gravestone

B.W.A. Historical Marker Series, no. 28: East Nash Street Monument Company.

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.

EAST NASH STREET MONUMENT COMPANY

Clarence B. Best began cutting marble and granite headstones in 1914 and in 1946 established his own monument company in his backyard at 1306 East Nash St. Known for his distinctive font, deep cuts, stylized plant motifs, and use of recycled material, thousands of Best’s headstones can be found in Wilson and Surrounding counties.

Wilson Daily Times, 13 October 1945.

 

Cemeteries, no. 26: the Alex and Gracy Shaw Williamson cemetery, revisited.

I met up with Britt Edwards last week to explore the Alex and Gracy Williamson cemetery more closely. Someone is taking good care of this graveyard, and I thank them for it.

Looking west toward the tobacco barn, which is still in pretty good shape. 

This enormous white oak surely is a witness tree, offering shade to the earliest enslaved people buried in this cemetery.

Britt standing outside the old fence line. The posts are eastern red cedar and are many decades old.

The tobacco barn.

Hanging poles inside the barn.

The old flue.

Isaac Renfrow’s grave marker.

Hand-hewn fieldstone head and foot markers.

A small child’s grave marker.

With a little help from Britt’s phone flashlight, we were able to decipher that this hand-cut and -engraved marker is for a child who was born in 1912 and died in 1913. The child’s surname was Williamson, and my best decipherment of his(?) first name is THOMAS. The child died just a year before death certificates were required in Wilson County, and I have not been able to identify him with certainty.

Carved wooden grave marker.

I don’t know how I missed this tiny cedar grave marker on earlier visits. It is weathered and encrusted with lichen, but quite solid. There are no visible engravings. How old is this marker?

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, October 2025.

A surprise in Black Creek Cemetery.

I did a quick tour of Black Creek’s tidy little cemetery. As noted earlier, historically it was not open to burials of African-Americans, but I had this unexpected encounter while there:

A Clarence B. Best monument!

Off the top of my head, I cannot think of another headstone Best carved for a white customer, but I am not surprised that he welcomed the trade. (Note that Inez S. Holland’s death date was hand-cut in Best’s style 15 years after he died.)

The resting place of Hattie Maryland Wright.

Hattie Maryland Wright‘s headstone gleaming in a patch of sunlight in Sharpsburg Cemetery. Though tilted, it is nearly as pristine as it was when it placed and was so lovely I wanted it to have its own post.

She is not dead but sleeping. We trust our loss will be her gain.

Hattie Maryland Wright (1872-1930).

——

In the 1880 census of Rocky Mount township, Edgecombe County, North Carolina: farmer John Maryland, 58; wife Melvel, 40; and children Haywood, 17, Schofield, 16 (who was deaf), Walter, 10, Mary, 9, John, 7, Hattie, 6, Primus, 4, and Jonas, 2.

On 11 September 1895, Turner Ward, 21, of Nash County, son of Mack and Rhoda Ward, married Hattie Maryland, 19, of Nash County, daughter of John and Penelope Maryland, at John Maryland in Coopers township, Nash County.

In the 1900 census of Rocky Mounty, Edgecombe County: day laborer Turner Ward, 25; wife Hattie, 25; children James H., 3, Minnie P., 2, and Ernest, 6 months; and niece Emma Maryland, 7.

On 4 September 1908, George Wright, 35, of Nash County, married Hattie Ward, 40, of Nash County, in Rocky Mount township, Nash County.

In the 1910 census of Toisnot township: on Elm City and Tarbor0 Road, farmer George Wright, 35; wife Hattie, 35; daughter Delia, 2; wife’s children Jessie, 18, James, 12, and El Gray, 6; and boarder Mamie Brant, 30.

In the 1920 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Wilson Rocky Mount Road, farmer George Wright, 45; wife Hattie, 45; and children Elvira, 17, Estella, 11, Georgeanna, 9, and Samuel, 6. Next door: James Wright, 22, and wife Maggie, 18; Jordan Armstrong, 24, farmer, and Cella, 23; and boarder Charley Ford, 22, farmer.

Photo courtesy of Ancestry.com user marj11249.

Cemeteries, no. 34: Sharpsburg Cemetery.

I found Sharpsburg Cemetery. And wow. Though it was active into the late 1990s, it has nearly completely reverted to woodland, with dozens and dozens of headstones standing above the forest floor, many in nearly pristine condition. Unlike wisteria-choked Rountree and Odd Fellows, however, these woods are easily traversed, though covered in naturalized English ivy.

