Rogers

The Patriotic Order of Ethiopians of America, Inc.

Asheville Citizen-Times, 24 January 1923.

One hundred years ago, the North Carolina Secretary of State awarded a charter to the Patriotic Order of Ethiopians of America, Inc., Wilson. Other than an award to Ben Mincey for bravery, I have found no further mention of the P.O.E.A., and the Secretary of State’s office has no record of the charter. (I’ve added them to the very long list of late nineteenth/early twentieth-century Wilson County African-American fraternal organizations.)

——

  • John Alex Mebane

John A. Mebane was the son of Union soldier, educator and Reconstruction-era state legislator George Allen Mebane and Jennie Sanderson Mebane.

In the 1910 census of Elizabeth City township, Pasquotank County, North Carolina: house painter J.A. Mebane, 25; wife Rachel, 24; and children Jennie A., 6, Edmond A., 3, and Julian H., 1.

In 1918, John Alexander Mebane registered for the World War I draft in Perquimans County, North Carolina. Per his registration card, he was born 24 July 1884; was a minister at First Colored Baptist Church; and his nearest relative was Rachel Mebane.

Hattie Esther Mebane was born 10 May 1918 in Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C., to Rev. John A Mebane, 34, of Windsor, N.C., and Rachel Snowden, 33, of Snowden, N.C. She was the eighth of eight children.

Robert A. Mebane was born 10 July 1920 in Crawford township, Currituck County, N.C., to John A Mebane, 34, of Hertford County, N.C., and Rachel Snowden, 33, of Currituck County. He was the ninth of nine children.

In the 1920 census of Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C.: Baptist minister John A. Mebane, 33; wife Rachael, 34; and children Jennie A., 15, Edmund A., 13, Julian H., 11, Vivian B., 8, Myrtle M., 7, John A., Jr., 5, Margaret R., 3, and Ester B., 8 months.

Julian Mebane, The Normal Light, yearbook of Elizabeth City State Normal High School (1925).

On 12 June 1927, Julian H. Mebane, 23, of Elizabeth City, son of John A. and Rachel Mebane of Wilson, married Ollie McLaughlin, 19, of Zebulon, N.C., daughter of John W. and Julia McLaughlin of Zebulon.

In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Mebane Jno A Rev (c; Rachel) pastor Mt Sinai Missionary Baptist Ch h 1008 Woodard av. Also: Mebane Vivian B (c) student h 1008 Woodard av

In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Mebane Jno A Rev (c) H 308 Hackney

In the 1930 census of Manhattan, New York, New York: Rachel Mebane, 43, odd jobs house worker, and her children Vivian, 19, laundress, Myrtle, 18, restaurant waitress, John, 16, pin setter at bowling alley; Margaret, 13, Esther, 11, Robert, 9, and Omega, 2.

Walter Mebane was stillborn 6 August 1931 in Rocky Mount, N.C. Per his death certificate, he was born in Rocky Mount to John A. Mebane of Rocky Mount and Henrietta Foster of Wilson and was buried in Nash County.

William Allen Mebane was born 7 July 1933 in Tarboro, Edgecombe County, to John A. Mebane and Henrietta Foster.

Vivian Mebane died 30 March 1938 at Riverside Hospital, Bronx, New York. Per her death certificate, she was born 27 May 1910 to John Mebane and Rachel Snowden.

In the 1940 census of Tarboro, Edgecombe County, N.C.: church minister John A. Mebane, 54; wife Henrietta, 38, registered nurse; and children William A., 6, and Florence, 5.

Grace Mebane died 7 February 1940 in Tarboro, North Carolina. Per her death certificate, she was born 11 April 1926 in Petersburg, Virginia, to John Mebane of Bertie County, N.C., and Henrietta Foster of Wilson County; and was buried in Wilson, N.C.

Margaret Rachel Mebane died 18 November 1942 in Manhattan, New York, New York. Per her death certificate, she was born 30 September 1893 in North Carolina to Edmund and Hester Snowden; lived at 54 Morningside Avenue; and was married to John A. Mebane. [Surely, they were divorced. They were certainly long separated, and John Mebane had remarried.]

