Historic Frederick Douglass High School is coming down to make way for a state-of-the-art facility. Thousands of bricks from the old building will be available as keepsakes Monday, June 10.
Wilson Daily Times, 7 June 2024.
Here’s Barnhill’s fantastic documentary about Frederick Douglass School.
The New York Age, 5 July 1930.
Maggie Marie Ricks married John Barnes, not Banner.
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In the 1880 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farm laborer William Gaston, 24; wife Maria, 21; children Willie, 7, Lola E., 5, Clara, 4, and Nannie, 2; and George Harrison, 35, schoolteacher.
In the 1900 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: widow Mirah Gaston, 33; children Lola, 22, Nancy, 19, Lula, 16, Eddie, 15, Cora, 13, Fredrick, 8, and Elma, 6; and orphans, Eva, 11, and Mary Barnes, 20.
On 4 July 1900, Ed Ricks, 33, of Wilson County, son of Ben and Abby Ricks, married Nannie Gaston, 21, of Wilson County, daughter of William and Mariah Gaston, at the bride’s residence in Elm City, Wilson County.
In the 1910 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Church Street, Ed Ricks, 33, odd jobs laborer; wife Nanie, 30, laundress; and children Sidney, 11, C[illegible], 7, Maggie, 3, and Minnie C., 1 month.
In the 1920 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Railroad Street, Ed Ricks, 41, digs wells; wife Nanie, 38; children Siddie, 20, Annie, 17, Maggie, 11, Nannie, 10, Raph, 8, and Ruth, 5; and niece Albie Walker, 17.
In the 1930 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: laborer Ed Ricks, 52; wife Nannie, 50; children Mamie, 21, and Ruth, 16; and grandson Eugene, 10 months.
In the 1940 census of Washington, D.C.: Aaron Dantley, 32; wife Mamie, 31; children Eugene, 10, Dorothy, 8, Annie, 6, Ralph, 4, Aaron, 3, and Ruth, 3 months; brother-in-law John Barnes, 33, and sister-in-law Maggie, 33; brother-in-law Alonzo Pender, 27, and sister-in-law Ruth, 26; mother-in-law Nannie Ricks, 60; Velmont Ricks, 24, nephew; and lodgers Robert Blackwell, 28, and wife Minnie, 26.
In 1940, Ralph Ricks registered for the World War II draft in Washington, D.C. Per his death certificate, he was born 16 September 1911 in Elm City, N.C.; lived at 1530 Swann Street, N.W.; his contact was mother Nannie Ricks, 1742-6th Street, N.W.; and he worked for Joseph Westline.
Nannie Gaston Ricks died 8 February 1949 in Washington, D.C.
Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 9 February 1949.
In the 1910 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Church Street, Ed Ricks, 33, odd jobs laborer; wife Nanie, 30, laundress; and children Sidney, 11, C[illegible], 7, Maggie, 3, and Minnie C., 1 month.
In the 1920 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Railroad Street, Ed Ricks, 41, digs wells; wife Nanie, 38; children Siddie, 20, Annie, 17, Maggie, 11, Nannie, 10, Raph, 8, and Ruth, 5; and niece Albie Walker, 17.
On 31 [sic] June 1930, John Barnes, 22, of Toisnot township, son of John and Hattie Barnes, married Maggie Ricks, 23, of Toisnot township, daughter of Ed and Nannie Ricks, in Wilson, Wilson County.
In the 1940 census of Washington, D.C.: at 1742 Sixth Street, Aaron Dantley, 32; wife Mamie, 31; children Eugene, 10, Dorothy, 8, Annie, 6, Ralph, 4, Aaron, 3, and Ruth, 3 months; brother-in-law John Barnes, 33, and sister-in-law Maggie, 33; brother-in-law Alonzo Pender, 27, and sister-in-law Ruth, 26; mother-in-law Nannie Ricks, 60; Velmont Ricks, 24, nephew; and lodgers Robert Blackwell, 28, and wife Minnie, 26.
In the 1950 census of Washington, D.C.: at 1742 Sixth Street, Aaron Dantley, 42, machine operator, born in Georgia; wife Mamie, 39, rooming house maid service, 39; born in N.C.; children Eugene, 21, Dorothy, 18, Annie, 16, Ralph, 15, Avon, 14, Elaine, 10, and Mamie, 9; brother-in-law Elonza Pender, 34; sister-in-law Ruth Pender, 32; sister-in-law Marie Barnes, 42, and brother-in-law John Barnes, 42.
The extended Ricks-Dantley family (of which former NBA star Adrian Dantley is a member) shared the three-story building at 1742 Sixth Street, N.W., in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood for decades. The three condominiums in the building are now valued from $500,000 to $700,000. Image courtesy of Google Maps.
