funeral home

Cool off courtesy of Darden & Sons.

This lovely little tripartite funeral fan, with a bucolic thatched cottage scene printed across its cardboard panels, was a handout of Charles H. Darden & Sons Funeral Directors and Embalmers. Based on the company’s name, address, and telephone numbers, the fan likely dates to about 1940.

Courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.

Artis & Flanagan.

News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), 21 May 1921.

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Lenoir County native Walter E. Flanagan sat for state embalmers’ examination in May 1921, as did Wilson’s Columbus E. Artis. Per the website of W.E. Flanagan Memorial Funeral Home, Flanagan established a funeral home on Second Street in Greenville, North Carolina, that same year. Artis went into business with Amos Batts for a few years, but in 1925 joined forces with Flanagan to form the short-lived undertaking establishment in Wilson.

The 1925 Wilson city directory carries an entry for ARTIS & FLANAGAN (C E Artis, W E Flanagan) funeral directors 563 E Nash — phone 1183.

Detail from death certificate of Dorothy Lee Simms, age 7, who died 25 June 1925 in Wilson.

Artis and Flanagan seemed to have parted company within a year.

Funeral directors argue over girl’s body.

The competition between rival undertakers was ferocious. Martha Lucas died two days after her twelfth birthday. Unbeknownst to the family, a nurse at the “local colored hospital” (later known as Mercy Hospital) called Batts Brothers and Artis undertaking firm to prepare the girl’s body for burial. Later, the Lucas family asked C.H. Darden & Sons to perform the service. When Darden discovered the body missing, they showed up at Batts and Artis demanding possession. Batts and Artis refused to hand her over unless Darden paid transportation expenses. Darden went to court.

Wilson Daily Times, 11 August 1921.

Three days later, Martha’s father Wiley Lucas and Camillus L. Darden also appealed to the court of public opinion. Lucas stated that he, not Darden, had caused the sheriff’s department to file a claim and delivery action on the advice of police when Amos Batts dramatically claimed he would rather die than surrender Martha’s body. (Replevin, or claim and delivery, is a legal remedy that enables a person to recover personal property taken unlawfully and to obtain compensation for resulting losses.) Lucas “emphatically [denied] that any undertakers but C.H. Darden & Sons were instructed to attend to the funeral arrangements, as I knew of no other colored funeral directors in Wilson at the time ….”

C.L. Darden chimed in to direct readers to the magistrate’s record for the facts, noting that Batts had been told he could sue the hospital if he felt aggrieved. “But Batts knows as the public knows — as I can prove if it comes to a showdown — that Artis’ wife, who is head nurse in the institution, solicits in the hospital for the firm of Batts Bros. & Artis, of which her husband is a member of the firm.” “Artis” was Columbus E. Artis, and his wife was registered nurse Ada Artis.

Wilson Daily Times, 14 August 1921.

Batts Brothers and Artis responded three days after that, “that the public may not be misled.”  They denied having refused to give up the girl’s body, contending that they only sought to be paid for services rendered. The firm claimed the trial justice agreed they were entitled to a “small fee,” but, perhaps taking the temperature of public sentiment, they agreed to drop their claim and pay court costs.

Wilson Daily Times, 17 August 1921.

Martha Lucas’ death certificate.

Edgar Moore dies at the funeral home.

Wilson Daily Times, 15 April 1948.

In the 1900 census of Rocky Mount township, Nash County, North Carolina: farmer Edmon Moore, 43; wife Zannie, 45; children Mary, 22, Susa, 19, Edgar, 18, Wily, 15, and Matilda, 13; and grandson Fred, 5.

On 31 December 1902, Eddie Moore, 21, and Addie Winstead, 18, both of Nash County, were married by W.D. Carter, Justice of the Peace, at Charles Winstead’s.

In the 1910 census of Rocky Mount township, Nash County, North Carolina: farmer Edgar Moore, 28; wife Addie, 24; ad children Viola, 6, Pauline, 4, Grover S., 2, and Olivia, 1.

In 1918, Edgar Moore registered for the World War I draft in Wilson. Per his draft card, he was born 15 March 1882; lived on Route 2, Rocky Mount; was a farmer for W.D. Carter; and his nearest relative was Addie Moore.

In the 1920 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: farmer Edgar Moore, 37, widower, and children Viola, 16, Pauline, 13, Grover, 12, Omeda, 10, Edgar, 9, Zanie, 7, Effner and Hattie, 5, George, 4, John, 2, and Fenner, 10 months.

In the 1930 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: farm laborer Edger Moore, 48, widow, and children Pauline, 24, Ometia, 21, Edger, 19, Jannie, 17, Efner, 16, Hattie, 15, Hermond, 14, John M., 14, and Fenner, 11.

In the 1940 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: farmer Edgar Moore, 58, widower; daughter Pauline, 32; and lodgers James Joyner, 23, and Herman, 23, Clara, 20, Edwin, 2, and Dorothy Moore, 10 months.

Edgar Moore died 14 April 1948 at 608 East Nash Street, Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 66 years old; was born in Nash County, N.C., to Edmon Moore and Zannie Daniel; worked as a farmer; was separated; and was buried at Williams Chapel. Herman Moore, Elm City, was informant.

Wilson Daily Times, 17 April 1948.

Our staff is composed of experts; the expense is a matter of your own desire.

“In your home, you should put aside all arguments in favor of the one fact —  the trained and proficient man is the best.” — C.H. Darden & Sons.

Wilson Daily Times, 21 December 1916.

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Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.

Mrs. Hamilton will specialize in embalming.

Wilson Daily Times, 8 July 1941.

Forsyth County, N.C., native Annie M. Thompson Hamilton and her husband Levi Hamilton Sr. were residents and owners of a funeral home in Goldsboro, N.C., but had recently opened a second location in Wilson. Hamilton Funeral Home served Wilson for more than 70 years.