The 500 block of East Nash Street is justly remembered as the 20th century epicenter of Wilson’s African-American-owned businesses. However, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Black entrepreneurs and tradespeople also operated across the tracks. As Wilson’s downtown experiences a resurgence, let’s rediscover and celebrate these pioneering men and women.
Check in each Sunday for the latest in the Historic Black Business Series!
——
WhirliDogs Café, which sells fancy hot dogs and empowers young people who have disabilities, opened a couple of weeks ago in downtown Wilson in the space once occupied by Jenkins Café.
The Jenkins (brothers? father and son?), James and Wesley, operated their restaurant only briefly.
Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory (1920).
The directory lists James Jenkins‘ address as 713 Viola and Wesley Jenkins‘ as 705 Viola. Webster Jenkins, who also lived at 705, was listed as a cook. Webster Jenkins was in Wilson as early as 1910, and his occupation is listed as cook in the 1912 and 1916 city directories, but I have found no other trace of James and Wesley.
In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: farm laborer Tossy Jenkins, 30, widow, and children Jackson, 9, Ossie M., 6, Ovella C., 5, Lonnie, 7, and Arries D., 5.
On 10 August 1928, Dockery Royall, 28, of Wilson, married Ossie Mae Jenkins, 25, in Wilson. Walter M. Foster applied for the license, and Baptist minister B.F. Jordan performed the ceremony.
In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 321 Hackney, Doc Royall, 34, body plant laborer, and wife Ossie May, 26, cook.
Dock Royall died 31 March 1938 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 14 September 1898 in Sampson County, N.C., to Samuel and Rachel Royall; was married to Ossie Mae Royall; worked as a mechanic at Hackney Body Company; and was buried in Wilson [probably Vick, but possibly Rest Haven, Cemetery.]
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 203 Pender Street, widow Ossie M. Royall, 33, an elevator girl at the courthouse; her mother Tossie Jenkins, 53, stemmer at a tobacco factory; daughters LaForest, 16, and Evanline Royall, 14; and a roomer named Ed Hart, 45, a laborer employed by the town of Wilson. Ossie and LaForest were born in Wilson; Evangeline in Battleboro [Nash County]; and Tossie and Ed in Nash County.
Ossie Jenkins Royall died in Amherst, Massachusetts, on 16 March 2000.
“… Frank Jenkins did unlawfully, willfully, feloniously forcibly and fraudulently kidnap and carry away Mabel Jenkins, the said Frank Jenkins having previously thereto forfeited his right to the care and custody of said Mabel Jenkins.”
Strickland swore that she had tended Jenkins’ sick wife and their daughter Mabel; that the woman asked her to take the child; and that the woman had died in late 1911. Strickland had kept Mabel until 20 November 1912, and Jenkins had never said anything. She had “kept [the girl] well clothed and sent her to school.” On the morning of the 20th, Jenkins had stopped Mabel as she walked to school. She had run, but he had caught her and taken her with him.
Strickland said Jenkins had occasionally sent food in a little wagon when she first began to care for his wife, but stopped. Jenkins did not visit his wife, but Strickland saw him in and out of another house.
——
Frank Jenkins
On 15 November 1906, Frank Jenkins, 18, of Wilson, son of John Batts and Alice Jenkins, married Sarah Wells, 18, of Wilson, daughter of Jacob and Claud Wells, in Wilson. Neptune Lee applied for the license, and Missionary Baptist minister Fred M. Davis performed the ceremony.
In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: widow Sarah Wells, 52; children Sarah, 22, laundress, Mabel, 5, and Frank, 3; grandson Russell, 2; lodgers Frank Jenkins, 25, horseshoer at blacksmith’s shop, and Sarah Marrian, 29, factory laborer; and brother John Wells, 43, odd jobs. [Despite their marriage in 1906, Sarah Wells is listed with her maiden name, and Frank Jenkins as a lodger in the household.]
On 28 November 1912, three days after Strickland swore out a warrant [and apparently before he was arrested and posted bond], Frank Jenkins, 28, of Wilson, son of John Batts and Alice Batts, married Ethel Barnes, 22, of Wilson, in Wilson. Missionary Baptist minister William Baker performed the ceremony.
