The apprenticeship of Alonzo Finch.

On 3 June 1899, a Wilson County Superior Court judge ordered 14 year-old Alonzo Finch bound as an apprentice to Zealous Howard until he reached 21 years of age.

In the 1900 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: farmer Zealous Howard, 69, wife Roda, 64, daughter Anna, 24, and two bound boys Lonza, 15, and Jack Howard, 5.

United States Indenture and Manumission Records, 1780-1939, database at https://familysearch.org.

Downtown Wilson aerial, 1925.

The reverse side of this aerial photograph of downtown Wilson reveals that it was taken by the United States Army Air Service, 20th Photo Section. In the bottom left corner of the image there appears to be a date: 8-3-25. Tested against the construction of dates of the former Atlantic Coastal Line passenger station, completed in 1924 and visible here; the Wilson County Courthouse, completed in 1925 and visible here; and the former United States Post Office and former First National Bank building on Nash Street, both completed in 1927 but not even under construction here, 1925 can be confirmed.

In its lower right corner, the photo offers a rare glimpse of Wilson’s primary Black business block at, arguably, its prime in the decade before the Great Depression. 

Identifiable buildings include:

  1. First Missionary Baptist Church
  2. Saint John A.M.E. Zion Church
  3. Calvary Presbyterian Church
  4. Wilson Hospital and Tubercular Home [later Mercy Hospital]
  5. Baxter & Company Grocery
  6. Orange Hotel
  7. Odd Fellows Lodge hall, with Globe Theatre on second floor
  8. Whitley Hotel (earlier known as Union Hotel)
  9. Charles H. Darden house, 111 North Pender
  10. Lee A. Moore house, 106 North Pender
  11. Wilson Chapel Free Will Baptist Church
  12. “old” First Baptist church building
  13. apartment building
  14. C.E. Artis funeral home

A guardian for Fannie Oates.

Odd Fellows members frequently stood to handle the personal affairs of their lodge brothers’ families. Emma Oates died in 1908, leaving her minor daughter Fannie Oates a small inheritance. [Fannie’s father Charles Oates was still living. Was he divorced from Emma Oates at her death?] Samuel H. Vick applied to serve as guardian for Fannie’s financial affairs, and Alexander D. Dawson joined him to post a bond. Vick, Dawson, and Charles Oates were members of Hannibal Lodge #1552, and all were buried in Odd Fellows Cemetery.

The Vicks sell two lots to Woodard Brothers.

Wilson Daily Times, 15 November 1910.

In 1910, Samuel and Annie Vick sold two downtown lots to Woodard Brothers, a tobacco firm. Tobacco was laying golden eggs in Wilson, and real estate in the emerging central business district sold at a premium.

South and Spring Streets, detail from Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Wilson, North Carolina, 1908. Woodard Brothers Prize House Number 2 stands in the middle of the block.

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In the 1870 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Anna Scarborough, 35; children John, 17, and Louisa, 14; and Henry Blackman, 19, teaching school.

In the 1880 census of Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina: butler Weldon Perrington, 27; wife Louise, 23; and daughter Ardena, 2.

In the 1900 census of Fork township, Wayne County, N.C.: at the State Hospital, Lou Perrington, 41.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 614 Gold Street, widow Louise Perrington, 48; daughters Annie, 22, and Omma, 23, both cooks; son John, 17; and grandchildren John, 2, and Virginia Glastor, 4.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 324 South Spring, barber Morris Ellis, 35; children Ameta, 14, Morris Jr., 5, and Linnai, 2; widowed mother-in-law Louise Perrington, 62, and granddaughter Inez, 14.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 706 East Nash Street, Louise Perrington, 73, private nurse; grandsons Cornelius, 5, and Morris Ellis, 6; and roomer William L. Gardner, 25, servant.

Louisa Virginia Perrington died 26 January 1936 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 1 April 1857 in Wilson County to Sylvester Scarboro and Annie Adams; was the widow of Weldon Perrington; and lived at 702 East Nash. Annie Marshall was informant.