The 1912 edition of Wilson’s city directory featured this surprising entry — Winona Picnic Park, the first known public recreation space for African-Americans in Wilson. We know that Samuel H. Vick filed a plat map for Winona subdivision in 1905. No park is shown on the map, so where was this place?
Samuel H. Vick briefly partnered with J.C. [J.F.?] Collins to do business as Collins & Vick Livery Company. In early 1907, Ellis Carriage Works of Kinston, North Carolina, sued Collins & Vick when the firm failed to pay for buggies ordered in August and October 1906. In his defense, Vick asserted that he had left the partnership in July 1906, well before the orders were placed. He had notified people in Wilson of the dissolution by word of mouth, but admitted no official notice was published until January 1907. A justice of the peace found in Ellis Carriage’s favor and assessed a two hundred dollar judgment. Vick appealed.
The first order, dated 4 August 1906: “Ellis Carage Works Kinston NC Deare sir som time ago yours agent was Hears and we Romes[?] to Hantle a fue of your Buggys Now you can please shift 2 of your nice Buggys for sanple at once and we will sell as meney as we can for you Yours Respctly Collins and Vick Co” Though not dispositive of his responsibility for the debt, the well-educated Vick clearly did not write this letter, with its shaky penmanship and haphazard spelling. Unfortunately, I can find no trace of J.C. (or J.F.) Collins in Wilson.
Nor the second: “Wilson NC 10/17 1906 Mr Ellis Deare sir please send me 2 Buggy side spring one Red coller and one Black Coller Please send then like the las side spring you shipt me But not Red in tope I will sell a good meney for you please shipe at once Yours truly J.F. Collins and Vick”
Civil Action Papers, Wilson County Government Records 1907-1908, Wilson County, North Carolina Miscellaneous Records, http://www.familysearch.org.
This letter from Wilson’s Superior Court Clerk to the Clerk of Court in Starkville, Mississippi, was postmarked APR 5 1898 by Samuel H. Vick‘s post office.
Oktibbeha [County, Mississippi] Court Records, 1880-1930, http://www.familysearch.org.
Chatham Observer (Pittsboro, N.C.), 4 November 1903.
Five years after North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association‘s founding in Durham, James E. Shepard and Samuel H. Vick were among the incorporators of Carolina Mutual Life Insurance. (Shepherd would found North Carolina Central University six years after this.)
The company’s letterhead reveals Shepard and Vick’s titles and Carolina Mutual’s other officers: President William G. Pearson of Durham; Secretary-Treasurer J.A. Dodson of Durham; Auditor Henry E. Hagans of Goldsboro, and Medical Director Dr. Charles H. Shepard of Durham. Shepard, Pearson, and Dodson were founders of Durham’s Mechanic and Farmers Bank, and central figures in the establishment of Durham’s Black Wall Street.
Lenoir [County, North Carolina] Court Records 1907=1908, http://www.familysearch.org.
Richmond Times-Dispatch, 10 December 1902.
This cartoon, originally run in the Washington Post, depicts Samuel H. Vick standing in President Theodore Roosevelt’s doorway as the controversy over Vick’s postmaster appointment drew national attention.
News and Record (Greensboro, N.C.), 5 November 1917.
We’ve seen that Samuel H. Vick was an early and enthusiastic car collector, but who knew this early and enthusiastic? In 1919, the North Carolina Secretary of State’s office reported five cars registered to Vick — a Chandler, a Reo, two Hudsons, and a Cadillac. Two years earlier, however, he had lost an astounding 20 cars in a garage fire behind his commercial property on East Nash Street.
The 1913 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson shows a wooden structure behind the brick Odd Fellows building, which housed the Globe Theatre, and adjacent to the rear of the Hotel Union. It hardly seems large enough to have housed 20 vehicles, but may have been expanded between 1913 and the 1917 fire.
News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), 2 December 1902.
The furor around Lily-White Republican Senator Jeter C. Pritchard‘s attempt oust postmaster Samuel H. Vick, who represented “the last vestige of negro office holders in the state,” was covered avidly in state and national press. This cartoon in the News and Observer depicted the issue as literal powder keg.
Hat tip to V. Cowan for alerting me to this graphic, a photocopy of which was passed down in Vick’s family.
Odd Fellows members frequently stood to handle the personal affairs of their lodge brothers’ families. Emma Oates died in 1908, leaving her minor daughter Fannie Oates a small inheritance. [Fannie’s father Charles Oates was still living. Was he divorced from Emma Oates at her death?] Samuel H. Vick applied to serve as guardian for Fannie’s financial affairs, and Alexander D. Dawson joined him to post a bond. Vick, Dawson, and Charles Oates were members of Hannibal Lodge #1552, and all were buried in Odd Fellows Cemetery.
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.
