real estate

Notice of tax sales in Lucama and Elm City.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 5 November 1948.

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  • Edward Dew — in the 1950 census of Lucama, Cross Roads township, Wilson County: truck driver Edward N. Dew, 33; wife Omida, 31; and children Charlie, 14, John E., 11, Daniel L., 9, Jaicile, 7, Cora B., 5, and Hester, 3.
  • Mabel Ellis
  • William T. Armstrong — probably, in the 1940 census of Rocky Mount, Edgecombe County, N.C.: William T. Armstrong, 65, blacksmith helper in railroad shop; wife Lucy, 53; and daughter Mildred, 10.
  • Wiley Barnes
  • Willie Cooper Sr. — probably, in the 1940 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: Willie Cooper, 49; wife Georgianna, 26; adopted daughter Nellie Moss, 14; and lodger George Saunders, 18.
  • Mary and Duffie Chisel — in the 1950 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Branch Street, Duffie Chisel, 46, lumber mill helper; wife Mary, 41; daughter Lossie Artis, 17.
  • Walter R. Lucas — in the 1940 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: widower Will Lucas, 67, clothes presser at Star Cleaners; son Walter, 50, clothes presser at Star Cleaners; and grandson Cleveland Anderson, 21, farm laborer.
  • Will Lucas — see above.

Deans vs. the Jones heirs: the peril of heir property, illustrated.

A lawsuit P.B. Deans filed against the heirs of Willis Jones illustrates the peril of heir property. Jones died without a will, leaving his land to pass collectively to his many children. Five sons — Noel, Henry, Alexander, Willis K., and Payton Jones — sold their one-tenth shares to Patrick B. Deans, a white farmer on the climb. With a claim to half the total shares, Deans successfully petitioned Wilson County Superior Court to force the sale of the property — and push any remaining Joneses off the land.

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P.B. Deans vs. Shade Jones; Essick Barnes & wife Thany Barnes; Kingsbury Taylor & wife Charity Taylor; Josiah Jones; the heirs at law of Jacob Jones, to wit John Harry Jones, Jesse Jones & wife Eliza; Joseph Powell & wife Charity; Stephen Jones’ heirs, to wit Tempsie Ann, Susan & Maggie; Nathan Jones & wife Diana; Millie Ann, Nancy, and Josiah Jones Jr.

North Carolina, Wilson County} In the Superior Court

To the Honorable, the Superior Court,  The petition of P.B. Deans respectfully showeth unto the court that he with the defendants are tenants in common of a tract of land in Old Fields township County and state aforesaid adjoining the land of the late Gray Lodge, H.J. Deans, Stephen Deans, Mary E. Deans, and B.G. Simpson known as the Thaney Jones land containing the 99 acres more or less

That by reason of the purchase of and the shares of Noel Jones, Henry Jones, Alex Jones, W.K. Jones, and P.A. Jones, he is entitled to 5/10 of said land and the defendants to the other 5/10

That by reason of the seize and situation of the said land and the and the number of shares into which it is to be divided actual partition cannot be made without injury to some of those entitled to share in the same except by sale

That of Jacob Jones’ children, Nancy, Milly and Josiah are infants; and Susan, Tempie and Maggie Jones, children of Stephen Thomas Jones, without any Guardian. That Josiah Jones is resident of South Carolina when last heard from and Kingsberry Taylor and wife Charity are residents of the state of Indiana when last heard from.

The petition therefore prays the Court to appoint a suitable person Guardian ad litem for the infant defendants named to plead answer on demur to the complaint in their behalf and that service be made upon the non residents by publication and for order of sale to me made by a commission to be appointed by the court authorized and empowered to sell convey and distribute proceeds according a further order.

And as in duty bound &c, Geo. W. Blount for Plaintiff   Jul 3 1883

Wilson [County, North Carolina] Probate Estate Case Files 1854-1899, http://www.familysearch.org

The Vicks sell two lots to Woodard Brothers.

