Work Life

The obituary of Lavinia M.P. Johnson, hotel maid.

Wilson Daily Times, 23 November 1949.

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In the  1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Pierce David (c; Livinia) deliverymn h 317 Hackney

In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Pierce Livinia (c) maid Briggs Hotel h 317 Hackney

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on North Hackney, Levenia Pierce, 36, hotel maid; Sandra Pierce, 19, farm laborer; and Clara Pierce, 1; Cesar Williams, 20, hotel bellboy; Darthy L. Williams, 16; and Boyed L. Williams, 7 months; Estelle Butler, 30, private cook; and John Kitchen, 30, barber.

Louvenia Pierce Johnson died 22 November 1949 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 3 March 1896 in Edgecombe County, N.C., t0 unknown parents; lived at 317 Hackney Street; and was married. Clyde Cooper was informant.

Willie Swinson would rather be working.

Wilson Daily Times, 26 October 1984.

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In the 1920 census of Bullhead township, Greene County, N.C.: farmer Wesley Swinson, 40; wife Adie, 36; and children Henry, 16, Wesley Jr., 15, Willie, 13, Harrish, 11, Addie, 7, Sarah, 5, and Iola, 3 months.

On 22 July 1933, Willie Swinson, 27, of Wilson, son of Wesley Swinson and Addie [no maiden name given], married Isadelle Turner, 20, of Wilson, son of Jasper and Madie Turner, on East Green Street, Wilson. A.M.E. Zion minister I. Albert Moore performed the ceremony in the presence of David Henderson, Maggie Mae Best, and Mable Boney.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 921 Atlantic, rented for $13/month, Wesley Swinson, 59; wife Addie, 53; and children John H., 35, Willie, 30, Iola, 20, Odessa, 18, and Doris, 15.

In 1940, Willie Lee Swinson registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 1 August 1907 in Greene County, N.C.; lived at 921 Atlantic Street; his contact was wife Isadell Swinson; and he worked for Boyd Clark at Carolina Warehouse.

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 921 Atlantic, Wesley Swinson, 61, plumber helper; wife Addie, 67; and son Willie, 41, chaffeur for local tobacco buyer.

Willie Swinson died 24 January 1986 in Portsmouth, Virginia. Per his death certificate, he was born 1 August 1907 in North Carolina to Wesley Swinson and Addie Sutton; was married to Isidell Sutton; and worked as a floorpan for Clark Warehouse.

“You people have the chance to make more.”

Wilson Daily Times, 12 September 1944.

Wartime “work or fight” ordinances required Black men found “unfit” for military duty to work for whomever was offering jobs at whatever the wages. Those who refused or, as here, left low-paying jobs to seek higher-paying work, could be arrested as “vagrants” and sentenced to “the roads,” i.e. hard labor doing road repair.

In September 1944, six men were sentenced under the law:

  • Charlie Roberson
  • Willie Lucas

Perhaps, in 1944, Willie Lucas registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County.

  • Julius Finch

In 1942, Julius Finch registered for the World War II draft in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

  • Eddie McCoy 

In the 1940 census 0f Wilson township, Wilson County: Eddie McCoy, 23, farmer; wife Evella, 21; and children Devella, 2, and Jimmie, 1.

McCoy registered for the World War II draft in 1940.

  • Lem Davis 

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Georgia-born Lem Davis, 53, fertilizer plant laborer; wife Mary, 33; and son Jasper, 6, born in Tennessee; plus sister-in-law Annie Allen, 24, tobacco factory laborer, and her children Hilda, 7, Mildred, 6, Helen, 4, and Willie, 1.

Davis was a World War I veteran.

  • Lee Walker

In the 1940 census of Saratoga township, Wilson County: farm laborer John Farmer, 36, and wife Cora, 35; stepson Lee Walker, 24; stepdaughter Rosa M. Farmer, 8; granddaughter Cora L. Mitchell, 6; and lodger Pauline Currie, 22.

Walker registered for the World War II draft in 1940.

The shoe shine contest.

This photograph posted yesterday to the Instagram account @blackarchives.co, and my inbox blew up. Here’s the back story.