The cemetery is on the Nash County side of Sharpsburg, down a gated track. It appears from county records to be privately owned. Its families lived in Nash, Edgecombe, and Wilson Counties, and I took photos with an eye for representation rather than Wilson residency. I’ll probably make a return visit when I’ve been able to study its known burials.

The gate threw me for a minute. But only a minute.

The open area at the front of the cemetery. The oldest part of the cemetery appears to be an area to the south deep inside the treeline.

Headstones, saplings, and grapevines. There was some trash at the site, but nothing to indicate it has ever been a dumpsite like Odd Fellows and Rountree. This clearly was a generally well-tended cemetery until perhaps 20 to 25 years ago.

  • Maggie Armstrong

In the 1920 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farmer Ernest Taylor, 49; wife Lela, 47; and children Lawrence, 18, Billie, 16, Carrie, 14, Addie, 12, Lee, 11, Lela, 8, Mary, 7, Thomas, 6, Maggie, 4, Nellie, 3, and Robert, 2; and brother Fred, 20.

In the 1930 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farmer Ernest Taylor, 49; wife Lalar, 47; and children Tomie, 16, Maggie, 15, Mollie, 13, Robert, 11, Ona, 9, Blanche, 8, Roscar, 6, James, 5, and Daisy, 1.

On 30 December 1932, Richard Armstrong, 21, of Jarratt, Virginia, son of Gus Armstrong and William Ann Turner, and Maggie Taylor, 21, of Sharpsburg, N.C., daughter of Ernest Taylor and Lala Anderson, were married in Greensville County, Virginia.

In the 1940 census of Lower Town Creek township, Edgecombe County: farmer Richard Armstrong, 28; wife Maggie, 25; and children Earnest M., 6, Lawrence W., 5, Ivy Lee, 3, and Grady Earl, 1; widowed mother William Ann Armstrong, 68; and niece Mary Jeane McQueen, 15. Maggie and Mary Jeane had been Wilson County residents in 1935.

Maggie Armstrong died 11 February 1942 in Wilson, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was born 1 April 1915 in Wilson County to Ernest Taylor and Lala Anderson; was married to Richard Armstrong; was engaged in farming; and resided in Sharpsburg, Edgecombe County. She was buried in Nash County by S.E. Hemby, Fountain, N.C.

  • Ernest and Lalar Taylor, “Death is but life. Weep not.”

Ernest and Lalar Taylor were buried under a classic Clarence Best-carved double headstone.

——

In the 1900 census of Upper Town Creek township, Edgecombe County: farmer Robert Anderson, 60; wife Margaret, 58; and children Lanie V., 21, Francis, 19, Lala, 17, Charlie, 15, and Lee E., 14, and grandson Luther, 8 months.

Oon 8 January 1902, Ernest Taylor, 22, son of Caroline Taylor, married Lila Anderson, 19, daughter of Bob and Margaret Anderson, in Toisnot township, Wilson County.

In the 1910 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: Earnest Taylor, 29; wife Lalar, 25; children Lawrence, 8, Lula, 7, Billie, 6, Carry, 4, Eddie B., 3, Lee E., 2, and May B., 2 months; and sister Hattie, 17.

Lalar Taylor died 12 March 1942 in Rocky Mount, Nash County, N.C. Per her death certificate, she was born 21 June 1883 in Nash County to Robert Anderson and Margaret Rice; and was buried in Sharpsburg Cemetery by S.E. Hemby, Fountain, N.C.

Earnest Taylor died 4 December 1961 in Rocky Mount, Nash County, N.C. Per his death certificate, he was born 10 May 1880 in Wilson County to Caroline [maiden name unknown] and worked as a farmer.

  • Turner Joyner

For reasons that are not apparent to me, Simon E. Hemby was the undertaker of choice for many families in Sharpsburg Cemetery in the 1930s and ’40s. Hemby’s business (which is still in operation as Hemby-Willoughby) was in Fountain, Pitt County — some 21, two-lane miles away from Sharpsburg. Amazingly the temporary metal marker Hemby placed at Turner Joyner’s grave in 1938 is still legible.

In the 1880 census of Rocky Mount township, Nash County:  farmer Jason Joyner, 40; wife Milbry, 44; and sons Hawood, 16, Nevison, 13, and Turner, 12.

