Grocery merchant Haddie Davis Swinson was waylaid and murdered in January 1921, presumably in a robbery gone worse. The year’s support his widow Ianthia Swinson received for herself and their two minor children consisted largely of goods and store fixtures from his grocery, including 17 cans of black-eyed peas, 29 cans of sardines, 11 jars of vinegar, 20 bottles of soft drinks, and so on.
Most of the goods were generic, but note the national brands Swinson carried — Campbell’s soup, Red Devil lye, Pet milk, Octagon soap, Gold Dust soap, Louiseann [Luzianne] tea, and P. Lorillard snuff.
The one hundred ninety-ninth in a series of posts highlighting buildings inEast Wilson Historic District, a national historic district located in Wilson, North Carolina. As originally approved, the district encompasses 858 contributing buildings and two contributing structures in a historically African-American section of Wilson. (A significant number have since been lost.) The district was developed between about 1890 to 1940 and includes notable examples of Queen Anne, Bungalow/American Craftsman, and Shotgun-style architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
As described in the nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District: “ca. 1913; 1 story; Queen Anne Cottage with double-pile, hip-roofed form, projecting front wing, intact turned-post porch; good example of the type.”
In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 921 Atlanta, rented for $20/month, Jasper Turner, 42, sawmill sawyer; wife Mary, 37; and children Isodel, 17, Ruth, 16, Floyd, 12, and Therman, 10.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 921 Atlantic, farmer Weslie Swinson, 59; wife Addie, 53, tobacco factory stemmer; and children John H., 35, Contentnea Guano laborer, Willis, 30, “Darden Funeral-tobacco factory,” Iola, 20, tobacco factory stemmer, Odessa, 18, tobacco factory stemmer, and Doris, 15.
In 1940, Willie Lee Swinson registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 1 August 1907 in Greene County, N.C.; lived at 921 Atlantic; his contact was wife Isadell Swinson, 804 East Green Street; and he worked for Boyd Clark at Carolina Warehouse on Tarboro Street.
In the Hill’s 1941 Wilson, N.C., city directory: Swinson Wesley (c; Addie) h 921 Atlantic av
In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Wesley Swinson, 67; wife Addie B., 62; and son Willie, 41, chauffeur for local tobacco buyer.
Wesley Swinson died 3 August 1953 at his home at 921 Atlantic Street. Per his death certificate, he was born 7 November 1883 in Greene County to Aaron Swinson and Sarah Taylor; was married to Addie Swinson; lived at 921 Atlantic; and worked as a laborer.
In the 1920 census of Bullhead township, Greene County, N.C.: farmer Wesley Swinson, 40; wife Adie, 36; and children Henry, 16, Wesley Jr., 15, Willie, 13, Harrish, 11, Addie, 7, Sarah, 5, and Iola, 3 months.
On 22 July 1933, Willie Swinson, 27, of Wilson, son of Wesley Swinson and Addie [no maiden name given], married Isadelle Turner, 20, of Wilson, son of Jasper and Madie Turner, on East Green Street, Wilson. A.M.E. Zion minister I. Albert Moore performed the ceremony in the presence of David Henderson, Maggie Mae Best, and Mable Boney.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 921 Atlantic, rented for $13/month, Wesley Swinson, 59; wife Addie, 53; and children John H., 35, Willie, 30, Iola, 20, Odessa, 18, and Doris, 15.
In 1940, Willie Lee Swinson registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 1 August 1907 in Greene County, N.C.; lived at 921 Atlantic Street; his contact was wife Isadell Swinson; and he worked for Boyd Clark at Carolina Warehouse.
In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 921 Atlantic, Wesley Swinson, 61, plumber helper; wife Addie, 67; and son Willie, 41, chauffeur for local tobacco buyer.
Willie Swinson died 24 January 1986 in Portsmouth, Virginia. Per his death certificate, he was born 1 August 1907 in North Carolina to Wesley Swinson and Addie Sutton; was married to Isidell Sutton; and worked as a floorman for Clark Warehouse.
For reasons that are not clear to me, the 1000 block of Wainwright Avenue is not included in the East Wilson Historic District, though this house and others on the block date to the 1920s and ’30s.
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In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory, 1010 Wainwright was vacant.
In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1010 Wainwright, rented for $15/month, Grover Jackson, 48, odd jobs laborer, born in Alabama; wife Hattie, 30, servant; stepdaughters Bertha Reese, 15, Sarah E. Reese, 12, and Billie Roberson, 9, and stepson Samuel Farmer, 9.
