Lincoln University

Ernest L. Artis Jr., Atlantic City ’45, Lincoln ’49.

The Herald, the yearbook of Atlantic City High School, Atlantic City, N.J., 1945.

Born in Wilson in 1928, Ernest Lee Artis Jr. and his parents Ernest and Louise Artis joined the Great Migration during the early years of the Depression.

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On 13 June 1923, Ernest Artis, 21, of Fountain, son of Joe and Ella Artis, married Louise McNair, 18, of Plymouth, N.C., daughter of Rufus and Louise McNair, at Louise McNair’s resident at Plymouth, Washington County, N.C.

In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Artis Ernest L (c; Louise) (Service Barber Shop), h 404 N Vick

In the 1940 census of Atlantic City, Atlantic County, New Jersey: at 700 Ohio Avenue, Ernest Artis, 36, barber; wife Louise, 35, storekeeper; and son Ernest, 12. All were born in North Carolina.

Ernest Lee Artis registered for the World War II draft in Atlantic City in 1946. Per his registration card, he was 27 September 1905 in Wilson County, N.C.; lived at 720 North Ohio Avenue, Atlantic City; his contact was wife Louise Artis; and he was self-employed at 135 North Penn, Atlantic City.

Ernest Artis Jr. registered for the World War II draft in Atlantic City in 1946. Per his registration card, he was born 2 January 1928 in Wilson, N.C.; lived at 720 North Ohio Avenue; his contact was friend Anna Butler, 705 North Ohio; and he was a student at Lincoln University in Oxford, Pennsylvania.

The Lion, the yearbook of Lincoln University, 1949.

Lincoln University, 1882-’83.

During academic year 1882-’83, 73 of Lincoln University’s 214 students were from North Carolina. Five of that 73, all in the collegiate division, were from Wilson County: juniors Frank O. Blount, Cato D. Suggs [Daniel Cato Suggs], and Samuel H. Vick; sophomore Braswell R. Winstead; and freshman Francis M. Hines (whose home was Toisnot.)

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N.B.: Though Francis M. Hines’ home was listed as Toisnot, now Elm City, and firmly within Wilson County, it seems certain that he was in fact from the Temperance Hall area of Edgecombe County, a few miles east and just across the county line. Hines graduated from Lincoln in 1886 and, upon his return to Edgecombe County, plunged into local politics. He quickly rose to leadership of the Knights of Labor and, on the strength of the African-American voting power in a county in which they were the majority population, was elected Register of Deeds. Tragically, Hines died of kidney disease at the age of 28. Local newspapers’ laconic reports of his death did not fail to include aspersions.

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Tarborough Southerner, 21 February 1889.

He is buried in the cemetery of Pyatt Memorial A.M.E. Church in the Temperance Hall community.

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Lincoln U. students.

From the Catalogue of Lincoln University 1920-’21:

Sophomore class

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In the 1910 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: wagon factory laborer Willie Paulkin, 26, wife Pearl, 22, son Atric, 2, and brother Sam, 24, also a wagon factory laborer; plus Wash Joyner, 35, house painter, wife Sarah, 32, laundress, and son Alexander, 13.

In 1917, Alexander B. Joyner registered for the World War I draft in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Per his registration card, he was born 5 June 1896 in Wilson, North Carolina; resided at 616 Viola Street, Wilson; was single; and worked as a chair pusher for Shill Company in Atlantic City. He was described as medium height and build.

Alexander Barnes Joyner registered for the World War II draft in New York, New York, in 1942. Per his registration card, he was born 5 June 1896 in Wilson, North Carolina; resided at 249 West 139th Street, New York; his contact was “George Joyner (wife),” and he worked for the W.P.A., 70 Columbus Avenue, New York.

Freshman class

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In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: postmaster Samuel H. Vick, 37; wife Annie M., 28; and children Elba L., 17, and Daniel L., 3; plus cousin Bessie Parker, 15.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: dealer in real estate Samuel Vick, 47; wife Annie, 38; and children Elma, 17, Daniel L., 13, Samuel E., 10, George, 7, Anna, 5, and Robert, 2.

In 1918, Daniel Leon Vick registered for the World War I draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 2 February 1897 in Wilson; resided at 623 Green Street; his father was born in Nash County, North Carolina; he worked for S.H. Vick; and S.H. Vick was his nearest relative. He was described as short and medium build.

In the 1920 census of Washington, D.C.: at 1455 W Street N.W., North Carolina-born Daniel Vick, 22, boarded in the household of Charles L. Jones. He worked as an office building messenger.

Daniel L. Vick registered for the World War II draft in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Per his registration card, he was born 2 February 1898 in Wilson, North Carolina; resided at 125 North 58th Street, Philadelphia; his contact was Mrs. Annie M. Vick, 622 East Green Street, Wilson; and he worked for John Wilds, 4035 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

Influential colored man dies.

