migration to Pennsylvania

The obituary of Isaac Kirby of Camden, New Jersey.

Courier-Post (Camden, N.J.), 2 November 1959.

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In the 1900 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: farmer Isaac S. Kirby, 58; wife Mary, 54; and sons Leroy A., 21, William, 14, and Isaac R., 13.

In the 1910 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: farmer William Kirby, 23; wife Nannie, 20; daughter Fredie M., 5 months; mother Mary, 66, widow; boarder [and brother] Leroy, 32; and brother Ransom, 23.

In 1918, Ransome Kirby registered for the World War I draft in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Per his registration card, he was born 7 April 1882; lived at “Penn RR Camp,” Butler and Sepviva Streets, Philadelphia; worked as a cook for Pennsylvania Railroad; and his nearest relative was Mary Kirby, Kenly, N.C.

In 1926, Ransome Kirby and Albert Jones married in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In late 1926, Ransom Kirby’s barbershop was one of eleven homes and businesses raided by Camden police looking for illegal alcohol. He was later acquitted of the charge.

The Courier (Camden, N.J.), 1 December 1926.

In the 1929 Camden, New Jersey, city directory:

In the 1930 census of Lawnside, Camden County, New Jersey: Clarence [sic] Kirby, 40, barber, born in N.C.; wife Alberta, 37, born in Virginia; and son Eugene, 2, born in Pennsylvania.

In the 1940 census of Woodbury, Gloucester County, New Jersey: at 444 South Broad, barber Ramson H. Kirby, 53, and son Eugene, 2.

In 1942, Isaac Ransome Kirby registered for the World War II draft in Gloucester County, New Jersey. Per his registration card, he was born 7 April 1887 in Kenly, N.C.; lived at 438 Mantua Avenue, Woodbury, Gloucester County; his contact was William Kirby, R.F.D. #3, Kenly; and he was self-employed at 438 Mantua Avenue.

In the 1950 census of Woodbury, Gloucester County, New Jersey: widower Isaac Kirby, 60, barbershop proprietor.

The obituary of Roscoe Johnson of Williamstown, New Jersey.

Delaware County Daily Times (Chester, Pa.), 30 August 1955.

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In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: day laborer Hardy Johnson, 33; wife Martha, 31; and children Jessee B., 10, Pauline, 7, Saniga, 5, Roscoe, 3, Herbert, 2, and Johnny G., 5 months.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: railroad laborer Hardy Johnson, 48; wife Martha, 40; and children Pauline, 17, market laborer, Thomas, 15, Rosco, 13, Hermon, 11, Jonnie, 10, Alford, 8, Joseph, 6, Annie L., 4, Hardy, 2, and Maggie L., 5 months.

In 1918, Roscoe May Johnston registered for the World War I draft in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Per his registration card, he was born 23 September 1898; lived at 2800 Webster, Pittsburgh; his nearest relative was Martha Johnson, 623 Green Street Wilson; and he worked as a laborer for Jones Laughlin Company, Pittsburgh.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 634 Green, Hardy Johnson, 50, foreman at electric light house; wife Martha, 48; and children Sidney, 20, laborer for barber; Roscoe, 23, John, 18, barber, Alfred, 18, Josey, 15, Annie Lee, 13, Hardey, 11, Russell, 8, and Martha, 4; plus lodger James Small, 22, barber.

On 24 October 1921, Roscoe Johnson, 23, barber, born in Wilson, North Carolina, to Hardy and Martha Johnson, married Virginia Marie Price (also known as Marie Virginia Price, 21, born in Baltimore, Maryland, to L.L. and Lucy Amer Price, in Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware.

In the 1930 census of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania: at 251 Hobart Street, owned and valued at $4500, barber Roscoe Johnson, 30; wife Marie, 28; and children Doris, 8, Roscoe, 7, Lloyd, 5, Marian, 2, and Gloria, 1. Marie was born in Maryland; the children, in Pennsylvania.

In the 1940 census of Williamstown, Gloucester County, New Jersey: now renting, construction laborer Roscoe Johnson, 40; wife Marie, 40; and children Doris, 18, Roscoe Jr., 17, Lloyd, 16, Marion, 12, Gloria, 11, William, 10, Barbara, 7, Smith, 6, Elaine and Eleanor, 5, Donald, 4, John, 2, and Shirley, 1.

