Wilson Daily Times, 15 November 1944.
Eastern North Carolina Sanatorium admitted African-American and white patients from across the Coastal Plain to separate wards.
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- Omega Spicer
- Mary Armstrong
tuberculosis
Funeral of teen held in Wilson.
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 1 February 1947.
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On 12 June 1928, tobacco laborer Sylvester Barnes, 28, of Wilson, N.C., son of West Barnes and Ellar Mercer, married Effie Moore, 25, of Wilson, N.C., daughter of Ive Moore and Jennie Evans, in Danville, Virginia. Both were residents of Burlington, North Carolina.
In the 1930 census of Burlington, Alamance County, N.C.: odd jobs laborer Sylvester Barnes, 33; wife Effie, 30; daughter Eloise, 1; and sons Carl Barnes, 15, and Fred Gibson, 14.
Effie Barnes died 3 October 1933 in Burlington, Alamance County, N.C. Per her death certificate, she was born in 1896 in Alamance County to Ive Moore and Jennie Evans; was married; and did domestic work. She was buried in Alamance County.
Sylvester Barnes died 12 October 1936 at the Veterans Administration hospital in Oteen, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Per his death certificate, he was born June 1891 in Wilson to Wesley Barnes and Ella Mercer; was a widower; resided in Wilson; and was buried in Wilson [most likely, Vick Cemetery].
Elouise Watson Barnes died 10 January 1947 at the Wilson County Sanatorium, Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 17 years old; was born in Burlington, N.C., to Sylvester Barnes of Wilson and Effie Moore of Burlington; and was buried in Rest Haven Cemetery. Lucy Watson was informant. [Like both her parents, Eloise Barnes died of pulmonary tuberculosis. A sister, Marion E. Barnes, died two years later.]
The death of little Isaac Bridges.
Three year-old Isaac Bridges died of kidney disease on 7 April 1895 in Kenton County, Kentucky. Per his death certificate, he was born in Wilson, North Carolina, to Esta Bridges and Andrew Bardon; had lived [in Covington] for one year; lived in Ellison House; and was buried in Linden Grove Cemetery.
Isaac’s mother Esther Bridges died of tuberculosis on 1 July 1895 in Saint Elizabeth Hospital, Covington, Kentucky. Her age was birthplace were unknown; she was a widow; she worked as a domestic; and was buried in Linden Grove.
Darden band kicks off public health campaign.
Wilson Daily Times, 18 November 1950.
Mass X-Ray campaigns encouraged the public to be screened for tuberculosis. In 1950, public health officials engaged the marching bands of Charles L. Coon and Charles H. Darden High Schools to draw participants.
Wilsonians on the hospital staff.
Wilson Daily Times, 16 January 1943.
Eastern North Carolina Sanatorium, circa 1945. Asheville Post Card Co., Asheville, North Carolina.
Read how Cora Rountree Farmer helped my grandmother get a job at sanatorium.
- Hatty Perry — in the 1947 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Perry Hattie (c) pract nurse ENCS r [ditto]. In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 309 Reid, Minnie Baines, 71; husband Roscoe, 72, building contractor; and daughter Hattie Perry, 46, practical nurse at local hospital.
- Cora Farmer — in the 1947 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Perry Hattie (c) pract nurse ENCS r [ditto] [In fact, Cora Farmer did not live at the Sanatorium, but at 1201 Queen Street.]
- Christina Currie — in the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1208 East Nash, Colon Currie, 39, truck driver for local lumber company, and wife Christine, 35, practical nurse at local T.B. hospital.
- Irene Farmer — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Jeff Farmer, 48, truck driver; wife Rena, 36, private nurse; and children Marvin, 15, and Irene, 13.
- Lula Sims
- Nancy Farmer
- Priscilla Bullock — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 516 Smith Street, Hilda [sic] Bullock, 36, laborer; wife Percilla, 35, housekeeper; roomer Evelynia Martin, 18, tobacco factory hanger; and children Bettie J., 9, and Hilda J. Bullock, 7.
- Bessie Gaston — in the 1940 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Dixon Street, barber Roscoe Gaston, 58, and wife Bessie, 46, housekeeper.
Booker T. Washington responds.
