In this series, which will post on occasional Wednesdays, I populate the landscape of Wilson County with imaginary “historical markers” commemorating people, places, and events significant to African-American history or culture.
We been here.
1925. Black brickmason John M. Barnes built this Charles Benton-designed house for undertaker Camillus L. Darden and wife Norma. Now home to local chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.
Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, August 2024.
Last summer, I was so caught up in awe and amazement at Rocky Mount’s support of Union Cemetery that I completely missed this.
On 27 June 2023, Rocky Mount’s Historic Preservation Commission presented to city council a request to designate as a Local Historic Landmark a small city-owned African-American cemetery active from about 1915 to about 1981. The overgrown cemetery contains, among others, graves of several prominent African-Americans, including W. Lee Person and Charles H. Darden‘s brother Peter Darden. The packet submitted in support of the request is top-tier, starting with the declaration in “I. General Information” that “one goal of this application is to recover history that has been largely erased.” The history and significance of Displaced Cemetery are then set out in detailed context.
I have included here the text portions of the packet. For more, see here. It is not clear to me whether the City of Rocky Mount accepted the recommendation. The Commission’s website appears to need updating and does not list the Displaced Cemetery among the City’s Local Historic Landmarks.
Until about the 1930s, white undertakers occasionally handled African-American bodies, but this is the sole instance I have found of a Black undertaker preparing a white person for burial. Here, Charles H. Darden & Son buried the infant son of Walter Pool and Pennie Gordon, who was “premature lived only a few hrs after birth.”
Washington Tribune, 29 January 1929.
Dr. Walter T. Darden, son of Charles H. and Dinah Scarborough Darden, served as acting director of Tuskegee Institute’s John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital during the absence of its regular director, who was at Johns Hopkins Hospital with Tuskegee Institute principal Dr. Robert R. Moton.
His obituary does not mention it, but Arthur N. Darden attended North Carolina A. & M. College [now North Carolina State A. & T. University] from 1904 to 1908. A World War I veteran, Darden was a founder and long-time officer of Henry Ellis Post 17 of the American Legion.
Los Angeles Evening Herald, 19 January 1928.
In January 1928, attorney Charles S. Darden went into court to defend himself against a suit filed by his landlord for non-payment of rent. Darden asserted that the Central Avenue office space was uninhabitable because it was overrun by rats. His attempts to combat them with a cat called Jack Dempsey had failed, and Darden and his stenographer Viola Lambert had abandoned the premises. The judge was not swayed and entered judgment for the plaintiff landlord.
Richmond Times Dispatch, 29 June 1951.
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In the 1900 census of Highland, Orange County, New York: James B. Darden, 18, waiter [at hotel.]
In the 1910 census of Opelika, Lee County, Alabama: physician John Darden, 34; wife Jean, 26; and brother James B. Darden, 26, drugstore clerk.
In 1918, James Benjamin Darden registered for the World War II draft in Petersburg, Virginia. Per his registration card, he was born 17 July 1881; lived at 516 Byrne, Petersburg; was an M.D.; and his nearest relative was Lillian Darden.
In the 1920 census of Petersburg, Virginia: physician James B. Darden, 38, and wife Nannie, 32.
In the 1930 census of Petersburg, Virginia: at 516 Byrne, physician James B. Darden, 46; wife Lillian, 42; and mother-in-law Sarah Allen, 75.
In the 1940 census of Petersburg, Virginia: medical doctor James Darden, 56, and wife Lillian, 52.
In 1942, James Benjamin Darden registered for the World War II draft in Petersburg, Virginia. Per his registration card, he was born 17 July 1882 in Wilson, N.C.; lived at 516 Byrne, Petersburg; was a doctor at 122 South Avenue; and his contact was Lillian A. Darden.
In the 1950 census of Petersburg, Virginia: doctor James B. Darden, 67, and wife Lillian A., 60.
Lillian A. Darden died 11 February 1983 in Petersburg, Virginia. Per her death certificate, she was born 8 January 1887 to Charles Allen and Sarah Cole in Tennessee and was a retired music teacher.
Wilson Daily Times, 2 July 1976.
(1) Do these “records of burial preparations” still exist? If so, where?
(2) “The Oddfellows’ Cemetery apparently accepted blacks for burial.” Well … yes. But Odd Fellows Cemetery is not the same as Rest Haven Cemetery. The “other old cemetery” was Oakdale/Oakland.
(3) Who was Tom Woodard and in what way was he instrumental in getting Charles H. Darden‘s business started?
The New York Age, 19 October 1916.
We learned here of the relationship between Lawrence Lightner and C.H. Darden & Sons. Here, we see that Camillus L. Darden traveled to Raleigh to conduct the funeral of Lightner’s 18 month-old niece.
