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.
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.
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.
There were two African-American Henry Bryants in Wilson in the early 20th century, one born about 1872 and the other about 1889. It is not clear whose grave this stone marks.
Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, April 2021.
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.”
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.”
Wilson Times, 15 January 1924.
Several of the founders of Indianapolis’ North Carolina Club were natives of Wilson:
Indianapolis Star, 23 November 1908.
Willis Bryant was among the scores of African Americans who left Wilson County for Indianapolis, Indiana, in the last quarter of the 19th century.
Indianapolis Star, 20 March 1915.
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Probably, in the 1870 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Louiza Bryant, 30; Cornelius Harriss, 23; Catherine Harriss, 20; Cornelius Harriss, 1; Ann Bryant, 9; Willie Bryant, 8; and Alice Ellis, 15.
Bryant probably attended the Wilson Academy. Like Samuel H. Vick ’84 and Braswell R. Winstead ’85, he received a bachelor’s degree from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.
Catalogue of Lincoln University, Chester County, Pennsylvania, for the Academical Year 1886-87 (1887).
On 4 May 1890, Willis Bryant, 26, son of Wiley Bryant and Louisa Branch, married Ida M. Webb, 22, in Marion County, Indiana.
As were many Lincoln alumni, Bryant was very active in the Presbyterian church and helped found Senate Avenue Presbyterian Church.
Indianapolis News, 20 June 1892.
In the 1900 census of Center township, Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana: at 808 Wyoming Street, coal dealer Willis Bryant, 36; wife Ida, 32; and children Ralph, 6, and Edna May, 1.
In September 1900, Wilson native Daniel C. Suggs, then teaching at Georgia State College, visited the Bryants in Indianapolis. Suggs was also a Lincoln graduate.
Indianapolis News, 7 September 1900.
Fifteen years after he graduated, Bryant and his wife returned to Pennsylvania to attend a Lincoln graduation, then made a round of East Coast cities.
Indianapolis News, 25 May 1901.
In 1901, Lucy Gay visited her uncle Willis Bryant in Indianapolis. In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: farmer Sam Gay, 54; wife Alice, 50; and children Charlie C., 23, Edgar B., 25, Lucy, 17, Samuel, 14, Albert and Beatrice, 10, and Lily, 4. [Alice Gay was the 15 year-old Alice Ellis listed in the 1870 census above. When she married Samuel Gay, she gave her maiden name as Bryant.]
Indianapolis News, 28 December 1901.
In October 1904, the Indiana Recorder reprinted “His Trip West,” an article by Harry S. Cummings originally posted in the Afro-American Ledger. In the chronicle of his tour of Indiana cities, Cummings mentioned Wilson native Dr. Joseph H. Ward and Willis Bryant and his father-in-law Charles A. Webb’s transportation and hauling businesses.
Indianapolis News, 22 October 1904.
In 1907, Willis Bryant and other black businessmen formed a committee to assist the city’s Juvenile Court with finding employment for “delinquent colored boys and girls.”
Indianapolis Star, 24 April 1907.
In the 1910 census of Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana: at 808 Wyoming Street, Willis Bryant, 44; wife Ida M., 42; and children Ottis R., 16, Edna, 11, and Hulda M., 3.
Indianapolis Recorder, 13 March 1915.
Willis Bryant died 19 March 1915, barely a week after celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary.
Indianapolis Recorder, 18 March 1916.
His widow, Ida Webb Bryant, outlived him by decades, and was featured in this 1963 Indianapolis Recorder piece.
Indianapolis Recorder, 22 June 1963.
Wilson Daily Times, 1 June 1946.
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In the 1880 census of Smithfield, Johnston County, North Carolina: laborer Nestus Bryant, 48; wife Annie, 38; children Alice, 17, Arthur, 15, Thedo, 10, Harry, 6, John, 4, and Baby, 5 months; and mother Penny, 80.
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.
In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 619 Suggs Street, meat market butcher Henry Bryant, 58; son Leon, 33; daughter-in-law Alice, 32; and granddaughter Christine, 9.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 619 Suggs Street, tobacco factory laborer Leon Bryant, 42; wife Alice, 42, tobacco factory laborer; daughter Christine, 19; and father Harry H., 68, widower and tobacco factory laborer.
Harry Bryant died 26 May 1946 at Mercy Hospital, Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 23 July 1873 in Smithfield, North Carolina, to Nestus Bryant and Annie Bryant of Johnston County; he resided at 653 Suggs Street, Wilson; he was the widower of Julia Bryant; he had worked as a laborer; and he was buried in the Masonic cemetery. Leon Suggs was informant.
Wilson Daily Times, 23 December 1940.
And, again in 1942, prayers for white people (though “a few colored contributed.”)
Wilson Daily Times, 23 December 1942.
Four years later, Bryant was still thanking the Good White Folks for their generosity.
Wilson Daily Times, 16 December 1944.
Saint Luke A.M.E. Church, Christmas 2018.
The eighty-first 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 the East Wilson Historic District, this house is: “ca. 1930; 1 1/2 stories; gambrel-front house with two-bay facade; aluminum-sided.”
In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: George Arthur H (c; Minnie B) pastor Calvary Presbyterian Ch h 1012 Atlantic.
In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1012 Atlantic Street carpenter/bricklayer Arthur J. George, wife Minnie, sons Arthur, Henry H., and Bryant George, lodger Rebacer Ramsy, and niece Willie L. George.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1012 Atlantic Avenue, rented for $12/month, tobacco factory janitor Bud Bryant, 52; wife Nancy, 48; nieces Louise, 17, Nannie, 15, Mary, 12, and Carleen Reid, 11; and son Frederick Reid, 34, divorced.
In 1940, Frederick Reid registered for the World War II draft in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 8 September 1905 in Wilson; resided at 1012 Atlantic; his contact was mother Nancy Bryant, 1012 Atlantic; and he worked for W.B. Corbett, Waterworks Road, Wilson.
In the 1941 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Bryant Bud (c; Nancy) lab 1012 Atlantic Av.
Nancy Bryant died 14 January 1945 at her home at 1012 Atlantic Street. Per her death certificate, she was 53 years old; born in Wayne County to Zion and Eliza Reid; and was married to Rev. Mathew B. Bryant, age 56, who was informant.
Photograph by Lisa Y. Henderson, October 2018.