Edwards

The talented and enterprising Calvin S. Edwards.

Per his 1918 World War I draft registration card, Calvin S. Edwards worked as a plumber for J.E. Alphin, a commercial heating and plumbing systems contractor doing business across eastern North Carolina. Around 1921, Edwards branched out on his own, working from a shop at 529 East Nash Street.

Wilson, N.C., city directory (1922).

The 1925 Wilson, N.C., city directory reveals the many pots in which Calvin S. Edwards had a finger, listing him four times:

  • Edward Calvin S (c) plumber 549 E Nash h Carolina nr Reed
  • Edwards Calvin (c) (Carnation Hotel) h 1109 Carolina
  • Carnation Hotel (c; Henry Lassiter, Calvin Edwards) 518 E Nash
  • PLUMBERS-GAS AND STEAM FITTERS Edwards Calvin S (c) 549 E Nash

He had moved his plumbing shop up the block to a storefront in the Odd Fellows Lodge Hall and, with Henry Lassiter, opened the short-lived Carnation Hotel in the building we know better as the Orange Hotel.

The two-story Carnation Hotel was at 518 East Nash in the early 1920s. Detail, 1922 Sanborn fire insurance map.

By 1930, as seen in this Sanborn map,

Throughout the 1930s and early 1940s, Edwards remained engaged in plumbing work, but invested in real estate in east Wilson, including the corner grocery at 1114 Carolina Street.

Wilson Daily Times, 19 February 1945.

Edwards family holds 9th annual reunion in Elm City.

Like clockwork, the Edwards family gathers on the Fourth of July. This past Friday’s reunion was extra-special as the family also celebrated the 100th birthday of Amanda Mitchell Cameron. Mrs. Cameron was present at the very first reunion in 1934 and every reunion since, including this one in 1943:

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 17 July 1943.

Studio shots, no. 263: Sallie Joyner Edwards.

Sallie Joyner Edwards (1842-1925).

Sallie Joyner Edwards spent most of her life in Nash County, but was a matriarch of two impactful Wilson County families. Rev. Buck H. Edwards was pastor of Sandy Fork Missionary Baptist and Mary Grove Missionary Baptist Churches, as well as others in Nash and Edgecombe Counties, and father of Oliver H. and James W. Edwards, founders of Edwards Funeral Home. Amanda Edwards Mitchell and her husband James Gray Mitchell were a prosperous farming family whose children were impactful leaders in the Elm City community. Mitchell School was named for J.G. Mitchell.

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In the 1880 census of Rocky Mount township, Nash County, N.C.: farmer Rob Edwards, 40; wife Sallie, 38; children Waitie, 20, Mary E., 19, Lucy, 17, Georgeanna, 15, Jerryhill, 12, Mandy, 11, Morning, 9, Charity, 7, Cora, 5, Maddieann, 3, and Buckhill, 4 months; and grandson Aaron, 1.

In the 1900 census of Coopers township, Nash County: farmer Robert Edwards, 65; wife Sallie, 68; and children Charity, 26, and Buck, 20. 

In the 1910 census of Coopers township, Nash County: farmer Robert Edwards, 75; wife Salaan, 68; and grandchildren James W., 20, Lydie, 16, and Sallie Norfleet, 12, and Blonie Dew, 5.

Sallie Joyner died 1o March 1925 in Taylors township, Wilson County, N.C. Per her death certificate, she was 82 years old; a widow; was born in Nash County to Pomp Joyner; and was buried in Wilson County. B.H. Edwards was informant.

Photo courtesy of Amanda Mitchell Cameron.

Principal among two charged in fatal accident.

Wilson Daily Times, 26 April 1940.

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M. Stanley Gilliam Jr. was principal of Williamson School.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: filling station attendant Herman Gilliam, 20; his widowed mother Annie, 48, a cook in a private home; and brothers Charles, 28, a waiter at Cherry Hotel, Stanley, 26, a teacher, and George, 22, a janitor at Carolina Theatre.