Ethel Jenkins died 22 February 1913 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 22 February 1891 in Wilson to George Barnes and Emma McGowan and worked in washing. Frank Jenkins was informant.
On 6 December 1913, Frank Jenkins, 26, of Wilson County, married Pet Tucker, 28, of Wilson. Missionary Baptist minister William Baker performed the ceremony.
In 1918, Frank Jenkins registered for the World War I in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born in 1884; lived at Spring Street, Wilson; worked as a horse shoer for Holmes & Boykin at Centre Brick Warehouse; and his contact was wife Pet Jenkins.
Wilson Daily Times, 4 December 1918. Jake Tucker was the shopkeeper against whom Jenkins testified in 1912.
In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 319 Goldsboro Street, John Batts, 56, oil mill laborer; wife Alice, 46; grandchildren Mabel, 15, and Frank Jenkins, 13; and roomers Lucy Taylor, 32, dishwasher in cafe, Josephine Atkins, 24, private cook, George Owens, 27, Charlie Howard, 34, oil mill laborer, Olivers Wheeler, 21, tobacco factory worker, and Roland James, 26. [Eight years after her father was charged with kidnapping, Mabel Jenkins and her brother Frank Jr. were living with their father’s parents.]
Also in the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Frank Jenkins, 36; wife Pet, 23; and son Haywood, 4.
On 22 November 1921, James Bennett, 27, of Wilson, son of Wash Little and Rosa Bennett, married Mabel Jenkins, 18, of Wilson, daughter of Frank and Sarah Jenkins, in Wilson. James Barbour applied for the license, and A.M.E. Zion minister A.L.E. Weeks performed the ceremony.
In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 511 Spring Street, rented at $20/month, blacksmith Frank Jenkins, 43; wife Pet, 32; and children David, 15, Haywood, 13, Mary E., 8, and William H., 4.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 404 East Hines, rented at $12/month, blacksmith Frank Jenkins, 53; wife Pet, 41; children Mary Elizabeth, 19, laborer at redrying tobacco factory, William H., 18, and Haywood, 24, laborer at redrying tobacco factory; and daughter-in-law Laurine, 22, laborer at redrying tobacco factory.
Frank Jenkins died 8 August 1945 at Duke Hospital, Durham, North Carolina. Per his death certificate, he was born 6 August 1884 in Wilson to John Jenkins and Alice [maiden name not given]; was married to Alice [sic] Jenkins; and worked as a blacksmith.
Wilson Daily Times, 11 August 1945.
Carrie Strickland
In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Spring Street, brickmason Goodsey Holden, 50; wife Laura, 47; daughters Estella, 25, Bertha, 24, laundress, and Ione, 20, laundress; and lodger Carrie Strickland, 18, hotel chambermaid.
In the 1912 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Strickland Carrie (c) dom h 603 S Spring
In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 603 Spring Street, brickmason Goodsey Holden, 59; wife Laura, 52; and roomer Carrie Strickland, 29, tobacco factory worker.
In the 1920 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Strickland Carrie I (c) hairdresser h 603 S Spring
In the 1922 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Strickland Carrie (c) hairdresser 528 E Nash h 504 S Lodge
Criminal Action Papers, 1912, Wilson County Records, North Carolina State Archives.
The one hundred-seventy-sixth in a series of posts highlighting buildings in East Wilson Historic District, a national historic district located in Wilson, North Carolina. As originally approved, the district encompasses 858 contributing buildings and two contributing structures in a historically African-American section of Wilson. (A significant number have since been lost.) The district was developed between about 1890 to 1940 and includes notable examples of Queen Anne, Bungalow/American Craftsman, and Shotgun-style architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
As described in the nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District, this building is: “ca. 1913; 1 story; L-plan cottage with hip-roofed porch.”
——
In 1922, William Pritchitt of 812 East Vance Street advertised finding a set of keys.
Wilson Daily Times, 22 February 1922.
