migration to Illinois

Where did they go?: Illinois death certificates, part 2.
  • Joseph J. Powell

Joseph J. Powell died 14 June 1925 in Chicago, Illinois. Per his death certificate, he was about 55 years old; was born in Wilson, N.C., to Rosie Horton; was an unemployed waiter; and was married to Julia Powell.

In the 1900 census of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois: at 1912 Dearborn Street, hotel waiter Joseph Powell, 30, and wife Julia, 24.

In the 1910 census of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois: at 4717 Dearborn Street, restaurant waiter Joseph Powell, 40, and wife Julia, 30, plus boarders.

  • George Williams

George Williams died 18 December 1938 in Chicago, Illinois. Per his death certificate, he was born in Wilson, N.C.; was single; and was a foundry laborer.

  • Archie Woodard

Archie Woodard died 19 March 1936 in Chicago, Illinois. Per his death certificate, he was born 25 April 1873 in Wilson, N.C., to Marshall Woodard; was married; and worked as a janitor.

  • Addie Wynn

Addie Wynn died 11 December 1919 in Chicago, Illinois. Per her death certificate, she was born 18 November 1889 in Wilson, N.C., to Gid Richardson and Mildred Moore and was married to Ernest Winn.

In the 1900 census of Mannings township, Nash County: Gid Richardson, 44; wife Milbra, 30; and children Joshua, 8, John, 3, and Mary, 5 months.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Mildred Richardson, 37, widow, and daughters Addie, 10, and Gertrude, 8.

On 12 September 1915, Ernest Wynn, 21, of Wilson, married Ada May Richardson, 18, in Wilson. Missionary Baptist minister A.L.E. Weeks performed the ceremony in the presence of J.L. Brooks, Lizzie Whitfield, and Lorena Gregg.

Ernest Richard Wynn was born in Wilson in 1916 to Ernest Wynn and Addie M. Richardson.

Jesse Willard Wynn was born in Wilson in 1917 to Ernest Wynn and Addie M. Richardson.

  • William H. Armstrong

William H. Armstrong died 28 January 1941 in Chicago, Illinois. Per his death certificate, he was born 20 August 1877 in Wilson, N.C., to Jac Armstrong and Elver Sharp; worked as a laborer; was married to Sallie; and was buried in Coahoma, Mississippi.

Mattie L. Robinson died 12 March 1921 in Danville, Vermilion County, Illinois. Per her death certificate, she was born 16 September 1884 in Wilson, N.C., to Henry Ward and Sallie Forbes and was married to J.W. Robinson.

Where did they go?: Illinois death certificates, part 1.

These death certificates suggest that most pre-Great Migration migrants from Wilson County to Chicago had spent a decade or two in Lower Mississippi Valley states.

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  • Nathan Fields

Nathan Fields died 7 June 1929 in Chicago, Illinois. Per his death certificate, he was 63 years old; was born in Wilson, N.C., to Nathan Fields Sr.; worked as laborer; and was buried in Wilson.

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In the 1920 census of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois: at 3857 State Street, Fountain Thurman, 51, apartment janitor, and roomer Nathan P. Fields, 53, packing company laborer.

  • Samuel Ellis

Samuel Ellis died 19 December 1943 in Chicago, Illinois. Per his death certificate, he was about 67 years old; was born in Wilson, N.C., to Wisdom Ellis; was married to Nancy; and worked as a junker.

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On 4 February 1888, Wisdom Ellis, 46, son of Strickmore and Jane Ellis, married Mima Fields, 47, daughter of Rachel Fields, at Wisdom Ellis’ house in Wilson. Free Will Baptist minister Solomon Arrington performed the ceremony.

In the 1940 census of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois: at 4104 Wabash, Samuel Ellis, 64, born in N.C.; wife Nancy, 42, born in Mississippi; and three lodgers.

  • Babe James

Babe James died 16 March 1932 in Chicago, Illinois. Per his death certificate, he was 49 years old; was born in Wilson, N.C., to Berry James; was married to Annie; and worked as a building wrecker.

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In the 1930 census of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois: at 1619 Ashland, owned and valued at $4000, Babe James, 45, born in S.C.; wife Annie, 39, born in Georgia; and children Lurenda, 15, and John, 13, both born in Florida.

  • Ida James

Ida James died 2 August 1927 in Chicago, Illinois. Per her death certificate, she was 37 years old; was born in Wilson, N.C., to Ned and Beedee Scarborough of Wilson; was married to Henry; and was a housewife.