  • Jake Edwards

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: tobacco factory laborer Jake Edwards, 45, widower, and children Mattie, 17, Golden, 22, oil mill laborer, and Eugene, 20, public service laborer.

  • Mamie Gibson

Mamie Gibson died 3 April 1940 at Mercy Hospital, Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 12 February 1908 in Wilson County to Phillip Cooper and Florence Ruffin, both born in Wayne County, N.C.; was married to Willie Gibson; lived at 1204 Atlantic Street; worked as a teacher; and was buried in Rocky Branch Cemetery. Her cause of death: “multiple fractures of pelvis; fracture left clavicle due to automobile accident” (“was 2-3 months pregnant.”) Frederick Cooper was informant.

The obituary of Rev. H.E. Edwards.

Wilson Daily Times, 22 November 1944.

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In the 19o0 census of Bull Head township, Greene County, North Carolina: farmer Henry E. Edwards, 33; wife Julia, 27; children Hattie, 2, and Henry E., Jr., 4; and nephew John, 15.

On 23 December 1900, Henry Edwards, 28, of Wilson County, married Nancy Ann Barron, 18, of Wilson County, at the bride’s home in Wilson County. Rev. C.L. Alexander, “minister of the Zion denomination,” performed the ceremony in the presence of L.A. Moore, Charlie Gay, and Albert Oats.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: farm laborer Henry Edwards, 44, and children Henry E., 13, Hattie, 11, Jonathan, 7, and David, 3.

Henry Evan Edwards died 21 November 1944 at Mercy Hospital, Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 17 March 1869 in Greene County to Lafayette Edwards; was a minister; was a widower; and lived at 620 East Nash Street. Joseph Edwards was informant.

In memoriam: Alexander Edwards, age 92.

My parents’ long-time neighbor passed away last week. Alexander Edwards was a well-known and skillful brickmason, one of the last of a multi-generational family line of brickmasons and other building tradesmen that began when carpenter Julius F. Freeman Sr. sent his sons O.N. and Julius F. Freeman Jr. to famed Tuskegee Institute. The Freeman brothers’ maternal first cousins Benjamin A. Harris Sr. and Harry B. Harris followed them into the masonry trades and, eventually, Ben Harris’ sons and nephew, Alex Edwards, took up the trowel.

Mr. Edwards was a fine neighbor and my father’s great friend, a loving husband and father, a dapper dresser, and a craftsman of the old school. May he rest in peace.

Photo courtesy of http://www.carronsfuneralhome.com.

Snaps, no. 106: Stephen Edwards.

Stephen Edwards (1887-1924).

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On 21 December 1899, Charity Bullock, 18, of Greene County, North Carolina, daughter of John and Bettie Bullock, married Stephen Edwards, 21, of Wilson County, son of Charles and Ella Edwards, in Moyeton, Stantonsburg township, Wilson County. Witnesses were Hattie Edwards, Con Bullock and Johny Fort of Moyeton.

In the 1900 census of Speights Bridge township, Greene County: in the household of Peter Joyner, step-daughter Charity Edwards, 25, and her husband Stephen, 21, a farm laborer.

In the 1910 census of Speights Bridge township, Greene County: farm laborer Stephen Edwards, 31; wife Charity, 29; and children Lonnie, 9, John H., 7, Charity, 4, William, 2, and Mary, 7 months.

In the 1920 census of Speights Bridge township, Greene County: farmer Stephen Edwards, 45; wife Shady, 35; and children Louzie, 13, Willie, 11, Marie, 9, Bettie, 6, Charlie, 4, Roscoe and Oscar, 3, Ida Belle, 2, and Lucy May, 4 months, plus sister Ettie Edwards, 23.

Stephen Edwards died 16 May 1924 in Walstonsburg, Greene County. Per his death certificate, he was born 15 July 1877 in Greene County to Charles Edwards of Hyde County and Ella Ward of Greene County; was married to Charity Edwards; worked as a farmer; and was “poisoned from drinking inferior whiskey.”

Photo courtesy of Ancestry.com user Vern Bullock.