Samuel H. Vick‘s protege, Rev. Turner Grant Williamson, died 91 years ago today.

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The Robesonian, 25 February 1926.

In the 1920 census of Elizabethtown, Bladen County, North Carolina: Turner G. Williamson, 51, teacher; wife Annah B., 44; and children Tabitha G.E., 17, Irvin, 13, Margret C., 10, Sallie T., 8, and Samuel R., 5.

Anna B. Williamson died 1 February 1921 in Elizabethtown, Bladen County. Per her death certificate, she was born in 15 February 1875 in Maxton, North Carolina, to Edd McKoy and Sarah McKoy of Roberson County; worked as a teacher; and was married to Rev. T.G. Williamson.

Turner G. Williamson died 3 February 1926 in Elizabethtown, Bladen County. Per his death certificate, he was born about 1871 in Wilson County to Anna B. Williamson [error, Anna was his wife, not mother]; was engaged in preaching and teaching; and was a widower.

He is devoted to the spread of the connection.

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EDWARD MOORE, PH.D.

Edward Moore was born on the 22d day of June, 1853, near the town known as Little Washington, in eastern North Carolina. He was the second of seven children born to James H. and Peggy A. Moore. The first eight years of his life were spent under the watchful care and protection of both parents, but the call to arms in our late unpleasantness deprived him for a time of a father’s attention, his father having enlisted in the United States army, and served with the prospect of freeing the slaves as well as the preservation of the Union.

These years of his absence, however, were attended with no unfavorable results in the development of young Moore, for he was under the training of a vigorous, energetic Christian mother, who appreciated the advantages made possible by the opening of the Freedmen’s schools, and Edward, with the other children, shared the benefits of the instruction given by those well-educated, painstaking New England young ladies who taught in the neighborhood immediately after the war. These self-denying Christian teachers aided him, as they did many others, in laying the foundation for an early education and a subsequent life of great usefulness.

He early gave proofs of a mind noted for vigor and acquisitiveness; through the training of these schools, by private study, and later by attending the school under the principalship of W. P. Mabson, of Tarboro, N. C., at one time having the honor of being the most distinguished teacher of eastern North Carolina, Mr. Moore was prepared for college.

It was while studying at Tarboro he met and made the acquaintance and became the stanch friend and classmate of J. C. Dancy, the distinguished layman of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and the two have ever since been very sincere friends.

In the fall of 1874 he entered the freshman class of Lincoln University, Pa.; and ranked deservedly high in scholarship and manly deportment. He was here associated as classmate with the late J. C. Price, D.D.; Dr. N. F. Mossell, of the Philadelphia Medical Fraternity; Dr. Jamison, of York, Pa.; and as his college associates Rev. J. P. Williams, D.D., of the Protestant Episcopal Church; Dr. Goler, of our own Church; Dr. Weaver and Rev. W. C. Brown, of the Presbyterian, and Rev. S. P. Hood.

He graduated in 1879 with high honors. He came South and was employed as principal of the Wilson Academy, where he served successfully for two years, having in the meantime prepared for different colleges a number of young men, among whom are Professor D. C. Suggs, A.M., now vice president of the A. and M. College, Savannah, Ga.; Samuel N. Vick, Postmaster Wilson, N. C., Professor B. R. Winstead, principal of the Wilson graded school. He was also private instructor to S. A. Smith, now one of the most distinguished lawyers of the Wilson bar.

It was at Wilson that he met the accomplished Miss Serena L. Suggs, and after years of wooing succeeded in making her his wife in 1881. The result of this union has been a happy home and four healthy children, two boys and two girls, to cheer and bless his life.

In the establishment of Zion Wesley Institute, which has since become Livingstone College, Professor Moore yielded to the solicitations of his classmate, Dr. J. C. Price, and associated in the educational work of that institution. His services were of incalculable value to Dr. Price.

Professor Moore is a hard student, and possesses the ability of making the result of his study felt upon those he teaches. He is an earnest Christian, especially devoted to all that concerns Zion Church and the spread of the connection. He passed a successful examination and received the degree of Ph.D. from his alma mater in 1893. He is now spending his summer vacation in the study of medicine at San Francisco, Cal. W.H.G.

From J.W. Hood, One Hundred Years of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church; or, The Centennial of African Methodism (1895).

Lincoln legacy.

Lincoln University College and Theological Seminary Biographical Catalog 1918 lists nine Wilson-born African-American men among the school’s former students. Nearly half — John H., William H., Augustus S., and Thomas G. Clark — were brothers, sons of Henry and Flora Lathan Clark. (The John H. Clark entry is puzzling as he was only about seven years old in 1871.) Daniel C. and James T. Suggs were also brothers, sons of George W. and Esther Suggs, as were Samuel H. and William H. Vick, sons of Daniel and Fannie Blount Vick.

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News of the colored graded school.