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In the 1870 census of Saratoga township, Wilson County: Ned Scarborough, 23; wife Obedience, 18; and children Rufus, 3, and Ida, 1.

In the 1880 census of Saratoga township, Wilson County: laborer Ned Scarboro, 35; wife Bedie, 27; and children Rufus, 14, Lida, 11, Jinnie, 8, Polly, 6, Martha, 3, and Penny, 1.

  • Arthur Tart

Arthur Tart died 17 December 1928 in Chicago, Illinois. Per her death certificate, she was born 29 June 1891 in Wilson, N.C., to John Tart of Wilson, N.C.; and was married to Carneelia.

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In the 1917, Arthur Tart registered for the World War I draft in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. Per her registration card, he was born 29 July 1892 in Wilson, N.C.; lived in DeQuincy, Louisiana; worked as a brakeman for Gulf Coast Line R.R.; and had a wife and child.

In the 1920 census of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois: at 2558 Park Avenue, Arthur Tart, 28, car shop laborer, born in N.C.; wife Cornelia, 30, sewing, born in Mississippi; and daughter Genieve, 8, born in Mississippi.

Lucile Tart was born 17 September 1921 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, to Arthur Tart, born about 1891, and Cornelia Tart, born about 1890.

Vivian Arthur May Tart was born 23 November 1922 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, to Arthur Tart, born 1889 in Wilson, N.C., and Cornelia Campbell, born 1889 in Jackson, Mississippi.

In the 1930 census of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois: at 2713 Fulton Street, widow Cornelia Tart, 40, and children Geneva, 18, Lucile, 8, Vivian, 7, Arthur, 5, David, 4, and Beatric, 1. The five younger children were born in Illinois.

  • Jessie Taylor

Jessie Taylor died 15 August 1939 in Bremen township, Cook County, Illinois. Per her death certificate, she was born 30 September 1903 in Wilson, N.C., to a father whose last name was Taylor and a mother whose last name was Bailey; and was the widow of a Taylor.

  • Mary Minor

Mary Minor died 4 June 1943 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. Per her death certificate, she was born about 1875 in Wilson, N.C., to Louis Barnes; and was the widow of Mose Minor.

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On 27 April 1897, Mary Lester, 24, married Moses Minor, 27, in Pine Bluff, Jefferson County, Arkansas.

In the 1900 census of Pine Bluff, Jefferson County, Arkansas: fisherman Moses Minor, 33; wife Mary, 28; and son Isom, 7 months.

Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, 13 May 1904.

In the 1920 census of Kimbrough township, Lincoln County, Arkansas: farmer Mose Minor, 55; wife Mary, 48; and children Roberta, 15, Rosa, 10, Mose Jr., 13, and Joseph, 9. All were born in Arkansas except Mary, who was born in North Carolina.

Illinois Deaths and Sillbirths Index 1916-1947, http://www.ancestry.com.

Physician’s house bombed.

In January 1952, in the midst of the N.A.A.C.P.’s push to integrate Cairo, Illinois, schools, the home of Dr. Urbane F. Bass; his wife, Wilson native Mary Della Wilkins Bass; and their four children was rocked by a dynamite blast. No one was injured, but the rear of the house was heavily damaged. The bombing followed burning crosses set as a warning to Black parents seeking to transfer their children to all-white Cairo schools.

Clinton Daily Journal and Public Record, 30 January 1952.

Within days, the police arrested and charged five white men with the crime. A year later, used car salesman Robert Hogan pleaded guilty and received a one-year suspended sentence. Charges against the rest were dismissed.

Other suns: Illinois.

Per available evidence, Wilson County migrants to Illinois landed overwhelmingly in Chicago.