Back in September 2013, a couple of years before Black Wide-Awake launched, Will Robinson posted this to Wilson County Public Library’s local history and genealogy blog:

I jumped on it:

Suddenly:

… which led to an email exchange:

… which led to Will Robinson finding this 23 February 1952 Daily Times article about the event, which took place at Reid Street Community Center:

… which led to this September 2014 WUNC article that includes a dozen contest photos and short video featuring contest winner Curtis Phillips (and my cousin Otis Sherrod talking about his brother Earnest Sherrod, who’s the boy at far left.) 

Wilson County Public Library later exhibited the prints Linda Zimmerman donated, and she graciously extended me the opportunity to purchase a print of the photo @blackarchives.co posted yesterday. Almost exactly ten years after I first saw John Zimmerman’s work, I’m delighted to these priceless images find a wider audience. 

Stith’s hostlers.

Wilson Ledger, 28 April 1858.

In the spring of 1858, Buckner D. Stith placed an ad in a Wilson newspaper to tout his spacious new livery stable — fifty horses at a time! Stith offered horses for hire — Davy Crocket, Bullock, Fox, Bill, Spitfire and General Walker — as well as hostlers on duty. Tom, Butler, and John, surely enslaved, fed, curried, and otherwise cared for horses left at Stith’s stable.

Holman reminisces.

Wilson Daily Times, 28 August 1937.

Among other things George H. Holman recalled about his early days in Wilson was disinterring Confederates from the old white Wilson cemetery for reburial in Maplewood.

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In the 1870 census of Bushy Fork township, Person County, N.C., George Holeman, 22, is a farm laborer in the household of white farmer Thomas H. Briggs, 56.

On 6 September 1892, George Holman, 24, son of West and Nancy Jane Holman, of Person County, N.C., married Bell Noell, 18, daughter of Chas. and Chis. Noell, of Person County, in Roxboro, North Carolina.

In the 19o0 census of Wilson, Wilson County: day laborer George Holdman, 46; wife Isibeller, 27, cooking; and sons Nathanial, 5, and Arther, 1.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: George Holden [sic], 57; wife Isabella, 35; and children Arthur, 11, and Thelma, 8.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: widow [sic] Belle Holeman, 40, private cook; son John, 21, oil mill laborer; and daughter-in-law Thelma, 2o,

In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Holmon Geo (c; Hattie) lab Watson Whse  h 601 Wiggins

In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Holmon Geo lab h 601 Wiggins

George Holman died 9 January 1940 at the State Hospital in Goldsboro, Wayne County, N.C. Per his death certificate, he was born in 1856; was a widower; lived in Wilson County; and had worked as a laborer. He was buried at the State Hospital.

Constable Blow runs down an escapee.

Wilson Advance, 1 March 1888.

Wilson township elected a series of African-American men to the office of town constable in the 1880s, including Edward C. Simms, Gray Farmer, and Joseph Blow.

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  • Joe Blow

In the 1870 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: Charity Blow, 32, domestic servant, and children Joseph, 18, Lenday, 9, Thomas, 3, and Lucind, 1.

Constables were paid out of the county treasury, and several disbursements to Blow appear in year-end summaries published in local newspapers.

From “Statement of Disbursements of Wilson County,” Wilson Advance, 15 December 1887.

Blow left office in November 1888, and “a true white man” took his place.

Wilson Mirror, 7 November 1888.

Wilson Mirror, 26 December 1888.

The county’s fiscal year ran December 1 through November 30, so Blow’s final payments, made after he left office, were not reported until the following year.

Wilson Advance, 19 December 1889.

Blow apparently died before 1900. In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Jane Blow, 40, with children Marry, 21, Bettie, 20, Ro[illegible], 16, Henretter, 13, Henry H., 11, and [grandson] Auguster, 2.

On 23 January 1907, Lemon Barnes, 21, son of Charles and Jack Ann Barnes, married Henrietta Blow, 20, daughter of Joe [deceased] and Jane Blow, at Jane Blow’s residence. Missionary Baptist minister Fred M. Davis performed the ceremony in the presence of Merriman Watkins, James Taylor, and Charles H. Barnes.

