laundress

Report ready for work at the laundry.

Wilson Daily Times, 18 August 1920.

Asa and A. Edward Bishop were proprietors of Carolina Laundry. In 1920, they placed a want ad for ten or more African-American women to work in their plant at 235-237 South Tarboro Street. Laundering clothes was work primarily reserved for Black women in the South, though most worked from home rather than in a laundry. White families would drop their soiled clothes and linens at the laundress’ house, then return to pick up clean bundles. Though grueling work, many women preferred “taking in washing and ironing” to working as domestics in the homes and under the watchful (or wandering) eye of an employer.

Sanborn fire insurance map, Wilson, N.C. (1922).

Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.

The obituary of Louisa Daniel, a worthy colored woman.

WDT 10 7 1913 Louisa P Daniel death

Wilson Daily Times, 7 October 1913.

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James Daniel, 20, son of Stephen and Debby Daniel, married Louisa Davis, daughter of Rosetta Davis, 19, in Greene County on 16 September 1877.

In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: day laborer James Daniel, 40; wife Louisa, 42; and children Debby Ann, 20, Ella, 17, Jesse, 14, Joseph T., 13, Minnie, 11, Louisa, 8, and Lily Clem, 3.

In the 1910 census of Town of Wilson, Wilson County: laborer James Daniel, 50; wife Louise, 53, laundress; daughters Minnie, 21, Louise, 19, and Lillie C., 17, all cooks; daughter Debie Black, 30, and her children Jessie, 9, Moses, 6, Minnie, 2, and Gertie Black, 1 month; and Ellen, 50, and Allen Armstrong, 18.

The death of Moses Brandon.

Victim of Heart Failure.

Moses Brandon, a negro, fell dead today at 2:15 from heart failure.

The negro, it appears, was walking on Spring street, opposite the Norfolk Southern cotton platform, when suddenly he threw up his hands and fell to the ground. Smith Bennett, another negro who lived nearby, saw him and ran to his assistance. He saw though that Brandon was dying and ran to get a chair. Brandon died in a few minutes.

The deceased had conducted a restaurant in this city for a great many years and is one of Wilson’s best known colored citizens.   — Wilson Daily Times, 4 March 1914.

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Moses Brandon, son of Frances Terry of Virginia, married Amie Hilliard on 22 May 1895 in Wilson. A.M.E. Zion minister L.B. Williams performed the ceremony, and Charles H. Darden, Braswell R. Winstead and L.A. Moore served as witnesses.

In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Virginia-born Moses Brandon, 50, day laborer; wife Emmie, 45, washerwoman; and son Marvin, 12. (Smith Bennett, 47, a brickmason, and his daughter Addie, 20, also appear in the Wilson census.)

In the 1908 Wilson city directory, Moses Brandon’s listing shows his “eating house” at 127 South Goldsboro Street and his home at 125 Ashe.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Moses Brandon, 55, proprietor of boarding house, and wife Amy, 51, laundress. Her only child was reported dead.

In the 1912 Wilson city directory, Moses Brandon’s listing shows his eating house at 411 East Nash and his home at 127 Ashe.

Page_11) 127 E. Goldsboro. 2) 411 E. Nash. 3) 125-127 Ashe. 4) N&S cotton platform, Spring Street. Sanborn map of Wilson NC, 1913.

Moses Brandom died 10 March 1914 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born February 1848 in Virginia; was married; lived on Ash Street; and worked as a laborer. Amy Brandon was informant. He was buried by C.H. Darden & Son in Wilson [likely either Vick, Odd Fellows, or the Masonic cemetery.]

Brandon died intestate. Two months after his death, his widow Amy applied for letters of administration for his estate, valued at $300. Camillus L. Darden (son of Charles H. Darden, above) and Roderick Taylor joined her to give a $600 bond.

M Brandon Admin Bond

Amy Brandon did not long outlive her husband. The will she drew up in September 1916 was proved six months later:

North Carolina, Wilson County.   I, Amy Brandon, a colored woman, of the state of North Carolina and county of Wilson, being of sound mind and memory but considering the uncertainty of this my earthly existence and wishing to arrange for the proper handling of my affairs and the distribution of my property in the event of my death, do make, publish, and declare this my last will and testament in manner and form following:

First: my executor, hereinafter named and designated, shall give my body a decent burial, suitable to the wishes of my relatives. And it is my desire that my said executor have my body interred in the burial ground at Wilson, North Carolina. [Almost certainly, Vick Cemetery.]

I direct my said executor to pay all my funeral expenses and all my just debts out of the first moneys coming into his hands from my said estate.

Second: I give, bequeath and devise to my beloved and only sister, Lucinda Holloway, now living and residing at No. 624 Princess Anne Avenue, Norfolk, Virginia, all my property, real and personal, of whatsoever kind and condition and wheresoever situate, to her and her heirs and assigns, in fee simple forever.

Third: I hereby nominate, constitute and appoint, Camillus Darden, a colored man of Wilson, North Carolina, a friend of myself and family, my lawful executor, to all intents and purposes to execute this my last will and testament and every part and clause thereof according to the true intent and meaning of the same, hereby revoking and declaring void all other wills and testaments by me heretofore made.

In Testimony Whereof, I, the said Amy Brandon, have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal, this the 8th day of September, 1916.     Amy (X) Brandon  {seal}

Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said Amy Brandon to be her last will and testament in the presence of us, who at her request and in her presence, and in the presence of each other, have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses thereto.    Witnesses: /s/ D.C. Yancey, Ph.G., L.A. Moore