Wilson Daily Times, 5 March 1940.
Elm City’s African-American school building burned to the ground in March 1940, likely as a result of sparks igniting wooden shingles.
Look at Elm City, y’all — modeling progressiveness, cooperation, and public spirit!
While Wilson is throwing stones at the messenger, Elm City’s leaders have been working with a descendant group holding title to Heritage (formerly Elm City Colored) Cemetery to seek a $93,000 federal grant for restoration of Elm City’s historic African-American burial ground.
Drew C. Wilson’s story posted yesterday at the Wilson Times online:
This remarkable postcard image is undated, but likely was taken in the first decade or so of the twentieth century.
Typed along its right edge: “Elm City, N.C. ‘Cotton Picking’.”
The handwritten message: “I don’t know that you ever saw a cotton field at ‘picking time’ This is taken 1/2 mile from town just as they are getting ready to begin work ‘after dinner’.”
I honor the lives and memory of our cotton-picking ancestors.
Image courtesy of Keith Boykin. Thank you!
I’ve posted several excerpts from Cecil L. Spellman‘s Elm City: A Negro Community in Action, but you don’t need to wait for me if you want to know more. (And, if you have any link to Toisnot township, you should.) Forgotten Books has published the book in its Classic Reprint Series, and it’s available via Amazon.
Heritage Cemetery today, annotated, per Google Maps.
I recently revisited Elm City Colored Cemetery, now known as Heritage Cemetery. Founded in 1892 and containing hundreds of graves, Heritage offers a glimpse of what Odd Fellows and Vick Cemeteries might have looked like with consistent, even if half-hearted, maintenance over the last 70 years.
The front section of Heritage is lightly wooded, but with little undergrowth and none of the invasive vines seen in Odd Fellows or Vick. (None of the grave plantings either, such as daffodils or yuccas.)
This large stuccoed brick vault, which appears to belong to the Wynn family, is the only one in the cemetery. There are none similar in Odd Fellows, and we don’t know if there were any in Vick.
The back section of Heritage is an open field traversed by a drainage ditch. In contrast to graves in the front section, which generally lie roughly east-southeast to west-northwest, graves here are orientated northeast to southwest.
As with graves in Odd Fellows, and probably much of Vick, Heritage’s graves primarily are arranged in family groups, not ranks of straight lines.
Aerial view of Elm City Colored Cemetery, 1940.
Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, February 2023.
Wilson Daily Times, 19 November 1935.
In the 1930 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: Sidney Harris, 50, wife Hattie, 40, and children Emma, 17, Oliver, 16, Nathan, 13, Novella, 11, Volious, 8, Hattie M., 6, Beatrice, 3, and Clarence, 1.
In the 1940 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: Sidney Harris, 59, wife Hattie, 50, and children Novella, 22, Volious, 17, Hattie Magarette, 15, Beatrice, 13, and Clearance, 12, and granddaughter Deloris McMillian, 6.
In 1942, Volious Lee Harris registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his death certificate, he was born 17 June 1921 in Wilson County; lived at Route 2, Elm City; his contact was Sydney Harris; and was a student at A.&T. College, Greensboro, N.C.
On 21 July 1945, Volious Harris, 24, of Elm City, son of Sidney and Hattie Harris, married Helen Underwood, 25, of Goldsboro, N.C., daughter of William and Nellie Underwood, in Goldsboro, Wayne County, N.C.
Volious Harris died 28 February 1989 in Goldsboro, N.C.
Wilson Daily Times, 10 May 1950.
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On 3 February 1936, James Young, 21, of Toisnot township, married Alice Simmons, 17, daughter of Sam and Minnie Simmons, in Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County.
In the 1930 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: renting for $8/month, town laborer James Young, 27, born in Georgia; wife Allice, 20; and children Rachiel E., 3, and Eddie J., 1; and cousin Romar McGee, 16.
In the 1940 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: electric light lineman James Young, 40; wife Bessie, 39; and children Ratchel, 13, Eddie, 12, Verge, 10, Edna Hines, 10, and Willie Lee, 2.
In 1942, James Alexander Young registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 8 May 1904 in Savannah, Georgia; lived in Elm City; and worked for O.C. Hill, Elm City.
In the 1950 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: James Young, 49, city electrician; wife Lucille, 29; and children Thomas, 19, Willie Lee, 12, Thomas B., 3, Carolyn, 2; and Shirley, born in November. [The family is erroneously described as white.]
James Alexander Young died 21 June 1971 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 8 May 1904 in Georgia to Alexander Young and “Claretta (?) Young”; lived in Elm City; worked as an electrician; and was married to Lucille Newbern Young.
Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.