In 1942, Roscoe Johnson registered for the World War II draft in Williamstown, Gloucester County, New Jersey. Per his registration card, he was born 23 July 1899 in Wilson, N.C.; lived on Glassboro Road, Williamstown; was a self-employed farmer; and his contact was Marie Johnson.

In the 1950 census of Williamstown, Gloucester County, New Jersey: on Glasstown Road, Roscoe Johnson, 51, oil refinery laborer; wife Marie, 50; and children Marion, 22, hotel domestic, William 19, Smitty, 18, laborer on family’s farm, Elaine and Eleanor, 15, Shirley, 10, Catherine, 7, Barbara, 18, Donald, 14, and John, 13.

The obituary of Fletcher Pierce of Greencastle, Pennsylvania.

Public Opinion (Chambersburg, Penna.), 18 April 1952.

Public Opinion (Chambersburg, Penna.), 19 April 1952.

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This is not the Fletcher F. Pierce who left Wilson to settle in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Also, there is conflicting evidence of this Fletcher Pierce‘s birthplace. His draft registrations show Franklin County, North Carolina, but his death certificate and obituary list Wilson, North Carolina.

In 1917, Fletcher Pearce registered for the World War I draft in New Britain, Connecticut. Per his registration card, he was born 5 February 1890 in Franklin, North Carolina lived at 60 Chestnut, New Britain; and worked as a chauffeur for F.P. Upson.

In the 1920 census of New Britain, Hartford County, Connecticut: Fletcher Pierce, 29, chauffeur, born in N.C.; wife Para, 35, born in Virginia; children Suzie, 2, and Clara, 5 months; and brothers Sam, 36, and Bethel Pierce, 32, both machinists in a hardware factory.

In the 1930 census of Manhattan, New York County, New York: on Saint Nicholas Place, Fletcher Pierce, 41, trucking chauffeur, and wife Elizabeth, 42.

In 1942, Fletcher Pierce registered for the World War II draft in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. Per his registration card, he was born 5 February 1889 in Franklinton, North Carolina; was married to Elizabeth Pierce; lived at R.D. #1, Clark’s Summit; and worked for John L. Ryan.

Fletcher Pierce died 18 April 1952 in Greencastle, Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Per his death certificate, he was born 5 February 1889 in Wilson, N.C., to Allen and Mary Jane Pierce; was married; lived at 36 West Franklin Street, Greencastle; worked as a laborer in a machine shop; and was buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery.

Seeking?

Baltimore Afro-American, 14 July 1928.

This is a confounding notice. A Pittsburgh man, W.P. Duke, placed it in a Baltimore newspaper to find Mrs. Ella (Ellen?) M. Pridgeon, who was formerly Hattie Barnes of Wilson and who once lived with her sister Mrs. F.O. Pridgeon of Cleveland.

Mrs. F.O. Pridgeon was Louise Johnson Pridgeon, wife of Frank O. Pridgeon, and the first African-American woman to practice law in Cleveland. She was born in Gallipolis, Ohio, in 1891 to Joseph and Mary Ferguson Johnson, both born in Ohio, and I have seen no evidence that she had a sister named Hattie or Ella/Ellen.

The only Ella Pridgeon I have found is Sarah Ellen “Ella” Pridgeon, daughter of  (1867-1945), daughter of Baltimore jeweler Johnson Pridgeon and wife Rebecca, all of whom were white. Ella was a prominent teacher in Baltimore.

My research suggested that W.P. Duke was Willie or William P. Duke, a Southern-born shoeshiner and laborer, who migrated to Pittsburgh prior to 1920. He is listed as single in census records and city directories, but a “Mr. and Mrs. W.P. Duke” appear in Pittsburgh Courier’s society columns in 1925, 1932 (when the Pridgeons were guests), and 1933 (when they celebrated their 11th anniversary with a “sumptuous repast” for high-toned guests.) A 1926 Courier piece, however, refers to “W. Duke Pridgeon” of Pittsburgh receiving a visit from his brother Frank O. Pridgeon of Cleveland. Et voila!

