pharmacist

The roots of Mary C. Euell.

Beyond the record of her astounding heroics leading up to the Colored Graded School boycott, Mary C. Euell left little trace of her short time in Wilson.

Mary C. Euell.

A recently discovered clue describes Euell as a native of Washington — presumably, D.C. Other evidence suggests she left teaching, returned briefly to her hometown, then obtained a pharmacy degree and opened a business in Asheville, North Carolina.

Two Mary C. Euells appear in Washington, D.C., census returns in the early twentieth century.  One was born about 1880, most likely in Virginia, to Minnie Euell Gasbea. The other — the one I believe was our Mary C. Euell — was born about 1890, most likely in Washington, to Henry and Mary C. Euell. Here’s what we know about both.

  • Mary C. Euell, hero

Henry Euell married Mary Allen on 12 August 1882 in Washington, D.C.

In the 1910 census of Washington, D.C.: at 1223 Linden Street, Henry Euell, 49, treasury department laborer; wife Mary, 40; children Oliver H., 26, treasury department laborer, Henry C., 22, treasury department laborer, Mary C., 20, and Edgar H., 18; and grandchildren Oliver H., Jr., 18 [sic], and Earnest C., 3.

In the 1914 Washington, D.C., city directory: Euell Mary bds [boards] 909 44th ne [Henry and Edgar Euell were also listed at this address.]

Mary C. Euell’s mother, also named Mary C. Euell, died 1 April 1915.

The Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 1 April 1916.

The 23 September 1917 edition of the Evening Star ran a report on salary increases for federal employees by name. Mary C. Euell received a promotion and raise from printer assistant at $1.75 per diem to operative at $2.00 per diem, plus 25 cents per hour. [This appears to be our Mary C., but if so, she quit the printing bureau gig immediately and moved to Wilson to teach. The slapping incident took place on 1 April 1918, and the boycott began on April 9. Euell wrote to W.E.B. Du Bois on the 22nd and was in court on the 30th. There is no record of her in Wilson after that date.]

The 6 December 1919 edition of the New York Age reported Mary C. Euell as a dinner guest of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Jones on Bly Street. [This may be the other Mary C.]

In the 1920 Washington, D.C., city directory: Euell Mary C opr bu ptg [operator — bureau of printing] r 909 44th ne [Edgar and Henry Euell are also listed at this address.]

Between 1920 and 1925, Euell obtained a degree (or otherwise received training) in pharmacy. A report of successful board examinees listed Euell’s home as Kings Mountain, North Carolina, just west of Charlotte.

Druggists Circular, volume 69 (September, 1925).

Eight months later, as pharmacist in charge, she ran an ad in a Columbia, South Carolina, newspaper for the Enterprise Drug Company — “Get acquainted with our ‘If its not right bring it back’ System.”

Palmetto Leader (Columbia, S.C.), 22 May 1926.

She soon relocated to Asheville, however, where she operated the Southside Pharmacy.

In the 1928 Asheville, N.C., city directory: Euell Mary C (c) Southside Pharmacy h 34 Victoria av. The pharmacy was one of three businesses located at 187 Southside Avenue. (The business is not listed in the 1927 directory.)

Mary C. Euell’s brother Oliver Holmes Euell died 18 May 1928 in Washington, D.C.

The Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 21 May 1928.

On 9 August 1928, Mary C. Euell died in Asheville, Buncombe County. Per her death certificate, she was 35 years old; was single; was born in Washington; and worked at a pharmacy. Informant Nettie Candler, 34 Victoria Avenue, had no information about Euell’s parents. She was buried at South Asheville Cemetery. [Euell apparently had boarded with the Candlers. In the 1930 census, the family was still living at 34 Victoria: shoemaker Wallace Candler, 36, wife Nettie, 34, and daughters Willie A., 8, and Viola, 6. ]

News of her death appeared the next day in an Asheville newspaper. (Who was her “daughter”?)

Asheville Citizen-Times, 10 August 1928.

The Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 11 August 1928.

The Afro-American, 1 September 1928.

Mary C. Euell died without a will, and a public administrator was appointed to handle her affairs.

  • The other Mary C. Euell

The Colored American, 25 November 1899.

