Bryant

Bertha Bryant becomes Mrs. Dewitt Hawkins.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 24 October 1942.

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In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 596 Wainwright Street, tobacco factory laborer Isham Bryant, 27; wife Rossie, 21; and children Beatrice, 5, Bertha, 4, and Inez, 1.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 805 Roberson Street, Isom Bryant, 37, factory laborer; wife Rossie, 32, public school maid; and daughters Beatrice, 15, Bertha, 14, and Inez, 11.

Bertha Bryant married Dewitt Hawkins on 8 September 1942 in New York City. Hawkins died 21 October 1956. Per a Report on Interment, he served in 3294 QM Svc. Co. QMC from 1942 to 1945 as a private first class and was buried in Long Island National Cemetery. His next of kin was Bertha Hawkins, 183-48 Dunlop Avenue, Saint Albans, New York — “Widow Bertha to be buried in the same grave.”

Bertha Bryant Hawkins returned to Wilson and later married Dan Carroll, who owned a popular Nash Street pool room.

Murder, then suicide in county jail.

Wilson Daily Times, 7 March 1950.

Wilson Daily Times, 9 March 1950.

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In the 1910 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: street laborer George Bryant, 42; wife Jane, 32; and children George, 14, Walter, 11, Floyd, 7, Luther, 4, Rosa Vell, 2, and Nathaniel, 3 months.

In the 1920 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: farmer George Briant, 52; wife Jane, 42; and children Floyd, 17, Luther, 15, Sister, 11, Nathaniel, 9, and Willie, 6.

In the 1930 census of Jackson township, Nash County, N.C.: farmer George Bryant, 61; wife Jane, 51; and children Luther, 24, Nathaniel, 18, and Eugene, 8.

In the 1940 census of Glisson township, Duplin County, N.C.: farm laborer Nathan Bryant, 30, and wife Eula Mae, 25.

Nathaniel Bryant registered for the World War II draft in Duplin County, N.C., in 1940. Per his registration card, he was born 4 February 1910 in Wilson County; his contact was wife Eula Mae Bryant, Mount Olive, Duplin County, N.C.; and he worked for farmer Lizzie Herring.

Eula Mae Bryant died 3 March 1950 at her home at 1002 Wainwright Avenue, Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 3 December 1913 in Duplin County, N.C., to Rose(?) Everett and Virginia Branch; was married; and worked in farming. The cause of her death: “hemorrhage (massive) due to 5 1/2 inch knife wound to lower left abdomen.”

Nathaniel Bryant died 7 March 1950 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 7 February 1910 in Wilson to George Bryant and Janie Lucas; was a widower; lived at 1002 Wainwright Avenue; worked as a laborer for the City of Wilson; and was buried in Granite Point Cemetery.

The last will and testament of Millie Bryant.

On 3 August 1936, Millie Bryant made her mark on a will leaving all her property to her niece Cecelia Norwood. Bryant died ten weeks later. Her house was at 608 East Green Street, and Norwood held the property until she died though she lived around the corner on North Pender.

The obituary of Julia Suggs Bryant.

Wilson Daily Times, 31 January 1929.

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In the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County: brickmason Washington Sugg, 51, wife Esther, 38, and children Nicy, 21, Sarena, 17, Cator, 16, Molly, 12, Edmonia, 10, Juda, 5, and James, 3.

Harry Bryant, 21, of Wilson, son of Nestus and Ann Bryant, married Julia Suggs, 20, of Wilson, daughter of Washington and Easter Suggs, on 26 September 1895 at the Methodist church, Wilson. Richard Renfrow applied for the license, and Presbyterian minister L.J. Melton performed the ceremony in the presence of Mattie Harris, L.A. Moore and Lovet Freeman.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: farm laborer Harry Bryant, 34; wife Julia, 34; and sons Leonard, 14, and Leroy, 4.

In 1918, Harry Haywood Bryant registered for the World War I draft in Wilson. Per his draft registration card, he was born 23 January 1873; lived at 132 Sugg Street; was married to Julia Bryant; and worked as a carpenter for Boyle-Robertson Company in Newport News, Virginia.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Suggs Street, Harry Bryant, 44, carpenter for construction company, and wife Julia, 41.

Julia Bryant died 27 January 1929 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 23 September 1874 in Wilson to Washington Sugg and Easter Best of Greene County; was married to Harry Bryant; and resided at 618 Sugg Street.

The obituary of Millie Sutton. (Who was not named Sutton.)

Wilson Daily Times, 20 October 1936.

The deaths of African Americans in early 20th century Wilson generally did not merit mention in the newspaper unless their lives could be framed in terms of their personal service to white people. This obituary could serve as a template in this regard.

It surely was not the Millie Smith Sutton who murdered her brother O.L.W. Smith‘s wife Lucy in 1891. I can find no death certificate for a Millie Sutton in Wilson or surrounding counties in 1936. However, Millie Bryant died 17 October 1936. Per her death certificate, she was 70 years old; was born in Goldsboro, N.C., to unknown parents; lived at 608 East Green Street. Celia A. Norwood, 205 Pender Street, was informant. Was Millie Bryant, in fact, “this good woman”?

Per the 1900 census of Wilson, she was. Millie Bryant is listed as the live-in cook for widower John Selby and family. 

From 1900 federal census, Wilson, Wilson County.

Ten weeks before she died, Millie Bryant made out her last will and testament, leaving all her property to her niece Celia Norwood.

Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.

Larceny by negresses?

As usual, the 15 January 1924 Wilson Times mined the police blotter to publish titillating filler stories of alleged criminal activity by African-Americans. Here, two black women were arrested and charged with robbing “a Greek” of seventeen dollars. The women had proclaimed innocence, but a search netted $4.30 “concealed in the hair of Naoma.”

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Just below this clip, in the same column, another article — whose title and subtitle consumed as many column inches as the body of the piece — detailed the heavy penalty Mayor Silas R. Lucas imposed upon Norman Roberson for nearly running over a police officer and then cursing the officer out. And then, bizarrely, a paragraph setting out the follow-up to the charge above: “Mamie Roberson and Naomi Bryant, two negro women, charged with robbing Mike Greek were found not guilty and dismissed.”

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Wilson Times, 15 January 1924.

  • Mamie Roberson — in the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 506 Smith Street, widow Grace Roberson, 32; her cousin Mamie Roberson, 16; and roomer Annie M. Barnes, 16, tobacco factory laborer; all born in South Carolina.
  • Naomi Bryant
  • Norman Roberson — possibly the Norman Robertson, 24, son of Edward and Cherry Robertson of Suffolk, Virginia, who married Dora Hines, 20, daughter of James and Mary Hines, on 10 August 1914. Free Will Baptist minister Robert Dickins performed the ceremony at a Green Street location in the presence of Dock Barnes, Martin Cofield, and John Williams.