Thank you.

Discovering and sharing the stories of East Wilson brings me joy. I’ve often said that I would curate Black Wide-Awake even if no one read it, but you do read it, and for that I’m immeasurably grateful. Thank you for another year of close scrutiny and careful commentary, of food and feedback, of time and attention. Send me your ideas, your clues, and your grandmas to be interviewed. Let’s do it again!

Photo by Janelle Booth Clevinger.

The McGrews call at the Wabash Avenue Y.

In an article about happenings at Chicago’s Wabash Avenue Y.M.C.A.:

Chicago Defender, 7 December 1912. 

——

I have found only one other reference to James H. and Hattie I. McGrew in Wilson, which mentioned that James McGrew had come to work in Wilson for Lincoln Benefit Society in the fall of 1912. They didn’t stay long.

In 1910, the couple appears in the census of Brunswick County, Virginia. In 1915, J.H. McGrew was counted in the 1915 state census of Bluff Creek, Iowa. In 1920, the McGrews are listed in Richmond, Virginia, where James worked as state secretary of the Y.M.C.A. By the mid-1930s, he was executive secretary of Atlanta’s famed Butler Street Y.M.C.A.

Wabash Avenue Y.M.C.A., Chicago, Illinois.

Lane Street Project: thoughts at the end of the year.

When I was in Wilson over the holidays, Castonoble Hooks and I talked a bit about our expectations for the upcoming cleanup season at Odd Fellows. Among other things, we expressed hope for more volunteer support, such as we had in the first couple of years. Many hands, fifty or sixty hands, made light work back then. We admitted disappointment that fewer volunteers have answered the call recently.

Thinking about that conversation, I am reminded of Rabbi Tarfon’s words in Pirkei Avot 2:16:

“It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.”

We’ve done so much, but there is so much yet to do at Odd Fellows and Rountree Cemeteries and in advocacy for Vick Cemetery. Time and distance and money and apathy are daunting foes. However, this passage tells us that we don’t need to worry about completing Lane Street Project. We need only put our shoulders to the tasks in front of us. We need only focus on what we are doing today. Tomorrow is someone else’s turn, and someone else will do what we cannot.

Odd Fellows Cemetery on a December morning.

As we gazed out over the frosty expanse of Vick Cemetery, Cass and I reaffirmed our own commitments to Lane Street Project as a calling. Our steps are ordered, and we will continue Lane Street Project’s work as long as we can. Soon, I will share exciting news for expanded ways to help Lane Street Project, made possible with the help of others who share our vision for the reclamation of these sacred spaces. This is today’s work.

Pullman porter Reed returns to his roots.

Chicago Defender, 16 June 1951.

——

  • Samuel Reed

On 20 November 1877, Shade Reed, 23, married Susan Edwards, 21, in No. 8 township, Edgecombe County, N.C.

In the 1880 census of Sparta township, Edgecombe County, N.C.: farmer Shade Reid, 25; wife Susan, 23; and son Ross, 1.

In the 1910 census of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana: farmer Shed Reed, 55; wife Caroline, 45; and children Sammie, 24, Lossa, 24, and Ossa, 21, all born in North Carolina.

On 27 February 1913, Samuel Reed, 28, married Mary Hamilton, 29, in Chicago, Illinois.

On 22 November 1916, Samuel Reed, 31, married Mary J. Wright, 23, in Chicago.

In 1918, Samuel Reed registered for the World War I draft in Cook County, Illinois. Per his registration card, he was born 22 July 1885; lived at 6204 Ada, Chicago; worked as a Pullman porter for Pullman Company, Chicago & Alton Railroad; and his nearest relative was wife Mary J. Reed.

In the 1920 census of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois:  at 6145 South Ada, railroad porter Samuel Reed, 34, and wife Mary, 25.

In the 1930 census of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois: at 6231 Racine, railroad porter Samuel Reed, 43; wife Birdie, 41; mother[in-law?] Ollie Smith, 65; and Elizabeth Walker, 19, xx.

In the 1940 census of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois: at 6016 May, owned and valued at #3000, Samuel Reed, 54, porter on steam railroad; wife Nancy, 39; and daughters Amelia, 16, and Elizabeth, 17.

In 1942, Samuel Reed registered for the World War II draft in Cook County, Illinois. Per his registration card, he was born 22 July 1885 in Edgecombe County, N.C.; lived at 6016 South May, Chicago; his contact was Louis Baler, 6142 South Ada, Chicago; and he worked for the Pullman County, Chicago.

In the 1950 census of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois: railroad company porter Samuel Reed, 64, and wife Nancy, 49.

