12 years old, he remembers, a group called “Winston’s [Winstead’s] Mighty Minstrels” came to Wilson and paraded through the streets to draw an audience for the group’s midnight shows.
Lathan got his first chance to perform in front of people when the Minstrels let him play the drums with them during one of the parades.
Following that early experience, he later played the cymbals for the Darden High School marching band in the 1940s and while at Darden also helped form a swing music band called “The Fourteen Flames of Rhythm.”
The group played at Wilson locales such as the Cherry Hotel, Briggs Hotel and the teenage center at the corner of Pine and Broad streets.
“We only made about 75 cents apiece, but we were just happy to be playing,” he said.
While with the group, Lathan met Steve Coleman, who was part of another Wilson group called the “Carolina Stompers.”
The Stompers had a drummer named Dank Dunn, and Dunn allowed Lathan some playing time at the drums during the group’s rehearsals.
By the time he was 17 years old, Lathan was playing on weekends in another group of Steve Coleman’s, and it was there he met Wallace Kemp, who greatly influenced his musical style and taught him a different, better way of playing.
“I learned from him not to beat the drums, but instead to play the drums,” Lathan said.
Playing gigs whenever he could find them, Lathan continued to hone his musical skills in several groups over the next few years including an eastern North Carolina tour with the Lloyd Price Orchestra.
In 1955, Lathan was offered a job to play in a Jacksonville band called “Jimmy Hines & The Four Dukes.”
He took it and was paid $75 a week, which was “more money than I had ever seen,” said Lathan.
When that group broke up, he stayed in Jacksonville, playing with another band called the “Jazzeroos,” a name taken from the club called Jazz Land where it performed.
“We filled the place up every night, mostly with Marines,” he said.
Lathan stayed with that group until 1959 when he went to Washington, D.C., to join a band called the “Billy Clark Trio” which had a bass guitar player named Sam Thomas.
After being there about a year Lathan returned to Wilson and got a job at Burlington Mills.
Then, one day he got the type of break most musicians dream of when he received a telegram from Sam Thomas telling him to call James Brown in New Orleans.
Lathan made the call and spoke with the legendary performer who had heard about his drum-playing through Thomas.
“They tell me you can play,” Brown said.
“Yes sir, I can,” said Lathan.
Brown and his band, The Famous Flames, were scheduled perform in Wilson two weeks later at Reid Street Community Center, and Lathan auditioned for him before the show.
Brown liked what he saw, and Lathan joined the group as its drummer, traveling and performing with them for two years.
Shortly thereafter, in 1963, Lathan joined The Monitors and has been playing with the group ever since.
“Music has been my life,” Lathan said. “I’ve never wanted to do anything else. But, I’ve always been fascinated with writing music, and if I had it to do over again I would like to have written more.”
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 24 June 1933.
——
In the 1900 census of Cross Creek township, Cumberland County, N.C.: seamstress Alice Hall, 44, widow, seamstress; children Caroline, 22, seamstress, Mary A., 20, schoolteacher, George B., 19, day laborer, Theodosia, 14, Charlotte, 12, Rosa D., 7, Henry W., 4, and Isaac B., 24, farmer; daughter-in-law Mary E., 20; grandchildren Willie Ann, 2, and Alice P., 8 months; mother-in-law Jessie D., 74, widow; and cousin Annie, 27, day laborer.
On 24 April 1909, Austin McQueen, 22, born in South Carolina to Sidney and Annie McQueen, married Charlotte Hall, 20, born in North Carolina to Isaac and Alice Hall, in Manchester, Virginia.
In the 1910 census of Fayetteville, Cumberland County, N.C.: carpenter Louis Gill, 68; wife Alice H., 49, seamstress; stepchildren Carrie, 23, seamstress, Theodolia, 19, Rosa D., 15, and Henry W. Hall, 13; stepdaughter Mary A. Butler, 21; stepson-in-law Austin McQueen, 22, clothes cleaner at tailor shop, and stepdaughter Charlotte, 19.
On 12 September 1916, Cape Fear News, reported that public health nurse Charlotte Hall McQueen had visited 258 patients.
On 4 December 1917, Grant J. Faison, 35, of Rocky Mount, N.C., son of Bill and Hannah Faison, married Charlotte M. Hall, 26, of Fayetteville, N.C., daughter of Isaac B. Hall and Alice H. Gill, in Fayetteville, Cumberland County, N.C.
