Garbage collection comes to East Wilson — with a catch.

Wilson Daily Times, 18 August 1948.

In 1948, the city of Wilson extended garbage collection to “every house in Wilson,” which we may reasonably interpret to mean an extension to East Wilson. City manager F. Talmage Green clearly felt a way about providing this basic necessity, however.

In order to receive this public service, residents had to provide their own garbage cans. Residents, not property owners — a significant distinction in a part of town in which the overwhelming number of houses were rental properties occupied by poor or working class tenants.

Green scoffed at the observation by local N.A.A.C.P. president Isaac B. Butler some who had put their bins out had been bypassed. Instead, he warned, apparently without irony, that “improper garbage disposal is a definite health hazard” and warned that those who would (could?) not comply with the closed-container requirement could be fined ten dollars.

Studio shots, no. 201: Lula Reid Wilson.

Lula Reid Wilson (1889-1958).

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Lula Reid married Willie Wilson on 15 September 1909 in Wayne County, North Carolina.

In the 1910 census of Nahunta township, Wayne County: Willie Wilson, 29; wife Lula, 21; and children May, 7, William, 5, Jonah, 3, and Gertrude, 11 months.

In the 1920 census of of Nahunta township, Wayne County: on Stantonsburg Road, Willie Wilson, 39; wife Lula, 30; and children William, 14, Jonah, 12, Gertrude, 10, Anna Bell, 8, Lela, 6, Woodrow, 3, and Retha, 1.

In the 1930 census of Eureka township, Wilson County: Willie Wilson, 49; wife Lula, 40; and children Anna B., 18, Lila, 15, Woodrow, 13, Retha, 10, Adam, 7, and Fred D., 6.

William Wilson died 5 March 1939 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 33 years old; was born in Wayne County to Willie Wilson and Lula Reid; was married to Lillie Wilson; and worked as a farmer. Lula Wilson, 609 East Nash Street, was informant.

In 1940, Woodrow Wilson registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 1 January 1918 in Wilson County; lived in Stantonsburg, Wilson County; his contact was mother Lula Wilson, 534 East Nash Street, Wilson; and he worked for W.R. Rodgers, Stantonsburg.

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County, Lula Wilson, 60, house cleaner, widow, was a lodger at Mattie B. Coleman‘s Nash Street boarding house, otherwise known as the Orange Hotel.

Lula Reid Wilson died 6 December 1958 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Per her death certificate, she was born 22 November 1893 to Julius Reid and Lula Holms; was separated from Willie Wilson; and lived at 143 Narrow[ay] Street, Wilson. Her death was attributed to a malignancy of stomach caused by swallowing lye water when she was two years old.

Photo courtesy of Ancestry.com user M. Perricone.

The obituary of William Gray Taylor.

Rocky Mount Telegram, 30 September 1988.

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In the 1910 census of Saratoga township, Wilson County: on Rocky Mount Road, Mattie Taylor, 36, and children Gray, 14, Benjamin F., 8, Lee R., 7, Mary, 6, Annie, 2, and Hilliard, 6 months.

In 1917, Gray Taylor registered for the World War I draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 1 December 1895 in Wilson County; lived in Stantonsburg, Wilson County; worked as a farm laborer for Albert Skinner; was single; and had gray eyes and light hair. He signed his card with an X.

On 30 April 1921, William Gray Taylor, 24, of Wilson County, son of Joe Pittman and Mattie Taylor, married Fannie Hardy, 19, of Wilson County, daughter of Allice Hardy, in Wilson. [Joseph J. Pittman (1875-1922) was a white farmer in the Saratoga area.]

In the 1930 census of Saratoga township, Wilson County: farmer Gray T. Taylor, 31; wife Fannie, 25; children Julias, 5, William, 3, Rebecca, 2, and Eunice, 2 months; and lodger Johnnie Bess, 20. [The family was erroneously listed as white.]

In the 1940 census of Saratoga township, Wilson County: farm laborer Gray Taylor, 42; wife Fannie, 26; and children Julias, 19, William A., 14, Rebetha, 12, Unice, 10, Russell, 8, William Irvin, 6, Bobbie G., 5, Bobbie Gene, 3, and Wallace, 7 months.

In the 1950 census of Gardners township, Wilson County: on Gardners Road, farmer Grey Taylor, 54; wife Fannie, 43; and children Eunice, 20, Russell, 17, William, 16, Bobby Grey, 14, Bobby Jean, 12, Helen, 10, Wallace, 8, and Grace Marie, 6; and Bernice, 8, lodger.

Fannie Taylor died 3 August 1961 in Stantonsburg township, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was born 27 August 1909 in Wilson County to Alice Hardy and was married to Gray Taylor.

