chorus

A tribute to an ally and friend.

Wilson Daily Times, 31 October 1938.

South Carolina-born Russell L. Owings was a student at Duke University studying music and speech. He was only 23 when he died in a car crash. I can find no evidence that he ever lived in Wilson and am not sure what path led him to volunteer as a choral director  and voice coach at Saint John.

A dinner party for the Community Playmakers choristers.

Wilson Daily Times, 27 October 1945.

This brief piece reveals a number of interesting tidbits:

  • There was a Community Playmakers Club.
  • It had a choral division and pianist — Jerry L. Cooke.
  • Sam Roberson was “one of Wilson’s most able caterers.” This is the first reference to an African-American caterer that I’ve come across. He is strangely elusive in census records, but is likely the 24 year-old cook living with his mother Sue Roberson, 42, and sister Nellie B. Roberson, 17, at  506 [South] Goldsboro Street in the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County. If so, in the 1920 census of Wilson: at 510 [South] Goldsboro, widow Sue Robinson, 42; children John, 23, tobacco factory worker, Sam, 19, hotel bellboy, Sudie, 16, tobacco factory worker, and Nellie, 8; and grandson Kemmie, newborn.

 

Handel’s Chorus performs in concert.

Wilson Daily Times, 5 March 1943.

Hartford E. Bess‘ Handel’s Chorus, comprised of teens and young adults, performed to standing-room-only crowds for decades. In 1943, its members included Clara B. Taylor, Pauline Farmer, Ernestine Floyd, Mattie Ford, Eunice McCall, Devera Jackson, Eunice Cooke, Dora Dickerson, Henrietta Hines, Matteele Floyd, Inez Dickerson, Deloris Haskins, Romaine Hagans, Doris Joyner, Herman Hines, Harding Thompson, Ambrose Towe, Thomas Dawson, John W. Jones, Arthur Brodie, and Rudolph Best. Unfortunately, the accompanying photograph is not available.

Former members return to chorus.

Wilson Daily Times, 27 August 1947.

——

During the summer, college students returned to sing with their former choristers in Hartford Bess‘ Handel’s Chorus.

  • Mary Gilchrist — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 707 Viola, Canon Gilchrist, 38; wife Ruth, 32; and children Dorothea, 15, Mary L., 12, Gene, 11, Bella M., 5, and Janey V., 2.
  • Katie Chestnut
  • Virginia Ward — probably, in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Preston Ward, 38, widower; sister Annie, 26; and children James P., 20, Alonza, 18, Johnny Lee, 17, Rosa, 14, Virginia, 12, Sylvester, 10, Ruby, 8, Doris, 6, and Golden, 2.
  • Ann Johnson

Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.

Handel’s Chorus begins rehearsals.

Under the direction of Hartford E. Bess, Handel’s Chorus club presented holiday season concerts for several decades.

Wilson Daily Times, 9 October 1940.

Handel’s Chorus officers:

  • Louise Spivey, president
  • Aaron Purdie, vice-president
  • Arthur Brodie, treasurer
  • Ernestine Floyd, secretary

Personnel:

Regret for the death of Russell Owings.

Wilson Daily Times, 31 October 1938.

I missed the cues, and at first could find no record of an African-American Russell Owings living in Wilson. But that was because Owings was not Black. He was instead a “faithful and courageous friend of [their] interest.” Owings, freshly graduated from Atlantic Christian [now Barton] College, was a white man who — much in the spirit of Rev. R.A.G. Foster’s outreach — crossed the color line to teach voice lessons and direct a choral group at Saint John A.M.E. Zion. He died in a car accident in late October 1938.

Handel chorus and a cappella choir to perform.

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Wilson Daily Times, 20 December 1940.