William Duke Pridgeon died 28 May 1933 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Per his death certificate, he was born 2 February 1887 in Wilson, North Carolina, to unknown parents; was married to Flora Duke Pridgeon; worked as a porter; lived at 5643 Harvard Street; and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery.

With this, things began to fall into place. Sort of.

William and Frank O. Pridgeon’s parents were William and Sylvia Harris Pridgen of Nash County, North Carolina. By 1898, Frank had moved to Wilson, where he married Addie (not Hattie) Barnes — whose parents I have not identified. The couple soon migrated to Baltimore, Maryland, and, within a few years, to Cleveland, Ohio. The couple had no children and divorced before 1912. Frank Pridgeon married three more times.

It appears, then, that W.P. Duke was trying to find his brother’s first wife, Addie Barnes Pridgeon. But why did he call her Ella Pridgeon? And describe her as the sister of Louise J. Pridgeon? And why did William Pridgen call himself W.P. Duke?

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In the 1880 census of Nashville township, Nash County, North Carolina: William Pridgen, 36; wife Sylvia, 34; children J.S., 9, M.A., 6, Frank O., 4, and Wm. C., 1; mother Celia Harris, 54, washerwoman; daughter Fannie, 20; and sister-in-law Mary, 12. [Next door: Matthew Harris, 24, and his wife Tempie, 16. Matthew Harris was Sylvia Harris Pridgeon’s brother; their parents were Solomon and Celia Harris.]

On 22 May 1898, F.O. Pridgen, 22, of Wilson, married Addie Barnes, 18, of Wilson, in the Town of Wilson. Missionary Baptist minister W.M. Strickland performed the ceremony in the presence of Richard Renfrow, Victory Renfrow, and Harriet Knight. [Richard Renfrow was a barber and may have taught Pridgeon his trade.]

In the 1900 census of Baltimore, Baltimore County, Maryland: boarders Addie, 19, Frank, 24, barber, and Annie Pridgen, 13, all born in N.C.

In the 1904 Cleveland, Ohio, city directory: Pridgeon Frank O barber r 1172 Payne av

On 15 August 1912, Frank A. Pridgeon, 30, born in North Carolina to Wm. Pridgeon and Sylvia Harris, barber, married Elizabeth B. Ramsey, 24, born in Nashville, Tennessee, to William Ramsey and Anna White, in Cleveland. Both reported having been divorced once.

On 9 March 1915, Frank O. Pridgeon, 39, son of William Pridgeon and Silvia Harris, born in Wilson, N.C., married Louise J. Ogilvie, 24, daughter of Joseph Johnson and Mary Ferguson, born in Gallipolis, Ohio, in Cleveland, Ohio. Both had been divorced in 1914.

In 1918, Frank Oliver Pridgeon registered for the World War I draft in Cleveland, Ohio. Per his registration card, he was born 5 September 1875; lived at 2378 East 85th; worked as a barber for George S. Meyer, Hollander Hotel; and his contact was Mrs. Louis[e] Pridgeon.

In the 1920 census of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: at 49 Crawford Street, Wm. P. Duke, 32, roomer, shoeshiner, born in North Carolina.

In the 1920 census of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio: at 2378 East 85th, Frank Pirdgeon, 43, barber, and wife Louise, 28, social worker at police station.

In the 1929 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, city directory: Duke Wm P shoe shiner East End Shoe Hospital h 5813 Harvard

In the 1930 census of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: at 5813 Harvard Street, William P. Duke, 50, lodger, construction laborer, born in Virginia.

In the 1930 census of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio: at 2319 East Eighty-fifth Street, owned and valued at $8000, Frank O. Pridgeon, 55, barber, born in N.C.; wife Louise, 39, attorney, born in Ohio; brother-in-law Hobert Johnson, 31, barber; sister-in-law Nannie H. Johnson, 27, enumerator; nephew Joseph, 3; brother-in-law James H. Johnson, 37, barber; and father-in-law Joseph Johnson, 71.

Louise Johnson Pridgeon died 18 July 1932.

Pittsburgh Courier, 22 October 1932.

