hostler

Where we worked: livery stables, hostlers, and horseshoers.

Recent demolition in the 200 block of South Goldsboro has exposed this ghost sign for J.Y. Buchanan’s horse shoe repair shop.

When my paternal grandmother’s family arrived in Wilson circa 1905, two found work at Jefferson D. Farrior‘s livery stable in the 200 block of Tarboro Street. Farrior, in fact, gave Jesse Henderson his lifelong nickname, Jack, to distinguish the younger man from his uncle, Jesse A. Jacobs Jr. The care of horses was vital work well into the twentieth century, and this running list memorializes African-American livery stable owners and workers, hostlers, and horseshoers who worked in downtown Wilson.

  • Georgia W. Aiken, livery stable manager, 1920
  • John H. Aiken, livery stable owner, 1908; Crockett & Aiken, 1914
  • Robert Austin, hostler, 1908
  • James Barnes, horseshoer, Stallings & Riley, 1928
  • Cary Battle, horseshoer, J.Y. Buchanan, 1922
  • Charles Battle, blacksmith and horseshoer, 1896
  • William Best, hostler, 1908; stableman, J.H. Akins [Aiken], 1912
  • Mark Bullock, hostler, 1908
  • William Bullock, hostler, 1908
  • William Bullock, livery stable owner, 1908
  • Nick Chambers, employee, Wilson Livestock Company, 1918
  • Alexander Crockett, Crockett & Aiken, 1914
  • George Farmer, hostler, T.R. Lamm, 1908
  • Harvey Fox, horseshoer, 1912
  • Isaac Hagins, stableman, Maynard Livery & Transfer, 1912
  • James Hardy, livery employee, 1912
  • John Hardy, livery stable owner, Hardy & Holland, 1908
  • Theodore Hargrave, horseshoer, J.Y. Buchanan, 1916
  • George Hawkins, stable boy, Ed Dillard, 1917
  • Jesse Henderson, employee, Jefferson D. Farrior, 1910s
  • Thomas Holland, livery stable owner, Hardy & Holland, 1908
  • Frank Istine, horseshoer, I.J. Young, 1912
  • Jesse A. Jacobs Jr., employee, Jefferson D. Farrior, 1910s
  • Frank Jenkins, horseshoer, Holmes & Boykin, Centre Brick Warehouse, 191-
  • Sam Johnson, laborer, J.J. Clark’s stable, 1917
  • Thomas Joyner, stableman, 1912
  • Zollie Joyner, hostler, 1908
  • James H. Knight, horseshoer, J.Y. Buchanan, 1918
  • Fletcher Lee, horseshoer, J.Y. Buchanan, 1916
  • Almus Lovett, horseshoer, G.T. Purvis, 1916
  • John L. McKinley, stablehand, E.L. Hawkins, 1918
  • John Norfleet, stableman, L.J. Herring, 1916
  • Washington Pitt, horseshoer, 1908
  • Fred Pope, stable boy, Stantonsburg Livestock Company, 1917
  • Ed Underwood, sales stables, Ed Dillon, 1918
  • Braswell R. Winstead, livery stable owner, 1908
  • John Yancey, hostler, 1908
  • Henry Young, horseshoer, C.C. Culpepper, 1918

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, March 2024.

Stith’s hostlers.

Wilson Ledger, 28 April 1858.

In the spring of 1858, Buckner D. Stith placed an ad in a Wilson newspaper to tout his spacious new livery stable — fifty horses at a time! Stith offered horses for hire — Davy Crocket, Bullock, Fox, Bill, Spitfire and General Walker — as well as hostlers on duty. Tom, Butler, and John, surely enslaved, fed, curried, and otherwise cared for horses left at Stith’s stable.

Studio shots, no. 28: Ned and Louisa Gay Barnes family.

barnes-ned-barnes-family 1898

Ned and Louisa Gay Barnes and their daughters Mattie Radcliffe Barnes Hines (1895-1922) and Alice Ida Barnes Bryant (1897-1969).

In the 1870 census of Wilson, Wilson County: farm laborer Willis Barnes, 30; wife Cherry, 25; and children Rachael, 7, West, 5, Jesse, 2, and Ned, 5 months.

In the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Willis Barnes, 42; wife Cherey, 20; stepdaughter Rachel Battle, 17; children Wesley, 15, Jesse, 13, Ned, 11, Eddie, 7, Mary Barnes, niece Ellen Battle, 2; and son Willey Barnes, 1.

On 1 April 1889, Jesse Barnes, 21, and Mary Mag Mercer, 19, were issued a marriage license in Wilson County. Harney Chatman, Baptist minister, performed the ceremony on 3 April 1889 in Wilson Town. Witnesses were Westley Barnes and Ned Barnes, Jesse’s brothers.

On 27 October 1891, J.T. Dean applied for a marriage license for Edward [Ned] Barnes, 22, of Wilson, son of Willis and Cherry Barnes, and Louisa Gay, daughter of Samuel and Alice Gay. A.M.E. Zion minister J.W. Levy officiated over the ceremony, which took place 29 October 1891 at Samuel Gay’s. Witnesses were S.H. Vick, Spencer Barnes, and Thomas Davis.

In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Ned Barnes, 30; wife Loisa, 27; and children Mattie R., 5, Alice I., 3, and Ned, 0. Ned was employed as a coachman for white manufacturer Roscoe Briggs, and the family lived on premises.

In 1903, Ned Barnes was a crucial eyewitness to a sensational murder involving prominent white Raleigh citizens.

In the 1910 census of Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina: at 707 West Street, Ned Bonds Sr., 37; wife Louise, 36; and children Mattie, 15, Ida, 12, Ned Jr., 9, Howard, 7, and Blonnie L., 2. Ned worked as “horseler” at an animal hospital. Louise reported 5 of 6 children living.

Ned Barnes died 1 December 1912, aged about 42, of acute uremia, at 707 South Saunders, Raleigh, Wake County. Per his death certificate, he was born in Wilson County to Willis Barnes and an unknown mother; was married; and worked as a porter in a club. Informant was Mattie Barnes. Ned was buried 2 December in Wilson.

Ned Barnes Jr. (1899-1931). Ned married Lelia Newton, daughter of Thomas and Carrie Newton, on 14 July 1920 in Wilson.

Benson N. Barnes (1921-2004), son of Ned Jr. and Lelia Newton Barnes. (Alice Barnes Bryant was his father’s sister.)

Ned Radcliff Barnes (1924-2002), son of Ned Jr. and Lelia Newton Barnes. (Louisa Barnes was, in fact, his grandmother.)

Photographs courtesy of Katie Chestnut Barnes (many thanks!); newspaper clippings from Wilson Daily Times.