Chicago Defender, 30 July 1938.
——
Perhaps, in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 116 Pender Street, Clara Davis, 19, tobacco factory stemmer; Charles Davis, 22, cook at Bill’s Quick Lunch; Jack Ellis, 36, tobacco factory redryer; Beulah Ellis, 21, cook; and Ollie M. Ferguson, 33, tobacco factory grader. [All were relatively recent arrivals to Wilson from towns across eastern North Carolina and from Tennessee.]
Wilson’s Town Clerk John R. Moore died in 1905, and the administrator of his estate was charged with paying off his debts.
Grant T. Foster, purveyor of beef, pork, mutton, sausage, and country produce at Wilson City Market submitted a bill for $3.37 for small purchases Moore made in December 1904 and January 1905.
Moore’s son submitted a brief note — “Mr. Hales: Please pay Annie Williams $10.00 for services as cook same to be charged to papa’s estate. Respt, J.H. Moore.”
Williams was paid with a check made out simply to “Cook.”
——
Wilson, North Carolina, Probate Estate Files 1854-1959, http://www.familysearch.org.
Julius C. Rhodes and G.M. Smith were partners in Smith & Rhodes, a Goldsboro Street oyster bar, saloon, and billiard parlor. Rhodes died intestate in December 1886, setting off a battle for the equitable distribution of the business’ assets. Rhodes’ estate file contains pages and pages of testimony from employees, associates, and even his physician about Rhodes’ alcoholism, his excessive generosity, and the free withdrawal and commingling of funds that marked Smith & Rhodes’ affairs and offer a rare glimpse into the workings of a late nineteenth-century Wilson social space.
Rhodes lived in rooms at the rear of the store and took his meals in its restaurant. Full board cost $12.50 to $16 a month, but Samuel Farmer paid in firewood. Rhodes kept a private gaming room upstairs, which was not profitable. He gave away shots of whiskey on Sundays to regular customers — many showed up for “treats” after church. He also gave out loans from the cash drawer.
Among the witnesses were cooks Andrew Pearce and Burt Bowser. Pearce testified that Rhodes ate at the store, but only about one small meal day. (His mother often sent him chicken soup and pickles.) Smith did not eat there often, but ate more than Pearce when he did. Smith had a private family residence, and mostly ate at the restaurant during the busy season. [From other testimony, we know that was fall.] Pearce sometimes went to Smith’s house to get vegetables for the restaurant. The lamp oil and coal Rhodes used in his rooms came from the firm’s supplies.
Burt Bowser preceded Pearce as cook. His testimony was brief: he cooked special meals for Rhodes; Smith ate at the restaurant more often than Rhodes; and Smith sometimes supplied vegetables to the restaurant.
Peter Taylor was subpoenaed to testimony, but either did not appear or was not called. Dave Barnes is briefly named as someone who “kept” the gaming room. This may have been Dave Barnes who was later a porter at Briggs Hotel. Hilliard Ellis was named as owing a small debt to the firm. Rhodes’ widow and administrator Louisa Rhodes filed an account in March 1889 that noted a payment of $2.50 to barber Alfred Robinson and $1.50 to blacksmith Charles Battle.
Estate of J.C. Rhodes (1887), Wilson County Probate Estate Case Files, 1954-1959, http://www.familysearch.org.
Who was Alabama-born traveling photographer Arthur C. Cook?
Cook lived at 521 East Nash Street, a house next to the Orange Hotel (and long-ago demolished.) I possibly have found him as a child in the 1880 census in Butler County, Alabama, but have no further information.
Virginia Pou Doughton Papers, housed in the North Carolina State Archives’ Private Collections, contain dozens of letters written by an African-American man named Johnnie Farmer, who had worked as butler and cook for Doughton’s grandparents, Floyd S. and Elizabeth Barnes Davis. (Farmer’s mother, Bettie Farmer, and sister, Emma Farmer, also worked as servants for the Davises.) Farmer, a World War I veteran, had been hospitalized at the Veterans Administration hospital in Kecoughtan, Virginia, apparently for complications from diabetes.