In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Jenkins Jesse (c; Hattie B) car washer h 812 E Vance
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 812 East Vance, minister Roosevelt Wheeler, 26; wife Minnie, 24; and lodger Jessie Edwards, 17.
In 1940, Roosevelt Wheeler registered for the World War II in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 4 March 1910 in Darlington, South Carolina; lived at 812 East Vance Street, Wilson; his contact was wife Minnie Beatrice Wheeler; and worked for Armour & Co., Railroad Street, Wilson.
According to this news account, Minerva Barnes slashed her brother-in-law John Jenkins across the forearm because he had slapped her sister. However, the dead man’s death certificate reports his name as Thomas Washington.
Minerva Barnes’ charges were eventually upgraded to manslaughter, but she was acquitted in February 1932.
Castonoble Hooks shared this memory of winters in Wilson. Though he was born just after the close of the period covered in Black Wide-Awake, his recollection would have rung true for generations before him.
“I remember the wood stove this time of year. Wilson streets were covered with clouds of smoke — each house contributed its own stream of exhaust! Growing up in the 50’s and 60’s Wilson, you “learned” the wood stove. The first chore I remember as a child was to carry out cold ashes, the residue of burned wood. I was maybe five years old. Later that year, I could clean the stove of hot or cold ashes. The next year I was cutting wood, stacking wood, starting a fire in morning and banking the stove at night! At the age of ten, I was working for woodmen, Mr. Turner Jenkins and Mr. Columbus Ham, who rode around our hood delivering wood and coal. Almost every house had at least one stove! Wood heat is so warming and completely satisfying. Many a cold day was, the wood stove stood tall!”
Turner Jenkins —
In the 1920 census of Lower Town Creek township, Edgecombe County: farm laborer Gray Jenkins, 46; wife Mary Jane, 35; children Joseph, 17, William, 15, Lucinda, 12, Mada, 11, Mark, 9, Turner, 7, Rosa, 5, Rachel, 4, and (adopted) Lester, 7; servant Frank Braswell, 18.
In the 1930 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farmer Turner Williamson, 30; wife Mary, 21; children Mary B., 5, Sarah P., 4, and Paul, 2; sister-in-law Lucinda Jenkins, 23, and brother-in-law Turner Jenkins, 17, farm laborer.
Turner Jenkins, 21, of Gardners township, son of Gray and Mary Jane Jenkins, married Lossie Applewhite, 21, of Gardners township, daughter of Tom and Diana Applewhite, on 15 November 1933 in Wilson. Gray Jenkins, Stantonsburg; Lonnie Applewhite, Wilson, and B.E. Howard, Wilson, were witnesses.
Turner Jenkins registered for the World War II draft in 1940 in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 17 April 1912 in Edgecombe County; lived at 911 Carolina Street, Wilson; his contact was wife Lossie Applewhite Jenkins; and he worked for Independent Ice Company.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Turner Jenkins, 29; wife Lossie, 29; daughter Annie M., 12; sister [in-law] Minnie Applewhite, 19; and [her?] son Roy William Applewhite, 11 months.
Turner Jenkins died 11 January 1967 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 17 April 1912 in Edgecombe County to Gray Jenkins and Mary Jane Bridgers; was married to Lossie Jenkins; lived at 128 Narroway Street; and worked as a laborer.
Columbus Ham
Caleb Columbus Hamm Jr. registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County in 1942. Per his registration card, he was born 16 August 1920 in Greene County; lived at 913 East Nash Street, Wilson; his contact was Annie Hodges, 110 Ashe Street, Wilson; and he worked for Stephenson Lumber Company.
In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 502 Grace, James Austin, 34, tobacco company laborer; wife , 28, tobacco factory worker; son James Jr., 3; and roomer George Jenkins, 24, tobacco factory worker.
Feelings ran high in the days after school superintendent Charles L. Coon slapped Mary Euell, an African-American teacher who had been hauled to his office by principal J.D. Reid. So high that three men jumped Reid as he left church the following Sunday.
