Wilson Daily Times, 2 August 1940.
Per their marriage license, both Earnest and Irene Richardson were older than the ages reported above, but other documents suggest Irene Richardson was born in 1926.
Ernest L. Richardson, 20, of Wilson, son of Harriett Richardson, married Irene Byrd, 16, of Wilson County, daughter of Wilbert and Flossie Byrd, on 21 March 1940 in Wilson.
Wilson Daily Times, 15 August 1932.
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Plat book 9, page 21, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.
June Scott Artis began buying lots in the town of Stantonsburg in the early 1900s. This 1961 plat map shows the subdivision of a chunk of his land between Main and Travis Streets. Landowners included June Artis, his wife Ethel B. Artis, their son Edgar Artis, Hadie B. Ham, Oscar Ellis, Tom Braswell, James Ham, Will Harper, Minnie Best, Scott Ward, Arthur Winstead, Howard Daniel, and Oscar Edwards.
Google Maps aeriel view of June S. Artis’ former property.
Wilson Daily Times, 19 August 1932.
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Wilson Daily Times, 14 August 1944.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: William Hines, 33; wife Eva, 31; and children Mercy, 15, Percy, 13, Willis, 11, George, 8, Foster, 6, Maggie, 3, and Wesley, 1.
Willie Eugene Hines registered for the draft in 1946. Per his registration card, he was born 28 November 1928 in Wilson County; lived at 410 East Vance Street, Wilson; worked for Farmers Cotton Oil Company; and his contact was Eva Hines, Route 2, Wilson.
On 6 April 1950, Willie Eugene Hines married Flora Carter in Washington, D.C.
In the 1950 census of Mount Pleasant, Fairfax County, Virginia: Will Hines, 23, pipe maker at concrete pipe company; wife Flora M., 18; and sister Madge, 13.
Willie E. Hines died 21 April 1996 in Boston, Massachusetts.
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.
Second location of Marshall Lodge, No. 297, I.B.P.O.E. Building erected in 1954; demolished in 2018. Lodge established in 1921; met originally at 541 East Nash Street.
Photograph by Lisa Y. Henderson, July 2024.
I’m super-excited to learn of this partnership between North Carolina Department of Transportation and North Carolina State University to map unmarked burial sites in Edgecombe County.
Especially this part: “‘A part of Edgecombe County was absorbed by the formation of Wilson County in 1855, which demonstrates that neighboring areas are likely to be impacted by this research,’ [Tunya] Smith said. ‘Family histories are not confined to county lines. If you have roots in eastern North Carolina, you may find that you have a story to share with this project team.'” Indeed!
Wilson Daily Times, 9 April 1918.
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I knew Charlie Chaplin visited Wilson in 1918 — he was on tour selling war bonds. What I had not noticed was the timing of his appearance. The same day this article appeared in the Daily Times, Mary C. Euell and the other teachers of the Colored Graded School tendered their resignations to the school board and parents launched a boycott. Thus, when (or if) the children of the two dozen or so African-American county schools assembled with their banners, they found the Colored Graded School closed.
(What a visual though: hundreds of children in their Sunday best parading down Nash Street in the Liberty Loan parade. Minshew School! Brooks School! Turner School! Mitchell School! Whistles! Cheers!)
Wilson Daily Times, 7 July 1944.
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I’m just back in Atlanta from the Henderson Family Reunion. We are from southern Wayne County, just below Wilson County, but my line arrived in Wilson about 1905 — a story I told here.
Our reunion brings together descendants of the children of James Henderson, a free man of color born about 1815. My line is that of his first son, my great-great-great-grandfather Lewis Henderson, who was alive when my grandmother Hattie Henderson Ricks was born. Lewis’ daughter Sarah Henderson Jacobs Silver was the first in the family to settle in Wilson. She reared her sister Loudie Henderson’s children Bessie Henderson and Jack Henderson and Bessie’s children (my grandmother and great-aunt Mamie Henderson Holt), and nearly 40 of their descendants were among the almost 150 Hendersons in Goldsboro this weekend.
I gave a family history presentation Saturday morning at First Congregational United Church of Christ, the church in Dudley that Lewis Henderson helped found in 1870. My cousins still attend the church; one was guest pastor yesterday. The church cemetery — where my great-great-great-grandparents, great-great-grandmother and her siblings, great-grandmother, and innumerable cousins are buried — is right down the road.
The headstone of Cora Q. Henderson, daughter of Lucian and Susan Henderson — my great-grandmother’s 23 year-old first cousin.
Lewis Henderson died in 1912, and his wife Margaret Balkcum Henderson in 1915. By then, only James Lucian Henderson, their elder son, remained in Dudley. Twice a week, Sarah walked from Elba Street down to Wilson’s A.C.L. depot and handed up to a porter a shoebox packed with cornbread and ham and sweet potatoes. At Dudley, he threw the box off the train to a cousin waiting on the ditch bank. And thus Uncle Lucian and Aunt Susie were fed.
The Dudley depot is gone, but these tracks still run to Wilson.
Nearly 120 years after my Hendersons left Wayne County, the links remain.
Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, July 2024.