This large charcoal portrait is believed to depict Samuel H. Vick‘s mother, Fannie Blount Vick. She is buried in Odd Fellows Cemetery.
Thanks for sharing this beautiful image, Vicki Cowan!
Studio shots, no. 258: Fannie Blount Vick?
Vick
Historic Black Business Series, no. 29: Collins & Vick Livery Company.
The 500 block of East Nash Street is justly remembered as the 20th century epicenter of Wilson’s African-American-owned businesses. However, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Black entrepreneurs and tradespeople also operated across the tracks. As Wilson’s downtown experiences a resurgence, let’s rediscover and celebrate these pioneering men and women.
Check in each Sunday for the latest in the Historic Black Business Series!
During its brief existence, Collins & Vick Livery Company sold buggies at this location (but perhaps in a predecessor building.)
Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, December 2024.
Rev. Taylor’s send-off.
Wilson Daily Times, 13 September 1918.
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- Rev. H.B. Taylor — Halley B. Taylor.
- Hines Hall — where was Hines Hall?
- S.H. Vick — Samuel H. Vick.
- Presbyterian Church — Calvary Presbyterian Church.
Visitors to Cape May.
In August 1925, the Pittsburgh Courier posted a long list of recent guests at Cape May, New Jersey’s Hotel Dale, which included:
Pittsburgh Courier, 15 August 1925.
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- Hotel Dale
- Mr. and Mrs. S.H. Vick and family — Samuel H. and Annie Washington Vick.
- Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Reed and family — J.D. and Eleanor Frederick Reid.
- Mr. A. Robinson — Alfred Robinson.
Image of postcard courtesy of Hope Gaines, “A Place to Stay,” Cape May magazine, June 2018.
A post office that is a credit to the town.
The Morning Post (Raleigh, N.C.), 4 January 1902.
Samuel H. Vick‘s post office was located on the ground floor of the newly built Seabrook Hotel. We met Vick’s assistants Braswell R. Winstead and Levy H. Peacock here.
News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), 8 April 1902.
The 1903 Sanborn map of Wilson describes the Seabrook as a boarding house and shows the post office on the right side of the building’s ground floor. The site is now a parking lot.
Sanborn fire insurance map, page 4, Wilson, N.C., 1903.
Wilson’s remarkable hospital.
On 22 February 1914, the Wilmington Morning Star published this detailed account of the establishment of the Wilson Hospital and Tubercular Hospital, which eventually became Mercy Hospital. Originally envisioned with a farm, countryside cottages, and a nurses’ home, only the administrative building was built. Nonetheless, Dr. Frank S. Hargrave‘s vision was “remarkable” indeed, and the hospital served the community for 50 years. (I was born there, in fact, just before it closed.)
[Sidenote: Hospital co-founder J.D. Reid was principal of the Colored Graded School and advisory board member Charles L. Coon was school superintendent. That Samuel H. Vick broke with them just four years later to side with teachers and parents in the 1918 school boycott is all the more astonishing.]
William Alston buys a lot on Mercer Street.
In January 1913, William Alston purchased Lot Number 9 of the Winona subdivision from Samuel and Annie Washington Vick for $1225.
Deed book 97, page 21, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.
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In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Winona Road, farmer William Alston, 30, and wife Annie, 23. [Apparently, the Alstons were living on Mercer Street before they bought property from the Vicks.]
In the 1920 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Alston Wm (c; Anna) farmer h 1020 Mercer
In the 1922 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Alston Wm (c; Anna) farmer h Mercer nr Five Points
In the 1925 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Alston Wm (c) farmer h Mercer nr Mill Rd
In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Alston Wm (c) farmer h 1025 Mercer
Caroline Jones buys a lot on Mercer Street.
In 1913, Caroline Jones purchased Lot Number 12 of the Winona subdivision from Samuel and Annie Washington Vick. Winona, essentially, covered the 900 and 1000 blocks of present-day Mercer Street. As we learn below, Jones’ house was at 1009.
Deed book 97, page 20, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.
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In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 404 Mercer Street, Noel Jones, 50; wife Caroline, 51; and children Noel Jr., 21, Sarah, 18, Christine, 16, Elmer, 14, and Francis, 9.
In the 1925 Wilson, N.C., city directory: Jones Christine, laundress h 1009 Mercer
In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1009 South Mercer Street, owned and valued at $15,000 [sic], farm helper Noel Jones, 60; wife Caroline, 60; children Sarah Hines, 29, and Christine, 26, and Frances Jones, 18; and granddaughter Mildred P. Jones, 7.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1009 Mercer Street, widow Caroline Jones, 74, laundry worker, and daughter Sarah Jones, 38.
Sarah Hines died 22 September 1940 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 36 years old and was born in Wilson County to Noel Jones and Caroline Bynum. Almira Jones Wilkins, Richmond, Virginia, was informant.
In 1942, Noel Jones Jr. registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 17 September 1899 in Wilson County; lived at 411 Bank Street, Wilson; his contact was Carolina Jones, 1009 Mercer Street, Wilson; and he worked for R.P. Watson Tobacco Company, South Street.
In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1009 Mercer Street, widow Caroline B. Jones, 82; daughter Christine Jones, 43; daughter Alma Wilkins, 40, widow, and her children Mildred, 24, and William Jr., 14.
Noel Anderson Jones died 30 June 1952 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 12 July 1879 in Wilson County to Noel and Sarah Jones; lived at 525 Church Street; was married; and worked as a laborer. He was buried at Jones Hill Cemetery. Informant was Carolina Jones, 1009 Mercer Street, Wilson.
Caroline Jones died 3 June 1957 at her home at 1009 Mercer Street, Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 1 January 1885 in Wilson County to Jack Bynum; was a widow; and was buried in Rest Haven. Amira Shelly, Rocky Mount, N.C., was informant.
Wilson Commercial Realty Company incorporated.
Winston-Salem Journal, 3 April 1927.
In April 1927, J.D. Reid, Samuel H. Vick, and Isaac A. Shade, officers of Commercial Bank, filed a certificate of incorporation for Wilson Commercial Realty Company. The company was in business at least two years earlier, when it commissioned a plat map of a bloc of buildings it owned in the 400 block of East Nash Street, immediately east of the tracks. It likely collapsed two and a half years later when Commercial Bank failed and the bottom dropped out of the American stock market.
Noble Grand Vick celebrates with Boston Lodge.
Like his father Daniel Vick and brother Samuel H. Vick, Ernest L. Vick was an active Odd Fellow, serving as Noble Grand when Boston Lodge celebrated its 26th anniversary in 1909.
Boston Globe, 19 February 1909.