arson

810 East Green Street, revisited.

Arsonists set fire to two East Wilson houses on 17 August 2022, resulting in the demolition of one. After putting out an early morning blaze at 804 East Vance Street, firefighters were dispatched to 810 East Green, one of an original set of five identical rental houses William Hines built in the mid-1920s. Fire damaged the house extensively, and it had to be torn down.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, August 2022.

Mary Sims jailed for house fires.

Wilson Daily Times, 2 December 1935.

I have no further information about Mary Sims. There were few treatments for mental illness in the 1930s, and even fewer effective ones. Given the danger her alleged actions posed, it is possible that she was sent to the Eastern North Carolina Insane Asylum in Goldsboro (later known as Cherry Hospital), the state’s only psychiatric facility for African-Americans. 

Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.

 

 

Fire bug activities.

Wilson Daily Times, 16 February 1944.

  • Samuel Randolph Foster 

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 707 Vance, Andrew Pierce, 55, nurse at home (usually barber); wife Lossie, 55, in hospital; daughters Alice, 35, and Hester, 27; sons Boise, 29, cafe [cook?], and Binford, 14; daughter Ruby, 19, “cook school;” and grandchildren Randolph, 9, and Montheal Foster, 7, and Mickey Pierce, 1.

Samuel Randolph Foster registered for the World War II draft in Durham, N.C., in 1945. Per his draft card, he was born 19 February 1927 in Wilson; lived at 403 Henry Street, Durham; was a student at Hillside High School; and his contact was Sam Foster, 403 Henry Street. He was 5’7″, weighed 141 pounds, with brown eyes, black hair and a birthmark in the bend of his right arm. [In fact, per his birth record, Foster was born in 1931 in Wilson to Samuel Foster and Hester Pierce, which would make his age consistent with that in the Times article. In other words, Foster was 14 years old when he was inducted into the Army at Fort Bragg in September 1945.]

Burned a barn and stole a horse.

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Wilson Advance, 28 November 1884.

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Wilson Advance, 12 December 1884.

  • Joe Hinnant — in the 1870 census of Old Fields township, Wilson County: Emizel Hinnant, 30, with Harriet, 19, Tamer, 11, Henderson, 13, Mary, 7, Dennis, 8, and Joseph Hinnant, 1. In the 1880 census of Old Fields township, Wilson County: Tamer Hinnant, 20, and brothers James, 11, and Joseph Hinnant, 11.
  • Dave Powell
  • Lewis Freeman — in the 1880 census of Old Fields township, Lewis Freeman, about 55, wife (or daughter) Katy, 25, and Violet Eatman, 78.

Be convinced by the first colored merchant uptown.

GSS_4_15_1898 Wilson AfAm Merchant

The Great Sunny South (Snow Hill NC), 15 April 1898.

[I am greatly intrigued by the ground-breaking Mrs. A.V.C. Hunt, but have found little beyond some titillating, but enigmatic, coverage of an arson event involving her and/or her husband, the unnamed Mr. Hunt.

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Wilmington Messenger, 29 March 1899.

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Wilson Daily Times, 31 March 1899.

Justice apparently was available in Wilson criminal court as Hunt was acquitted of arson (though found guilty and fined for the assault on Rowe.

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Wilson Times, 30 June 1899.

A.V.C. Hunt died in 1903, and Henry C. Rountree was appointed administrator to her estate. There was not much to settle, and the value of her few possessions did not cover the expenses Rountree laid out for her board, care during illness, and burial. [Rountree himself died in 1916, and his death certificate notes that he was a “dealer in groceries.” He was born in 1848 in Wilson County to Jessie Artis and Becker Artis.]

AVC Hunt

Image from file of A.V.C. Hunt, North Carolina Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998, ancestry.com.