On 27 May 1909, George Scott, 21, of Johnston County, N.C., son of Lendora Scott, married Henrietta Blow, 22, daughter of Joe and Jane Blow, at Jane Blow’s. Missionary Baptist minister Fred M. Davis performed the ceremony in the presence of Etter Armstrong and W.O. Barnes.

On 26 October 1930, July Wells, 60, son of Adam Wells and Sylvia [no maiden name], married Henrietta Scott, 43, daughter of Joe and Jane Blow. Rev. Holaday performed the ceremony on Suggs Street.

Henry Harrison Blow died 31 August 1937 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 49 years old; was born in Wilson to Joseph Blow and Jane Barnes; lived at 902 Mercer Street; worked as a common laborer at a tobacco factory; was single; and was buried in Wilson [probably, Vick Cemetery.] Henrietta Scott was informant.

Jane Blow died 3 April 1938 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 79 years old; was the widow of Joe Blow; was born in Wilson County to Hardy Hinnant and Mildred Barnes; and was buried in Wilson [probably Vick Cemetery.] Bettie Earp was informant.

Banks Blow died 26 June 1943 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 56 years old; was born in Wilson to Joe Blow and Jane Barnes; was married to Mary Blow; lived at 707 East Green Street; worked as a common laborer at a tobacco factory; and was buried in Rountree Cemetery [probably, Vick Cemetery.]

Bettie Blow Earp died 17 April 1954 in Kenly, Johnston County, N.C. Per her death certificate, she was born 15 April 1877 in Wilson County to Joe Blow and Jane Barnes. Informant was James H. Blow, 115 South Reid Street, Wilson.

  • John Field

At the beach.

When wealthy Wilsonians shifted their households to the beach in summer, their domestic servants were pulled with them. Jane Cooke Hawthorne recently shared several photographs taken circa 1910-20 at the North Carolina shore, with thoughtful commentary about her evolving understanding of the relationships between her ancestors and the men and women who eased their lives. These photographs, which captured posed, but casual, groupings of an extended family of wealthy tobacconists, include “the help.”

In the first photo below, Lucy M. “Nolia” Gardner Whitehead stands in a white dress on the porch of the family’s Morehead City, North Carolina, summer home, surrounded by extended family. (For more about the house, which was built as headquarters of the precursor to the North Carolina Education Association, see here.) Her daughter Nolia Whitehead (later Davis) sits on the steps beside Edward K. Wright, who years later would inherite the farm that wraps around Vick Cemetery. The elderly woman in black standing at right is Matilda “Mattie” Bynum Barnes, who, with her husband Frank W. Barnes, sold Rountree Baptist Church land for its cemetery and sold Samuel H. Vick the land that would become Odd Fellows and Vick Cemeteries. The woman leaning on the newel post with clasped hands is Elizabeth Barnes Davis, who received the letter from Johnnie Farmer we read here. The little girl seated on the rail is Virginia Davis Pou, in whose daughter Virginia Pou Doughton’s papers that letter is found. Behind her are her parents Frank Barnes Davis and Helen Patterson Davis. And seated in front of Mattie Barnes is her daughter Alice Harriss Barnes Wright, from whom Ed Wright inherited Wright Farm. At the far edges of the group are four African-American women and one African-American man. The women, whom we have not been able to identify, were likely cooks, laundresses, nannies, and maids. The man is believed to be Simeon Haskins, and he probably worked as a general factotum.

Below, Howell G. Whitehead III sits at top left with a dog. Sim Haskins holds a small boy at bottom left.

Below, Mattie Barnes stands in the middle of another family grouping, with three African-American women and one man sitting cross-legged below. They appear to be a different group than those depicted in the first photograph.

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Do you recognize these men or women?

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on “N&S RR” [Norfolk & Southern Rail Road], farmer Damp Haskins, 60; wife Stella, 52, servant; children Martha, 23, cook, James, 18, wagon factory laborer, Lessie, 16, lumber mill laborer, John, 15, lumber mill laborer, Annie, 8, Earnest, 7, and Damp, 3; plus grandsons Simeon, 15, retail grocery laborer, and Ambrose Haskins, 7. [Damp Haskins was buried in Vick Cemetery.]

Many, many thanks to Jane Cooke Hawthorne.