In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Jackson Grover (c; Hattie) lab h 1010 Wainwright Av
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1010 Wainwright, owned and valued at $750, Calvin Swinson, 41; wife Alice, 35; and children Jessie, 15, Calvin, 12, Earlean, 11, Horace, 9, Soisetta, 6, and Charles, 2.
In the 1941 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Swinson Calvin (c; Alice; 6) orderly h 1010 Wainwright Av
In 1942, Calvin Swinson registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 6 June 1898 in Greene County, N.C.; lived at 1010 Wainwright; his contact was [father-in-law] Wesley Jones, 901 Stantonsburg Street, Wilson; and he worked for Woodard-Herring Hospital.
In 1945, Calvin Swinson Jr. registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 11 June 1927 in Wilson; lived at 1010 Wainwright; his contact was Calvin Swinson; and he was a student at Darden High School.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Will Bullock, 67, driving dray, and wife Pearl, 49, cooking.
Per his death certificate, Will Bullock was a native of Edgecombe County. He was working as a railroad laborer at the time of his death (at age 67), and his body was returned to Wilson for burial.
Niknois Swinson — Nokomis Swinson, 19, is listed in the 1940 census of Speights Bridge township, Greene County, with his mother Lula Swinson.
June Scott Artis — A history of Stantonsburg gave the date of the cafe’s opening as 1947, which apparently was off by at least a decade. It remained in business into the 1960s.
Walter Ward — The 6 February 1939 edition of the Wilson Daily Times reported that Ward pleaded guilty to manslaughter and received a 15 to 18-year sentence.
H.B. Swenson — H.B. Swinson died 28 January 1939. Per his death certificate, he was “murdered, knife wound of breast”; was born 18 April 1913 in Greene County to Allen Swinson and Henrietta Applewhite of Greene County; lived i Stantonsburg; and worked in farming.
It’s Opening Day of the 2018 Major League Baseball season. Wilson has hosted minor league teams since 1908; most called Tobs (for Tobacconists). In 1939, the year Fleming Stadium opened, Wilson was a member of the Class D Coastal Plain League.
Wilson Daily Times, 17 August 1939.
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In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 715 Stantonsburg Street, hospital orderly Calvin Swinson, 31; wife Alice, 25; and children Jesse, 6, Calvin Jr., 3, and Earlean, 1.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: hospital orderly Calvin Swinson, 41; wife Alice, 35; and children Jessie, 15, Calvin, 12, Earlean, 11, Horace, 9, Soisetta, 6, and Charles, 2.
[Note that, like many newspapers of the era, the Daily Times exaggerated the speech of African-Americans no matter that Southern whites also spoke a heavily accented dialect.]
The Independent (Elizabeth City, N.C.), 28 January 1921.
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In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Carolina Street, laborer Haddie Swinson, 29; wife Ianthia, 31; and children May Bird, 6, Glasco, 5, and James B., 3.
Haddie Davis Swinson, a merchant, was shot in the head on 21 January 1921.
Ninety-five years ago today, a powerful tornado struck southeastern Wilson County, killing an African-American teacher walking to her school and injuring others.
Wilson Daily Times, 10 March 1922.
Arzula Falke —Arzulia Mitchell Faulk. In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 210 Pender Street, barber Hiram Faulk, 44, dressmaker Arzulia, 40, and daughter Marie, 14. Arzulia Faulk was killed 7 March 1922. Per her death certificate, she was born 16 April 1879 in Perquimans County, North Carolina, to John Mitchell of Pasquotank County and Rossie Kirk of Gates County; was a teacher; and was married to Hiram Faulk. She was buried in Hertford County.
Wilson Daily Times, 17 March 1922.
Daisy H. Cooper
Sallie Swinson
Evansdale community today, which lies between NC-58 and Old Stantonsburg Road just past the halfway point between Wilson and Stantonsburg. Evansdale United Methodist Church stands left of the yellow circle at the intersection of Evansdale Road and Graves Road. The Norfolk & Southern Railroad is marked by the diagonal line. The long abandoned brick shell of a country store stands on the north side of Evansdale Road, nearly opposite Graves. I imagine that Faulk and the other teachers got off the train from Wilson here. I do not know the location of the school at which they taught, but there was a Rosenwald school called Evansdale School.