WM 7 22 1891

Wilson Mirror, 22 July 1891.

WA 9 14 1893

Wilson Advance, 14 September 1893.

WDT 5 28 1897

Wilson Daily Times, 28 May 1897.

  • Frank O. Blount — in the 1880 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: gristmill worker Daniel Vick, 38, wife Fannie, 35, and children Samuel, 16, Nettie, 14, Earnest Linwood, 12, Henry, 10, and James O.F., 8, plus Frank O. Blount, 20, and Marcus W. Blount, 26. Though the Blounts were described as boarders, they were in fact Fannie Blount Vick’s brothers. Three years later, Frank and his cousin Samuel H. Vick (as well as neighbor Daniel Cato Suggs) were recorded in the junior class at Lincoln University in Chester, Pennsylvania. Frank Blount left Wilson before 1895. In that year, he is listed in the city directory of Washington, D.C., working as a porter and living at 463 Washington N.W. In 1900, he is found in the census of Saint Louis, Missouri, newly a widower, boarding at 2627 Papin Street and working as a janitor. Ten years later, he had gotten on with the post office and was living at 3030 Laclede with his second wife Mamie L. and her four sons, George P., 26, Cortello, 21, Robert M., 19, and Harrison Dove, 10. In the 1920 census, Frank and Mamie Blount are recorded at 3010 Laclede. Mamie Dove Blount died in 1930 in Chicago, but I have not yet found Frank’s death certificate.

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Catalogue for Lincoln University for 1882-83 (1883).

  • Braswell Winstead — In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: assistant postmaster Braswell Winstead, 39, wife Ada, 25, and children Arnold, 13, George, 12, Rolland, 11, and Christine, 8.
  • Levi Peacock — In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: postmaster Levi Peacock, 30, wife Hannah, 28, a schoolteacher, and children Olivia, 5, Hannah, 3, and Levi, 2, plus mother Susan Pyett, 50.
  • Ada Battle and Charles Battle — Ada G. Battle and Charles Tecumseh Battle were children of Charles and Leah Hargrove Battle. Ada, born about 18, never married.
  • Lucy Thompson — Per her death certificate, Lucy A. Thompson was born about 1875 in Wilson County to Ennis and Helen A. Ruffin Thompson. She was unmarried, a teacher, and died 24 July 1946.
  • _____ Melton — probably Leavy J. Melton.
  • Sallie Barber — Per her death certificate, Sallie Minnie Blake Barbour was born about 1871 in Wake County to Essex and Clara Hodge Blake. In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson township, Wilson County: mechanic Charlie Barber, 47; wife Sallie, 40, teacher; and sons Luther, 21, John, 17, James, 17, and Herbert, 15, plus two roomers. The colored graded school was renamed in her honor in the late 1930s. She died in 1942.

Daniel Cato Suggs; or the meaning of one generation of freedom.

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A.B. Caldwell, ed., History of the American Negro and His Institutions, North Carolina Edition (1921).

The 1870 census of Wilson, Wilson township, shows Washington Suggs, 42, brickmason, with children Sarena, 8, Mary, 2, Decatur [Daniel Cato], 6, plus farm laborer, Richard Harper, 17. Wife Esther was apparently overlooked.

In the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County: brickmason Washington Sugg, 51, wife Esther, 38, and children Nicy, 21, Sarena, 17, Cator, 16, Molly, 12, Edmonia, 10, Juda, 5, and James, 3.

As first mentioned here, in 1884, Daniel C. Suggs was nominated as a candidate for a cadetship at West Point. It was the first public recognition of the extraordinary potential of this young man.

Hburg The State Journal 2 23 1884

The State Journal (Harrisburg PA), 23 February 1884.

In the 1900 census of the 5th Militia District, Chatham County, D.C. Suggs, 35, is listed as a teacher at Georgia State Industrial College [now Savannah State University.]

On 29 September 1902, in Greensboro, Guilford County, North Carolina, Daniel C. Suggs, 36, of Savannah, Georgia, married Mary A. Nocho, 26, of Guilford County.

In the 1910 census of Militia District 5, Chatham County, Georgia: college teacher Daniel C. Suggs, 45, wife Mary A., 33, and daughter Chrystine, 1.

In the 1920 census of Greensboro, Guilford County: at 406 East Market, college president Daniel C. Suggs, 50, wife Mamie A., 42, children Christine, 11, Daniel C., Jr., 8, Beatrice, 6, Frank, 3, and George, 9 months.

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The Roxboro Courier, 31 January 1917.

In the 1930 census of Greensboro, Guilford County: at 406 East Market, Daniel C. Suggs, 58, retired, wife Nora A., 52, and children Christine J., 21, Batrice B., 16, Frank G., 13, and George R., 10.

Daniel Cato Suggs died 23 November 1936 in Greensboro, North Carolina. He was 71 years old.