Wilson County

B.W.A. Historical Marker Series, no. 26: Kirby’s Crossing School.

In this series, which will post on occasional Wednesdays, I populate the landscape of Wilson County with imaginary “historical markers” commemorating people, places, and events significant to African-American history or culture.

We been here.

KIRBY’S CROSSING SCHOOL

Also known as Kirby’s or Boyette’s School. Three-room school stood near St. Delight Original Free Will Baptist Church, facing railroad. Constructed with Rosenwald funds ca. 1920; probably replaced an older building.

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[Sidenote: Hoping to get a sense of where Kirby’s Crossing School stood, I turned into the narrow unpaved track leading road leading to Saint Delight. A man working on the church’s front porch said his wife’s family might know about the school, but he wasn’t as familiar with the area because he was from Stantonsburg. I studied his face a bit, then commented, “I have family from near there. You favor them — they’re Artises.” He rared back a little: “That’s my name!” In fact, he is a grandson of Leslie and Minnie Diggs Artis and a great-grandson of my great-great-grandmother Louvicey Artis Aldridge’s brother Napoleon Artis!]

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, July 2025.

Artis Funeral Parlor succeeds!

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 27 May 1933.

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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.

Biscoe Hagans, as imagined.

I am ambivalent about using artificial intelligence to restore photographs. Or, more specifically, I’m concerned about manipulated photographs supplanting original images and further blurring the line between reality and misinformation. However, the allure of AI-enhanced images is strong, as I often contend with blurry, poorly lit photographs in unnatural sepia or black-and-white tones. Photographs whose condition sometimes exacerbates the distance between us and our ancestors.

I have been experimenting with ChatGPT lately, feeding it queries and images to be restored and colorized. The results are somewhat haphazard, with many images weird and off-putting. Other times, the images are breathtakingly sharp and … alive. Black Wide-Awake exists to resurrect forgotten lives, and I believe these images are valuable to help us connect with the men and women we read about in these posts. From time to time, I’ll share the better ones here, clearly marked as AI-generated. Let me know what you think about them.

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Biscoe Hagans (1866-1943), farmer.

Affidavits of good behavior, no. 3.

I’ve been hunting for digitized evidence of the trade of Wilson County slavers like Wyatt Moye, Robert S. Adams, Stephenton Page Jr., and Joshua Barnes in Aberdeen, Mississippi. I finally found some in a deed book dated 1847-1850. (Wilson County, of course, had not yet formed, but these and other traders lived or had lived in parts of Edgecombe, Nash, Wayne, or Johnston Counties that are now Wilson County.) These registered affidavits attest to the affiants’ personal acquaintance with an enslaved person who had been sent from North Carolina to Mississippi for further sale.

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Deed Record 13, page 640. Chancery Clerk’s Office, Monroe County, Mississippi.

Know all men by these presents that we Jesse Simpson and Isaac Williamson Citizens and free holders of the County of Nash and State of North Carolina do hereby certify that we are acquainted with a negro man named Abram aged about twenty three years old a Stout Strong well musselled boy about five feet two inches high and darke culler and cross eied, furthermore that said Slave has not been guilty or convicted of murder arson burglary or felony within our knowledge or belief in said County nor no other County.  /s/ Jesse Simpson, Isaac Williamson

Deed Record 13, page 640. Chancery Clerk’s Office, Monroe County, Mississippi.

Know all men by these presents that we Jesse Simpson and Isaac Williamson Citizens and free holders of the County of Nash and State of North Carolina do hereby certify that we are acquainted with a negro man named Aberdeen aged about twenty three years old, a large Stout Strong Boy and of dark complection, furthermore that said Slave has not been guilty or convicted of murder arson burglary or felony within our knowledge or belief in said County of Nash or any other County.  /s/ Jesse Simpson, Isaac Williamson

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  • Abram and Aberdeen — Abram (or Abraham) and Aberdeen appear in the 1835 will of Elisha Applewhite, who devised them to his daughter Smithey D. Applewhite. Eventually, they came into the hands of Bartley Deans, whose daughter Elizabeth had married Smithey’s brother Robert Applewhite. In 1848, Deans placed both Abram and Aberdeen with the slavetradiing firm Moye & Adams to sell or hire out in Monroe County, Mississippi, a transaction that ended in litigation.
  • Jesse Simpson — Simpson is listed in the 1850 slave schedule of Nash County, N.C., with three enslaved people — two men, aged 55 and 33, and a young woman aged 16.
  • Isaac Williamson — Williamson is listed in the 1850 slave schedule of Nash County, N.C., with two enslaved people — two women, aged 40 and 24.

