More from the fine folk over in Statesville.
This clean-lined little newsletter arrived in my email box a few days ago, chock-full of the latest news of the city’s historic African-American cemetery, developments made possible by inspirational public-private partnerships. Here are highlights, and the full issue can be found here.
Be inspired, Wilson.
The Tate family plot lies near the northeast corner of Odd Fellows. Its markers are generally in good shape, but my eyes were often drawn to a small rim of marble barely visible above the soil.
Billy Foster of Foster Stone and Cemetery Care recently prised it up to reveal the handsome little marker of Alice P. Maynor.
Alice P. Maynor Born Apr. 24, 1888 Died Apr. 15, 1915.
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On 6 January 1910, Walter A. Maynor, 19, of Wilson, son of Robert L. and Mary Maynor, married Alice Pearce, 22, of Wilson, daughter of Andrew and Alice Pearce, at Noah Tate‘s residence in Wilson. Levi Jones applied for the license, and Missionary Baptist minister Fred M. Davis performed the ceremony in the presence of F.S. Hargrave, E.P. Reid, and Mrs. M.J. Foster.
In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Nash Street, Walter Maynor, 19, barber, and wife Alice, 23. [The couple had two children, Harriett V. Maynor Whitfield (1910) and Walter Alfred Maynor Jr. (1912).]
Allice Maynor died 13 April 1915 in Wilson, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was 26 years old; was born in Wilson County to Andrew Pierce and Alice Knight. Informant was Hattie Tate. Her cause of death was pulmonary tuberculosis.
Photos courtesy of Billy Foster, April 2023.
Want to help Lane Street Project, but you’re nowhere near Wilson? Adopt a headstone!
For the discounted rate of $50, Foster Stone and Cemetery Care will clean, stabilize, and reset a headstone in Odd Fellows or Rountree Cemeteries. Billy Foster has more than “20 years of experience honoring the memory of loved ones” and has already transformed the appearance of Odd Fellows. White marble grave markers now stand upright, gleaming in orderly rows.Though there is much work to be done, the front section of the cemetery no longer looks abandoned.
Odd Fellows Cemetery, cleaned and straightened. (Somebody stole our big pot of pansies though. Sigh.)
If you’d like to make a direct and immediate impact on the ongoing reclamation of Odd Fellows, please donate — CashApp $blackwideawake, Venmo @lanestreetproject, PayPal, Zelle, whatever works for you. No amount is too small; we can pool funds.
Here are a few markers that need your help:
Nunnie Barnes‘ striated gray headstone is one of the most striking in Odd Fellows Cemetery. Although the grave marker itself is in good condition, Barnes’ grave was not. With no vault to support it, the soil above her casket subsided and eventually collapsed, leaving a gaping hole. As part of the restoration work they’re doing in Odd Fellows, Foster Stone and Cemetery Care not only reset Nunnie Barnes’ head and foot markers, but filled and leveled her gravesite.
Your generous donations make this type of work possible, and Lane Street Project thanks you.
Photo courtesy of Billy Foster.