In the 1950 census of Tarboro, Edgecombe County, N.C.: painter John A. Mebane, 64; wife Heneretta A., 48, public health nurse; and daughter Florence Y., 14.

Henrietta Alline Foster Mebane died 2 June 1950 in Tarboro, Edgecombe County, N.C. Per her death certificate, she was born 24 August 1901 in North Carolina to Walter Foster and Nettie Young; worked as a nurse; was married; and was buried in Rountree Cemetery “near Wilson, N.C.” John A. Mebane was informant.

Rev. John A. Mebane died 27 December 1974 and was buried next to his wife Henrietta in Rest Haven Cemetery, Wilson. [Presumably, Henrietta Foster Mebane’s body was exhumed from the Foster family plot and re-interred in Rest Haven.]

  • W.E. DuBissette — this was surely Dr. Michael E. DuBissette, who practiced medicine in Wilson during this period.
  • Dan Rogers

The upcoming nuptials of J.W. Rogers and Mary Elizabeth Thomas.

Raleigh Gazette, 28 August 1897.

——

In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: John Rodgers, 30, day laborer; wife Mary E., 22; sister Minnie, 17; and boarder Sallie Barber, 35.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Railroad Street, John Rogers, 33, odd jobs; wife Mary E., 30; public school teacher; daughter Mary J., 2; and sisters Winnie, 22, cook, Ethel T., 12, and Ida E., 8.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: John Rodgers, 49, general laborer, and wife Mary, 38, at 555 [East] Nash Street.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 546 East Nash, John W. Rogers, 57, janitor at dry goods store; wife Mary R., 47; adopted son Leonard G., 7 (born in the West Indies to West Indian parents); and niece Ernestine Atkinson, 22.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: J. Wesley Rogers, 71, retail candy store operator, and wife Mary, 70, at 546 East Nash Street.

Mary Elizabeth Rogers died 24 May 1950 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 16 April 1878 in Smithfield, N.C., to John Thomas; was married; resided at 546 East Nash Street; and was buried in Thomas cemetery, Johnston County. Informant was Wesley Rogers.

John Wesley Rogers died 19 December 1951 at his home at 546 East Nash Street, Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 12 May 1870 in Durham, N.C., to Charles Rogers; was a widower; had worked as a department store porter; and was buried in the Masonic cemetery. Earnestine Coley was informant.

703 East Vance Street.

The one hundred sixty-third 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, this building is: “ca. 1913; 1 story; saddlebag house aluminum-sided and heavily remodeled.”

——

For several weeks in 1920, an unidentified African-American nurse living at 703 East Vance advertised her skills in the Wilson Daily Times.

Wilson Daily Times, 21 January 1920.

In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Bennett Fredk D (c; Lillie) h 703 E Vance

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 703 Vance, rented for $11/month, Fred D. Bennett, 46, minister, Holiness Church; wife Lily, 43, laundress; and children Herbert, 15, Willie, 12, Ruth, 6, Naomi, 10, and Charles E., 4. The Bennetts and their two oldest children were born in Georgia; the remaining children in South Carolina. [In 1940, the Bennett family was enumerated in New Haven, Connecticut.]

In the 1941 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Rogers Wm (c) h 703 Viola

In the 28 October 1944 edition of the Wilson Daily Times, a “Land Transfers” column detailed this transaction: 

In the 1947 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Darden Moses (c; Cora) h 703 E Vance

The Dardens did not keep the house long:

Wilson Daily Times, 1 December 1950.

Fatal auto crashes.

Wilson Daily Times, 16 December 1929.

——

  • Clarence Rogers — Rogers died 15 December 1929 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 24 years old; was born in Wake County, N.C., to James C. Rogers and Martha Perry; was married to Mary Rogers; worked as a common laborer; and was buried in Wake County. Millard Rogers, Wilson, was informant.

“Coronary Embolus auto accident. Not at R.R. crossing occurred at place of death”

  • Eddie Walker — in the 1930 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: farm laborer Eddie Walker, 20; wife Pecolia, 24; and daughter Dallas, 9 months; also farm laborer Augustus Mitchel, 29; wife Cora, 24; and children Earnest L., 6, and Farman, 2.
  • Agelene Rountree — per her death certificate, Arger Lee Rountree of 120 Manchester Street died 15 December 1929 in Wilson. She was born 8 April 1921 in Wilson County to Wiley Rountree and Mary Barnes and was a student.