  • Peter Randolph

In the 1940 census of Gardners township, Wilson County: Dan Randolph, 28, farmer; wife Mary, 26; children Paul G., 2, and Deloise, 1; and uncle Pete Randolph, 67, widower.

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 608 Spring, Peter Randolph, 77, and wife Clockie, 67.

Peter Randolph died 4 March 1959 at his home at 510 South Spring, Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 4 July 1883 in Edgecombe County, N.C., to Robert Randolph and Julia Johnson; was a widower; and was buried in Elm City Cemetery. Mattie Ruffin was informant.

  • Patsy Feltie
  • Andline Cook

Barnes fetes barbers with barbecue dinner.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 7 September 1940.

——

  • Rachel G. Barnes — barbershop owner, restaurateur, boardinghouse keeper.
  • Joe McCoy
  • Charlie Woodard — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 810 East Vance, Mary Roberson, 46; brother Charlie Woodard, 42, barber; and niece Annie Jenkins, 14.
  • Theodore Bullock — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 904 Atlantic, barber Theodore Bullock, 35; wife Mary B., 30; and sister Ethel, 16.
  • Artis barbershop
  • Lewis Neil barbershop — perhaps Austin Neal barbershop?
  • Hargrove barbershop — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 919 Atlantic Avenue, owned and valued at $3000, Don[illegible] Hargroves, 35; wife Flora, 31; and daughter Geraldine, 15. D. Hargrove operated a barber shop in a pool room.

The obituary of John B. Jackson of Baltimore, Maryland.

Baltimore Sun, 20 August 1973. 

——

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Joseph Jackson, 37, minister; wife Annie, 45; and children Eloise, 8, Joseph, 5, Paul L., 2, and John, 2 months.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 616 Green Street, Joseph S. Jackson, 48, minister; wife Annie H., 45; and children Mary E., 18, Joseph S., Jr., 15, Paul L., 11, and John B., 9.

In the 1930 census of Baltimore, Baltimore County, Maryland: on 1003 Monument Street, roomers John Jackson, 21, railroad laborer; wife Blanche, 25; and son John E., 19 months, in the household of Hugh Lucus. [Is this the same John Jackson?]

On 9 September 1935, J.B. Jackson, 26, of Wilson, son of J.S. and A.H. Jackson, married Annabelle Scott, 23, of New Bern, daughter of Charles Scott and Golda Johnson, in New Bern, N.C.

In 1940, John Burns Jackson registered for the World War II draft in Baltimore. Per his registration card, he was born 4 March 1910 in Wilson, N.C.; lived at 827 Hamilton Terrace [later, 518 Sanford Place and 1728 North Carey Street], Baltimore; his contact was mother Annie Horton Jackson, 618 East Green Street, Wilson; and he worked at Wm. Martien & Co., Baltimore Trust Building, Baltimore.

In the 1940 census of Baltimore, Baltimore County, Maryland: J. Burns Jackson, 30, apartment house janitor, and wife Annabella, 26. [The couple described themselved as Indian and reported living in Goldsboro, N.C., in 1935.]

In the 1950 census of Baltimore, Baltimore County, Maryland: John Jackson, 40, research chemist; wife Annabelle, 38, research laboratory assistant; and lodger Melvin Dulaney, 30, bricklayer.

Locks Funeral Home Records, 1936-2007, http://www.ancestry.com.

Lane Street Project: 4,224.

Jen Kehrer is an early and avid supporter of Lane Street Project, and we love her for it. The past couple of years, a new job has taken her outside Wilson County, but she came back today to deliver a message. 

Kehrer installed fence stitching bold enough to see from the road. 4,224. The number of grave anomalies detected in Vick Cemetery with ground-penetrating radar. The number — the minimum number — of ancestors who lie beneath this featureless sod. We remember Vick’s dead.

Thank you, Jen Kehrer! Your allyship is deeply appreciated.

(Also, Day 18.)

Photos courtesy of J. Kehrer, December 2025.

Home for the holidays.

  • Robert Vick
  • Madelia Wilkins
  • Irene Wilson — in the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Wilson Irene (c) student r 302 N Vick (Wilson married Ralph Sherrod, below, on 25 March 1932 in Greensville County, Virginia.)
  • Ralph Sherrod
  • Floyd Fisher — in the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Fisher Floyd (c) student r 624 E Green
  • Willie Hargrove
  • Inez Speight — in the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Speight Inez (c) student r 308 Hackney

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 3 January 1931.

  • William McCollum
  • Levi Godwin — in 1940, Levi Godwin registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 29 January 1910 in Wilson; lived at 900 Washington Street, Wilson; his contact was wife Esther Godwin; and he worked for North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, 633 East Nash Street.
  • James Knight — perhaps, James H. Knight Jr.
  • Ethel Moye