jail

Lynching averted.

News and Observer, 24 August 1924.

——

In the 1900 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: common laborer John Wiggins, 50; wife Mollie, 40; and children Elizabeth, 14, nurse, John, 12, brickyard worker, Arthur, 3, and Clarence, 1.

In the 1910 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farm laborer John Wiggins, 55; wife Mollie, 50, cook; and children Elizabeth, 24, cook, Auther, 13, Clarence, 11, and Annie May, 4.

In 1918, Clarence Wiggins registered for the World War I draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 10 November 1899; lived at Route 4, Elm City; worked as a farmer for Offie Parker; and his nearest relative was mother Mary Wiggins.

In the 1920 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farmer Clarence Wiggins, 30; mother Mary, 60; and brothers Frank, 28, and Arther, 17.

On 26 August 1925, Clarance Wiggins, 26, of Wilson, son of John and Mary Wiggins, married Harriette Barnes, 27, of Wilson, daughter of Henry and Martha Barnes, in Wilson. A.M.E. Zion minister Wyatt Studaway performed the ceremony in the presence of Eliza Mattocks, Elizabeth Joyner, and Walter Battle.

In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C.: Wiggins Clarence L (c; Harriet) lather h 405 E Green

Under the influence of conjure dust.

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Wilson Daily Times, 17 October 1911.

  • Adaline Williams — in the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Moore Street, Adaline Williams, 30, house servant, and daughter Bluma, 4.
  • William Arrington — perhaps, in the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: teamster Sam Daniel, 25; wife Pauline, 22; son Harry, 2; boarders Will Arrington, 50, widower day laborer, and son Will Jr., 13; and boarder Mattie Parker, 19.

The colored jailer.

For at least five years, and presumably more, Tilghman McGowan was the jailer at Wilson’s town hoosegaw. He is known primarily from unflattering mentions in the newspaper.

Here, he is deservedly chastised for beating a small African-American boy:

8 20 1887

Wilson Mirror, 20 August 1887.

Here, he is mocked for allowing an inmate to escape at dinner time:

9 13 1887

Wilson Mirror, 13 September 1887.

And here, he and his unnamed wife receive a treacly double obituary:

2 17 1892

Wilson Mirror, 17 February 1892.

McGowan’s hut may have been lowly, but he seems to have owned it, and in late 1894, a half-acre lot he’d owned just across from Maplewood cemetery was sold at auction. (I have not found evidence of any probate records for McGowan, so do not know whether the sale was occasioned by an estate settlement.)

12 19 1894

Wilson Mirror, 19 December 1894.

——

In the 1870 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Setta Whitfield, 37, domestic servant; Gross Conner, 18, a white news dealer; Tillman McGown, 35, farm laborer, wife Charity, 36, and children Amy, 17, Lucinda, 15, Aaron, 20, Ira, 5, Delia A., 7, Nathan, 3, and Courtney, 1.

In the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County: farmer Tilman McGown, 43, wife Charity, 49,  and children Delia A., 18, Ira R., 15, and Nathan, 13.