Parker

Tarrell Parker binds himself.

In 1855, when he was about 18 years old, free man of color Tarrell Parker voluntarily apprenticed himself to Gilbert Parker for six months. What could have driven him to this arrangement?

Know all men by these presents that I Terril Parker of the County  and State aforesaid for and in consideration of the Sum of Fifty Dollars to me in hand paid do bind myself to Gilbert Parker until the first day of January next given under my hand & my seal June 15th 1855    Terril (X) Parker Witness L.J. Sauls

Deed Book 1, page 31, Wilson County Register of Deeds, Wilson.

Teresa Parker’s son.

The 1840 census of Black Creek district, Wayne County (which largely became Black Creek district, Wilson County, in 1855) includes a type of household that may surprise some — white women with mixed race children. Though rare in antebellum Wilson County, such households were not uncommon in neighboring counties like Wayne and Nash.

Teresa Parker was the head of a household that consisted of one white male aged 10-14, one white female aged 30-39, one white female aged 70-79, and 1 free colored male under age 10. Teresa was likely the woman in her 30s. The elder woman was probably her mother or grandmother. The younger boy was Teresa’s son Tarrel W. Parker. The elder boy probably was, too.

Teresa Parker apparently died between 1840 and 1850. Tarrel Parker is not found in 1850, but appears in the 1860 census in Black Creek township as a 23 year-old farm laborer in the household of white farmer Elias Farrell. (The other boy has not been further identified.) Tarrel Parker named his first child, Trecy, born about 1874, after his mother.

Parker sentenced for refusing to go to back of the bus.

News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), 7 April 1943.

Raleigh’s major newspaper followed up on the sentence levied on James Parker, who refused to move to the back of a Wilson bus twelve years before Rosa Parks. All things considered, Parker’s punishment was surprisingly light — perhaps, none yet perceived a real threat to the Jim Crow system.

Ora Renfrow Parker, as imagined.

I am ambivalent about using artificial intelligence to restore photographs. Or, more specifically, I’m concerned about manipulated photographs supplanting original images and further blurring the line between reality and misinformation. However, the allure of AI-enhanced images is strong, as I often contend with blurry, poorly lit photographs in unnatural sepia or black-and-white tones. Photographs whose condition sometimes exacerbates the distance between us and our ancestors.

I have been experimenting with ChatGPT lately, feeding it queries and images to be restored and colorized. The results are somewhat haphazard, with many images weird and off-putting. Other times, the images are breathtakingly sharp and … alive. Black Wide-Awake exists to resurrect forgotten lives, and I believe these images are valuable to help us connect with the men and women we read about in these posts. From time to time, I’ll share the better ones here, clearly marked as AI-generated. Let me know what you think about them.

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Ora Renfrow Parker (1899-??), homemaker.

Vick family and friends take a roadtrip.

The Afro-American (Baltimore, Md.), 25 September 1926.

Samuel H. Vick, his daughter Doris Vick, and Vick’s cousin (whom he informally adopted) Bessie Parker Hargrave drove from North Carolina “North” (probably to New Jersey) with Presbyterian minister and educator Clarence Dillard and Eliza Bass, whom I have not identified further.

Historic Black Business Series, no. 33: Moses Parker, wood dealer.

The 500 block of East Nash Street is justly remembered as the 20th century epicenter of Wilson’s African-American-owned businesses. However, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Black entrepreneurs and tradespeople also operated across the tracks. As Wilson’s downtown experiences a resurgence, let’s rediscover and celebrate these pioneering men and women.

Check in each Sunday for the latest in the Historic Black Business Series!

Moses Parker was a carpenter and wood dealer whose woodyard today would lie under home plate of the Wilson Warbirds baseball stadium, seen under construction above.

Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory (1916).

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, December 2024.

The last will and testament of Andrew Parker.

Andrew Parker executed his last will and testament in May 1923, leaving all his property to his daughter Nancy Parker Locus [Lucas] and her daughter Rose Ella Parker. Parker lived another 12 years and, though he remarried, he apparently did not update his will.

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In the 1900 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farmer James Parker, 39; wife Louisa, 40; children Andrew, 18, Martha Ann, 16, Samuel, 15, Henry, 13, James, 7, Sallie, 5, and Johnny, 2; grandson Charlie Vick, 2; and widowed mother-in-law Cherry Lindsey, 70.

On 5 February 1903, Andrew Parker, 21, of Wilson township, son of James and Louisa Parker, married Conteaster Vick, 25, of Toisnot township, daughter of Payton and Ellen Vick, in Wilson County.

In the 1910 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farm laborer Andrew Parker, 38; wife Lucas T., 26; children Julia A., 14, Nancy, 12, and Sylvester, 10; and brothers Johnie, 12, Joshua, 9, and Alex, 7.

On 7 September 1919, C. Floyd Locus, 21, of Toisnot township, married Nancy Parker, 20, of Toisnot township, in Wilson County. Missionary Baptist minister Elias Lucas performed the ceremony.

In the 1920 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Langley Road, farmer Andrew Parker, 43; wife Leasie, 43; Mary, 17, and Rosey, 4.

Lue C. Parker died 2 March 1922 in Toisnot township, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was 46 years old; was born in Wilson County to Payton Vick and Ellen Vick; and was married to Andrew Parker.

In the 1930 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farmer Andrew Parker, 55; wife Minnie, 33; Rosella, 15, and Catharine B., 12.

In the 1930 census of Bethesda, Maryland: coal yard laborer Floyd Lucas, 30; wife Nancy, 30, cook; children Elsie, 9, and Nanabel, 6; and brother Edward, 18.

Andrew Parker died 26 September 1935 in Toisnot township, Wilson County. Per his death certificate, he was 67 years old; was born in Nash County, N.C., to James Parker and Lucy Lindsey, both of Edgecombe County, N.C.; was married to Minnie Parker; worked as a farmer; and was buried in Wilson.

Wilson Daily Times, 29 October 1935.

The Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 12 January 1948.