Wilson County

Convicts sent to Toisnot township to build roads.

We read here of North Carolina’s Good Roads Policy, which authorized counties to use mobile convict labor camps, manned overwhelmingly by African-American convicts, to build roads. Above, minutes from the 8 September 1903 Wilson County Commission meeting reflect the assignment of “the convict force” to Toisnot township to work on a road project for up to a month. George D. Green, chairman of the Commission, was ordered to “take such steps as necessary to supply the food and have same cooked by the convicts of this County for the road hands.” Also, W.H. Pridgen was ordered to “have 3 sections of 16 feet each of Portable convict quarters built.”

This 1996 article about a prison cage found behind Angus Barn in Raleigh and donated to the State Department of Corrections includes photographs of two other portable convict cages known to exist today in North Carolina. See also this 1994 article.

The Colored Freemasons buy land at Rocky Branch.

In April 1896, Cherry Hinnant, Henry R. Hinnant and wife Pennie Adella Hinnant, and John T. Revell sold Dock H. Hinnant, Vandorn Hinnant, and Guilford Wilder a parcel of land adjacent to the “colored Christian church,” i.e. Rocky Branch United Church of Christ, and “colored free school” number 12, i.e. the precursor to Rocky Branch School. The Hinnants and Wilder were officers and trustees of Rocky Blue Lodge #56, Prince Hall Masons.

Deed Book 43, page 442, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

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  • Dock H. Hinnant — in the 1900 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: farmer Dock H. Hinnant, 35; wife Alice, 30; and children James A., 16, John A., 15, Mary E., 10, Annie M., 8, William R., 6, and Clarence, 5.
  • Vandorn Hinnant — In the 1910 census of Spring Hill township, Wilson County: farmer Vandorne Hinnant, 48, wife Betsy J., 47, and children Ezekiel, 22, Billie, 19, Willie, 13, Oscar, 12, Luther, 10, Regest W., 9, Roland, 8, Ralon, 6, Ollion, 4, and Roy E., 2.
  • Guilford Wilder

Studio shots, no. 267: Maggie Elizabeth Foster Barnes.

Maggie Foster Barnes (1911-1945).

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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.

On 11 December 1927, Rosevelt Barnes, 19, of Stantonsburg, son of Jim Henry and Appie Barnes, married Maggie Foster, 15, of Stantonsburg, daughter of Claud and Cora Foster, in Stantonsburg. A.M.E. Zion minister M.M. Patrick performed the ceremony in the presence of Edith Bell Barnes, Orlando Williams, and Pearlie Camron.

In the 1930 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: farmer Roosevelt Barnes, 19; wife Maggie, 18; and daughter Hellen, 2.

Roosevelt Barnes Jr. died 21 February 1934 in Wilson County. Per his death certificate, he was born 15 June 1933 in Wilson County to Roosevelt Barnes and Maggie Foster; and was buried in Wilson [probably, Vick Cemetery.]

In the 1940 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: farmer Roosevelt Barnes, 32; wife Maggie, 29; children Hellen, 12, Mammie Lee, 8, and Claud, 2; and lodger [nephew] Jimmie D. Foster, 19.

Roosevelt Barnes registered for the 1940 draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 28 February 1911 in Wilson County; lived on Route 1, Wilson; his contact was wife Maggie Foster Barnes; and he worked for Doc Mercer.

Maggie Barnes died 23 April 1945 in Brooklyn, New York.

Photo courtesy of Ancestry.com user Robert Faithful.

Lane Street Project: communication with community?

The City has updated the City Projects page of its website to include its spend plan for Vick Cemetery. At the end of the short list provided to me by the Mayor, there’s an additional item:

Rather than with robust, proactive engagement, this is how transparency and accountability show up for Vick Cemetery. One-way and passive.

As always, we press on.

Vote for your friends and defeat your enemies.

My guess is that Rev. Richard A.G. Foster knew that Wilson was a stepping-stone, that he would not be in town long, that the A.M.E. Zion itineracy system, if nothing else, would roll him out before his civil rights zealotry ignited a retaliatory spark.

Also, he was financially insulated in a way that other local ministers were not. The church paid a decent salary and provided housing, so he had no need to work a supplemental, or even primary, job that could be boycotted or threatened.

Thus, Foster jumped into Wilson in late 1936 with both feet and, over the next three-and-a-half years, engineered election strategy, nurtured youth development, raised funds for investigations of police slayings, fought for better schools, and demanded integration.

Chicago Defender, 18 June 1938.

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

Wilson County 4-H Clubbers dominate state championships!

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 20 July 1940.

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Happy 100th birthday, Willie Woodard!

Willie Woodard celebrating with family and friends!

Black Wide-Awake honors Willie Woodard on his 100th birthday and wishes him so many more!

Mr. Woodard has deep Wilson County roots, tracing his paternal lineage to an enslaved woman named Priscilla Woodard born about 1795. Priscilla Woodard’s son James Woodard married Caroline Farmer about 1861. The couple registered their cohabitation with a Wilson County justice of the peace in 1866, and their six children included Mintus Woodard, born about 1867. Mintus Woodard married Sarah Hayes on Christmas Eve 1901, and Mintus Woodard Jr. was second among their 13 children. Mintus Woodard Jr. married Mary Lillie Ward in 1922, and Willie Woodard arrived 21 September 1925.

Photo courtesy of Eric Woodard.