Per the Wilson Daily Times, 16 April 1918:
As a result of the attack on Prof. J.D. Reid, principal of the colored graded school yesterday while he was coming out of the First Baptist church, colored after the morning services three negroes named Frank Hooker, Henry Lucas and Will Jenkins, the first two were arrested yesterday and placed under bonds of $300 each for their appearance Friday morning before his honor and Will Jenkins he ran away yesterday and was not captured until this morning is now in jail. It is alleged that Will Jenkins had a gun and that it was taken away from him by a colored man by the name of John Spell and thus prevented him from using it. Will denies that he had a pistol of his own. He says that one dropped the pistol and that he picked it up, and that he had no intention of using it on Reid. Reid was not hurt in the assault. It seems that some two blows were struck him before the parties were separated.
This is an aftermath of the trouble referred to last week in this paper growing put of the reproof of the teacher by Mr. Coon, who was called into his office in the Fidelity building at the instance of Reid for alleged failure to obey a ruling regarding the opening of school on the day the new daylight law went into effect. The woman teacher says that Mr. Coon slapped her and that when she called on Reid to protect her that Reid told her to behave herself and held the door to keep her from going out.
Following this assault on the woman leading colored men of the Ministerial Union and Business League made representations to the Board of Trustees of the school preferring charges against Reid and asked them to dismiss him from the position at the head stating that he was entirely persona non grata to their people and that he had lost his usefulness among them as an educator.
The school board had before them here Saturday afternoon Prof. Sam Vick, Rev. Weeks, pastor of the Tabernacle Baptist church and Rev. Taylor, pastor of the Presbyterian church, colored of this city, and Dr. Hargrave, a leading colored physician of Wilson. The board heard the matter and agreed to take the charges under advisement.
In the meantime Prof. Reid informed Mayor Killette that he felt on account of threats that he was in danger of his life and asked for protection. This was promptly given, officers having been stationed at the residence of Prof. Reid for the past two or three nights. The prompt action of the mayor yesterday will probably stop the assaults on Reid, for he is determined to stop this effort to take the law into their own hands.
In the meantime the colored graded schools in this city are not running. Eleven of the fourteen teachers resigned at the beginning of the trouble and two of the others since. The question was asked by members of the board Saturday if it would pay to reorganize the school for the short space of time the remainder of the session and the answer was returned by the colored men present that they did not think it would.
However as to what action the board of trustees will take towards continuing the school the remainder of the session we are not prepared to say.
——
J.D. Reid — Reid was forced out of his position as principal, but regained the trust of the community. For a while, anyway. Two years later, Reid was appointed vice-president of the brand-new Commercial Bank, a position he held until the bank failed amid charges of forgery and embezzlement.
Frank Hooker — Hooker, a sawyer, was about 46 years old when he clouted Reid.
Don’t let anyone tell you that slavery destroyed the black family. African-Americans struggled against terrible odds to unite sundered families, often standing up to authority in the process.
In June 1866, George W. Blount wrote a letter to the Freedmen’s Bureau on behalf of Josiah D. Jenkins of Edgecombe County. Just months after being forced to free them, Jenkins had indentured eight siblings whose mother had died. Within six months, the children’s family had come for them, and the five oldest had left for more agreeable situations. Sallie, 14, Sookie, 12, and Isabella, 10, were in Wilson County with their elder sister and her husband Willie Bullock. Arden, 16, was working for what appears to be a commercial partnership in Tarboro, and Bethania, 14, was with her and Arden’s father Jonas Jenkins (paternity that Blount pooh-poohed.) Jonas Jenkins had sought custody of his children before their indenture, but his claims had been trumped by a “suitable” white man who “ought” to have them because he had “raised them from infancy” [i.e., held them in slavery since birth] and their mother “died in his own house.”
Wilson No.Ca. June 29 1866
Col. Brady Col.
