Taylor

607 East Green Street.

The two hundred-fifth in a series of posts highlighting buildings in East 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; Alonzo Phillips house; two-room, central-hall house with hip-roofed porch; Phillips was a house painter.” The house was originally numbered 608 (and may also have been referred to as 610). It has been demolished.

On 5 July 1923, H.A. [Hiram Abiff] Faulk filed a deed for sale of land to Roddrick Taylor and wife Mary J. Taylor, for $10 and valuable consideration, a house and lot on the north side of East Green Street and known as No. 607 (old city No. 608) E. Green, lot measuring 70′ x 120′.  The lot was bordered on either side by the properties of William Hargrave and Walter Hines.

Wilson, N.C., city directory (1928).

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 607 East Green, renting for $20/month, bricklayer Jessie Holden, 35; wife Beatrice, 38, private maid; and stepdaughter Jeroline Wood, 20.

But also in the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: renting at $20/month, barber Roderick Taylor, 45, wife Mary J., 39, and children Edna G., 8, Mary J., 4, and Roderick Jr., 1. [In the 1920 census, laborer Robert Taylor, 36, and wife Mary G., 29, were also listed at 610. This was prior to Roderick and Mary J. Taylor’s purchase of the house, and the names are slightly off, but this appears to be them.]

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 607 East Green Street, barber Roderick Taylor, 58; wife Mary J., 50; and children Edna G., 18, a college bookstore clerk, Mary J., 14, and Roderick Jr., 12.

Wilson Daily Times, 5 August 1947.

Roderick Taylor Sr. died 4 August 1947 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 16 March 1882 in Wilson to Henry Taylor and Rachel Barnes and worked as a barber. Informant was Mary J. Taylor, 607 East Green St., City.

Wilson Daily Times, 12 September 1952.

N.87-12-351-353, Alonzo Phillips House, 607 E. Green Street, East Wilson Historic District, Wilson, Wilson County, Survey and National Register Branch, State Historic Preservation Office.

Taylor fined big for buggy accident.

Wilson Times, 3 December 1918.

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  • Leonard Taylor — in 1917, Leonard Taylor registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 22 August 1883 in Pineville, Georgia; lived at 708 Viola; worked as a pipe layer for Henry Tart; and had a wife and two children. Fifty dollars was a staggering fine in 1918 — the equivalent of more than $1000 today. It’s hard to imagine that Taylor could have paid it, much less doctor bills and a buggy repair bill.
  • Henry Tart

 

The Taylor sisters, as imagined.

I am ambivalent about using artificial intelligence to restore photographs. Or, more specifically, I’m concerned about manipulated photographs supplanting original images and further blurring the line between reality and misinformation. However, the allure of AI-enhanced images is strong, as I often contend with blurry, poorly lit photographs in unnatural sepia or black-and-white tones. Photographs whose condition sometimes exacerbates the distance between us and our ancestors.

I have been experimenting with ChatGPT lately, feeding it queries and images to be restored and colorized. The results are somewhat haphazard, with many images weird and off-putting. Other times, the images are breathtakingly sharp and … alive. Black Wide-Awake exists to resurrect forgotten lives, and I believe these images are valuable to help us connect with the men and women we read about in these posts. From time to time, I’ll share the better ones here, clearly marked as AI-generated. Let me know what you think about them.

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 Alice Taylor Perry (1889-?) and Martha Taylor Jones (1887-1970).

Roderick Taylor Sr., as imagined.

I am ambivalent about using artificial intelligence to restore photographs. Or, more specifically, I’m concerned about manipulated photographs supplanting original images and further blurring the line between reality and misinformation. However, the allure of AI-enhanced images is strong, as I often contend with blurry, poorly lit photographs in unnatural sepia or black-and-white tones. Photographs whose condition sometimes exacerbates the distance between us and our ancestors.

I have been experimenting with ChatGPT lately, feeding it queries and images to be restored and colorized. The results are somewhat haphazard, with many images weird and off-putting. Other times, the images are breathtakingly sharp and … alive. Black Wide-Awake exists to resurrect forgotten lives, and I believe these images are valuable to help us connect with the men and women we read about in these posts. From time to time, I’ll share the better ones here, clearly marked as AI-generated. Let me know what you think about them.

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Roderick Taylor Jr. (1883-1947), barber.

Taylor and Gilliam Alleys.

I’ve long been curious about the trio of little houses behind the Mary Jane Taylor Sutzer house in the 500 block of East Nash Street. In an interview a few months ago, Samuel C. Lathan mentioned them:

Lathan: … And Rev. [Russell B.] Taylor had an orchard.

Henderson: Oh, okay.

Lathan: Back there where those houses at down Nash Street.

Henderson: Okay. Back behind?

Lathan: Yeah, it was an orchard back there. …

Not long after, I noticed a little notation in a margin of the 1940 census of Wilson. Listed adjacent to the Taylor household were the three households of  … Taylor’s Alley.

