Samuel H. Vick

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.

Sam Vick buys another lot on Goldsboro Street.

On 15 December 1904, for $2500, James F. and Rebecca J. Farmer sold Samuel H. Vick a lot on South Goldsboro Street in the thick of downtown. The parcel adjoined a lot Vick already owned, as well as the Wilson Hotel Company and Wiggins & Washington. J.F. Farmer had an office on the Wiggins & Washington lot known as the “brick Market House,” and this deed carried a proviso that the twelve-foot-wide alley between the lots would be kept open. (The wording of the deed is ambiguous. Did Farmer retain ownership or use of the office?)

Deed book 68, page 271, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

Exactly where was this lot? 

This detail from the 1903 Sanborn fire insurance maps of Wilson shows most of the block bounded by South Goldsboro, Barnes, Spring [Douglas], and Nash Streets. The twelve-foot alley into the interior of the block from Barnes is marked (A). (B) is the brick market house. It’s impossible to tell which of the surrounding buildings belonged to Samuel H. Vick. Wilson Hotel Company owned the Briggs Hotel. The building was razed in 1955, and Rose’s Department Store was erected on the site. That building, now home to Wilson Arts Center, occupied a much larger footprint than the Briggs, stretching back to about the location of Farmer’s brick office.

Today, the interior of the block comprises mostly parking lots and the posterior of Wilson Arts Center. 

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, March 2025.

What was the Independent School building before it was the Independent School?

I was asked a question that stumped me during one of my talks last week. “What was the building that housed the Independent School before it was a school?”

I recalled vaguely that Samuel H. Vick had purchased the building from famed brick maker Silas Lucas Jr., but not much more. Maybe something about the Methodist Church?

I found a deed quickly. On 24 October 1904, S.H. Vick paid Silas and Charity Lucas $1650 for a lot on Vance Street adjacent to property Vick already owned, “it being the same lot on which is situate a nineteen room house.” 

Deed book 68, page 227, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson, N.C.

In the 1913 Sanborn fire insurance maps of Wilson, the building is labeled “Tenements”:

I can’t find the reference that I seem to recall about the building’s original use and will need to do some additional deed digging to find Lucas’ purchase. (By the way: Lucas was renowned as a brick maker. Not only are his reclaimed original bricks still sought after for renovation projects, the name “Silas Lucas” is now generically used to describe any soft, pinkish brick.)

The guardianship of the Henderson children.

In 1907, Samuel H. Vick was named guardian of the children of Sandy D. Henderson‘s children Maty J. Henderson, Charles J. Henderson, and Mollie Henderson.

——

On 27 May 1897, Sandy Henderson, 40, married Mary Jane Taylor, 40, in Wilson. Missionary Baptist minister Fred M. Davis performed the ceremony at the A.M.E. Zion church. S.A. Smith, Charles H. Darden, and Wyatt Studaway were witnesses.

In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: hack driver Sa[illegible] Henderson, 54; wife Mary J., 40, restaurant keeper; and children Buxton, 19, hotel waiter, Leonidas F., 13, tobacco stemmer, Charles J.A.W., 9, and Mattie M.J., 7. [R. Buxton and Leonidas F. Taylor were Mary Henderson’s children by a previous marriage.]

In the 1908 Wilson, N.C., city directory: Henderson Charles (c) lab h 547 E Nash

On 14 January 1909, Fate Barnes, 22, of Wilson, married Mattie Henderson, 17, of Wilson, daughter of Sandy and Florence Henderson, in Wilson. Baptist minister Fred M. Davis performed the ceremony at the residence of Henderson’s guardian James Somerville in the presence of Rear Thomas, Malvinnie Rosser, and Delphia Ellis.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Viola Street, box factory laborer Fate Barnes, 23; wife Mattie, 19; brother Sam, 29, buggy factory laborer; sister-in-law Emma, 23, laundress; nephew William A., 4, and niece Annie, 5 months.

In 1917, Lafayette Barnes registered for the World War I draft in Wilson. Per his registration card, he was born 5 June 1887 in Elm City, N.C.; lived at 63[illegible] Nash Street; worked for C. Woodard as a drayman; and had a wife and child.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Fate Barnes, 33, drayman at wholesaler; wife Mattie, 29; children Charles, 8, and Elane, 7 months; and Sarah Taylor, 53, widow.

Mattie Barnes died 25 June 1936 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 44 years old; was born in Henderson, N.C., to Sandy Henderson of Henderson, N.C.; was married to Fate Barnes; lived at 717 East Green Street; and she was buried in Wilson [probably, Vick Cemetery.]

Wilson, North Carolina, Guardianship Records 1897-1905, http://www.familysearch.org. [Sidenote: Henderson is not a Wilson County name. African-American Hendersons in North Carolina generally have roots in one of three areas — Onslow County (like my family, which came to Wilson via Wayne County), Rowan County, and Vance County (like Sandy D. Henderson).]

Black Creek Odd Fellows Lodge.

As we first saw here, there were multiple G.U.O.O.F. lodges in Wilson County. Per Charles H. Brooks’ The Official History and Manual of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America (1902), the Black Creek Lodge #3446 was established in 1891. This embosser, however, which belonged to Samuel H. Vick, is engraved: BLACK CREEK LODGE No. 3446, Instituted Feb. 12, 1892, G U O OF O F BLACK CREEK NC

Many thanks to V. Cowan for sharing!

The Vicks buy property in Raleigh.

Samuel and Annie M. Vick did not confine their real estate portfolio to Wilson. In January, the Vicks took out a three-year mortgage to purchase a roughly three-quarter acre lot on the north side of the intersection of Swain and Lenoir Streets on what was then the outskirts of Raleigh.

Wake [County, North Carolina] Deeds 1904-1905, http://www.familysearch.org.