Samuel H. Vick

J.D. Reid borrows $200.

Deed Book 66, page 565, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

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J.D. Reid borrowed $200 from Nancy Harriss in January 1904, guaranteeing the loan with a mortgage on a lot he owned on Green Street that bordered Short Barnes and Louis Battle. The loan was to be repaid in twelve months, but margin notes reveal the mortgage wasn’t cancelled until March 1912. Note that S.H. Vick acted as Reid’s agent.

Samuel H. Vick overcame odds.

Wilson Daily Times, 24 February 2003.

This Black History Month piece offers a few nuggets for further research on Samuel H. Vick:

  • “His father … had three brothers, all having different last names depending on the white families to whom they belonged.” [Who were Daniel Vick’s brothers?]
  • newspaper articles reported that, on Vick’s first day as postmaster, “[g]un-toting black citizens lined the streets to serve as bodyguards because he had received so many threats” [Wowww.]
  • “The Independent School continued to operate until 1923 when the local school system opened the Wilson Colored High School ….” [Other sources estimated a ten-year run, but this makes sense.]

B.W.A. Historical Marker Series: no. 36 (mural edition).

In this series, which posts on occasional Wednesdays, I usually populate the landscape of Wilson County with imaginary “historical markers” commemorating people, places, and events significant to African-American history or culture. This time, I imagine a mural to commemorate the life of Samuel H. Vick.

Vick’s controversial service as postmaster of Wilson thrust him onto the national stage. Though Wilson’s handsome old Neo-Classical post office was erected long after his tenure, its Douglas Street facade is a fitting place for a tribute to Sam Vick.

Vicks visit “thriving Afro-American settlement.”

Philadelphia Tribune, 19 August 1916.

In 1916, Samuel H. Vick drove his “big touring car” on a visit to Whitesboro, New Jersey, with his young son George White Vick, Clarence Dillard, and Alfred Robinson. On the way back, they stopped in Washington, D.C.

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Death claims S.H. Vick.

 Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 27 July 1946.

John H. Mincey was an occasional correspondent to Norfolk’s regional African-American newspaper, the Journal and Guide, and it fell to him to write an obituary for Samuel H. Vick. Some of the facts are a little off, but the piece reveals little-known  details like Vick’s desire to study medicine.

Robbers convicted of attack on Vick and Robinson.

The Virginian-Pilot, 19 May 1921.

When we first read of the robbery of Samuel H. Vick and Alfred Robinson (not Albert Roberson), a man named George Jenkins had been arrested. However, Henry Berkley and Jack Bullock were found guilty of the crime and sentenced to seven years in state prison.