On 18 December 1889, Turner Joyner, 22, married Martha Pittman, 19, at Evelina Pittman’s in Nash County.

In the 1900 census of Sharpsburg town, Rocky Mount township, Nash County: day laborer Turner Joyner, 30; wife Martha A., 26; and children William S.T., 8, Ella, 6, Billie, 3, and Minnie S., 1.

In 1918, Bill Joyner registered for the World War I draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 9 December 1896 in Sharpsburg; was a cropper for Dr. Barnes “near cor. limits of Sharpsburg”; and his nearest relatives were father Turner Joyner and wife Emma Joyner.

In the 1920 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farmer Turner Joyner, 52; wife Martha, 48; and children S.T., 27, Mary, 25, Maggie, 18, Annie, 15, Mamie, 13, Eva, 10, and Grady, 2.

In the 1930 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farmer Turner Joyner, 61; wife Martha, 56; daughter Annie C. Clark, 26, and children J.C., 7, James, 5, and S.T., 4.

Turner Joyner died 10 August 1938 in Sharpsburg, Township #14, Edgecombe County. Per his death certificate, he was born 20 September 1873 in Nash County to Jason Joyner and Milba Joyner; was the widower of Martha Joyner; and was buried in Sharpsburg by S.E. Hemby.

  • Harry Williams, “He Is Gone, But Not Forgotten”

You know I love a headstone artist, and Sharpsburg Cemetery contains many examples of the grave markers produced by this unknown person. He (almost surely) worked in concrete, stamping letters and numbers with a die or punch and incising elaborate floral designs with wedge-shaped elements. My guess is that this was a Nash or Edgecombe County artist, as I have not encountered this type of headstone in Wilson County cemeteries.

——

In the 1910 census of Township #14, Edgecombe County: farmer Harry Williams, 51; wife Mollie, 39; and children Mandonie, 17, Mack, 16, Starka, 13, Turner, 11, Harry Jr., 9, Paul, 7, and Silas, 3.

On 11 February 1920, Harry Williams, 21, of Toisnot township, Wilson County, son of Harry and Mollie Williams, married Mamie Justice, 21, of Toisnot township, daughter of Preston and Carrie Justice, in Elm City, Wilson County.

In the 1920 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farm laborer Harry Williams, 22, and wife Mamie, 19.

Harry Williams died 1 July 1928 in Sharpsburg, Township #14, Edgecombe County. Per his death certificate, he was 30 years old; was born in Edgecombe County to Harry Williams and Mollie Lawrence; worked as a farmer; and was buried in Sharpsburg cemetery. Mondon Williams was informant.

  • Lillie Bell Williams

Lillie Bell Williams died 7 April 1929 in Toisnot township, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was born 23 October 1928 in Wilson County to Paul Williams and Gladys Howard and was buried in Nash County.

  • Jacob C. Bellamy

This appears to be the headstone of the Jacob Bellamy who was born 1891 to James H. and Cherry Bellamy and lived in Edgecombe County. It is a lovely little marble stone in an older area of the cemetery that is overgrown with English ivy.

  • Eskimo Parker

The delightfully named Eskimo Parker, a Nash County native, is one of several veterans whose grave markers are visible in Sharpsburg Cemetery.

Lane Street Project: one of the few gravestones at Vick.

This 1991 article about the city’s clean-up activity at Vick Cemetery prior to the 1995 gravestone removal includes the only known photograph of its headstones. It is unattributed. Was this one of the photos Charles Pittman showed council two years later?  

The image depicts a substantial white marble monument that likely dates from the first twenty or thirty years of the cemetery when this type of rooftop obelisk marker was in common use for people who could afford them. In the first half of the twentieth century, Wilson’s wealthiest African-Americans were often Masons or Odd Fellows and were buried in those fraternal organization’s cemeteries. Not all who could afford headstones were lodge members though, and there is no reason not to believe that in its heyday Vick was not substantially populated with headstones. If only ten percent of graves were buried (and that seems a low percentage, though I have no basis for calculation), there would have been more than 400 headstones.

By the way, Earl Bradbury’s assertion that the Commission did not keep records for Vick because it did not kn0w the city owned the cemetery is preposterous. 

My thanks to Joan L. Howell for sharing this article. 

Lane Street Project: the Mincey family plot.

With donations from readers like you, we were able recently to engage Foster Stone and Cemetery Care to clean and reset markers in the Mincey family plot at Odd Fellows cemetery.