Farmer’s letters make reference to several Davis family members, including Miss Lizzie (Elizabeth B. Davis), Miss Helen (Virginia Doughton’s aunt by marriage, Helen Patterson Davis), Mr. Frank (her uncle, Frank Barnes Davis), and Sammy Pou (Doughton, herself, by a childhood nickname.) Miss Harris was likely Alice Barnes Wright Harriss, who lived next door to the Davises at 701 West Nash Street and was Lizzie B. Davis’ sister.
In this letter to Lizzie Davis, written sometime in 1941, Farmer laments being flat on his back and unable to get around, expresses cautious optimism about the condition of his feet, and asks Davis not to share his update.
Ward 3 Room 363 1941
Miss Lizzie I know theease has bin werren you all to deth and it hasen warred you all half a bad as it has warred you know lenying flalt of you back and cant get up and get around to do nothen for your self it is a hard job to get enny baurdy to do enny thing for yo now; write miss Hellen about my foot now i realy dont wornt you all to write the Doc a boud of corse he haven tould me so but I got infore machen from the nurs and the
she said she did not know theeair was a little life comming back in it and she said as long as you see som kind of life in it ther was some so dont say enny thing to enny baurdy at hom and dont write the doc for if you all d he will come stratt to me and give me the Devel a bout it i gave the Dcoc the blanker [about?] three [??] and there is not bout one doc on this warrd and thear is a 300 mens he have to look at and i ask him to day and he said he would look after them
Just a soon a he could as warred as I am I haven eve got the blanks to thank [think?] I wont to day againg not to say enny thing about the foot untell you hear from me again tell Mr Flank I got his letter and yours togather will write him when i feal like up tell Miss Harris I am goinge to write hear soon i got enny more to say this time write when ever you feal like got a real long lettler from Sammey Pou sure did enjoy readin it Johnnie Farmer
——
In the 1900 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farmer George Farmer, 51; wife Bettie, 46; and children George W., 21, Miner, 19, Aulander, 18, Willie, 17, Johnny, 15, and Emma, 12.
In the 1910 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: laborer George Farmer, 71; wife Bettie, 62; and children John, 18, and Emma, 16.
George Farmer died 4 April 1918 in Wilson township, Wilson County. Per his death certificate, he was 88 years old; was born in Wilson County to Harry Farmer and Betty Crumley; was married to Betty Farmer; worked as a farmer; and was buried in the Masonic Cemetery. William Farmer was informant.
In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Bynum Street, widow Bettie Farmer, 56; daughter Emma, 23, cook, and son Johnnie, 25, butler.
Emma Farmer died 12 October 1926 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 28 years old; was born in Wilson County to George Farmer and Betty Crumble; was single; lived at 808 West Broad Street; and worked as a cook for Mrs. Jas. H. Pou. John Farmer was informant, and she was buried in Wilson, N.C. [probably Vick Cemetery.]
In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 705 West Nash, owned and valued at $20,000, widow Elizabeth B. Davis, 59; son Frank B., 35; daughter-in-law Hellen P., 34; grandchildren Frank B. Jr., 13, and Hellen P., 4; and servants Jollie [sic], 40, and Bettie Farmer, 72.
Will Farmer died 7 April 1938 in Wilson after an auto accident near Goldsboro, Wayne County, N.C. Per his death certificate, he was 51 years old; was born in Wilson County to George farmer and Betty Crummel; was married to Eula Farmer; lived at 903 East Green Street; and worked as a hotel porter. He was buried in Wilson, N.C. [probably Vick Cemetery.]
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 714 Stronach Street, Johnny Farmer, 50, cook, and widowed mother Bettie Farmer, 85.
Arlanda Farmer died 14 March 1940 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 55 years old; was born in Wilson County to George Farmer and Bettie Crumble; was married to Marsha Farmer; worked as a truck driver for Carolina Ice Company; and was a veteran. He was buried in Wilson, N.C. [probably Vick Cemetery.]
Johnie Farmer died 30 March 1944 at the Veterans Administration hospital in Kecoughtan, Elizabeth City County, Virginia. Per his death certificate, he was born in 1893 to George Farmer and Betty Crowell; his usual residence was 714 Stronach Alley, Wilson; and his body was returned to Wilson for burial.
Bettie Cromartie Farmer died 23 July 1945 at her home at 913 Faison Street, Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 5 August 1857 in Edgecombe County, N.C.; was widowed; and was buried in the Masonic cemetery.
