Mercy Hospital

In memoriam: Roxanna Kirby Exum.

Wilson Daily Times, 17 December 2009.

Roxanna Kirby Exum was a nurse at Mercy Hospital from the early 1940s until it closed in 1964.

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In the 1930 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: on property owned and valued at $6000, farmer William Kirby, 45; wife Nannie, 41; and children James D., 19, Freeda M., 20, Elizabeth, 18, Sarah, 15, Roxana E., 13, William H., 11, Queene E., 9, Hobby L., 8, Isaac H., 5, Nettie, 2, and Willie K., 2 month.

In the 1940 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: farmer William Kirby, 55; wife Nannie, 52; children Hobby Lee, 17, Havey Isa, 15, Nettie, 13, Willie K., 13, and Roxia A., 22; niece Lucille Shaw, 18; and lodger Jr. Barnes, 4.

Per their marriage license, Levell Exum and Roxanna Eva Kirby, both 25, were married 7 March 1943 in Johnston County, N.C. Primitive Baptist minister David Bynum lived near Lucama, in Wilson County, however, as did Mamie B. Williamson and David Bynum Jr.

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.