Documents reproduced at www.familysearch.org.

B.W.A. Historical Marker Series, no. 25: Dr. William A. Mitchner.

In this series, which will post on occasional Wednesdays, I populate the landscape of Wilson County with imaginary “historical markers” commemorating people, places, and events significant to African-American history or culture.

We been here.

DR. W.A. MITCHNER

Johnston County, N.C., native William A. Mitchner arrived in Wilson ca. 1908. Second known Black physician in Wilson County. Dr. Mitchner built this small office in 1936 in the middle of the Black business block and practiced here until his death in 1941.

Calling our elders!

Recently, I began interviewing my father’s Darden High School classmates and other elders born in or before 1945. I’ve spoken to about 15 people so far, and I ask about their memories of Wilson during their youth, including recollections of family life, school life, community, and work life. Each interview is conducted by telephone and is recorded. Afterward, I type up a transcript that I mail to the interviewee to share with his or her loved ones.

These interviews are sometimes rambling, sometimes focused, often funny, occasionally sad. They’ve yielded random names and places and detailed snippets of everyday life that have been largely forgotten. I am slowly working my way through a list of potential interviewees, mostly men and women that I’ve known since childhood. I’d love your help in reaching out to others willing to chat with me for thirty minutes or an hour or two. Our elders’ stories help us better understand our community’s history and the roots and branches of its culture.

I can be reached at blackwideawake@gmail.com and would be happy to provide more info about the interview process. I look forward to hearing from you — and your aunts, uncles, and grandparents!

Notice of tax sales in Lucama and Elm City.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 5 November 1948.

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  • Edward Dew — in the 1950 census of Lucama, Cross Roads township, Wilson County: truck driver Edward N. Dew, 33; wife Omida, 31; and children Charlie, 14, John E., 11, Daniel L., 9, Jaicile, 7, Cora B., 5, and Hester, 3.
  • Mabel Ellis
  • William T. Armstrong — probably, in the 1940 census of Rocky Mount, Edgecombe County, N.C.: William T. Armstrong, 65, blacksmith helper in railroad shop; wife Lucy, 53; and daughter Mildred, 10.
  • Wiley Barnes
  • Willie Cooper Sr. — probably, in the 1940 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: Willie Cooper, 49; wife Georgianna, 26; adopted daughter Nellie Moss, 14; and lodger George Saunders, 18.
  • Mary and Duffie Chisel — in the 1950 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Branch Street, Duffie Chisel, 46, lumber mill helper; wife Mary, 41; daughter Lossie Artis, 17.
  • Walter R. Lucas — in the 1940 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: widower Will Lucas, 67, clothes presser at Star Cleaners; son Walter, 50, clothes presser at Star Cleaners; and grandson Cleveland Anderson, 21, farm laborer.
  • Will Lucas — see above.

Presbyterian popularity contest winner.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 22 April 1939.

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In the 1930 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: Jesse Winn, 38, railroad shifter; wife Katie, 37; and children Ralph, 16, George, 14, Charlie, 9, Jennie M., 7, Marie, 6, Herbert, 4, Katie, 2, and Edward, 1.

In the 1940 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Main Street, Jessie Wynn, 45, grocery store merchant; wife Kattie, 45; and children Ralph E., 25, garage mechanic, Charlie, 19, Jennie Mae, 17, Marie, 16, Hurbert, 14, Kattie D., 12, Rudolph, 11, Lindbergh, 8, and Joyce, 4.

In the 1950 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Main Street, grocery store salesclerk Katie Wynn, 55, and children Marie, 25, Herbert, 23, cabdriver,  Katie, 22, and Joyce, 14.