We’ve seen the nearly buried white marble headstones of Prince Mincey and Oscar Mincey, standing a few feet from Benjamin Mincey‘s fire hydrant. Prince Mincey was Ben Mincey’s father, and Oscar, his brother.

Marble headstones are both heavy and fragile, and Foster uses site-built equipment to safely lift them.

Voilà!

The style of Oscar Mincey’s headstone suggests that it was placed shortly after his death in 1906. Prince Mincey’s engraving, however, appears to be machine-cut, suggesting manufacture and placement well after he died in 1902. Both graves were reinterments, likely from the old Oakdale Cemetery.

Though their grave markers have not yet been found, it seems likely that Prince Mincey’s wife Susan Mincey and Ben Mincey’s wife Mattie Barnes Mincey are buried in the family plot as well.

——

In the 1900 census of Wilson town, Wilson township, Wilson County: farmer Prince Mensey, 60; wife Susan, 52; children Ben, 19, Emma, 19, and Oscar, 12; and niece Rosetta Mensey, 7.

Photos courtesy of Billy Foster.

Lane Street Project: an unexpected gift.

Last year, when someone accidentally toppled Henry Tart‘s magnificent obelisk, I despaired that resetting it would cost more than Lane Street Project’s meager coffers could ever disburse.

Today, then, when I read Billy Foster’s PM, I could hardly believe my eyes.

Here’s what Tart’s gray and white marble grave marker looked like yesterday.

And here it is after Foster Stone & Cemetery Care put it to rights.

Here’s the military marker for the grave of Corporal Willie Gay, the only known African-American Spanish-American war veteran buried in Wilson.

And here, released from a foot of soil:

I am deeply grateful to Billy Foster and Foster Stone & Cemetery Care for this generous gift to Odd Fellows Cemetery and Lane Street Project. We are working with him to identify our most pressing needs for repair and restoration and will raise funds to pay for his expert service.

Photos courtesy of Billy Foster.

Lane Street Project: Daniel and Fannie Blount Vick.

The double headstone of Samuel H. Vick‘s parents Daniel and Fannie Blount Vick marks two of the oldest graves in Odd Fellows Cemetery.

The headstone was cast in what I call the Concrete Stipple style. Disturbingly, it was used as target practice at some point, and bullets took a chunk out of its top left corner and left a pockmark that obliterates Fannie Vick’s death date. (That date appears to start with “18,” but she was alive at the time the 1900 census was taken.)

——

Daniel Vick and Fannie Blount registered their six-year cohabitation in Wilson County on August 31, 1866. [Blount, for certain, and most likely Vick, arrived in Wilson from neighboring Nash County shortly after the Civil War.]

In 1867, Fannie Blount Vick’s mother, Violet Blount, filed letters with the Goldsboro Field Office of the Freedmen’s Bureau opposing the apprenticeship of her grandsons Marcus and Oscar to Benjamin H. Blount, their former owner. She named Daniel Vick as a suitable “master” for the boys, who were the sons of his wife Fannie’s deceased sister Margaret.

In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: baker Samuel Williams, 30, carpenter Daniel Vick, 25, wife Fannie, 24, children Samuel, 8, Earnest, 3, and Nettie M., 5, plus Violet Drake, 52.

In 1877, Vick purchased one acre of land just east of Wilson town limits, his first recorded real estate acquisition. He went on to purchase additional land along what is now Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway.

In the 1880 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: grist mill worker Daniel Vick, 38, wife Fannie, 35, children Samuel, 16, Nettie, 14, Earnest Linwood, 12, Henry, 10, and James O.F. Vick, 8, plus Frank O., 20, and Marcus W. Blount, 26.

In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: carpenter Daniel Vick, 52; wife Fannie, 52; and granddaughters Annie, 8, and Nettie B. Vick, 6, and Mamie Parker, 20, laundress. Vick reported that both his parents were born in Virginia.

Lane Street Project: an unknown burial.

Volunteers uncovered this concrete headstone and vault cover in Odd Fellows Cemetery during the season’s first clean-up. They lie about ten feet from Lula Dew Wooten‘s grave. The vault cover is unmarked, but the marker bears a very faint inscription that I set forth below as best I can decipher it. The use of a vault cover dates the burial very late in Odd Fellows’ period of activity, i.e. the 1950s or very early 1960’s, which the inscription seems to bear out. 

JACK ED

JULY 16 18 

2 1960

Photo re Lisa Y. Henderson, February 2022.