Coward

A.D. Coward, member of the third year class.

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The catalogue for the 1911-12 school year at North Carolina State Colored Normal School at Fayetteville, later Fayetteville State University, listed one student from Wilson, A.D. Coward.

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Arthur D. Coward and his family were newly arrived in Wilson, where his father, the Rev. Bryant P. Coward, had assumed the pulpit at Saint John A.M.E. Zion Church.

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In the 1900 census of Township 1, Craven County: farmer Bryan Coward, 36, wife Sarah, 33, son Arthur D., 8, and niece Malissa Jenkins, 13.

In the 1910 census of New Bern, Craven County, at 2 Green Street: pastor Bryan Coward, 45, wife Sarah, 43, son Arthur D., 18, and adopted daughter Malissa Jenkins, 22.

Arthur D. Coward died 21 July 1913 in Wilson of typhoid fever. Per his death certificate, he was born 17 October 1891 in Vanceboro, North Carolina, to B.P. Coward of Hookerton and S.A. Brown of Fountain Hill; lived at 122 Pender Street, Wilson; was attending school; and was buried in Vanceboro.

Catalogue digitized by North Carolina Digital History Center, http://www.digitalnc.org.

 

Moore-Mitchell marriage.

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Wilson Daily Times, 23 February 1919.

  • Ernest Moore

In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: merchant Lee Moore, 36, wife Louisa, 32, and son Ernest, 12.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Nash Street, life insurance agent Lee Moore, 40; wife Mary, 36; and son Earnest, 19.

In 1917, Ernest Andrew Moore registered for the World War I draft in New York, New York. Per his registration card, he was born 8 March 1888 in Wilson, N.C.; lived at 257 West 111th Street; worked as an elevator operator for Frank Mull, 257 West 111th; and was single.

Ernest Moore, 31, of Wilson married Esther Mitchell, 21, of Wilson on 18 July 1919 in Wilson. A.M.E. Zion minister B.P. Coward performed the ceremony, and Dudley Bynum and Oleonia Bynum witnessed.

On 17 November 1927, Louise and Thelma Moore, children of Ernest and Ethel Mitchell Moore, were baptized at Riverside Hospital. Louise was born 28 October 1924, and Thelma, 15 July 1926. New York, Episcopal Diocese of New York Church Records, 1767-1970, [database on-line], http://www.ancestry.com.

  • Ethel Mitchell — actually, Esther Mitchell.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Atlantic Street, barber Douglas [Dudley] Bynum, 29; wife Ora, 28; and roomer Ester Mitchell, 21.

The Negro ministers were well received.

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Pittsburgh Courier, 12 March 1938.

  • Richard A.G. Foster — As shown here, Rev. Foster was a steadfast and enthusiastic proponent of civil rights.
  • E.O. Saunders — South Carolina native Otto Eugene Sanders was newly arrived from Charlotte, North Carolina.
  • Bryant P. Coward

Wilson news.

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New York Age, 9 September 1922.