As explained here, Dr. Frank S. Hargrave and Samuel H. Vick originally planned to open both a hospital and a “tubercular home,” i.e. a sanatorium. The hospital opened in 1913, but the following year Charles L. Coon wrote Booker T. Washington for help securing funding for a facility for tuberculosis patients. Unfortunately, Washington could not help.
Letter from Booker T. Washington to Charles L. Coon, 23 May 1914, regarding Coon’s request for guidence in establishing a tuberculosis hospital for African Americans in Wilson, N.C., Folder 47, Charles L. Coon Papers (1775-1931), Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
David Morris will never get well.
In June 1911, two articles in the Wilson Daily Times mentioned the plight of David Morris, an African-American painter stricken with tuberculosis. Morris, his wife, and four children were newcomers to Wilson with no apparent relatives in the area, and he was receiving both public and private charity. As a “chronic case,” Morris was “a continuous drain” on resources, and there was discussion of having him moved to the County Home.
The Morrises intrigue me. David Morris was born in Henderson, North Carolina, but met and married Canadian Lillian Hinson in Boston, Massachusetts. Somehow they made their way to Wilson by 1908, where Morris soon fell too ill to work. His death circa late 1911 devastated the family; two children eventually were sent to an orphanage. [More about them soon.] Lillian Hinson remarried in 1919, but died just two years later. Her youngest child, Mabel, was only 6 years old.
Wilson Daily Times, 13 June 1911.
Wilson Daily Times, 16 June 1911.
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Elizabeth Sophia Morris was born 22 October 1898 at 2 Wirth Place, Boston, Massachusetts, to David Hinson, painter, of Henderson, N.C., and Lillian Hinson, of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Massachusetts Marriage Records, 1840-1915, http://www.ancestry.com.
On 23 May 1899, David A. Morris, 24, painter, of Henderson, North Carolina, son of George H. Morris and Lizzie Barnes, 26 1/2 Kendall Street, Boston, married Lillian Hinson, 20, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, daughter of Richard Hinson and Sofia Dornton, seamstress, 2 Wirth Place, in Boston, Massachusetts.
In the 1908 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Morris David A (c) painter 636 Viola
In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Green Street, painter David Morris, 34; wife Lillian, 30; and children Pearle E., 12, Charles, 9, Lillian, 7, and David, 7 months.
In the 1912 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Morris Lillian (c) laundress h 122 Smith
In the 1916 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Morris Lillian (c) laundress h 114 N Pettigrew; Morris Pearl (c) dom h 114 N Pettigrew
On 16 August 1919, William Johnson, 26, of Wilson, son of Robert and Ella Johnson, married Lillian Morris, 36, of Wilson, daughter of Richard and Sophia Hinson, in Wilson.
In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 108 Smith, William Johnson, 25, born in South Carolina; wife Lillian, 32, born in England; and [his] stepchildren Charles, 17, Lillie, 15, and Mabel, 6.
Lillian Johnson died 6 March 1921 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 38 years old; was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia; was married to William Johnson; and lived on Smith Street.
In the 1925 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Morris Pearl (c) cook h 215 Stantonsburg rd
In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Morris Lillian (c) elev opr Court House h 22 Ashe
Pearl Morris died 16 October 1936 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 28 years old; was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to David Morris of Henderson, N.C., and Lillian Hinson of Boston; was single; and lived at 1123 East Nash Street. Mable Phillips was informant.
The greatest event of its kind among Afro-Americans.
Wilson Daily Times, 23 November 1913.
[The land was surely purchased from Dr. Frank S. Hargrave, not W.S., and I intend to figure out exactly where it was.]
[Update, 20 February 2023: actually, per deed, Samuel H. Vick sold the hospital the acreage for $5000 in November 1913. He had purchased it several years earlier.]
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The Tuberculous Negro.
Wilson Daily Times, 1 October 1915.
In 1915, Dr. Frank S. Hargrave was invited to speak at a tuberculosis conference in Columbia, South Carolina.
Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.
The death of young Mary Jane Tate.
“Pulmonary T.B. on way home from sanatorium.”
Sixteen year-old Mary Jane Tate succumbed to pulmonary tuberculosis in Fayetteville, North Carolina, while traveling home to Wilson. She had likely been confined to the recently opened African-American wing of the state tuberculosis sanitorium near Quewhiffle, Hoke County, North Carolina, west of Fayetteville.
Though her gravestone has not yet been found, she is likely buried in the Noah Tate family plot in Odd Fellows cemetery.