In the 1900 census of Washington, D.C.: at 1011 7th Street, widow Missouri Euell, 62; daughter Minnie, 39; sons William, 34, and Moses, 33; daughter-in-law Dora, 25; and grandchildren Mary, 20, Jessee, 19, Missouri, 15, Georgia, 9, Rubie, 5, Annie, 5, and Jerome, 4. All were born in Virginia except Jerome, who was born in D.C.

In the 1910 census of Washington, D.C.: at 405 L Street, S.E., Minnie Euell, 49, cook, and children Mary C., 25, dressmaker, Missouri, 23, Georgia, 18, and Robbie, 14.

In the 1913 Washington, D.C., city directory: Euell Mary C sewing 405 L se [Georgie M., Jesse, Minnie (widow of Richard), and Moses Euell were also listed at this address.

In the 1914 Washington, D.C., city directory: Euell Mary C smstrs bds 405 L se [Georgie M. and Minnie Euell were also at this address.]

In the 1922 Washington, D.C., city directory: Euell Mary C tchr r 410 L se [Ruby Euell was also at this address.]

Minnie Euell Gasbea died 6 November 1927 in her L Street, S.E., home. Her survivors included daughter Mary C. Page.

John Hazely Isler, pharmacist.

Charlotte Observer, 2 February 1960.

——

In the 1900 census of Swift Creek township, Pitt County: Furney Isler, 40, farmer; wife Cynthia, 34; children Francis L., 11, Pearlie M., 8, James W., 7, John H., 2, and Mary A., 1 month; and niece Nancy A. Isler, 25.

On 31 March 1908, in Grifton, Pitt County, Owen L.W. Smith, 56, married Cynthia A. Isler, 43, daughter of Madison and Phyllis King. Smith brought his new wife and her children, including son John Hazely Isler, to live with his family in the Saint John A.M.E. Zion Church parsonage.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: minister Owen W. Smith, 58, wife Lucy [sic] A., 45, son Jessy A. Smith, 27, daughter Carry E. Smith, 10, and step-children John H., 12, and Mary A. Isler, 10.

Isler was listed among Fourth Year High School students in the Biddle University Catalog, 1916-1917. North Carolina Digital Heritage Center.

In 1918, John H. Isler registered for the World War I draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 27 February 1898; lived at 129 Pender Street, Wilson; was a student at Biddle University, Charlotte, N.C.; and his nearest relative was Cynthia Smith, 129 Pender.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 129 Pender Street, Owen L. Smith, 68, wife Cynthia, 55, stepchild Mary E. Isler, roomer John H. Isler, and eight other roomers.

Yorkville (York, S.C.) Enquirer, 31 May 1921.

Though his obituary dates his pharmacy to 1931, ads in the local college newspaper showed Rex Drug Store was operating as early as late 1929.

Charlotte University Student, 1 December 1929.

In the 1930 census of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina: at 310 Alexander Street, Alvira Rudisill, 64, widow; daughters Lillian Rudisill, 32, Joreatha Isler, 28, and Willie M. Rudisill, 26, all teachers; son-in-law John H. Isler, 31; and grandson John H. Isler Jr., 8.

In the 1940 census of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina:at 320 South Alexander Street, widow Elvira Rudisill, 74; daughter Lillian, 40, teacher; son-in-law John H. Isler, pharmacist at Rex Drug Store; grandson John Jr., 18; son-in-law Ruben McKissick, 33, shoemaker at shoe shop; and daughter Willie Mae, 32, teacher.

In 1942, John Hazely Isler registered for the World War II draft in Charlotte, Mecklenburg, North Carolina. Per his registration card, he was born 27 February 1898 in Grifton, N.C.; lived at 320 South Alexander, Charlotte; his contact was Joreatha R. Isler; and he worked at Rex Drug Store, 417 East 2nd, Charlotte.

In the 1950 census of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina: Elvira W. Rudisill, 84; daughter Lillian L., 43; son-in-law John H. Isler, 44; daughter Joreatha J., 42; son-in-law Rheuben McKissick, 40; and daughter Willie, 40.

Charlotte Observer, 5 August 1951.

Dr. John Hazely Isler died 31 January 1960 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Per his death certificate, he was born 27 February 1900 in Grafton, North Carolina, to Ferniet Isler and Cynthia King; was married to Joreatha Rudisill Isler; lived at 1531 Beatties Ford Road; and was a pharmacist at Rex Drug Store.

