birthday

Happy 104th birthday, Mother Battle!

Wilson Daily Times, 25 April 2024.

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In the 1930 census of Oak Level township, Nash County, North Carolina: farmer William Gray, 68; wife Georgeanna, 48; sons Bennie, 19, and Stephen, 13, and grandchildren Robert, 12, Walter, 9, Boney, 8, and Ellen Gray, 10, and Loneva Battle, 5.

On 4 June 1937, Elroy Battle, 21, of Wilson County, son of Alfred and Exie Battle, married Ellen Gray, 18, of Wilson County, daughter of William and Georgeanna Gray, in Goldsboro, Wayne County, North Carolina. Witnesses to the ceremony included Eva Gray of Black Creek and Alice Artis of Wilson.

In 1940, Elroy Battle registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 15 August 1918 in Wilson County; lived on R.F.D. 3, Wilson; his contact was wife Ellen Battle; and he was self-employed.

In the 1940 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: Elroy Battle, 21; wife Ellen, 20; sister Daisy, 19; brother-in-law Barney Gray, 18; and brother Lonnie Battle, 13.

In the 1950 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: Elroy Battle, 31, farmer; wife Ellen, 30; son Richard Ray, 4; and cousin Walter Gray, 29.

Lane Street Project: season 4, workday 7.

Among my mother’s many gifts to me was the boundless feeding of my childhood curiosities and the freedom to make my own way. What a blessing to be here on her special day. (And share cupcakes from Treat Yo’ Self Bakery.)

The Senior Force used mini-chainsaws to cut up deadfall, and I helped drag it into piles for volunteers to move to the curb. We’re working toward the back on the west side of Odd Fellows and are gradually taking down all the saplings.

These two men are the lifeblood of Lane Street Project’s work. For four years, Castonoble Hooks and R. Briggs Sherwood have hoisted onto their backs the real work of reclaiming Odd Fellows, and I am immensely grateful. It’s rare that I actually get to join them in the field, and I enjoyed walking the land and plotting next steps with them this morning.

A corner of a foot marker showing part of the first link of the Odd Fellows chain. How many markers still lie hidden here?

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, March 2024.

Happy birthday to a daughter of East Wilson!

My uncles moved North; my father and his sister cast their lots in Wilson. Both had two daughters, born in age-matched pairs. Monica Ellis Barnes was born exactly nine months before I was and was my very first bestie. Here we are, with her little sister, in front of their house on Faison Street. Happy milestone birthday, cousin! May it be filled with laughter and all the love your heart can hold!

Wilson County’s own Vanilla Powell Beane honored as she turns 103!

Nothing I could write could improve upon Jeni Hansen’s remarks about her remarkable grandmother, so I take the liberty to share them here:
“This past week, on the evening of her 103rd birthday,​ ​Vanilla Powell Beane received the ​2022 ​Mayor’s Arts Award for Distinguished Honor. Thank you, Mayor [Muriel] Bowser​, and ​thank you DC for showing up to honor the oldest small business owner in Washington!
“I’ve said this before but it stands true today — one of the things I remain most inspired by, is my grandmother’s desire to do something without being recognized.
The other day we were talking about becoming who you are — the dedication, determination, triumphs, and challenges. I am not surprised she did the damn thing without analytics, likes, and without a platform – her passion wasn’t built around the approval of others but a genuine love for her craft. She was inducted into the National Association of Fashion & Accessories Designers in 1975, has more than one day named after her in Washington, and hats are featured on a U.S. Postal Service stamp and in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
“If it takes you 103 years to be recognized for your talents, work hard and enjoy every day. When you make it where you’re going, overcome the obstacles you and others put in your way, and become who you are destined to be — I hope you’ll look in the mirror and say exactly what my grandma said to me, ‘Well, I’m here aren’t I?’
“The life you lead, truly, is the legacy you leave.”
Photo by Salah Djimbananou and text courtesy of Jeni Hansen, via Sandy Alston, Mrs. Beane’s great-niece.

Birthday benediction, no. 2.

When an airplane passed over to shoot this 1940 aerial, the landscape of much of the East Wilson into which I was born was undeveloped. My early years were spent mostly east of Carroll Street and once I started school I had essentially free range of the blocks between Carroll, Highway 301, Academy Street to the north, and Atlantic Street to the south. The housing in those blocks, except along the western and southwestern edges and a solid line of shotguns in the 1300 block of Carolina, sprang up post-World War II, when severe housing shortages and pent-up demand pushed East Wilson beyond city limits toward the planned path of a ring road (Ward Boulevard) and a widened and re-routed U.S. 301.

