Wilson Daily Times, 22 April 1948.
Mercy Hospital
Early views of Mercy Hospital.
Even when we narrow our focus to a single place, there’s so much out there to discover about it. Here, a postcard I’ve never seen of Wilson Hospital and Tubercular Home (later Mercy Hospital), probably taken circa 1915-1920. It is similar, but not identical, to the Curt Teich postcard in my collection, which I’ve posted below.
I don’t think the images derive from a single shoot, though they clearly were shot within a relatively short timeframe. I cannot identify the nurses, though they may be some of the same women in this photo of hospital staff. If so, my great-great-aunt Henrietta R. Colvert, a native of Statesville, North Carolina, may be among them.
Hat tip to Keith Boykin for the top image.
A “pounding” for Mercy Hospital.
Wilson Daily Times, 5 April 1930.
A “pounding” is Christian tradition in which a congregation gives its new pastor welcoming gifts, i.e. a pound of coffee, sugar, or flour. In April 1930, the community participated in a pounding for Mercy Hospital, supplying much needed food staples, linens, toiletries, and cleaning supplies.
Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.
The death of Robert Smith, prominent farmer.
Mercy Hospital provided critical healthcare not only to African-Americans in Wilson County, but those in surrounding counties as well.
Robert B. Smith, a prominent Black farmer near Walstonburg, Greene County, came to Wilson for treatment of his kidney disease. He died at Mercy on 21 September 1935.
Wilson Daily Times, 2 October 1935.
Rev. Rufus A. Horton performed Smith’s funeral service. Lula Smith of 630 Suggs Street was informant for the death certificate.
Reid writes of “splendid progress” made on hospital and home for tuberculosis patients.
J.D. Reid, principal of the Colored Graded School, was also secretary/treasurer of Wilson Hospital and Tubercular Home (later known as Mercy Hospital) and its chief fundraiser. The institution was meant to encompass two sites — an intown hospital and a “tubercular home” on a farm just outside of Wilson. More about the latter in a future post.
Wilson Daily Times, 9 December 1913.
The greatest event of its kind among Afro-Americans.
Wilson Daily Times, 23 November 1913.
[The land was surely purchased from Dr. Frank S. Hargrave, not W.S., and I intend to figure out exactly where it was.]
[Update, 20 February 2023: actually, per deed, Samuel H. Vick sold the hospital the acreage for $5000 in November 1913. He had purchased it several years earlier.]
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Cancer instruction.
Wilson Daily Times, 6 August 1949.
The Wilson County chapter of the American Cancer Society sent Mercy Hospital nurse Sylvia Daniels to attend a training course in cancer nursing at Durham’s North Carolina College (now North Carolina Central University.)
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Hill’s Wilson, N.C., City Directory (1947).
Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.
Ministers Alliance expresses regrets.
Wilson Daily Times, 6 August 1932.
Benjamin F. Jordan of First Missionary Baptist Church submitted to the paper a tribute to tobacconist R.P. Watson on behalf of the Negro Ministerial Alliance of Wilson. Watson had been a benefactor of Mercy Hospital.
Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.
Funds for the hospital for consumptive negroes.
Wilson Daily Times, 3 March 1915.
In March 1915, a committee of white Wilson residents appealed to the North Carolina General Assembly for annual funds for the Wilson Hospital and Tubercular Home, the precursor to Mercy Hospital.
Tributes to Dr. L.V. Grady.
Wilson Daily Times, 22 February 1936.
After faltering in the 1920s, Wilson’s Black hospital reorganized and reopened as non-profit Mercy Hospital in 1930. Carolina General Hospital’s Dr. Leland V. Grady was instrumental in guiding Mercy’s administrators through the hospital’s earliest years, and William Hines and Camillus L. Darden penned tributes to him at his death.