Plummer

Etta Plummer, doctor woman.

This occupation description in the 1930 census of Wilson caught my eye:

“Doctor woman”?

The full entry: at 1104 Wainwright Avenue, owned and valued at $1000, widow Etta Plumer, 60, doctor woman, and son Samie, 40, oil mill laborer; Lee Palmer, 25, guano plant laborer, and wife Mary, 24, cook.

Other records show that Plummer was a midwife, but this label suggests a broader medical expertise.

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In the 1900 census of Gardners township, Wilson County: farmer William Plummer, 53; wife Etta, 34; and children William Ann, 18, and Samuel, 14.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: city laborer William Plummer, 69, and wife Etta, 50.

In the 1922 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Plummer Etta (c) midwife h 1104 Wainwright Av

William Henry Plummer died 23 February 1925 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 70 years old; was born in Warren County, N.C., to Mary Plummer; was married to Etta Plummer; worked as a common laborer; and lived at 1104 Wainwright. He was buried in “Rountrees Cemetery,” which could have been Rountree or Vick Cemetery.

In the 1925 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Plummer Etta midwife h 1104 Wainwright Av

Etta Plummer died 6 September 1939 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 74 years old; was born in Nash County, N.C., to Sam and Pennie Hilliard; was the widow of William Plummer; lived at 1104 Wainwright; and worked as a midwife. Samuel Plummer was informant. She was buried in Wilson, most likely in Vick Cemetery.

112 North Pender Street.

The sixty-ninth 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 East Wilson Historic District: “ca. 1913; 1 story; unusual L-plan cottage with a cross-hip roof; aluminum sided.”

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 112 Pender Street, Irene Plumber, 50; daughters Christine, 18, and Jennette B. Plumber, 21; mother Agness Barnes, 75; and lodger Lizzie Bryant, 28. All except Barnes were cooks. Bryant was a cook in a cafe; the others, in private homes.

In the 1941 Hill’s Wilson, N,C., City Directory: McCadden Tobias (c; Lorena) h 112 Pender

Photograph by Lisa Y. Henderson, May 2017.