Here they are yesterday morning:

Per description in the nomination form for Wilson Central Business-Tobacco Warehouse Historic District, Sutzer purchased the house on the left from Alfred Robinson prior to building her own house in 1915. The two dwellings on the right are described as “small, four-bay by one-bay, two-room bungaloid houses.”

A little further west on the 500 block of East Nash, the census records another alley, Gilliam’s, with a duplex.

The 1930 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson reveals Gilliam’s Alley as the tiny space running from Nash Street between Dr. Matthew S. Gilliam‘s medical office and the Orange Hotel. (Of the buildings shown below, only the Orange still stands.)

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, October 2025.

Mary Joyce Taylor Stokes Crisp, as imagined.

I am ambivalent about using artificial intelligence to restore photographs. Or, more specifically, I’m concerned about manipulated photographs supplanting original images and further blurring the line between reality and misinformation. However, the allure of AI-enhanced images is strong, as I often contend with blurry, poorly lit photographs in unnatural sepia or black-and-white tones. Photographs whose condition sometimes exacerbates the distance between us and our ancestors.

I have been experimenting with ChatGPT lately, feeding it queries and images to be restored and colorized. The results are somewhat haphazard, with many images weird and off-putting. Other times, the images are breathtakingly sharp and … alive. Black Wide-Awake exists to resurrect forgotten lives, and I believe these images are valuable to help us connect with the men and women we read about in these posts. From time to time, I’ll share the better ones here, clearly marked as AI-generated. Let me know what you think about them.

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Mary Joyce Taylor Stokes Crisp (1926-2006), teacher, college administrator.

Rev. Halley B. Taylor, as imagined.

I am ambivalent about using artificial intelligence to restore photographs. Or, more specifically, I’m concerned about manipulated photographs supplanting original images and further blurring the line between reality and misinformation. However, the allure of AI-enhanced images is strong, as I often contend with blurry, poorly lit photographs in unnatural sepia or black-and-white tones. Photographs whose condition sometimes exacerbates the distance between us and our ancestors.

I have been experimenting with ChatGPT lately, feeding it queries and images to be restored and colorized. The results are somewhat haphazard, with many images weird and off-putting. Other times, the images are breathtakingly sharp and … alive. Black Wide-Awake exists to resurrect forgotten lives, and I believe these images are valuable to help us connect with the men and women we read about in these posts. From time to time, I’ll share the better ones here, clearly marked as AI-generated. Let me know what you think about them.

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Rev. Halley B. Taylor (1879-1965), Presbyterian minister.

Taylor-Stokes nuptials.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 30 April 1949.

Mary Joyce Taylor and Franklin Stokes were married 9 June 1949 in Wilson.

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In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 610 East Green Street, rented for $20/month, barber Roderick Taylor, 45; wife Mary, 39; and children Edna G., 8, Mary J., 4, and Roderick Jr., 1.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 607 East Green Street, barber Roderick Taylor, 58; wife Mary J., 50; and children Edna G., 18, Mary J., 14, and Roderick Jr., 12.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1208 Atlantic, barber James Stokes, 45; wife Viola, 35; and children Frank, 18, tobacco factory laborer, Dorothy, 14, Thomas, 12, Annie M., 9, Jannie L., 7, Donnie, 5, and Carlton, 4.

In 1942, Frankin Roosevelt Stokes registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 21 November 1921 in Troupland [Treutlen] County, Georgia; resided at 1208 Atlanta [sic] Street; his mailing address was Carter Hall, Johnson C. Smith University, Charlotte; and his nearest relative was James Stokes, 1208 Atlanta Street.

On 9 June 1949, Frank Stokes, 26, of Wilson, son of James Stokes and Viola Reese Stokes, married Mary Joyce Taylor, 23, daughter of Roderick Taylor and Mary John Taylor, in Wilson. Presbyterian minister O.J. Hawkins performed the ceremony in the presence of Johnnie K. Boatwright, Sue Faucette, and Frances E. Williams.

In the 1950 census of Boulder, Boulder County, Colorado: at the University of Colorado,  Franklin R. Stokes, 28, lodger.

In the 1955 Boulder, Colorado, city directory: Stokes Franklin R (Joyce M) lab Maaco Puget Sound h 1906 Pearl

Mary Joyce Taylor Stokes Crisp died 26 September 2006 in Mount Clemens, Michigan.

Obituary of Mary Joyce Taylor Stokes Crisp, vickfuneralhome.com

Johnson C. Smith University’s Student Union building was renamed in Crisp’s honor.

Campus map, Johnson C. Smith University.

Franklin R. Stokes died 21 December 2006 in Denver, Colorado.

Obituary of Franklin R. Stokes, Newcomer Cremations, Funerals, Receptions.