Hagans vs. Hagans.

Wilson Times, 26 November 1897.

Probably: on 26 October 1889, Amos Hagans, 31, of Cross Roads township, son of John Hagans and Eliza Rich, married Jane Fields, 18, of Cross Roads township, daughter of Washington and Julia Fields, at Ben Binum’s in Cross Roads township, Wilson County.

If so, Amos Hagans remarried a couple of years after his divorce. On 21 February 1900, Amos Hagins, 39, son of John Hagins and Eliza Rich, married Lillie Richardson, 17, daughter of John and Mollie Richardson, at Mollie Richardson’s in Cross Roads township.

A prank gone terribly wrong.

News & Observer, 17 August 1948.

  • J.C. Austin — James C. Alston.

James Alston died 14 August 1948 in Oldfields township, Wilson County. Per his death certificate, he was born 14 September 1928 in Wilson County to Herman Alston of Nash County and Mildred Jones of Wilson County; worked in farming; and died of homicide, specifically, “left thoracic pulmonary hemorrhage due to blast from shotgun shell to the left chest and arm.”

  • G.B. Deans — actually, C.B. Deans.

Deans claimed he shot into the dark without seeing his victim. He was convicted of manslaughter less than a month later and sentenced to four to six years in prison.

Visitors to Cape May.

In August 1925, the Pittsburgh Courier posted a long list of recent guests at Cape May, New Jersey’s Hotel Dale, which included:

Pittsburgh Courier, 15 August 1925.

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  • Hotel Dale

Image of postcard courtesy of Hope Gaines, “A Place to Stay,” Cape May magazine, June 2018.

More letters at the post office.

Wilson Advance, 26 August 1881.

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  • Dennis Avent
  • Caroline Best — in the 1870 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Shepard Best, 32, and wife Caroline Best, 32. In the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Caroline Best, 36, is listed as a servant in the Spring Street household of Mildred Gordon, 53.
  • Amos Barnes — in the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County: hireling Amos Barnes, 25; wife Patsey, 24; and Mary E., 2.
  • Ella Thomas

A post office that is a credit to the town.

The Morning Post (Raleigh, N.C.), 4 January 1902.

Samuel H. Vick‘s post office was located on the ground floor of the newly built Seabrook Hotel. We met Vick’s assistants Braswell R. Winstead and Levy H. Peacock here.

News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), 8 April 1902.

The 1903 Sanborn map of Wilson describes the Seabrook as a boarding house and shows the post office on the right side of the building’s ground floor. The site is now a parking lot.

Sanborn fire insurance map, page 4, Wilson, N.C., 1903.