William Gray Taylor (1896-1988).

Pierce asks, “Will you do your part?”

Though I have not been able to find Fletcher F. Pierce‘s letter to the editor concerning the state teachers association, I did find these letters, published in sequence in the 26 September 1933 edition of the Wilson Daily Times.

Pierce was about 21 years old at the time and clearly had a voice that he was willing to use. In these letters, he first called on the Times to act on its commitment to justice for the laboring class by sharing information about the New Deal’s impact on low area wages.

Next, he called the employers of domestic servants to task for the abysmally low wages paid to these men and women (who were overwhelmingly African-American.) “Now how in the name of sound economics can these low salaries raise the standard of living in this town?,” Pierce asked.

Wilson Daily Times, 26 September 1933.

Reunions.

A quick chart I drew up.

Among the most rewarding aspects of researching for Black Wide-Awake are discovering, uncovering, and recovering lost family connections, both my own and others’. I was particularly excited to piece together the Taylor family puzzle, which linked three of my childhood friends. Wilson County is small enough that it’s not surprising that many of us share distant common ancestry, but just who those long-lost cousins are can be surprising indeed.

G.W. Joyner tells what he saw.

Wilson Daily Times, 17 October 1911.

That was on page 2. On page 8 of the same edition:

Wilson Daily Times, 17 October 1911.

George Washington Joyner came forward with eyewitness testimony that a white boy, rather than a Black man, had thrown a bottle that injured another white boy at a carnival.

Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.

Susie J. Wilson, Jeanes instructor.

Page 32, Directory of the School Officials of North Carolina, October 1921.

The Jeanes Foundation funded educational and vocational training in rural African-American communities, primarily via teacher placement. Wilson native Susie J. Harris Wilson was a Jeanes Industrial Supervising Teacher in Anson County, North Carolina.

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In the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Spring Street, house carpenter James Harriss, 35; wife Nannie, 35; children Susie, 13, Nannie, 11, Willie, 10, Mattie, 4, Jimmie, 2, and an unnamed infant girl, 2 months; and sister Susan Lawrence, 19, cook.

Susie J. Harriss, 23, of Wilson, daughter of James and Nancy Harriss, married James J. Wilson, 23, of Dalton, Georgia, on 5 January 1893 in Wilson. L.J. Melton, Presbyterian minister, performed the ceremony at the Baptist church in the presence of M.H. Cotton, S.H. Vick, and Edmund Pool. B.R. Winstead applied for the license.

In the 1910 census of Wadesboro, Anson County: clergyman James J. Wilson, 43; wife Susie, 43, a schoolteacher; and children Mattie M., 13, Frank T., 11, Nannie R., 8, Charles E., 6, and Ophelia, 4.

Frank Theodore Wilson registered for the World War I draft in Essex County, New Jersey. Per his registration card, he was born 1 January 1900; lived at 86 Oakwood Place, Orange, Essex County, N.J.; worked as a butler for George H. Hartford, 63 Ridge Street, Orange; and his nearest relative was mother Sudie Wilson, Wadesboro, N.C.

In the 1920 census of Wadesboro, Anson County: Presbyterian minister James J. Wilson, 52; wife Susie J., 52; and children Frank T., 20, Nannie R., 18, a teacher, Charles E., 16, Ophelia A., 13, and Lena, 8.

Susie J. Wilson died 13 October 1925 in Wadesboro, Anson County. Per her death certificate: she was 57 years old; was born in Wilson to Jas. Harris and Nancy Hill; was married to Rev. J.J. Wilson; and worked as county superintendent for the North Carolina Board of Education. Informant was F.T. Wilson, 213 Oakwood Drive, Orange, New Jersey.

13 year-old charged with manslaughter, sentenced to six months.

A sharp-eyed reader found more about Etta Parker‘s tragic death.

Greensboro Daily News, 24 December 1917.

Three weeks after Parker died, a grand jury charged Warren Barefoot, 13, with her murder. The state prosecutor agreed with “private prosecution” (what was that?) that manslaughter, rather than first-degree murder, was the appropriate charge and requested a bench decision. Judge Frank A. Daniels (brother of Josephus Daniels), taking into account Barefoot’s age and lack of intent, further reduced the charge to assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced the boy to six months in county jail. Daniels further recommended that Barefoot be hired out to his former employer during the term of his sentence. This, no doubt, was intended to keep the child out of confinement with grown men, but effectively meant that he was to be held in peonage.

Greensboro Daily News, 17 January 1918.

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In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 637 Broad Street, cook Julia Barefoot, 25, and children Ernest, 8, farm laborer, Warren, 7, Lizzie, 2, and Jessie, 6 months.

Many thanks to Sara Baker Partridge.