  • Mrs. Jasper Coley —  Laura (or Laurena) V. Coley, daughter of Isaac and Penny Coley, married Jasper Allison Coley on 6 June 1912 in Wayne County. A native of Pikeville, Wayne County, like her husband, Laura died 12 May 1923. She was a teacher. Jasper Coley was the son of Phillip R. and Annie Exum Coley. He is listed in Wilson city directories in the early 1920s as a carpenter, a plasterer and a bricklayer, and lived at 401 North Vick Street.
  • Mrs. William Hines — Ethel Cornwell Hines (1894-1983) was a South Carolina native.
  • Roberta Battle, Glace Battle, Georgia Burks and Henrietta Colvert
  • Mrs. B.P. Coward — Sarah Adelaide Brown Coward (1867-1946) was the wife of A.M.E. Zion minister Bryant Pugh Coward.
  • Mrs. Stattie Cannon — In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Charles Cannon, 35, barber in a “white shop”; wife Statie, 34; and children Charles, 11, Ruth, 9, and Statie Benton, 13. In the 1922 Wilson city directory, Stattie Cannon is listed as a dressmaker and Charles Cannon as a carpenter; both resided at 724 East Green Street. In the 1940 census of Newark, Essex County, New Jersey: Charles Cannon, 44, mother Stattie Cannon, 65, brother-in-law Fred Langford, 29, and sister Ruth Langford, 33. All were born in North Carolina and described as “white.”
  • A.N. Darden — Arthur N. Darden (1889-1948) was a son of Charles H. and Dinah Scarborough Darden and worked in his father’s undertaking business.
  • John Clark
  • Mrs. C.L. Darden — Norma Duncan Darden (1895-1987), a native of Montgomery, Alabama, was married to Arthur Darden’s brother, Camillus L. Darden.
  • Rev. A.H. George
  • Mrs. S.L. Bowser — Burt Bowser, born in Halifax County, married Sarah Rountree, daughter of Peter and Lucinda Rountree, on 4 December 1888 in Wilson. Reddin S. Wilkins, A.J. Lindsay and James W. Parrington were witnesses to the ceremony. In the 1900 census, Burt L. Bowser is described as a bar tender and in 1910 as the conductor of a pool room. Sarah is described as a dressmaker. Burt Landers Bowser died in 1920; Sarah Bowser, in 1935.
  • John Spells — In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Pender Street, carpenter John E. Spell, 50, wife Martha A., 39, and son John E., Jr., 16. (John’s death certificate lists his middle name as Stephen.) Martha A. Spell, a native of Guilford County, died in Wilson in 1966.
  • Wesley Rogers — Per the city directory, in 1922, John Wesley Rogers lived at 548 East Nash Street and worked as a porter at Oettinger’s department store. His wife,  a native of Johnston County, was Mary Elizabeth Thomas Rogers (1878-1950). Rogers was born in Durham County in 1870 and died in Wilson in 1951.
  • Deby Harper — Deborah Harper Swindell was the daughter of Argent Harper. She was briefly married to Louis Swindell.
  • Dr. DuBissette
  • Dr. and Mrs. J.B. Darden — Pharmacist James Benjamin Darden was a brother of Arthur and Camillus Darden. After a brief partnership with his brother John W. Darden, a doctor in Opelika, Alabama, he settled in Petersburg, Virginia.
  • Mrs. A.B. Bowser — Astor Burt Bowser, born 1896, was a son of Burt L. and Sarah L. Bowser, above. He married Deloris Harvey of Alamance County on 17 August 1921 in Wilson. Rev. B.P. Coward officiated. In the 1930 census, the couple and their children, Astor B., Jr., and Sarah, are listed in Chicago, Illinois. Astor worked as an artist in his own studio and Deloris as a saleslady in a millinery. Astor died in Hennepin County, Minnesota, in 1981.

He is prominent in all the work of the denomination.

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A.B. Caldwell, ed., History of the American Negro and His Institutions, North Carolina Edition (1921).

In the 1870 census of Olds township, Greene County: David Coward, 37, Chaney, 25, Diner, 11, Bryant, 8, Bayington, 6, Melvin, 4, and Pennine, 4 months. [N.B. The family lived very near wealthy white farmer William Coward, who may have been their former owner.]

In the 1880 census of Olds township, Greene County: David Coward, 47, Cherrey, 36, Diner, 16, Bryant, 14, Bainton, 12, Melvina, 10, Pennina,8, David, 5, Owen, 3, and Leon, 1.

In the 1900 census of Township 1, Craven County: farmer Bryan Coward, 36, wife Sarah, 33, son Arthur D., 8, and niece Malissa Jenkins, 13.

In the 1910 census of New Bern, Craven County, at 2 Green Street: pastor Bryan Coward, 45, wife Sarah, 43, son Arthur D., 18, and adopted daughter Malissa Jenkins, 22.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County, at 122 Pender Street: minister of the gospel Bryant Coward, 53, wife Sarah A., 49, and roomers Joe Ward (who worked as a cook at Hotel Briggs), 30, and Sophia Ward, 29.

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Wilson Daily Times, 5 August 1921.

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New York Age, 13 August 1921.

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Pittsburgh Courier, 12 March 1938.

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Masonic Cemetery, Lane Street extension, Wilson, November 2015.