wedding

The beautiful, yet impressive, wedding of Lucile Dawson and Dr. Simon F. Frazier.

Wilson Daily Times, 17 December 1919.

  • Lucille P. Dawson Frazier

On 1 November 1882, A.D. Dawson, 25, of Wilson, son of Robert and Rachel Dawson, married Lucy Gatlin, 24, of Wilson County, daughter of Joseph and Sally Hill, at Gatlin’s residence in Wilson County. Methodist minister P.M. Hilliard performed the ceremony in the presence of Sam Collins, Lewis Battle, and Martha Tyson.

In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: dealer in fish Edd [Alexander D.] Dawson, 40; wife Lucy, 40, dressmaking; and children Mattie, 14, Virginia, 9, Lucy, 8, Edd, 5, Clarence, 3, and Augusta, 1.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: restaurant cook Alexander Dawson, 50; wife Lucy, 49; and children Sophie,  25, school teacher, Mattie, 23, stenographer, Virginia, 19, school teacher, Lucile, 17, Alexander, 15, Clarence, 13, Augusta, 11, and Arlander, 1.

On 10 December 1919, Simon Frazier, 24, of Georgia, married Lucille P. Dawson, 24, of Wilson, in Wilson.

In the 1920 census of Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia: medical doctor Simon F. Frazier, 30; wife Lucile, 24; and lodger Martha Daniels, 39, public school teacher.

In the 1930 census of Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia: at 222 East Park Avenue, physician Simon F. Frazier, 40; wife Lucille P., 33; and children Muriel E., 9, