Goldsboro NC

Signal Boost: Goldsboro’s James & Pine Black Business District.

Well, now. Here’s an idea.

“The city of Goldsboro dedicated the James and Pine Black Business District Memorial Parklet on Saturday.

“The parklet, at 401 S. James St., is dedicated to honor Goldsboro’s historic James and Pine Black Business District which “was a major center of Black economic, cultural, and social life from roughly the 1920s through the 1970s, during segregation, when Black residents built a self-sustaining commercial district that served as a hub for entrepreneurship, community gathering, and empowerment,” according to the event program.

“The project is meant to be a ‘living park’ to honor the legacy that was left behind by the Black business owners and community leaders who built the district into a place for the community to gather.

“Councilwoman Hiawatha Jones and Barabara Dantonio, James and Pine Black Business District Committee chair, introduced the work completed by the Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp. Design Committee, Bill Ellis of Playtime Installers who designed the park and the city for the installation and planning support.

“Continued efforts to capture the heritage and stories, and identify future funding will be carried out by the James and Pine Black Business District Committee, according to organizers.

“The committee will work to preserve the history of the district, develop a storytelling place to tell the history of the district, and revitalize the area to support new Black-owned businesses in the future. …”

From “Park dedicated to honor legacy of Black business owners,” Aynaelyssa Thomas-Frunk, http://www.newsargus.com, 24 June 2006.

Adam Scott, Barbecue Artist, in Wilson.

If you love the people and culture and history of eastern North Carolina, and you’re not reading David Cecelski‘s beautiful and richly textured essays about the Coastal Plain past, fix that. His most recent blogpost is a deep dive into the life of Barbecue King Adam Scott of Goldsboro, a small city about 25 miles south of Wilson, and draws upon photographs found in the N.C. Department of Conservation and Development Collection at the North Carolina State Archives in Raleigh.

Among the images Cecelski selected is this one of Scott at a barbecue in Wilson in 1948.

A little hunting in the Wilson Daily Times and I found a 16 October 1948 piece about the convention of the North Carolina State Grange to be held in Wilson October 26-28. Ava Gardner, “Wilson’s contribution to Hollywood,” had been invited to attend a fashion show and guests were to be treated to “a special barbecue with Adam Scott, of Goldsboro, doing the cooking.”

Eastern North Carolina pitmasters like Wilson’s Ed Mitchell have expanded the legacy of Adam Scott, who cooked for governors and senators and presidents, as well as the every day folk who stepped through his back door on Brazil Street. Though Scott’s Famous Barbecue Restaurant is long-closed, you can order Scott’s vinegar and red pepper-based, sugar- and fat-free barbecue sauce right now.

Family ties, no. 12: the Faucettes of Goldsboro, North Carolina.

To date, my Family Ties series has focused on the ways my grandmother Hattie Henderson Ricks and her adoptive mother (her great-aunt) Sarah Henderson Jacobs Silver maintained ties with the Henderson diaspora, which had begun spreading out from Wayne County, North Carolina, in the late 19th century. However, a chance find in a newspaper clipping sends this post in a different direction.

I’ve written of my great-great-grandparents, Green and Fereby Taylor, who were enslaved in far northern Nash County on the plantation of Kinchen Taylor, but appear in 1870 in Lower Town Creek township, Edgecombe County, near present-day Pinetops. In the 1880 census, their household was multi-generational, with five grandchildren — Nannie, Carrie, Lizzie, Louisa, and Isaiah — whose parentage is not clear.

1880 census of Lower Town Creek township, Edgecombe County.

I puzzled out Lizzie Taylor‘s identity (if not her parents) some time ago. As Eliza Taylor — the name she used throughout adulthood — she married Jordan Taylor and lived in Wilson for several decades. The others remained a mystery until I recently stumbled upon this notice of a funeral service:

Goldsboro News-Argus, 24 January 1965.

Edna Gray Taylor Desvigne, Joyce Taylor Crisp, and Roderick Taylor Jr. were my father’s half-siblings — children of Roderick Taylor Sr. and great-grandchildren of Green and Fereby Taylor. Mary John Pender Taylor was their mother. Who was Lula Faucette to them?

Her death certificate answered the question. Lula Faucette was Louisa Lula Taylor Faucette — the Louisa listed in the 1880 census, and Roderick Taylor Sr.’s first cousin. She was born 2 February 1882 [or thereabouts] in Wilson County to parents who were unknown to informant Roderick Taylor Jr. [her first cousin once removed]; lived at 306 South Leslie Street; and was a widow. She was buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

The Faucettes prospered in Goldsboro, and records show Lula Taylor Faucette maintained contact with her Wilson kin for the rest of her life.

On 26 May 1898, J.T. Faucett, 22, of Wayne County, married Lula Taylor, 18, of Wilson County, at the residence of M. Taylor [probably, Mike Taylor, Lula’s uncle.] W.J. Moore, [A.M.E. Zion] minister of the gospel, performed the ceremony in the presence of T.A. Saunders, Mary E. Moore, and Elsie McCullers. The marriage register does not name her parents.

In the 1910 census of Goldsboro township, Wayne County: locomotive fireman Thomas Faucette, 37; wife Louisa, 29; and daughter Susie, 11.

The 1914-1915 catalogue of Scotia Seminary in Concord, N.C., lists Susie Mae Faucette of Goldsboro as a first-year seminary student.

In the 1920 census of Goldsboro, Wayne County: at 508 Canal Street, owned and valued at $5000, Thomas Faucette, 46, locomotive fireman; wife Louise, 40; and daughter Susie, 21, public school teacher.