Dr. Yancey’s defeat.

A recent post revealed pharmacist D’Arcey C. Yancey‘s April 1947 declaration of candidacy for a seat on Wilson’s Board of Aldermen, today’s equivalent of City Council. I had not been aware of Yancey’s political career, and his campaign is not covered in Charles McKinney’s Greater Freedom: The Evolution of the Civil Rights Struggle in Wilson, North Carolina.

The Daily Times made sure, of course, to highlight Yancey’s race, but otherwise made no comment about his extraordinary bid for elected office.

Wilson Daily Times, 4 April 1947.

The campaign season was only weeks long, and the Times wasted little ink covering it. May 6 saw a record turnout at the polls, and the Daily Times announced the results the next day. Yancey had been badly defeated, garnering only 75 votes to incumbent Ed W. Davis’ 348.

My thanks to Matthew Langston for following up on the initial post. 

Who was Dr. F.O. Williston?

——

In the 1900 census of Cross Creek township, Cumberland County: on Grove Street, grocer Frank Williston, 65; wife Henrietta, 60; children Henrietta, 23, James, 20, and Oliver, 18; grandchildren Hattie, 13, and Edwin Perry, 15; and boarders Mary, 28, and James Pearce, 44.

The 15 November 1902 issue of the Wilmington Messenger announced that F.O. Williston had been granted a license by the state board of pharmacy.

Dr. Frank Oliver Williston married Doane Battle, daughter of Charles and Leah Hargrove Battle, in Wilson on 17 December 1905.

In the 1910 census of Salisbury, Rowan County: at 926 Horah Street, Frank O. Williston, 28, drugstore pharmacist; wife Doane B., 23, teacher; and daughter Leah H.E., 3.

On 22 March 1913, the Salisbury Evening Post published a report that a “Salisbury negro, Dr. F.O. Williston, is seeking the appointment as minister of the United States to Liberia ….” “Provided a colored man is to be named,” Williston had the endorsement of Navy Secretary Josephus Daniel, formerly of Wilson, and other leading state North Carolina Democrats, as well as the National Colored Democratic League. The article noted that Williston was recently returned from the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson in Washington, D.C., where he had been received in the West Wing by the president himself. Both Williston and David Bryant, another African-American who accompanied him, had been as children servants of Wilson’s father when the family lived in Wilmington, North Carolina. Williston, 32, was a native of Cumberland County; a graduate of “the A.&M. college” in Greensboro and Shaw University in Raleigh; was a chemistry professor at Livingstone; and operated a pharmacy in Salisbury.

Four days later, Williston’s hometown newspaper, the Fayetteville Weekly Observer, ran a piece on Williston’s bid for the Consul General position, noting that “Dr. Williston is born and bred in Fayetteville, and is well known and esteemed here. He is of a prominent family of colored people, being the youngest son of the late Frank P. Williston and the brother of J.T. Williston, druggist and F.D. Williston, grocer and farmer.” Pointedly, the article further noted that the “statement that Dr. Williston was a servant of President Wilson’s father, the Presbyterian minister, when he lived in Wilmington, is incorrect.”

Greensboro Daily News, 29 April 1916.

The following year, Williston offered to raise a regiment of African-American troops to aid the war effort.

Salisbury Evening Post, 22 March 1917.

Frank Oliver Williston registered for the World War I draft in Salisbury in 1918. Per his registration card, he was born 22 May 1881; resided at 409 South Caldwell Street, Salisbury; worked as a janitor in the U.S. Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.; and his nearest relative was Mrs. Doane B. Williston. He was described as having dark gray eyes and dark brown hair, of medium height and stout.

In the 1920 census of Salisbury, Rowan County: at 419 South Caldwell, Frank O. Williston, 38, wife Doane, 33, and daughters Henrietta, 13, Inez, 8, and Dorothy, 6.

In the 1930 census of Washington, D.C.: at 1110 Fairmont Street, owned and valued at $11,000, drugstore pharmacist Frank O. Williston, 49; wife Doane, 41; daughters Inez, 18, and Fan, 16; and roomer Weldon Phillips,, 38, a contractor for a private company.

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1110 Fairmont Street N.E., Washington, D.C.