Mr. Jo. D. Jenkins of Edgecombe County has been here expecting to see you; but as he did not find you here he requested me to write to you and state his case, asking you to furnish him the remedy if any he is entitled to, and such he believes he has. In Dec 1865, Capt Richards Asst Sup F.B. for the dist of Tarboro, Apprenticed to him Eight (8) Orphan Colored children. The indentures he has, five, and the only ones large enough to render any service have been enticed away from him, leaving him with three who are hardly able to care for the own wants every thing furnished. Three of them are in the custody of Willie Bullock F.M. [freedman] whose wife is the older sister of the three. The others – Arden is in the employment of Messrs. Haskell & Knap near Tarboro. Bethania is in the custody of Jonas Jenkins F.M., who claims to be the father of both of her & Arden. The three first mentioned are in Wilson County the others in Edgecombe.
Mr. Jenkins desires me to say to you that if he cannot be secured in the possession of them he desires the indentures cancelled; for according to law he would be liable for Doctors bills – and to take care of them in case of an accident rendering them unable to take care of themselves.
This man Jonas set up claim to Arden and Bethania before they were apprenticed. The matter was referred to Col Whittlesey who decided that as they were bastard children he Jonas could not intervene preventing apprenticeship to a suitable person.
Mr. J is a suitable man to have charge of them and ought to have their services now. He raised them from infancy, and after the mother died in his own house
I am Col, Very Respectfully &c, G.W. Blount
An early reply desired.
A note from the file listing the Jenkins children to which Josiah D. Jenkins laid claim.
——
Entry for Josiah D. Jenkins in the 1850 slave schedule of Edgecombe County. By 1860, Jenkins claimed ownership of 36 people, evenly divided between men and women.
G.W. Blount — A year later, George W. Blount was embroiled in his own battle for control over formerly enslaved children. He lost.
Jo. D. Jenkins — Joseph [Josiah] D. Jenkins appears in the 1870 census of Cokey township, Edgecombe County, as a 59 year-old farmer who reported $25,000 in real property and $15,000 in personal property — remarkable wealth so soon after the Civil War. John Jenkins, 10, domestic servant, is the only black child living in his household and presumably of the one of the children at issue here.
Bethania Jenkins — on 7 April 1874, Turner Bullock, 23, married Bethany Jenkins, 21, in Edgecombe County.
Willie Bullock
Arden Jenkins
Sallie Jenkins
Sookie Jenkins
Isabella Jenkins — Isabella Jenkins, 22, married Franklin Stancil, 30, on 16 April 1878 at Jackson Jenkins’ in Edgecombe County. Isabelle Stancill died 19 November 1927 in Township No. 2, Edgecombe County,. Per her death certificate, she was about 80 years old; was born in Edgecombe County; was the widow of Frank Stancill; and was buried in Jenkins cemetery. Elliott Stancill was informant,
Jonas Jenkins — in the 1870 census of Cokey township, Edgecombe County, Jonas Jenkins, 45, farm laborer. No children are listed in the household he shared with white farmer John E. Baker.
North Carolina Freedmen’s Bureau Field Office Records, 1863-1872, Rocky Mount(assistant superintendent), Roll 55, Letters Received Dec 1865-Aug 1868, http://www.familysearch.org
On August 10, 1928, Dockery Royall, 28, of Wilson, married Ossie Mae Jenkins, 25, of Wilson in Wilson. Baptist minister B.F. Jordan performed the ceremony in the presence of Lossie Jenkins, Flonnie Farmer, and Maggie Jordan. Walter M. Foster applied for the license.
In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 321 Hackney Street, rented at $12/month, Doc Royall, 34, body plant laborer, and wife Ossie May, 26, cook.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 203 Pender Street, widow Ossie M. Royall, 33, an elevator girl at the courthouse; her mother Tossie Jenkins, 53, stemmer at a tobacco factory; daughters LaForest, 16, and Evauline Royall, 14; and a roomer named Ed Hart, 45, a laborer employed by the town of Wilson. Ossie and LaForest were born in Wilson; Evaline in Battleboro [Nash County]; and Tossie and Ed in Nash County.
By the late 1950s, Ossie Royall had moved to Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and was working as the dining hall supervisor at Elizabeth City State Teachers College. She died in Amherst, Massachusetts, on 16 March 2000.