Wilson Daily Times, 15 November 1910.

In 1910, Samuel and Annie Vick sold two downtown lots to Woodard Brothers, a tobacco firm. Tobacco was laying golden eggs in Wilson, and real estate in the emerging central business district sold at a premium.

South and Spring Streets, detail from Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Wilson, North Carolina, 1908. Woodard Brothers Prize House Number 2 stands in the middle of the block.

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In the 1870 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Anna Scarborough, 35; children John, 17, and Louisa, 14; and Henry Blackman, 19, teaching school.

In the 1880 census of Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina: butler Weldon Perrington, 27; wife Louise, 23; and daughter Ardena, 2.

In the 1900 census of Fork township, Wayne County, N.C.: at the State Hospital, Lou Perrington, 41.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 614 Gold Street, widow Louise Perrington, 48; daughters Annie, 22, and Omma, 23, both cooks; son John, 17; and grandchildren John, 2, and Virginia Glastor, 4.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 324 South Spring, barber Morris Ellis, 35; children Ameta, 14, Morris Jr., 5, and Linnai, 2; widowed mother-in-law Louise Perrington, 62, and granddaughter Inez, 14.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 706 East Nash Street, Louise Perrington, 73, private nurse; grandsons Cornelius, 5, and Morris Ellis, 6; and roomer William L. Gardner, 25, servant.

Louisa Virginia Perrington died 26 January 1936 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 1 April 1857 in Wilson County to Sylvester Scarboro and Annie Adams; was the widow of Weldon Perrington; and lived at 702 East Nash. Annie Marshall was informant.

Mahala Artis’ property.

Mahala Artis lived in a house on Goldsboro Street, owned by George H. and Elizabeth P. Griffin. After Griffin died in 1881, and the property went into default, trustee H.G. Connor advertised it and Griffin’s carriage and wagon factory for sale.

Wilson Advance, 21 December 1883.

Eleven years later, Artis’ own property was advertised for sale for non-payment of taxes.  Artis was on her way out of Wilson, however, and in 1899 sold her lot at the corner of Green and Pender Streets to Samuel H. Vick.

Wilson Advance, 22 March 1894.

Vick is land-poor.

Baltimore Afro-American, 9 May 1931.

We have seen that on a single day in 1935, during the depths of the Great Depression, Samuel and Annie Washington Vick lost nearly all their real property to, in essence, foreclosure. This article in the Baltimore Afro-American, which carries a faint whiff of schadenfreude, reveals some of the financial pressures that lead to the collapse of their economic empire.

Attention, Colored People! Houses for sale!

Wilson Daily Times, 7 December 1944.

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Wilson has a Woodard Avenue (which runs parallel to Hines Street in East Wilson) and a Woodard Street (which runs parallel to College Street for several blocks between Pine Street and Raleigh Road Parkway.) There is no 600 block of Woodard Avenue. The 600 block of Woodard Street is between Whitehead and Rountree Streets — now squarely on Barton College’s campus — and the site of 610 is roughly under the Barton football stadium’s southwestern endzone. As this area of Wilson was a primarily white residential area, the 600 block may have contained a pocket “colored” cluster such as that found at nearby Pine and Lee Streets. However, the 1941 city directory  shows the block as solidly white.

A good bargain for some thrifty colored person.

Wilson Daily Times, 4 November 1944.

Residential segregation did not happen organically. By the early 1900s, specific areas of Wilson were designated colored (white was default), and realtors like George A. Barfoot sold the houses within them accordingly. (Barfoot, C.C. Powell, and other white realtors came to own large swaths of housing in East Wilson as a result of wide-scale loan defaults by Black property owners during the Depression.) By the 1920s, several pockets of African-American settlement west of the A.C.L. railroad and north of Hines Street were deliberately cleared to make way for upscale white neighborhoods, creating strict residential segregation patterns that held for much of the rest of the 20th century.