Wilson Daily Times, 15 January 1923.
Washington Suggs’ large parcel of land south of present-day Hines Street and east of South Pender Street was sold off in batches, including an auction in January 1923.
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Suggs
A committee to look for a burial ground.
Late local historian Hugh B. Johnston Jr.’s file contain this note, apparently copied from volumes of city commissioners or boards of aldermen meetings that cannot now be located:
“Dec. 17, 1888 Oakview Cemetery. Gray Farmer, [illegible] Robinson, and Washington Sugg were appt. a Committee to look for a burial ground for the colored people.”
This is the earliest reference to a public African-American cemetery in Wilson and appears to presage the establishment of Oakdale (also called Oaklawn, Oakland, Oakwood, and Oakview) Cemetery in the area of present-day Cemetery Street south to the former Elvie Street School. Sugg (or Suggs) owned extensive property in the area, and the deed for his first land purchase refers to a preexisting “graveyard lot” near his property. This lot may have been developed into a city cemetery.
However, an 1895 Wilson Daily Times article mentions that county commissioners had begun to search for a “suitable burying ground for the colored people.” What had happened (or not happened) in the previous seven years?
Oakdale Cemetery, which was active until about 1920, was the predecessor of Vick Cemetery.
Thanks to J. Robert Boykin for bringing this to my attention.
The obituary of Julia Suggs Bryant.
Wilson Daily Times, 31 January 1929.
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In the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County: brickmason Washington Sugg, 51, wife Esther, 38, and children Nicy, 21, Sarena, 17, Cator, 16, Molly, 12, Edmonia, 10, Juda, 5, and James, 3.
Harry Bryant, 21, of Wilson, son of Nestus and Ann Bryant, married Julia Suggs, 20, of Wilson, daughter of Washington and Easter Suggs, on 26 September 1895 at the Methodist church, Wilson. Richard Renfrow applied for the license, and Presbyterian minister L.J. Melton performed the ceremony in the presence of Mattie Harris, L.A. Moore and Lovet Freeman.
In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: farm laborer Harry Bryant, 34; wife Julia, 34; and sons Leonard, 14, and Leroy, 4.
In 1918, Harry Haywood Bryant registered for the World War I draft in Wilson. Per his draft registration card, he was born 23 January 1873; lived at 132 Sugg Street; was married to Julia Bryant; and worked as a carpenter for Boyle-Robertson Company in Newport News, Virginia.
In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Suggs Street, Harry Bryant, 44, carpenter for construction company, and wife Julia, 41.
Julia Bryant died 27 January 1929 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 23 September 1874 in Wilson to Washington Sugg and Easter Best of Greene County; was married to Harry Bryant; and resided at 618 Sugg Street.
Suggs appointed Vice-President of Georgia State Industrial College.
Roxboro Courier, 29 October 1891.
Daniel C. Suggs was appointed vice-president of Georgia State Industrial College in 1891. The college, established in 1890, is now Savannah State University.
Forty-four lots of the old Washington Suggs property at auction.
Wilson Daily Times, 18 October 1920.
“FORTY-FOUR LOTS REMAIN UNSOLD OF THE OLD WASHINGTON SUGGS PROPERTY LOCATED ON STANTONSBURG ROAD, NEAR THE COLORED GRADED SCHOOL IN WILSON, N.C. THESE WILL BE OFFERED AT AUCTION SATURDAY, OCTOB’R 30th AT 2:00 P.M.
“All lots are splendidly located, naturally drained building locations suitable for business or residential property. Only 3-4 mile from the business section of the city and the same distance from the railroad stations. All lots approximately 25×110 feet in size, furnished with city electric lights. Colored graded school just across the street, many large manufacturing establishments nearby.
“Select the lots which you desire to purchase of those that remain in the old Washington Suggs Property. There were originally 109 lots in this subdivision and so great has been the demand for them that since June 10th all have been disposed of with the exception of 44. This is an opportunity well worth taking advantage of and an opportunity which will be lost after this sale on Saturday, October 30th. The terms have been arranged very easy, in fact, so easy that anyone who desires can purchase and hardly miss the payments as they become due monthly.
“THE BEAUTIFUL VICTROLA NO. 6 IS ON DISPLAY IN GRAHAM WINSTEAD’S MUSIC STORE WINDOW. THIS IS A MAHOGANY MACHINE AND HAS A GOOD TONE. IT WILL BE GIVEN AWAY SATURDAY OCT. 30, AT OUR SALE.”
Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.
Suggs elected president of Livingstone College.
Greensboro Record, 23 January 1917.
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With Samuel H. Vick, Daniel C. Suggs was one of the first generation of Wilson County freedmen to attend college. A Lincoln University graduate, he was not only a college president, but a lay leader in the A.M.E. Zion church and a wealthy real estate developer.
Daniel C. Suggs’ family was the Suggs of Suggs Street. His “valuable holdings elsewhere in the state” included considerable property in Wilson south of present-day Hines Street.
The streets of East Wilson, part 2.
Many of East Wilson’s streets were laid out on parcels of land owned by African-Americans and still bear the names they chose.
- Suggs and Moore Streets
G. Washington Suggs — and later his children, especially Daniel C. Suggs — owned large parcels of land south of present-day Hines Street as early as 1870. Suggs Street is named for the family. Moore Street is likely named for Serena Suggs Moore or her husband Edward Moore. Edward Moore was an early principal of Wilson Academy, the private school that educated African-American children in the decades after Emancipation.
- Blount Street
Calvin Blount owned land adjacent to Washington Suggs and purchased his property even earlier than Suggs did.
- Cemetery Street
In 1870, Washington Suggs purchased a lot adjacent to “the grave yard lot” and the African church, south of downtown between the railroad and what is now Pender Street. In the 1890s, the town of Wilson formally established a public cemetery for African-Americans in this area and called it Oakdale. The cemetery was active until the 1920s, though decreasingly so after Vick Cemetery was established in 1913 further from the center of town. In 1941, Wilson disinterred the graves at Oakdale and reburied them in Rest Haven Cemetery. Per Wilson’s Cemetery Commission, no records exist of the names of those whose remains were moved.
Trustee’s sale of Suggs’ land.
Wilson Daily Times, 12 October 1928.
Trustee J.S. Duncan posted a notice of the sale of three lots on which Daniel C. Suggs and wife Mary A. Suggs defaulted payment.
The first lot was one and a half acres between Railroad Street and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, adjacent to Contentnea Fertilizer Factory.
The second lot was six acres north of Contentnea [Cemetery] Street adjoining Calvin Blount, John Ratley, Samuel H. Vick, and “the colored cemetery.”
The third lot was at the intersection of Railroad and Suggs Streets.
A feature of the occasion.
News & Observer, 24 January 1913.
Pleasant D. Gold was an enterprising Primitive Baptist preacher who founded Zion’s Landmark, a long-running church newspaper, and later the Wilson Daily Times. Gold met his wife Julia Pipkin while serving as a Missionary Baptist minister in Goldsboro. They were married in 1863, when Washington Suggs was not so much employed as enslaved. Suggs reprised his role as butler when the Golds renewed their vows in January 1913. He died a year later, aged about 75.
