Please note that, while we appreciate these moves and are hopeful about Vick’s future, so much of what is now being proposed to council are requests and demands repeatedly made right here at Black Wide-Awake over the last three years. The information needed to support these proposals has been available to anyone willing to look and see.
“An Old Reporter,” i.e. Hugh B. Johnston Jr., wrote a genealogy column for the Rocky Mount Telegram in the 1950s. On 22 February 1957, he featured Edgecombe/Wilson County farmer Hartwell Williford. The piece mostly detailed Williford’s business transactions, but includes some personal anecdotes, including a description of Williford’s torture of an unnamed enslaved man — delivered with a chuckle by the writer.
On a less funny note, Williford and his son were indicted for murdering an enslaved man named Thomas in 1860.
The Times recently reported on the expansion of Freeman Round House and African American Museum. See the full story online or in the March 10 print edition. I can’t wait to see the new exhibit space!
Deed Book 66, page 565, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.
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J.D. Reid borrowed $200 from Nancy Harriss in January 1904, guaranteeing the loan with a mortgage on a lot he owned on Green Street that bordered Short Barnes and Louis Battle. The loan was to be repaid in twelve months, but margin notes reveal the mortgage wasn’t cancelled until March 1912. Note that S.H. Vick acted as Reid’s agent.
The 1860 slave schedule is the only known surviving, contemporaneous list of the men and women who enslaved black people in Wilson County. It is not a list of the enslaved themselves, as none are named in that census. Rather, the schedule described people by “color” (black or mulatto), sex, and age.
Organized by township, this series will set forth these enslavers, the number of people they held in 1860, and the ages of the youngest and oldest people held. Where possible, I will also name people known to be enslaved by each person. They may or may not correspond to people described in the 1860 slave schedule. The paucity of such identifications is heartbreaking, and I continue to search.
We start with Black Creek district, which was part of Wayne County prior to 1855. The 1860 slave schedule lists 59 enslavers in this section of Wilson County. The largest, by an order of magnitude, was Stephen Woodard Sr.:
Sallie Simms — 10, age 7 months to 72 years
William Thompson — 22, age 0.5 to 44 years
Dr. A.G. Brooks — 29, age 1 to 55 years
Enos Barnes — 2, age 15 and 18 years
Celia Barnes — 2, age 28 and 53 years
James Barnes — 9, age 3 to 50 years
Jesse Watson — 1, age 10 years
Jacob Daniel — 4, age 9 to 60 years
Joseph Farrell — 9, age 5 months to 38 years
James Nusom — 22, age 1 to 28 years
Jesse Sauls — 7, age 3 to 26 years
Nancy Bass — 8, age 5 months to 36 years
Belinda Aycock — 6, age 3 to 38 years
Sallie Daniel — 14, age 11 months to 53 years
Elisha Bass — 6, age 3 months to 30 years
Jeremiah Bass — 3, age 4 months to 17 years
Ephraim Bass — 1, age 36 years
Jinnet Holland — 4, age 4 months to 23 years
Jonathan Barnes — 19, age 3 months to 65 years
Henry King — 11, age 3 months to 27 years
Edith Horn — 13, age 2 to 55 years
Milly Barnes — 21, age 4 to 78 years
Larry Nusom — 21, age 1 to 39 years
Stephen Woodard Jr. — 16, age 6 months to 30 years
Stephen Woodard Sr. — 65, age 1 to 39 years
Amos Horn in trust — 9, age 2 months to 37 years
Henry Pope and two others — 3, age 1 to 36 years
R.M. Cox — 15, age 9 months to 33 years
Arthur Bass — 7, age 8 months to 35 years
James H. Barnes — 8, age 8 months to 32 years
Joseph S. Holt — 3, age 5 to 40 years
Jesse Bass — 7, age 1 to 35 years
Abigail Simms — 8, age 1 to 60 years
P.H. Simms — 3, age 1 to 35 years
Mary A. Simms — 3, age 3 to 33 years
Thomas Amason — 2, age 13 and 17 years
B.F. Briggs — 3, age 6 to 12 years
Ichabod Pearson — 7, age 1 to 35 years
John P. Bardin — 7, age 6 to 50 years
Arthur Bardin — 2, age 19 and 20 years
Zilpha Daniel — 14, age 2 months to 39 years
W.R. Bass — 2, age 11 and 35 years
W.R. Bass in trust — 7, age 6 to 73 years
Benjamin Barnes — 3, age 6 to 9 years
Annis Bass — 1, age 68 years
Ezekiel Smith — 14, age 1 to 33 years
Stephen Privett — 4, age 1 to 20 years
Jonah Barnes — 10, age 2 to 38 years
Calvin Barnes — 1, age 36 years
Ruffin Barnes — 4, age 6 to 65 years
Elias Barnes — 2, age 7 months to 17 years
Jacob Woodard — 5, age 17 to 65 years
Felix Woodard — 2, age 6 months to 17 years
Joel Rose — 1, age 11 years
McKinley Durden — 6, age 9 to 35 years
Amos Horn — 2, age 12 to 35 years
Robinson H. Baker — 11, age 4 months to 34 years
Granberry Ethridge — 1, age 14 years
W.W. Williamson — 3, age 18 to 50 years
A couple of months ago, I went a little off-topic to ask Wilson’s new council members to set new standards for communication with their constituents (and others with vested interests in community affairs). I don’t know if Susan Kellum saw my post, but, one way or another, she heard my cry. Kellum has demonstrated a refreshing and unprecedented willingness to listen to community concerns and made herself available for last week’s meeting even though she had a tight schedule.
Here’s what I wrote in January: “… a timely post from a council member, especially about issues directly concerning the people who put them in office, is both efficient and effective and allows for comments and quick feedback from community members. No one is expecting council to spill state secrets on Facebook, but the dense fog that shrouds Wilson’s workings needs to dissipate, and these kinds of posts are absolute sunshine.” Thank you, Susan Kellum, for championing hard conversations and for keeping the community informed.
James S. Aycock’s farm lay on “the south side of the new Road leading to Stantonsburg” from Black Creek in what was then Wayne County. On 3 November 1836, he executed a last will and testament that provided, among other things:
A couple of weeks ago, I received an unexpected email from a student at an area high school.
I wrote back and suggested that she send the questions and that we set up a Zoom meeting to chat.
We were finally able to meet yesterday. There are levels to my motivation for curating Black Wide-Awake, but highlighting and preserving history for the benefit of young people is close to the surface. I was honored by E.C.’s interest in the why of my work and deeply impressed by her preparation and thoughtful communication.
Thank you, E., for the opportunity to talk about the importance of researching local history and genealogy. I wish you the best as you complete your high school studies and go on to make your mark in the world!