In 1918, Grant Jackson Faison registered for the World War I draft in Rocky Mount, Edgecombe County, N.C. Per his registration form, he was born 3 March 1881; lived at 406 Carolina Avenue, Rocky Mount; was a tobacco worker for Imperial Tobacco; and his nearest relative was Charlotte Faison.
In the 1920 census of Rocky Mount, Edgecombe County, N.C.: Grant J. Faison, 37, tobacco factory fireman, and wife Charlotte, 37, trained nurse.
In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Faison Grant J (c; Charlotte M) gro 502 N Vick h 801 E Green
In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 801 East Green Street, owned and valued at $3000, grocery store merchant Grant Faisson, 46, and wife Charlotte, 42, trained nurse at hospital.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 801 East Green Street, owned and valued at $2500, retail grocery store operator Grant T. Faison, 58, and wife Charlotte M., 52, saleswoman at retail grocery store.
In 1942, Victor Morie Hall registered for the World War II draft in Asbury Park, N.J. Per his registration card, he was born 3 May 1923 in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, N.C.; lived at 621 West 25th Street, Winston-Salem; had a temporary mailing address at Monterey Hotel, Ocean Avenue, Asbury Park, N.J.; his contact was Charlotte Faison, 801 East Green Street; and he worked for the Monterey Hotel, Asbury Park.
In the 1950 census of Kings County, New York: at 548 McDonough Street, Frank [sic] J. Faison, 68, restaurant porter, and wife Charlotte, 61, hospital nurse.
In 1931, Howard University awarded an honorary degree to Dr. Joseph H. Ward, a colonel (and later major) in the United States Army Medical Corps.
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 13 June 1931.
Here’s a clearer look at Dr. Ward’s photo:
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 18 July 1925.
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 1 July 1950.
Add the highly-accomplished Henrietta Foster Mebane to the top of the list of early twentieth-century Black registered nurses in Wilson.
——
In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Walter Foster, 34, fireman at wagon factory; wife Nettie, 39; and children Henry E., 8, and Walter A., 5; plus boarder Arthur Broady, 22, laborer.
In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 707 Vance Street, Walter Foster, 46, fireman at wagon company; wife Rosa, 34; children Heneretta, 18, Carl, 6, and Naomi, 4; and sister-in-law Etta Parker, 32, a school teacher.
In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 308 North Hadley Street, Mary Shaw, 49, servant; adopted daughter Grace V. Shaw, 4; and lodger Henretta Foster, 28, trained nurse at hospital.
Walter Mebane was born and died 6 August 1931 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Per his death certificate, he was the son of John A. Mebane of Rocky Mount and Henrietta Foster of Wilson and was buried in Nash County, N.C.
In the 1940 census of Tarboro, Edgecombe County, N.C.: church minister John A. Mebane, 54; wife Henrietta, 38, registered nurse; and children William A., 6, and Florence, 5.
Grace Mebane died 7 February 1940 in Tarboro, Edgecombe County, N.C. Per her death certificate, she was born 11 April 1926 in Petersburg, Virginia, to John Mebane of Bertie County, N.C., and Henrietta Foster of Wilson County, and was buried in Wilson [probably in her grandparents’ plot in Odd Fellows Cemetery.]
In the 1950 census of Tarboro, Edgecombe County, N.C.: painter John A. Mebane, 64; wife Heneretta A., 48; public health nurse; and daughter Florence Y., 14.
Henrietta Alline Foster Mebane died 2 June 1950 at her home at 504 Bradley Avenue, Tarboro. Per her death certificate, she was born 24 August 1901 to Walter Foster and Nettie Young; was married to John A. Mebane; worked as a nurse; and was buried in Roundtree Cemetery “near Wilson, N.C.” [Henrietta Mebane’s grave likely lay near those of her parents near the old gates into Rountree. Her remains were later removed to Rest Haven Cemetery, where she was reinterred alongside her husband.]
Henrietta Alline Foster Mebane (1901-1950).
Photo courtesy of Ancestry.com user mebane714.
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 2 October 1948.
Before she was visiting nurse for Metropolitan Life, Henrietta Colvert was a staff nurse at Wilson Hospital and Tubercular Home/Mercy Hospital and lived in Wilson for fifteen or more years. (She was also my mother‘s maternal great-aunt, and thus the first of the Colvert family to settle here.)