On 18 December 1935, Frank O. Pridgeon, 45, born in Wilson, N.C. to William Pridgeon and Sylvia Harris, married Inez Branch, 30, born in Rome, Georgia, to Ernest Collins and Mary Jones, in Cleveland. Pridgeon reported that his first two marriages had ended in divorce (in 1913 and 1914) and his third in death.

In the 1940 census of Cleveland, Cuyahoga township, Ohio: at 2521 East 83rd, barber Frank O. Pridgeon, 65; wife Inez, 36; and roomer Grant Russell, 55, auto mechanic.

Frank O. Pridgeon died 9 January 1941 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Studio shots, no. 233: Linwood Lucas.

Linwood “Hawk” Lucas (1909-1972).

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In the 1920 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: farmer Edward Locus, 37; wife Cora, 27; and children Linwood, 10, Maggie, 9, Beulah, 8, Winnie, 6, Chicken, 4, Delphy, 3, John Ed., 1, and Quinton, 6 months.

In the 1930 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: farmer Ed Locus, 47; wife Cora, 35; and children Linward, 20, Maggie, 19, Ula, 18, Winnie, 17, Alma, 16, Redelpha, 13, John E., 11, Clinton, 10, Kenny, 9, Josephine, 7, Easter, 5, Louise, 4, Frank, 3, and Nancy, an infant.

On 17 March 1934, Lenwood Lucas, 24, of Wilson County, son of Ed and Cora Lucas, married Minnie Whitaker, 18, of Wilson County, daughter of Jim and Basoria Whitaker, in Nashville, Nash County, N.C.

In the 1940 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: farmer Lenard Locus, 30; wife Minnie, 23; and sons Edward, 5, Cleveland, 3, and Limeon [Leamon], 1.

In 1940, Linwood “Hawk” Lucas registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 7 August 1909 in Nash County, N.C.; his contact was Minnie Whitaker Lucas; and he worked for Edd Lucas, Wilson.

Minnie Lucas died 14 June 1942 in Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was born 20 August 1917 in Edgecombe County, N.C., to Bazora Atkinson; was married to Linwood Lucas; worked in farming; and was buried in a family cemetery.

Linwood Lucas died in 1972 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Photo courtesy of Europe A. Farmer, Free in a Slave Society: The Lucas/Locus Family of Virginia and North Carolina (2006).

The death of Julius Finch of Whitaker, Pennsylvania.

In the 1940 census of Whitaker township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: Julius Finch, 34, W.P.A. worker, born in North Carolina, and wife Emily, 28, born in Georgia.

In 1942, Julius Finch registered for the World War II draft in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Per his registration card, he was born in Wilson, North Carolina; his contact was Emily Finch; and he worked for the Eighth Street Foundry in Braddock, Pennsylvania.

In the 1950 census of Whitaker, Allegheny township, Pennsylvania: at 1214 River Road, upstairs, Julius Finch, 55, supplyman at electrical appliance manufacturer, and wife Emily C., 39.

Pittsburgh Press, 10 December 1974.

Per his application for military headstone, Julius Finch was buried in Homewood Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was born in 1895 and died in 1974 and served as a private in the United States Army during World War I.

Other suns: Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia was the site of my closest personal connections to the Great Migration. In the 1940s and ’50s, my father’s brothers and then his mother left Wilson for Philly, and every summer we hit the highway for a week or so at my grandmother’s house on Wyalusing Avenue. Her block was filled with migrants from Georgia and North Carolina and Virginia, and her broader social circle included relatives who had settled in other parts of the city. 

(I lived in Philadelphia for a few years in the 1990s, in both West Philly and Germantown. By then, many of the first generation of Southern migrants had passed on, but their legacy is firm. The fourth generation of my eldest uncle’s offspring is growing up in North Philadelphia right now.)

Pennsylvania’s plethora of on-line records makes for easy documentation of a long list of Wilson County natives who sought new lives in the Keystone State. Not surprisingly, almost all landed in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh or their suburbs.

Hattie Henderson Ricks and husband Jonah C. Ricks, a Nash County, N.C., native, on the porch of their home at 5549 Wyalusing Avenue in West Philadelphia, late 1950s.

Confession.