On 23 November 1921, the Goldsboro News-Argus reported that the Civics Department of the Woman’s Club had organized a civic club “among the colored people” that would go house to house to campaign for planting and cleaning up. Mrs. Thomas Faucette was named as the representative for District #5, Little Washington, from the railroad to the Old Folks’ Home.

In this photo taken circa 1925, Susie Faucette is third from right on the top row. Goldsboro News-Argus, 12 December 1976.

In the 1930 census of Goldsboro, Wayne County: at 426 Canal Street, owned and valued at $5000, Thomas Faucette, 54, steam railway fireman; wife Lula, 50; and daughter Susie, 31, public school teacher.

1930 Goldsboro, N.C., city directory.

Goldsboro News-Argus, 30 May 1934.

My review of available death certificates for Wilson County in May 1934 did not establish the identity of the sister who died. However, Eliza Taylor Taylor died 25 May 1934 in Rose Hill township, Duplin County, and I would bet good money that she was the sister.

Goldsboro News-Argus, 28 July 1934.

Goldsboro News-Argus, 27 January 1937.

Thomas Faucett died 27 January 1937 in Goldsboro, Wayne County. Per his death certificate, he was born 11 December 1876 in Hillsboro[ugh], North Carolina, to Ray Faucett and Susan Wortham; was married to Louise Faucett; lived at 209 South James; worked as a railroad fireman; and was buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

The Faucettes’ charitable contributions were regularly noted in the News-Argus‘ Black society column.

Goldsboro News-Argus, 14 December 1938.

Two years later, principal Hugh V. Brown submitted this tribute to the local newspaper:

Goldsboro News-Argus, 2 February 1939.

Later that year, Lula and Susie Faucette sold their house on Canal Street in Goldsboro’s Little Washington neighborhood. They bought a house at 209 South James Street. In 1959, they built and moved into a house at 308 South Leslie Street, which still stands.

Goldsboro News-Argus, 21 July 1939.

Per the First African Baptist Church 1864-1978: Dedicational Year church history book, in the late 1930s, Lula Faucette, with Henrietta Wooten, founded the Stitch and Chatter Club “for spiritual, social, and financial and to help First African Baptist meet its financial obligations.”

Per News-Argus reports, beginning about 1942, Lula and Susie Faucette began sponsoring the Thomas Faucette Award, given to the “most useful boy” in senior class at Goldsboro’s Dillard High School.

Goldsboro News-Argus, 2 April 1942.

Mrs. Jimmie Reaves was Bertha Taylor Reaves, daughter of Mike and Rachel Barnes Taylor and Lula Faucette’s first cousin.

Goldsboro News-Argus, 3 July 1944.

Goldsboro News-Argus, 5 August 1944.

(Who were these Philadelphia relatives??)

Goldsboro News-Argus, 26 April 1948.

Goldsboro News-Argus, 28 March 1950.

Goldsboro News-Argus, 28 June 1950.

Goldsboro News-Argus, 24 March 1951.

Goldsboro News-Argus, 11 July 1951.

Rev. Fred M. Davis, most closely associated with Wilson’s Jackson Chapel First Missionary Baptist Church, served as pastor of First African Baptist from 1916 to 1924.

Goldsboro News-Argus, 14 August 1957.

Goldsboro News-Argus, 29 June 1962.

Goldsboro News-Argus, 6 February 1963.

Goldsboro News-Argus, 8 February 1963.

Susie Mae Faucette died 6 February 1963 in Goldsboro. Per her death certificate, she was born 9 March 1906 [sic] in Wayne County to Thomas Faucette and Louise Taylor; was never married; worked as a teacher; and was buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

Goldsboro News-Argus, 14 March 1963.

Susie Faucette’s estate was valued at nearly $187,000 in 2025 dollars.

Goldsboro News-Argus, 20 March 1963.

Goldsboro News-Argus, 11 February 1965.

Louise Faucette’s estate was valued at about $234,ooo in 2025 dollars.

308 South Leslie Street, Goldsboro, per Google Street View, June 2022.

The obituary of James Thomas.

Wilson Daily Times, 24 September 1943.

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On 23 October 1923, James Thompson [sic], 24, of Wilson, son of Isaac and Lizzie Thompson, married Ora Bunch, 23, of Wilson, daughter of Ned and Malissie Bunch, at Ned Bunch’s residence. Missionary Baptist minister Fred M. Davis performed the ceremony in the presence of Mina Crawford, H.D. Beckwith, and Paul Hargrove.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 526 Lodge, wood sawer James Thomas, 29; wife Ora, 28; and children Mary, 4, and William, 2.

In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Thomas James (c; Ora) driver h 524 S Lodge

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 524 South Lodge, owned and valued at $2000, grocery store merchant James Thomas, 41; wife Ora, 38; and children Mary E., 14, William H., 12, and Williard, 11.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 524 Lodge, James Thomas, 50, truck driver for own fish business, and wife Ora, 46, tobacco factory laborer.

James Thomas died 22 September 1943 in Goldsboro, Fork township, Wayne County, N.C. Per his death certificate, he was about 54 years old; was born in Wilson County; was married to Ora Thomas; lived at 524 Lodge Street, Wilson; worked as a tobacco factory laborer; and was buried in Rountree Cemetery [probably Vick Cemetery], Wilson. [Note, however, that there is a double headstone for James and Ora Bunch Thomas in Rest Haven Cemetery.]