Holiday

Women lose money to supposed conjurer.

Wilson Daily Times, 3 November 1945.

William R. Schumate, a Virginia man who claimed to be conjurer, fleeced several women in East Wilson on repeat visits to town.

  • Lula Scott

In the 1900 census of Sumter township, Williamsburg County, South Carolina: farm laborer Taylor Hickson, 34; wife Ellen, 35; children Josh, 10, and Lula, 4; and grandson Mose McKinley, 15.

In the 1910 census of Sumter township, Williamsburg County, South Carolina: farmer Taylor W. Hixson, 44; wife Hester Jane, 36; adopted children Lula, 15, and Sallie, 2; stepson Joseph Fulmore, 9; and servant Tim Johnson, 16.

In the 1920 census of Motts township, Florence County, South Carolina: Taylor Hixson, 60; wife Hester, 42; children Mary, 12, Leland, 10, Roland, 8, and Ellen, 5; son-in-law Charley Scott, 22; his wife Lullar,  23; and son Taylor, 18 months.

In the 1930 census of Jackson township, Nash County, N.C.: farmer Charley Scott, 35; wife Lula, 30; and children Taylor, 11, Ethel, 9, Jonah, 4, Edna, 2, and Ollie May, 6.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Charlie Scott, 48; wife Lula, 42; and children Olla, 16, William, 21, Johnnie, 14, Edna, 12, Emma, 9, Charlie Jr., 6, Catherine, 4, and Minnie, 2.

In 1943, Johnnie Scott registered for the World War II in Wilson. Per his registration card, he was 25 September 1925 in Williamsboro, South Carolina; lived at 104 Manchester Street; his contact was Lula Scott; and he worked for E.J. O’Brian Tobacco Company.

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 104 Manchester, farmer Charlie Scott, 55; wife Lula, 52; and children Emma J., 19, cook in cafe, Charlie Jr., 16, Cathrine, 14, Ruby L., 12, Josephine, 4, and Joseph Scott, 2, and Edna Horne, 21, cooks and keeps house.

  • Edna Scott

Edna Scott was the daughter of Charlie and Lula Hixson Scott.

  • Janie Holiday

In the 1900 census of Calvary township, Clarendon County, South Carolina: Charles Adger, 30; wife Susan, 28; and children James H., 13, Mary, 11, Geo. W., 5, Talmage, 3, and infant, 7 months.

In the 1910 census of Calvary township, Clarendon County, South Carolina: Charlie Adger Sr., 51; wife Susan, 44; and children James H., 22, Janie, 14, Pinckney, 7, Charles W., 4, and Levi L., 2.

In the 1930 census of Jackson township, Nash County, N.C.: widow Jane Holiday, 35, farm laborer; children Mary, 11, Bessie, 9, William, 8, and Levester, 5; brother Levi Adger, 21, and sister-in-law M. Lila Adger, 18. All were born in South Carolina.

In 1945, William Holiday Jr. registered for the World War II draft in Wilson, Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 31 January 1923 in Edgecombe County, N.C.; lived at 915 Carolina Street, Wilson; his contact was mother Janie Holiday; and he had been discharged 12 December 1945.

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Janie Holiday, 50, and granddaughter Louise, 15; both born in South Carolina.

Janie Holiday died 3 December 1983 in Wilson. Per her death record, she was born 12 November 1899 in South Carolina and was widowed.

Juneteenth.

For fifty or so years after the Civil War, Wilson’s African-American community celebrated Emancipation Day on January 1. The day marked the issuance in 1863 of the Emancipation Proclamation and was decidedly symbolic, as that executive order could not be enforced on behalf of most of North Carolina’s enslaved. Instead, they were freed, as a practical matter, only after the Confederacy surrendered at Appomattox Court House in April 1865.

In Texas, freedom did not arrive until June 19 of that year, when a Union Army commander read General Order No. 3 upon arrival in Galveston. African-American Texans have been celebrating Juneteenth since 1866, and, after slowly gaining traction across the country over the last few decades, the holiday is now widely observed. (This very day, in fact, it’s on the verge of becoming a national holiday, which feels performative, if not downright gaslight-y, given where this country is on any and every substantive thing around Black history.)

Juneteenth is a new celebration in Wilson, but it picks up where an old one left off, and I love to see it. Starting June 18, The Spot, an after-school youth center in what was once the New Grabneck neighborhood, is presenting Walk In Their Shoes — “this project will reimagine our existing walking trail into an immersive storytelling experience. Students and families can attend during open walking times and use technology to hear real stories from real people in our community. Around the trail art installments created by SPOT students will give a visual insight to the story and bring it to life.”

On June 26, Mount Hebron Masonic Lodge No. 42 — chartered in Wilson in 1881 — is throwing a party in the iconic 500 block of East Nash Street featuring food, music, art, and dollops of history throughout. (Can you identify the five titans of East Wilson depicted at the top of their flyer?)

The obituary of Rev. James Wesley Holiday.

Wilson Daily Times, 10 March 1977.

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In the 1920 census of Concord, Clarendon County, South Carolina: farmer Wesley Holiday, 29, farmer; wife Caroline, 22; and children Erlier, 5, Cecil, 4, Manyard, 3, and Eddie, 2.

In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Holiday Wesley (c; Rosa) tob wkr h 709 Cemetery.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 612 East Suggs, rented for $12/month, tobacco factory laborer Westley Holiday, 40; wife Rosa, 30; and children Earlise, 12, Edward, 11, Deborah, 9, Lula M., 6, Earnest, 4, and Joseph, 1.

Rosa M. Holiday died 31 January 1938 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 5 months old; was the daughter of Wesley Holiday and Rosa Brown, both of Sumter, South Carolina; and resided at 312 Spruce Street.

In 1946, Joseph Holliday registered for the World War II draft in Wilson. Per his registration card, he was born 16 September 1928 in Wilson County; lived at 648 Cemetery Street; was a student; and his contact was his father Wesley Holliday, 648 Cemetery.

Rosa Holiday died 8 December 1951 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 18 September 1899 to Payrow Brown; was married; and lived at 648 Cemetery Street. Rev. W.H. Holiday was informant.

James W. Holiday, 69, married Lona Tillery, 47, in Wilson on 23 October 1958.

Lonia Tillery Holiday died 15 November 1972 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 57 years old; was married to James Holiday; was the daughter of Mary Sanders; and had worked as a maid.

James Wesley Holiday died 8 March 1977 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born January 1900 in South Carolina to unknown parents;