Samuel H. Vick

Vick family and friends take a roadtrip.

The Afro-American (Baltimore, Md.), 25 September 1926.

Samuel H. Vick, his daughter Doris Vick, and Vick’s cousin (whom he informally adopted) Bessie Parker Hargrave drove from North Carolina “North” (probably to New Jersey) with Presbyterian minister and educator Clarence Dillard and Eliza Bass, whom I have not identified further.

The Vicks sell land to a hosiery company.

In 1917, Samuel and Annie Vick sold a lot on Cemetery Street to Crescent Hosiery Company of Scotland Neck, North Carolina. Crescent paid $500 for the land, which adjoined property of Smith Mercer, Columbus Goffney, and Henry Forbes.

Deed book 94, page 9, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

It does not appear that Crescent ever operated a factory on the site, or even built upon it, unless this unoccupied brick building depicted in the 1922 Sanborn map of the street was theirs. (Cemetery Street’s name was briefly changed to Contentnea Street.) By 1930, per the Sanborn map, the building was being used for cotton storage by an unnamed proprietor.

1922 Sanborn fire insurance map of Scotland Neck, North Carolina.

Infamously, Lewis Hine photographed children working in Crescent Hosiery Company for his expose of child labor conditions in Southern textile mills.

Nannie Coleson, age 11, working as a looper at Crescent Hosiery in 1914.

1908 Sanborn fire insurance map of Scotland Neck, North Carolina.

Photo courtesy of National Child Labor Committee Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print.

S.H. Vick’s letters to John C. Dancy.

This catalogue of twelve years of correspondence received by John C. Dancy contains nearly a dozen letters from Samuel H. Vick.

The summaries of the letters are somewhat vague; I am searching for the originals.

The first, dated 21 April 1899, makes reference to a reference for “Dr. Price,” who I jumped to conclude was Rev. Joseph C. Price. Price died in 1893, though, so, no.

In the second, from 21 January 1902, Vick asked Dancy for help finding work for Grant Foster, who was “out of business,” noting that Foster was “a good penman and thoroughly competent.” Foster was a butcher, and we have evidence that he operated a shop both before and after this letter was written.

Both Vick and Dancy held political appointments, and Vick’s 21 May 1902 letter suggests they leaned on each other for support, privately and when “intercession” was called for.

On 13 November 1902, Vick wrote the first in a series of letters (and a telegram) to Dancy about his fight to retain his postmaster seat.

On 17 January 1903, Vick acknowledged the risk to Dancy of involvement on Vick’s behalf and urged cautious action.

Now out of office, Vick’s 26 and 28 September 1906 letter touched on Odd Fellows politicking. Without context, this summary is difficult to interpret, but clearly makes reference to Vick getting Dancy to represent Zion Hall Lodge No. 5952, Wilson’s Grabneck-area Odd Fellows lodge.

On 26 November 1906, Vick sent another letter about the Odd Fellows, this time inviting Dancy to an all-expense-paid anniversary observation.

Vick’s 26 September 1910 letter refers to high drama at the Biennial Movable Committee of G.U.O.O.F involving internal politics. He also asks Dancy to look into “that matter” for “Henry,” who, presumably, was Vick’s brother William Henry Vick, who was practicing pharmacy in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1910.

Calendar of the John C. Dancy Correspondence 1898-1910, The Michigan Historical Records Survey Project (1941), Division of Community Service Programs, Works Project Administration, www.hathitrust.org.

Walker defaults; Smith sells; Vick buys.

In September 1914, having borrowed money from Rev. Owen L.W. Smith, Sarah Walker secured her note with a mortgage on her property near South Goldsboro Street. Walker defaulted on the loan, and Smith put her property up at auction in May 1916. Samuel H. Vick made the high bid. 

“Beginning at a stake, Southwest corner of A.J. Townsend‘s lot on the edge of the west edge of a drainage ditch at the embankment of South Goldsboro Street South of Norfolk and Southern Railroad….” Deed book 111, page 336, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

——

  • Sarah Walker

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Robert Walker, 31, lumber mill laborer, and wife Sarah, 29.

In the 1916 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Walker Sarah (c) seamstress h 402 E Walnut

In the 1920 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Walker Sarah (c) domestic h 402 E Walnut

In the 1922 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Walker Sarah (c) tobwkr h 109 S East

In the 1928 and 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Walker Sarah (c) domestic h 109 S East

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: paying $/8 month rent, seamstress Sarah Walker, 40; also paying $8/month, Leon Crawford, 39, bricklayer; wife Mary, 37, cook; and roomers John Staden, 39, bellhop, and wife Louise, 33.