Baltimore Afro-American, 3 October 1936.

In the 1940 census of Washington, D.C.: at 1222 Jackson Street, owned and valued at $4000, Frank O. Williston, 58; wife Doane B., 54, file clerk at F.H.A. [this appears to be an erroneous entry meant for her husband]; and daughter Dorthy F., 26.

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1222 Jackson Street, N.E., Washington, D.C.

In 1942, Frank Oliver Williston registered for the World War II draft in Washington, D.C. Per his registration card, he was born 22 May 1881 in Fayetteville, North Carolina; resided at 1222 Jackson; worked for the U.S. government in the Federal Housing Administration; and his contact was Mrs. Doane Williston.

Excerpts from African Americans and the New Deal, http://www.fdrlibraryvirtualtour.org/graphics/05-20/5-20-NewDeal_confront_pdf.pdf.

913 East Green Street.

The fourteenth in a series of posts highlighting buildings in East Wilson Historic District, a national historic district located in Wilson, North Carolina. As originally approved, the district encompasses 858 contributing buildings and two contributing structures in a historically African-American section of Wilson. (A significant number have since been lost.) The district was developed between about 1890 to 1940 and includes notable examples of Queen Anne, Bungalow/American Craftsman, and Shotgun-style architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

As described in the nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District: “ca. 1930; 1 1/2 stories; Darcey Yancey House; bungalow with engaged porch; Yancey was a druggist.”

In the 1908 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory, Dr. Darcey C. Yancy, proprietor of Ideal Pharmacy, was listed as a boarder at Union Hotel.

Darcey C. Yancey, 28, of Danville, Virginia, son of W.A. and F.S. Yancey, married Lelia Beatrice Ireland, 25, of Guilford County, North Carolina, on 14 September 1910 in Sedalia, North Carolina. One of the witnesses to the ceremony was Charlotte E. Hawkins, later Charlotte Hawkins Brown, who founded what would become Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia in 1902. Lelia Ireland, a graduate of Scotia Seminary, was the first teacher Hawkins Brown hired.

8 24 1917

Wilson Times, 24 August 1917.

Darcy Cecil Yancey registered for the World War I draft in Wilson on 12 September 1918. Per his registration card, he was born 10 February 1883; resided at 547 East Nash Street; worked for himself as a druggist at 546 East Nash; and his nearest relative was Lelia B. Yancey.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: residing at 547 Nash Street, Darcy C. Yancey, 37, manager at drug store, and wife Lelia B., 32.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 538 East Nash Street, druggist Darcy C. Yancey, 46, wife Lelia B., 40, and daughter Maude, 9.

Also in 1930 census of Wilson, the enumerator found four young single women at 913 East Green Street: Minnesota-born Ruth A. Brown, 23, North Carolina-born Annie Wilson, 25, and Lucile Wynn, 22, and Washington, D.C.-born Bessie Davis, 28, all teachers, paying a total of $25/month in rent. The house, in effect, was a teacherage for Wilson Colored High School, which sat right across Carroll Street.

Intersection of Green and Carroll, Sanborn insurance map, 1930.

At some point in the 1930s, the Yanceys purchased 913 East Green and left their rented digs on Nash Street across from the pharmacy. The 1941 Hill’s city directory lists Darcey C. and Lelia B. Yancey’s residence as 913 East Green, and Yancey’s Drug Store at 563 East Nash.

D’arcey Yancey died 12 April 1957 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 14 February 18983 in Danville, Virginia, to William Alexander Yancey and Florence E. Stewart; resided at 913 East Green Street; and worked as a druggist. Wife Lelia B. Yancey was informant.

Lelia Beatrice Yancey died 4 June 1983 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Per her death certificate, she was born 14 May 1889 to unknown parents; was the widow of D’arsey C. Yancey; and was a retired superintendent of elementary schools. She was buried with her husband at Rest Haven cemetery in Wilson.

Photograph taken by Lisa Y. Henderson, February 2017.

He led the class.

Wm. Henry Vick, a young colored man, who acquitted himself so creditable in the pharmaceutical examination at Shaw University last spring, passed an examination before the State Pharmaceutical Association of New Jersey, leading in a class of 44. Vick was the only colored man in the 44.  — Wilson Times, 3 September 1897.