“Run down by Automobile while crossing the street, killed almost instantly. Was dead when Doctor reached there.”

  • James Artis 

The death of Minnie Rogers Prince.

Wilson Daily Times, 6 December 1932.

——

In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: John Rodgers, 30, day laborer; wife Mary E., 22; sister Minnie, 17; and boarder Sallie Barber, 35.

Turner Utley, 22, of Wilson County, and Mariah Williams, 24, of Wilson County, married 12 September 1901 in Wilson County. J.W. Rogers applied for the license, and Missionary Baptist minister Fred M. Davis performed the ceremony at Rogers’ residence in the presence of Irene Miller, Minnie Rogers and Bettie Davis.

In the 1930 census of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania: at 2215 Fitzwater Street, rented at $65/month, private domestic Minnie Rogers, 40; roomer Fred Tyler, 49, longshoremen on wharves; grandchildren Archie Washington, 34, and  Naeisa, 31; and roomer William Tyler, 16. All were born in North Carolina.

Minnie Rodgers Prince died 3 December 1932 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Per her death certificate, she was 40 years old; was born in Wilson, N.C., to Peter Rodgers; was married [earlier that year, in Philadelphia] to Willis Prince; and lived at 710 South 11th Street, Philadelphia. She was buried in Wilson.

“He tink he’s sum punkins.”

Josephus Daniels’ News & Observer loved a good laugh at the expense of Black folk, even the ones back home in Wilson. Here, a “special” report of the antics of Wesley Rogers at the Mason Hotel one Saturday night. Rogers, a swell and a dandy, had taken offense at remarks made by another patron and had thrown the man out the door. Rogers’ alleged performance in Mayor’s court was deemed worthy of several column inches of print.

News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), 11 November 1908.

  • Wesley Rogers — I had assumed this to be John Wesley Rogers, but the facts do not fit. Rogers owned several businesses over the course of his life, but not a clothes cleaning establishment, and he was in 1908 a married man with children who was not likely to have been lodging at a hotel.
  • “the Mason Hotel, a joint on the east side of the railroad where the negroes do congregate” — I do not know of a Mason Hotel on Nash Street. The description sounds rather like the Orange Hotel (whose owner, Samuel H. Vick, was a well-known Mason), a boarding house that was cited often for gambling and prostitution.

Fiftieth anniversary of First Baptist Church.

Wilson Daily Times, 18 September 1922. 

Was a memorial drinking fountain ever installed in front of the church? I do not recall ever seeing one. 

——

  • “the late Rev. Jackson” — Rev. Andrew J. Jackson was founder of First Baptist Church, now known as Jackson Chapel First Missionary Baptist Church. 
  • Rev. J.A. Mebane — John Alexander Mebane, a native of Bertie County, lived in Wilson only briefly. In the 1922 Hill’s directory of the city: Mebane John A Rev (c) 308 Hackney

Rev. J.A. Mebane (1885-1974).

  • M.E. Rogers — Mary Elizabeth Rogers. 
  • John Battle — probably, John Parker Battle.
  • Henrietta Foster — Foster, who was listed as living at the rear of 308 Hackney Street in 1922, later married Rev. Mebane. Henrietta Foster Mebane died in 1950 and, though the Mebanes spent most of their married life in Tarboro, N.C., was buried in Wilson’s Rountree Cemetery. Later, her body was moved to Rest Haven Cemetery to lie beside her husband. Their daughter Grace Mebane, who died in Tarboro in 1940 at age 14, is also buried in Wilson.

Photo courtesy of Ancestry.com user Satwun.

A hunting accident?

Wilson Daily Times, 15 November 1929.

I have not found any follow-up to this news story, but Harvey Rodgers‘ death certificate lists his cause of death as “Gun shot wound of chest accident while hunting.”

——

  • Harvey Rodgers — in the 1920 census of Cross Roads township, Wilson County: Jim Rogers, 60; wife Lanie, 50; children Latina, 15, Harold, 12, Louisa, 9, and Harvey, 8; and nieces Ema B., 20, and Mabel Sanders, 6.
  • Wray Bridgers