social life

Bon voyage to the Butterfields; Dr. Ward stops through; and other social doings.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 18 July 1931.

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Miss Summers entertains.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 5 February 1927.

Miss Phenon A. Summers? At “her home” at 600 East Green? Weren’t J.D. and Eleanor Reid there then?

The following month, Phenon Summers again welcomed a guest to 600 East Green Street.

Journal and Guide, 12 March 1927.

And in April she did a little visiting herself.

Journal and Guide, 30 April 1927.

Phenon Adel Summers French Brown Jones — who reverted to her maiden name in between and after her divorces — was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1895. I have found nothing to shed light on her brief time in Wilson, and by 1928 she had moved on to teach at the Henderson Institute in Henderson, North Carolina. My best guess is that she was a lodger with the Reids and a teacher at either Wilson Colored High School or the Sallie Barbour School (also known as the Colored Graded School). By the summer of 1929, Summers was back in Columbus and seems to have remained there until her death in 1976.

Indoor circuses and other social events.

Baltimore Afro-American, 12 May 1928.

  • M. Lenard
  • Mrs. J.D. Reid — Eleanor P. Reid.
  • Mrs. Aline Darden
  • Mrs. Sarah Wilson — probably, in the 1930 Wilson, N.C., city directory: Wilson Sarah L (c) tchr Stantonsburg St Graded Sch r 209 N Reid
  • Mrs. M.S. Gilliam — Annie L. Gilliam.
  • Mrs. C.L. Darden — Norma D. Darden.
  • Artelia Barnes — Leo Artelia Barnes.
  • Inez White
  • Elroy Barnes
  • M. Fisher — probably, Milton Fisher.
  • William McCullers — in the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1008 Washington Street, Clarence McCullers, 42, hardware store laborer; wife Rosa E., 37, who did washing; and son William E., 17.
  • Fletcher Pearce
  • Jesse Bullock — in the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: farmer Joshuy Bulluck, 47; wife [illegible], 43; children Kattie, 23, Ruel, 21, Jessie, 20, Percy, 18, Maggie, 17, Joshuy, 16, Lonnie, 13, Mark, 12, James A., 10, Hermon, 9, Zeb, 5, Annie L., 8, and Wytelluse, 4.
  • Ruel Bullock 
  • Esmond Langley
  • Ameta Ellis — Ometa Ellis died 3 May 1928 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was married to Morriss Ellis; resided at 702 Nash Street; was 42 years old; and had been born in Wilmington, North Carolina, to Weldon Perrington of Wilmington and Louisa Scarborough of Wilson. Louisa Parrington was informant.
  • Sarah Williams
  • James H. Clarke — John H. Clark?
  • Thelma Barnes
  • Scott Hines — Elizabeth Scott Hines.
  • Rosa Lee Kittrell
  • Gerald Barnes — probably, Jerrell Randolph Barnes, who died 14 December 1929 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 7 May 1909; was single; worked as a common laborer; and was born to Ned Barnes and Louisa Gay. Informant was Alice Bryant, Wilson.
  • John E. Farmer — perhaps, in the 1940 csus of Wilson, Wilson County: widow Eula Farmer, 51, household servant; son John E., 30, laborer; and daughter Clifton, 24, movie theatre cashier.
  • Rufus Speights — Rufus Speight. in the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Speight Rufus (c) porter Wm Hines h 624 Viola. In 1940, Rufus Edward Speight registered for the World War II draft. Per his registration card, he lived at 624 East Viola; was born 4 October 1907 in Whitaker, North Carolina; his contact was brother Theodore Speight; and he worked for Bill Hines at 130 South Goldsboro Street.
  • Klondike Club
  • Herbert Mitchner — Hubert Mitchner.
  • Andrew Tate — in the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 307 North Pender, seamstress Hattie Tate, 44, widow, and children Hellen, 23, insurance agent, and Andrew, 21, hotel bellboy, as well as lodger Lucy Davis, a public school teacher.
  • Douglass Ellis — in the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 411 Pine, Windsor Ellis, 42, greenhouse gardener; wife Rachel, 34; children Douglas, 20, John H., 10, and Elaine, 5; and lodger Fred Moye, 26, cafe cook.
  • Charlie Thomas

Snipes reports holiday social swirl.

The Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 13 January 1934.

In January 1934, Anna Snipes, co-owner of the Biltmore Hotel, sent in a column detailing holiday happenings, the sick and shut-in, comings and goings, and the hotel’s guestbook. A holiday highlight: the party the Four Star Girls Club — teenagers Edna G. Taylor, Lucy D. Artis, Annie F. Crawford, and Robnette Boyd — held at the hotel with Laddie Springs entertaining.

Ricks reports on the Elm City scene.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 15 June 1946.

Carrie P. Ricks was an occasional correspondent to the Journal and Guide, reporting on social events in and around Elm City. This particular column was heavy on the doings of her own family, but touched on the Jesse Wynns moving to a new store and receiving visits from two of their sons; Doris Gaston‘s return home from college and Mrs. A.N. Spivey‘s attendance at summer school; and other visits.

Social notes.

New York Age, 2 September 1922.

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The Gazette speaks of people you know.

Not surprisingly for an era in which newspapers were the primary source of information beyond one’s neighborhood, Samuel H. Vick subscribed to more one than one.

Augustus S. Clark was a county commissioner? How so? He finished his theology degree at Lincoln in 1897, when he was about 23 years old, and went to Georgia a few later. A bit of research reveals a contemporary county commissioner named Robert S. Clark, who is likely the person intended.

Miss Carrie Smith of Wilson appears several times in the Gazette’s society columns circa 1897. She is likely the Carrie Smith, 20, nurse, in the household of her uncle and aunt Ed, 49, and Sallie Smith, 44, in the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County. Channie Smith, 24, another niece, also lived in the household.

Rev. “Woodward” was likely W.T.H. Woodard, a Missionary Baptist minister. I have not identified Rev. Strickland.

The Gazette (Raleigh, N.C.), 8 May 1897.

The Gazette visits Wilson.


Raleigh Gazette, 30 January 1897.

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