Johnny Farmer Letters, 1941-1944, Virginia Pou Doughton Family Papers, P.C. 1981.1, Private Collections, State Archives of North Carolina.
Wilson Daily Times, 20 May 1935.
In the 1900 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: farm laborers Sallie Hearn, 65, widow, and son John, 35.
In the 1910 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: at West Railroad Street, Manalcus B. Aycock, 34, farmer; James M. Aycock, 40, farmer/partner; wife Annie, 29; sons Yancey, 10, and Douglass, 8; and servant John Herring, 38.
John Hearn died 19 May 1935 at Mercy Hospital, Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 60 years old; was born in Pitt County, N.C., to John [illegible] and Sallie Lawrence; was single; and worked as a cook.
John Hearn was buried on his employers’ farm, but I have not been able to identify that location. (Manalcus and Annie Moore Aycock were buried in Maplewood Cemetery in Wilson.)
John Hearne lived and worked in this house, built by Manalcus B. Aycock 1900-1901 in Black Creek. The house, which is listed on National Register of Historic Places, still stands on West Center Street.
We’ve seen a photo of the African-American men that tended Dixie Inn’s barbecue pits. Frank Parker may have been one such pitmaster, or he may have cooked in the roadhouse’s kitchen; he lived onsite.
The second in a series documenting enslaved people held by the Bardin/Barden family, who lived in the Black Creek area in what was once Wayne County, but is now Wilson County.
——
When William Barden (1785-1837 drafted his last will and testament on 3 October 1835, he disposed of his enslaved property in two paragraphs. First, “my negro man Dred” was to be sold. Second, “all the rest of my Negroes” were to be equally divided among his children Celia Barden, James Barden, Jacob Barden, Penelope Barden Holmes, John Barden, Henry Barden, Nancy Barden, William Barden, Phebe Barden, Charity Barden, and Sally F. Barden.
William Barden died in 1837.
Immediately, on 20 March 1837, his executor hired out several enslaved people to bring in income.
A 15 May 1837 note in Barden’s estate file reveals that, even before he died, Barden authorized his son Jacob Barden “to carry out of the state and sell the negroe boy Dred.” Accordingly, J. Barden took Dred to Alabama and sold him to John Cook for $1000 — $500 down and $500 on credit.
On 6 June 1837, a committee divided the men, women, and children who had lived together as Arthur Barden’s enslaved property:
——
All William Barden’s children moved to Pontotoc and Itawamba Counties, Mississippi, within a few years of their father’s death. They undoubtedly took with them named here, pulling them hundreds of miles from the families and communities they knew and loved. I have only been able to locate what appears to be further record of one — Dred, who was sold away.
On 14 August 1867, Dred Cook, colored, registered to vote in Precinct No. 17, Greene County, Alabama. (John J. Cook had settled in Greene County as early as 1825.)
In the 1870 census of Mount Hebron township, Greene County, Alabama: Dred Cook, 83, farmer, born in North Carolina; presumed wife Mahala, 50, born in N.C.; and Wiley, 19, and Delia Cook, 15, both born in Alabama.
Also, in the 1870 census of Boligee township, Greene County, Alabama: Dred Cook, 83, farmer; presumed wife Haley, 50; and Wiley, 18, and Deley Cook, 15, all reported born in Alabama.
Estate File of William Barden (1837), Wayne County, North Carolina Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998, http://www.ancestry.com.
“Broken skull struck on back of head with Pitch fork. Murdered. rush to Hospital, but died before Doctor attended.”
In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Cook Louis (c) lab r 526 E Nash
Wilson Daily Times, 20 April 1950.
The caption identifies this as a photograph of five generations of an African-American Barnes family that lived on the Edwin Barnes farm, “one of the fine old plantations of the state.” There is no mention of the age of the photograph (I would guess approximately 1900-1910) or its provenance. The names of the young woman and baby at bottom left were unknown. “Old Aunt Rose” is at bottom right. Standing at top right is “Aunt Sylvia,” who was a cook for Edwin Barnes and then his daughter Mrs. J.T. Graves for forty years and was “famous for her chicken stew.” At top left is Aunt Sylvia’s daughter, Jane Barnes Simms.
To my surprise and disappointment, I have not been able to document Rose Barnes, her daughter Sylvia, and granddaughter Jane Barnes Simms. Can anyone help?