social life

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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More news of Wilson, N.C.

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Pittsburgh Courier, 4 April 1936.

  • Elizabeth Darden James
  • Mr. and Mrs. George W. Ellis — on 28 September 1927, George W. Ellis, 52, of Wilson, married Mable Weaver, 26, of Wilson in Wilson. Missionary Baptist minister B.F. Jordan preformed the ceremony in the presence of James Whitfield, Robert Haskins and Rosa Arrington. George Ellis was a carpenter; Mable W. Ellis, a public nurse.
  • U.N.I.A. — Universal Negro Improvement Association, the black nationalist fraternal organization founded by Marcus Garvey, had an active chapter in Wilson in the 1920s.
  • Rev. and Mrs. I. Albert Moore — I. Albert Moore served very briefly as pastor of Saint John A.M.E. Zion Church. By late 1937, when the photo below ran, he was head of Jones Tabernacle A.M.E. Zion in Indianapolis.

Indianapolis Recorder, 4 December 1937.

  • Mrs. Ben F. Robbins — Vashti Smith Robbins. In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Robbins Benj (c; Vashti) barber Reid Barber Shop r 313 Pender.
  • Carrie H. Hargraves — possibly, in the 1928 Hargrove John (c; Carrie) lab h 1212 Carolina
  • Christine Norwood — Norwood died 12 August 1944 at Mercy Hospital in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 45 years old; was born in Wilson to Richard Norwood and Ceceline Hill; and lived at 205 Pender Street. Hazel Covington of Durham, N.C. was informant.
  • Inza
  • Sarah Reid — probably Sarah Reid who died 22 March 1945 at 907 Washington Street, Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 56 years old; was born in Wayne County to Zion Reid and Eliza Reid; was single; worked at Watson’s Tobacco Factory. Frederick Reid, 1009 Washington Street, was informant.
  • George Barnes — “Picture-Taking” George W. Barnes. Barnes died 13 April 1936 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 65 years old; was married to Mary Barnes; was born in Wilson County to George A. Barnes and Annie Battle; lived at 803 East Green Street; and was a photographer.
  • Ruth Colest Jones — Ruth Jones died 20 March 1936 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 28 years old; was born 10 January 1908 in Lake City, South Carolina, to David Cameron and Sarah Cameron; was married to Cornelious Jones; and she lived at 720 East Green Street. Bessie Laury was informant.
  • Rev. B.J. Jordan — Rev. Benjamin F. Jordan.

Cooke’s Wilson Notes, no. 1.

In 1940, Henderson J. Cooke wrote a regular column about Wilson social doings for Durham’s The Carolina Times. This week, Cooke focused much of his attention on the doings of Rev. Hattie L. Daniels and his own family.

1940.PNG

The Carolina Times, 24 March 1940.

  • Rev. Mrs. Hattie L. Daniels — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Cleveland Daniel, 40, fireman at city plant; wife Hattie, 38, saleswoman at Steward Co.; and father-in-law Mack Owens, 60, farm laborer. All were born in Georgia.
  • Willis Owens Jr.
  • Mildred Blakney
  • Rev. Woods
  • R.A.G. Foster — Richard A.G. Foster.
  • Elinor Foster — Elenore Hasting Foster.
  • J.L. Cooke — Jerry L. Cooke.
  • Mrs. J.L. Cooke — Clara Godette Cooke.