  • Cotton, James A., Chicago, bef. 1900
  • Ward Robinson, Mattie L., Danville (from Tennessee), between 1900 and 1910
  • Ward Artis Biggers Hanks, Minerva, Chicago (from Indianapolis), between 1916 and 1920.
  • Best, Elijah, Chicago, bef. 1920.
  • Bowser, Russell L., Chicago, bef. 1920 (previously Washington, D.C.)
  • Scarborough James, Ida, Chicago, bef. 1927.
  • Bowser, Astor B., Chicago (from White Plains, N.Y.), between 1928 and 1930.
  • Fields, Rupert, Chicago, bef. 1929.
  • Ellis, Samuel, Chicago, bef. 1930.
  • Horn, Thomas, Chicago, bef. 1930.
  • Woodard, James H., Chicago, bef. 1930.
  • James, Babe, Chicago, bef. 1932.
  • Wilkins Bass, Mary Della, Cairo, between 1935 and 1940.
  • Jackson, Joseph S., Chicago, 1939.
  • Hunt, Robert W., Chicago, bef. 1940.
  • Reddick, William, Chicago, bef. 1940.
  • Wilkins Bass, Mary Della, Cairo, bef. 1940.
  • Ayers, Robert, East Saint Louis, bef. 1942.
  • Bynum, Hurel, Chicago, bef. 1942.
  • Bowser, Thomas F., Chicago, bef. 1942.
  • Finley, Nelson, Chicago, bef. 1942.
  • Fulford, Albert, Chicago, bef. 1942.
  • Harper, James, Olive Branch, bef. 1942.
  • Hawkins, Oscar, Chicago, bef. 1942.
  • Jackson, Walter, Chicago, bef. 1942.
  • Joiner, General W., Chicago, bef. 1942.
  • Langston, Farris, Chicago, bef. 1942.
  • Mercer, William, Chicago, bef. 1942.
  • Moore, Alfred, Chicago, bef, 1942.
  • Pitts, William, Chicago, bef. 1942.
  • Taylor, Howard, Champaign, bef. 1942.
  • Watson, William H., Chicago, bef. 1942.
  • Williams, Walter A., Chicago, bef. 1942.

Mattie Ward Robinson of Wilson, N.C.; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Danville, Illinois.

In researching Nora Ward Goens, I discovered her sister Mattie Ward Robinson, who spent her adult life as the wife of a coal miner in east-central Illinois.

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Henry Ward, son of D.G.W. Ward and Sarah Darden, married Sarah Forbes, daughter of Henry Forbes, on 16 June 1870 in Wilson. Rev. L. Moye performed the ceremony at a M.E. Zion church.

In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farm laborer Henry Ward, 21, and wife Sallie, 19, next door to Henry Forbes, 48, domestic servant, wife Louise, 43, children Charles, 15, Georgiana, 21, and John, 21, and Patsey Forbes, 70. [The Forbes family migrated to Indianapolis before 1900. More about them later.]

I have not found the family in the 1880 census.

In the 1900 census of Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee: at 527 High Street, minister Edwin Ward, 44; wife Sallie, 43; and daughters Adelia, 20, seamstress, and Mattie, 16. Edwin and Sallie were described as North Carolina-born; their daughters, Tennessee. [This, presumably, is the family. Nora Goens’ death certificate lists her father as “Rev. Ward.” Mattie’s age is right, though her birthplace is not. Had the family migrated to Nashville directly from Wilson, or did they detour in Indianapolis, where Nora married Eugene Goens in 1894?]

In the 1910 census of Danville, Vermilion County, Illinois: at 216 Clements, coal miner John W. Robinson, 29; wife Mattie, 26; and children Magdelene, 7, Adelia, 4, William, 2, and Eugene, newborn. [I have not found John and Mattie’s marriage license.]

In 1918, John William Robinson registered for the World War I draft in Vermilion County. Per his registration card, he was born 8 April 1886; lived at 216 Clements, Danville; worked as a coal miner at Peabody Coal Company #24, Catlin, Vermilion County; and his nearest relative was wife Mattie Robinson.

Undated photograph of Peabody Coal Mine #24, located between Catlin and Bunsenville, Illinois. Courtesy of Christopher Stratton, “Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Cultural Resource Management Program, Abandoned Mined Lands Reclamation, Cultural Resources Evaluation: U.S. Fuel Company, Bunsenville Mine, Bunsenville, Illinois” (2002).

In the 1920 census of Danville, Vermilion County, Illinois: brickyard laborer John W. Robingson, 38; wife Mattie, 34; and children Magdeline, 14, servant at soldier’s home; Odelia, 12; Eugean, 10, Fay, 5, Dorothy, 3, and Walter, 1.

Mattie L. Robinson died 12 March 1921 in Danville, Vermilion County, Illinois. Per her death certificate, she was born 16 September 1884 in Wilson, N.C., to Henry Ward and Sallie Forbes; was married to J.W. Robinson; and was buried in Springhill Cemetery, Danville.

William Robinson, 23, son of J.W. Robinson and Mattie Ward, married Vivian Thurston, 19, daughter of William Thurston and Anna Logan, on 17 March 1930 in Danville, Illinois.

In the 1930 census of Danville, Vermilion County, Illinois: coal mine laborer John W. Robinson, 49, widower; children Eugene, 20, hotel porter, Fay, 15, Dorothy, 14, and John W., 22, coal miner; daughter-in-law Vivian, 19, restaurant waitress; and daughter Mae M. Rachold, 26, divorced, office building elevator girl.