I shot these images of Vick Cemetery’s central monument one year ago. It was a whole, hot, disrespectful mess.
But here was the monument earlier this month, on the morning of our Reconsecration ceremony. Hats off to the Cemetery Commission’s grounds crew, who lopped, chopped, yanked, swept, edged, power-washed, and mulched this area to decency earlier this year.
Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, August 2022 and August 2023.
Harry T. Burleigh was a classical singer, composer, and arranger known for his adaptations of African-American spirituals. I have found scant documentation, but there appear to have been glee clubs named in his honor in several cities across the country, including Hampton, Virginia, and Dayton, Ohio.
Courtesy of an anonymous reader.
Tarboro Free Press, 22 September 1827.
$25 Reward.
RANAWAY from the Subscriber, on the 23d of July last, a Negro boy named GEORGE; he is about 17 or 18 years of age, 5 feet 6 or 7 inches in height, dark color, a pert lively look, and in speaking is apt to stutter a little; he has lost most of his fore teeth, and has two or three distinct scars on his throat, occasioned by a rising some time since. Said boy was purchased about eighteen months since, from Mr. Matthew Cluff, of Norfolk, at which place he was raised, but has frequently been to Elizabeth-City, in this State, and the boy said that he had been several times at sea. I expect that he will attempt to get either to Elizabeth-City or Norfolk. A reward of Twenty-Five Dollars will be given to any person who will apprehend said boy and lodge him in any jail, so that I can get him again. Masters of vessels and all other persons are hereby forbid harboring, employing, or carrying off said boy, under the penalty of the law. SAMUEL FARMER.
Edgecombe County, N.C. Septem. 4, 1827.
The Norfolk Herald and Elizabeth-City Star will please give the above three insertions, and forward the account to this office for collection.
——
In September 1827, Samuel Farmer, who lived in the area between Hominy and Toisnot Swamps, placed this ad seeking the return of an enslaved teenager who had run away in July. George was believed to trying to make his way back to Norfolk, Virginia, where he had grown up, or Elizabeth City, North Carolina, which he had often visited. (Four and a half years later, Farmer was chasing another young man, John.)
I’m not sure who needs to hear it — city attorney, city clerk, communications director, mayor, council, whomever — but the City of Wilson does not timely respond to public records requests.
I still have not received responses to the July 23 and August 7 requests detailed here.
But there’s this.
In my August 18 follow-up letter to various folk whose titles are mentioned above, I repeated my request for a final version of New South Associates’ GPR report. In response, City Clerk Tonya West told me it’s been posted to the City’s website at this link.
In reviewing the document, I could not find a new graphic New South’s Sarah Lowry displayed in her presentation to council on August 17. On August 21, I emailed Lowry, West, and Communications Director Rebecca Agner: “Good morning, Ms. Lowry. At Wilson City Council last week, your presentation included a graphic showing markers placed at the edges of the surveyed area. However, I cannot locate the graphic in the final report. Please advise. Thank you.”
Nobody responded. I ratcheted up the request.
Less than two hours later, I had the graphic and — bonus — Lowry’s whole powerpoint.
The graphic deserves its own post, so more about it later. In the meantime, I have a third request pending, dated August 18, and a few more queued up, and I suggest the City refresh its understanding of its obligations under the law with this helpful document.
[P.S. The August 17 council meeting is also posted. Sarah Lowry’s presentation begins at 22:15. Rebecca Agner and another person walk in at 22:46 with stacks of GPR reports to give to council for the first time, though the City apparently had had them several days at that point. See 35:20 for that.]
Tarboro’ Press, 29 January 1833.
William Davis Petway’s plantation was well east of Elm City just inside what is now the boundary of Wilson and Edgecombe Counties. His father Micajah Petway lived nearby. In the winter of 1833, as trustee for a loan that his father, presumably, had failed to pay off, W.D. Petway advertised the sale of 10 or 12 enslaved people to satisfy the debt.
Mahala Artis lived in a house on Goldsboro Street, owned by George H. and Elizabeth P. Griffin. After Griffin died in 1881, and the property went into default, trustee H.G. Connor advertised it and Griffin’s carriage and wagon factory for sale.
Wilson Advance, 21 December 1883.
Eleven years later, Artis’ own property was advertised for sale for non-payment of taxes. Artis was on her way out of Wilson, however, and in 1899 sold her lot at the corner of Green and Pender Streets to Samuel H. Vick.
Wilson Advance, 22 March 1894.
This remarkable photograph depicts Samuel H. Vick standing on a porch with his friend “Mr. Reid” standing to his side on the ground. There were several Mr. Reids living in Wilson in the 1920s, when this photo appears to have been taken, but the two most closely associated with Vick were veterinarian Elijah L. Reid and his younger brother, school principal/banker J.D. Reid. A comparison with J.D. Reid’s photo suggests this is Elijah and, if so, it is the only photo of him I have seen.
The photo appears to have been taken in Wilson. I initially thought the house was the one still standing at 505 East Green in which Dr. Reid in the years before his death, but a comparison of the two discloses several major non-matching details.
Special thanks to Anonymous for use of this photo.
When area newspapers picked up the story, it ran like this:
Tarborough Southerner, 24 May 1888.
But the Wilson Mirror‘s account of the incident provided an important omitted detail — George Ray had struck Robert Taylor first.
Wilson Mirror, 16 May 1888.
African-American land ownership in Wilson County is a fraction of what it was during the period covered by Black Wide-Awake. However, for those who retain family farmland, some since the mid-19th century, this information session may be helpful.