In February 1938, glorified gossip columnist John G. Thomas penned a column about the guilt-soaked confession of William Mercer, who had killed Wade Farmer in the summer of 1921, then fled the state. Mercer had joined a church in his adopted home of Coatesville, Pennsylvania, and his conscience preyed on him as he stood in the choir stand.

Wilson Daily Times, 25 February 1938.

The details are difficult to pin down. When the Daily Times article broke the story of William Mercer, alias Green, on 21 February 1938, it quoted B.E. Howard, the sheriff at the time of the murder, who admitted he could barely recall the details of the incident — had the victim had been shot or stabbed? — though he thought it occurred after a “negro dance or frolic.” On the other hand, the 27 February Raleigh News and Observer reported that an argument had broken out at a church gathering, and Farmer “got in the road” of a bullet fired from Mercer’s gun.

Wade Farmer’s death certificate does not shed much light:

Per the document, Wade Farmer of Macclesfield died in Gardners township near Wilbanks in May 1922.  He was 22 years old, married to Minnie Farmer, and farmed for Essex Webb, who could provide no information about his parents. The medical certification section is so faded as to be almost unreadable, except for “198,” which was the code for “homicide by cutting or piercing instrument.” The place and date of burial and undertaker fields are similarly washed out, and the registrar did not sign it until 3 January 1923.

On 5 March 1938, the Daily Times reported that Mercer had pled guilty to Farmer’s murder, and a judge had sentenced the 42 year-old to one and-a-half to three years, saying he had been merciful because Mercer had given himself up voluntarily.

But had he really?

Wilson Times, 7 September 1934.

Just four years before Mercer’s “confession,” around the time he claimed he had gotten religion, the Times reported that he had been indicted for Wade Farmer’s May 1922 murder and was to be extradited from New Jersey. Mercer had been arrested in Bridgeton, New Jersey, forty miles south of Philadelphia.

Why, then, the framing of Mercer’s come-to-Jesus moment as the astonishing re-appearance after 17 years of a man who’d gone underground for a crime barely remembered? 

Well, in part, because the man arrested in New Jersey in 1934 and hauled back to Wilson was not William Mercer. Rather, he was Ben Faison, originally of Faison, North Carolina. Though an informant positively identified the man as Mercer, several others who “looked him over” said he was not. On 21 September, the Daily Times informed its readers that Wilson police nonetheless would hold Faison until they were satisfied of his identity. 

So, while law enforcement had never forgotten Farmer’s murder, Mercer’s apprehension was entirely the result of his own doing. He had made an apparently upstanding life for himself in Pennsylvania and had completely cut ties with Wilson in order to do so. When his mother Fannie Mercer visited him at the Wilson County jail, it was the first time she had seen her son in 17 years.

News and Observer, 27 February 1938.

Studio shots, no. 151: Matilda Roberts Battle.

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Matilda Roberts Battle (1902-1954).

In the 1910 census of Suffolk, Virginia: furniture salesman W.M. Roberts, 37; wife Sally, 32; and children Leroy, 12, Matilda, 7, Sally A., 4, and Bessie May, 2, all born in North Carolina.

In the 1920 census of Suffolk, Virginia: William Roberts, 46, furniture salesman; wife Sallie, 40; and children Sallie Jr., 15, Leroy, 21, Matilda, 17, Bessie M., 12, Elizabeth, 9, Annie L., 4, and Rebecca F., 1. All the children after Matilda were born in Virginia.

In the 1930 census of Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania: at 222 Plum, rented for $25/month, sewer pitman Wesley C. Battle, 27, restaurant porter; wife Matilda, 27; and four lodgers.

In the 1940 census of Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania: sewer pitman Wesley Battle, 37; wife Matilda, 37; and children Alice, 10, James, 8, Evelyn, 7, Bessie, 3, and Sarah F., 1; and lodger John Majet, 43, roadwork laborer.

Matilda Battle died 28 April 1954 in Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania. Per her death certificate, she was born 29 August 1902 in Wilson, N.C., to William Roberts and Sallie Kaytes; was married; lived at 362 Tulpehocken Street, Reading; and Bessie James was informant.

Photo courtesy of Beverly Hines-Wright.