Swinson

1010 Wainwright Avenue.

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.

Wilson Daily Times, 15 September 1948.

Wilson Daily Times, 9 August 1950.

Death notices of Will Bulluck and Nokomis Swinson.

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Wilson Daily Times, 9 October 1941.

  • Will Bulluck

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.

Artis’ Cafe padlocked.

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Wilson Daily Times, 13 February 1939.

  • 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.
  • Edgar Artis, June S. Artis’ son.
  • 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.

How the Tobs got a bat boy.

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.]

 

Waylaid and murdered.

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.

Tornado kills schoolteacher.

Ninety-five years ago today, a powerful tornado struck southeastern Wilson County, killing an African-American teacher walking to her school and injuring others.

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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.

wdt 3 17 1922

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.