quarry hand

Where we worked: Harris Granite Quarry.

We’ve spoken here and here of the granite quarry that operated just west of present-day Sims in far western Wilson County. Especially in its earlier decades, work at the quarry was dirty and dangerous and, unsurprisingly, done mainly by African-American men.

  • James Bagley, stone quarry laborer, 1917
  • Henderson Brown, laborer, 1917
  • Henry Brown, laborer, 1917
  • John Ellison, laborer, 1917
  • Napoleon Ellison, laborer, 1917
  • Tench Eury, laborer, 1917
  • Moses Ferley, laborer, 1917
  • Frank Fox, laborer, 1917
  • Sandy Gaddy, quarry hand, 1917
  • Doty Goins, quarry hand, 1917
  • William Grant, laborer, 1917
  • Floyd Grier, laborer, 1917
  • John Hagans, laborer, 1917
  • Brave Hardie, laborer, 1917
  • Pearson Harris, laborer, 1917
  • Sam Hogans, laborer, 1917
  • K.H. Hughes, laborer, 1917
  • Levi Hutchinson, laborer, 1917
  • Grady Jackson, laborer, 1917
  • Henry Jackson, laborer, 1917
  • Hyman Jackson, laborer, 1917
  • Thomas Jackson, laborer, 1917
  • Will Johnson, laborer, 1917
  • Arthur Jones, quarry hand, 1917
  • Nute Kary, drill laborer, 1917
  • Council Kelly, laborer, 1917
  • Craig Little, laborer, 1919
  • James Logan, quarry hand, 1917
  • Lonnie Mack, laborer, 1917
  • Willie Madison, laborer, 1917
  • Archie McLane, fireman, 1917
  • Florence Perry, laborer, 1917
  • Leonard Perry, laborer, 1917
  • Alfred Pinner, laborer, 1917
  • Smith Poag, laborer, 1917
  • Acie Richardson, laborer, 1917
  • James Roberson, laborer, 1917
  • Lonnie Sanders, quarry hand, 1917
  • Spencer Sanders, laborer, 1917
  • Moses Sawyer, laborer, 1917
  • Arthur Smalls, laborer, 1917
  • Sam Smith, laborer, 1917
  • Clarence Spencer, laborer, 1917
  • Paul Stephens, laborer, 1917
  • Ezell Suratt, laborer, 1917
  • William Thomas, laborer, 1917
  • Wesley Thompson, quarry hand, 1917
  • Henry Valentine, laborer, 1917
  • Hughes Walton, laborer, 1917

Wilmington Morning Star, 17 June 1915.

To answer its labor shortage, the quarry company imported scores of laborers, especially from South Carolina, the home of, among others, the four Jackson brothers listed above. Neverson, however, never became a town, and has disappeared from the map. The quarry, itself, however, remains active.

Google Maps view of Heidelberg Materials Aggregates quarry on Neverson Road today. The town of Sims is just east.