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Before East Wilson.

Before East Wilson began to take shape as the historic heart of Wilson’s African-American community, the land just east of the railroad held small farms and, essentially, country estates like the one Rufus W. Edmundson offered for rent in November 1881. The seven-acre parcel at the east corner of Vance and Pender Streets contained a large six-room house with a well, fruit trees, and “all necessary” outbuildings. Only seven years before, the land had been “original forest.”

As we have seen, into the second half of twentieth century, Vance Street was a boundary between black and white neighborhoods. When Edmundson’s parcel was eventually sold and subdivided, the houses built on streets like Academy and Crowell were for white owners and tenants. These segregation patterns held into the 1960s.

Wilson Advance, 25 November 1881.

Seeking Mary Sutton and family.

Pittsburgh Courier, 30 April 1949.

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The Curries, natives of Robeson County, North Carolina, were only briefly Wilson County residents. When Katie Currie, 24, daughter of Worth and Isabelle McKinnon Currie, married John Adams, 24, in Halifax County, Virginia, she reported Wilson as her birthplace. The couple lived in Durham, North Carolina.

The Mary Sutton sought appears to have been the mother of Javotte Sutton Green. The Suttons moved from Wilson to Durham between 1922 and 1930.

Where we worked: Carolina Laundry.

Wilson Daily Times, 22 November 1915.

Wilson Daily Times, 23 April 1919.

Carolina Laundry employed dozens of African-American men and women during its decades of trade at the corner of Tarboro and Kenan Streets.

Ad from Hill’s Wilson, N.C., City Directory (1928).

  • Helen Branch, 1928
  • Mildred Branch, 1928
  • Julia Burden, 1928
  • Arthur Cobb, laundryman, 1928
  • Morton Crawford, 1928, laundryman, 1930
  • David Curry, 1928
  • James Debose, 1928
  • Maggie Dupree, 1928
  • Addie Edwards, 1928
  • John Gilmore, 1928
  • Elizabeth Hamilton, 1928
  • Benjamin Melton, presser, 1928
  • Harriet Myers, 1928
  • John Phillips, 1928
  • Cammie Richardson, 1928
  • William Richardson, helper, 1928
  • Maggy Rountree, 1928
  • George Sutton, 1928
  • Bessie Swift, 1928
  • Flossie Walker, 1928
  • Helen White, 1928
  • Edward Williams, cleaner, 1928

From “Facts about Wilson, North Carolina,” published by Wilson Chamber of Commerce (1934).

He may be around Stantonsburg.

The North-Carolina Standard (Raleigh, N.C.), 22 November 1848.

Rufus W. Edmondson, who lived in what was then far southeastern Edgecombe County, near Stantonsburg, sold a man named Cager to William T. Hopkins, who appears to have lived in Wake County, North Carolina. In October 1848, Cager stole away — perhaps to return “home.”

$50 reward for Levi, last seen in Black Creek.

The North-Carolina Standard (Raleigh, N.C.), 16 October 1850.

The resourceful Levi stole two sets of free papers when he left James G. Edwards’ plantation in Greene County, North Carolina. Luke Hall and Ned Hall were members of an extended free family of color living just over the county line in northeast Wayne County. Levi’s first mistake was trying to board a train too close to home. One set of his papers was seized, but he apparently was able to avoid being taken into custody. His second mistake was to ask directions to Raleigh. Hoping he made it to freedom nonetheless.

Training School for Bears.

Greensboro Daily News, 11 July 1927.

O. Nestus Freeman not only owned bears as pets, he operated a Training School and offered them for sale to others. [Though described as “Siberian,” it is more likely that these were common American black bears. North Carolina has banned buying, selling, possessing, or keeping bears, except in zoos, since 1975.]

Freeman’s bears. Detail from Oliver Nestus Freeman Round House Museum Photograph Album, Images of North Carolina, http://www.digitalnc.org.