I came home from Mercy Hospital to 706 Ward Boulevard. Before I turned one, we had moved to a little brick rental house at 1401 Carolina Street. There, I gained my grounding in Black Wide-Awake and, on June 26, 1969, celebrated my 5th birthday in the backyard.

My friends then are my friends now. I hugged the neck of the lady at upper right just last month. And my own sweet mother, at upper left, blesses me daily. This birthday hits a little different, but I’m grateful for the journey — and proud that it started here.

Photo from the collection of Beverly A. Henderson.

Snaps, no. 98: Jimmy Forbes and his grandfather.

James T. Forbes recently celebrated his 85th birthday. Here he is, circa 1939, with his grandfather Joseph McCoy on the front steps of Bill Hines’ home on East Vance Street.

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In the 1900 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farmer George Bynum, 59; wife Tamer, 54; sons Robert, 18, and Jesse, 13; daughter Leesy McCoy, 25; son-in-law Willie McCoy, 22; grandchildren Joseph, 2, and Lossie, 1; and lodger Walter Taborn, 17.

In the 1910 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farmer Will McCoy, 34; wife Leesie, 32; and children Joe, 11, Lossie, 9, Nancy, 8, Robert, 4, and Mary, 3.

In the 1920 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: on Saratoga Road, farmer Willie McCoy, 47; wife Leecy, 45; and children Joe, 21, Nancy, 16, Robert, 15, Arena, 13, and Eddie, 10.

Joseph McCoy, 25, married Mittie Forbes, 25, on 17 October 1927 in Wilson. Oscar Reid applied for the license, and Free Will Baptist minister E.S. Hargrove performed the ceremony in the presence of Tom Joyner, Annie Hargrove, and Purl Hodge.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1110 East Nash Street, paying $16/month, barber Joe McCoy, 30; wife Mittie, 29, laundress; and roomer Sarah Wood, 45, widow, laundress.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 307 Reid Street, paying $14/month, barber Joe McCoy, 40, and wife Minnie [Mittie], 49, laundress; paying $4/month, Willie Forbes, 22, truck driver for Boykin Grocery Company, wife Goldie, 21, private cook, and son Jimmie, 3; also daughter Emma McCoy, 16, housekeeper; and roomer Elton Thomas, 17, tobacco worker. 

In the 1941 Wilson, N.C., city directory: McCoy Jos (c; Mittie) barber John B Barnes h 307 N Reid.

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 923 Atlantic Street, hotel bell hop Willie Forbes, 32; wife Goldie, 32, theatre cashier; and son James, 12.

Many thanks to Dawn Forbes Murphy for sharing this wonderful image. Happy birthday, Mr. Forbes!

Happy birthday to a son of East Wilson!

This photograph accompanied the very first Black Wide-Awake post on 5 October 2015. Today is Michael E. Myers‘ birthday. He, as you can see, is my lifelong friend, and has deep roots in East Wilson.

Here, we’re seated on my mother’s lap on the front steps of the East Green Street home of Michael’s great-grandparents, Rev. Fred M. Davis and Dinah Dunston Davis. Rev. Davis was a long-time pastor of Jackson Chapel First Missionary Baptist church. Michael’s maternal great-uncle Fred M. Davis Jr. was active in 1930s and ’40s voter registration efforts in Wilson. His great-aunt Addie Davis Butterfield was a teacher at Samuel H. Vick Elementary School, and her husband was dentist George K. Butterfield Sr. (Which, of course, makes Congressman G.K. Butterfield Jr. his cousin.) On his father’s side, Michael’s step-great-great-grandmother Grace Battle Black was a close pal of my great-great-aunt, nurse Henrietta Colvert. Grace Black’s sister Roberta Battle Johnson was one of the teachers who resigned from the Colored Graded School after the Mary Euell incident in April 1918. (My grandmother Hattie Henderson Ricks was one of the children who withdrew from the school in the aftermath, and also grew up around the corner from the Davises.) Grace Battle Black’s father was Parker P. Battle, a noted blacksmith with Wainwright foundry.

Michael’s lovely mother Diana Davis Myers was my beloved second-grade teacher at B.O. Barnes Elementary. (I rode to school with her, and Michael and I watched cartoons together on early weekday mornings.) His father is William E. “Bill” Myers, respected educator, renowned musician, and the visionary behind the Freeman Round House and Museum. They were treasured members of my childhood village, and I hug them every chance I can.

Happy, happy birthday, Michael Earl. Wishing you love and laughter forever.