The last wills and testaments of Joseph Barnes (1824) and Sallie Whitehead Barnes (1833).

Joseph Barnes (1770-1824) and Sarah “Sallie” Whitehead Barnes (1770-1833) lived in far southwest Edgecombe County, an area that is now Wilson County.

Joseph Barnes made out his will in May 1824. Among his bequests, he gave his wife Sarah Barnes three enslaved people — Luke, Bob, and Rachel.

He also gave his daughter Nancy Barnes an enslaved girl named Forten and a boy named Frank; his daughter Penney Barnes, a girl named Hannah and a boy named Toby; his daughter Celia Barnes, a girl named Rose and a boy named Isaac; his daughter Treecey Barnes, a girl named Clark and a boy named Reddick; his daughter Temperance Barnes, a girl named Dinah and a boy named Jacob; and his daughter Martha Barnes, a daughter Milley and a boy David.

There was also this complicated provision:

As best I can decipher, Barnes was directing that Peter and Dick and some livestock be sold and the money divided among all but his youngest children. After that, it gets more confusing. The clear part: wife Sallie is to receive a life estate in “two negros Jack and Jude,” as well as three “hors craturs” (??), five cows and calves, a brandy still, cider casks, plantation tools, and furniture. All this property was to be sold at her death, and the proceeds divided among all his children except James and Dempsey.

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Sallie Whitehead Barnes executed her will in December 1833.

Among other items, Sallie Barnes left her daughter Theresa Barnes Farmer two enslaved men, Ben and Bob, and her daughter Martha Barnes Bullock, enslaved people Luke and Rachel. (Luke and Rachel, whom Sallie Barnes had inherited from her husband, remained together. Were they a couple?)

And then, this curious bequest to son-in-law Isaac Farmer:

“I leave Isaac in [lieu] of Jack that I sold which was lent to me my life time to dispose of as they would with Jack had he not been sold.” My best interpretation: Joseph Barnes had bequeathed Sallie Barnes a life estate in an enslaved man named Jack. However, Sallie had sold Jack and had to provide an equivalent substitute for him in the form of Isaac.

I cannot with certainty trace forward any of these enslaved men and women.

Will of Joseph Barnes (1822), Will of Sallie Barnes (1833), North Carolina, U.S. Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998, http://www.ancestry.com.

The obituary of Annie Elizabeth Cooke Weeks.

Wilson Daily Times, 20 April 1943.

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  • A. Elizabeth Weeks — Annie Elizabeth Cooke Weeks.
  • J.L. Cooke — Jerry L. Cooke.
  • G.E. Wyche — Georgia E. Cooke Wyche. Georgia Cooke Wyche died 22 February 1970 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 6 January 1882 to Henderson Cooke and Mariah D. Batchelor; was a widow; was a retired teacher; and lived at 916 East Green Street. J.L. Cooke was informant. She was buried in Olive Branch cemetery, Wake Forest, North Carolina.
  • Rev. W.A. Hillard — William A. Hilliard.

The death of Rosetta Ellis McCoy, Exoduster.

In a post about the Littleton and Judie Ellis cemetery on today’s Forest Hills Road in Wilson, I asked if the Ellises had migrated to Arkansas with the Exoduster movement, then returned to Wilson. The death certificate of their daughter Maggie Ellis Darden reported that she was born in Arkansas in 1886.

Below, the death certificate of Rosetta McCoy, filed in North Little Rock, Pulaski township, Arkansas, states she was born 22 October 1887  in Wilson, N.C., to Littleton Ellis and Mary [is this a mistake?; maiden name unknown]. Thus we have additional evidence that Littleton Ellis and family made the long journey west, but returned to Wilson County before 1900.

In the 1880 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farmer Littleton Ellis, 45; wife Judah, 30; and children Bryant, 14, Martha, 12, Patsey, 10, Mary, 8, Bud, 6, Thomas, 4, Rose, 2, and James, 1.

On 28 November 1897, James McCoy, 21, of Toltec, Lonoke County, Arkansas, married Rosetta Ellis, 19, of same, in Lonoke County, Arkansas.

In the 1900 census of Williams township, Lonoke County, Arkansas: farmer James McCoy, 23; wife Rosetta, 22; and children Alberta and Birtrice, 1; also, Sarah Smith, 26, a cook.

In the 1910 census of Lafayette township, Lonoke County, Arkansas: on Witherspoon Road, farmer James McCoy, 33, born in North Carolina; wife Rosetta, 32; and children Bertrice and Alberta, 11; Willie, 9; Johnny, 8; Asillie, 6; Gus C., 4, and James M., 1.

In the 1920 census of Lafayette township, Lonoke County, Arkansas: on Keo Road, James H. McCoy, 47; wife Rosetta, 43; children Bertrice and Alberta, 21, Willie, 19, Johnnie, 18, James M., 11, Norah, 8, L.C., 7, Nathaniel, 5, Ruthie, 2, and Thomas, 6 months; daughter Rosa L. Huggins, 16, and son-in-law James Huggins, 19.

