The thirty-second in a series of posts highlighting buildings in East Wilson Historic District, a national historic district located in Wilson, North Carolina. As originally approved, the district encompasses 858 contributing buildings and two contributing structures in a historically African-American section of Wilson. (A significant number have since been lost.) The district was developed between about 1890 to 1940 and includes notable examples of Queen Anne, Bungalow/American Craftsman, and Shotgun-style architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

As described in the nomination form for East Wilson Historic District: “ca. 1913; John Barnes house; Queen Anne house with high hip-roofed main block and clipped-gable cross wings; wraparound porch; aluminum sided; Barnes was a brick mason.”

In the 1912 Hill’s city directory, John M. Barnes, bricklayer, is listed at 121 Pender Street (across from Saint John A.M.E. Zion.) The 1913 Sanborn map shows that 121 Pender was not the same house as the Queen Anne depicted above. Rather, it was a one-story dwelling on an adjacent lot.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Wilson, N.C. (1913).

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 123 Pender Street, Georgia Akin, 45, widow, livery stable manager; brother Alexander Crockett, 47, stable salesman; and roomers John Norfleet, 30, and Mose Parker, 32, both laborers. [Per the 1913 Sanborn insurance map, the lot now occupied by this house was numbered 123, and the house was a simpler and somewhat smaller two-story building. Georgia’s husband John H. Aiken had been a partner with Crockett in Crockett & Aiken, a livery, transfer and house-moving outfit. 123 was a small house next door, to the south, of 120. The Aikens family moved into 120 within a few years of the census.]

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Wilson, N.C. (1922).

In the 1925 Wilson city directory: Georgia Akins, matron, 120 Pender.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 120 Pender, school teacher George C. Akin, 52; stepbrother James Crockett, 60, drayman; and lodgers Rogers Odom, 21, warehouse laborer, and Clarance Pierce, 20, barber.

Georgia Crockett Aikens died 17 August 1939 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 67 years old, born in Wayne County to William Crockett and Rachel Powell, resided at 120 Pender Street in Wilson, and was the widow of John Aikens. Rachel Williams, New York City, was informant.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Philadelphia-born widow Rachel Williams, 44, dress factory presser; club hostess Eleanor Rogers, 22; cook Rosa Mae Rogers, 30; Daniel B[illegible]. 27, attendant to sick invalid; and Prince Cunningham, 38, tobacco factory laborer.

The 1941 Hill’s Wilson city directory lists Rachel Williams and Oralee Pender as residents of 120 Pender.

The 1962 Hill’s Wilson city directory lists Rachel C. Williams at 120 North Pender.

Photograph taken by Lisa Y. Henderson, May 2017.