In the 1940 census of Lafayette township, Lonoke County, Arkansas: farmer Rosetta McCoy, 45, widow; children L.C., 17, Nathaniel, 15, Ruthie, 13, and Thomas, 10; and grandson Willie Henry, 8.

In the 1940 census of North Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas: Rosetta McCoy, 63, widow, born in North Carolina; daughter Gertrude Duckery, 40, widow, maid; and grandchildren Rosetta Howard, 15, Artelia Howard, 12, James Duckery, 9, Famous Hall, 15, and Rosie Anne McCoy, 4.

Podcast recommendation, no. 2: Archive Atlanta.

I resisted podcasts for an unreasonably long time, as I better absorb information by reading rather than hearing. A few years ago though, when my father’s illness necessitated more frequent seven-hour drives between Wilson and Atlanta, I got with the times with the help of Victoria Lamos’ Archive Atlanta. (Which is — for my money — the gold standard in local history podcasts.)

A recent episode about Blandtown, a historic African-American community in what is now Atlanta, encapsulated everything there is to love about Archive Atlanta and made me wish I had the time, resources, and know-how to produce a Black Wide-Awake podcast. Maybe in time….

Anyway, nothing to do with Wilson, but I highly recommend this “weekly history podcast about the people, places, and events that shaped the city of Atlanta.” Find it wherever you listen to podcasts.

The obituary of Catherine Campbell.

Wilson Daily Times, 6 March 1948.

Catherine Campbell died 1 March 1948 at Mercy Hospital, Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 31 July 1922 in Wilson, N.C., to Leroy Dudley and Rachel Wingate; was married to Luther Campbell; lived at 622 Murray; and was buried in Rest Haven Cemetery.

Lane Street Project: Vick Cemetery, one year later.

A year has passed since I broke the news that at least 4,224 of our kinfolk are buried in Vick Cemetery. What has the City done since then to address and redress the continuing harm done to the dead and their families?

Essentially, nothing.

City Manager Grant Goings never introduced the plan he claimed he would reveal in August 2023. City Council member Gillettia Morgan, who lives in eyeshot of the cemetery, is still apparently moving “behind the scenes” (slowly, and in circle?) A meeting with Mayor Carlton Stevens in September to discuss next steps for Vick seemed productive, but it’s been crickets ever since. As far as I can tell, Vick Cemetery has not been on Council’s agenda since August.

Wilson put every single incumbent back into their seat in November. Demand more and better for your vote. JUSTICE FOR VICK CEMETERY.

WE WILL NEVER FORGET.

Historic Black Business Series, no. 18: Neverson Green’s grocery.

The 500 block of East Nash Street is justly remembered as the 20th century epicenter of Wilson’s African-American-owned businesses. However, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Black entrepreneurs and tradespeople also operated across the tracks. As Wilson’s downtown experiences a resurgence, let’s rediscover and celebrate these pioneering men and women.

Check in each Sunday for the latest in the Historic Black Business Series!

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Neverson Green owned a series of grocery stores in the 400 block of South Spring [now Douglas] Street in the early 20th century. We know he was in business as early as 1906, when he paid $57.50 for a computing scale, but the earliest address for which we have evidence is 410, a location taken over for Agnes Taylor‘s eating house.

On 24 December 1906, Neverson Green agreed to purchase a #10 Computing Scale from The J.H. Parker Co. of Richmond, Virginia, for $57.50 payable in installments. Deed Book 72, page 205.

Neverson Green’s first name was occasionally mistaken as “Nelson.” 1908 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory.

In 1909, Green’s grocery was burgled by the son of a rival grocery storeowner, Jacob Tucker.

City directories appear to show Green’s grocery store sliding up and down South Spring every year, which doesn’t seem probable. In 1912 and 1916, he is at 412 South Spring. In 1920, at 424. (This was also the address of Jacob Tucker’s grocery. The two may have been in the business together for brief periods.) In 1922, he’s at 420, but in 1924, he’s back at 424. In 1925 and 1928, he’s at 400 South Spring.

Detail from 1922 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson.

Remnants of the old Norfolk Southern tracks, seen in the map above, are still visible in the asphalt of Douglas Street. They offer a glimpse of the chaotic landscape of early 20th-century downtown Wilson.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: grocery merchant Neverson Green, 58, grocery merchant; wife Isabella, 54; daughters Lula, 21, Bessie, 16, and Eva, 12; and roomer Willie Ward, 19.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: grocery store merchant Nelson Green, 72; wife Isabella, 65; daughters Lula, 30, and Eva, 23; and grandchildren Lila R. Barnes, 12, and Lissa Strickland, 12.

In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Green Nelson (c; Isabella) gro 400 Spring h 502 S Lodge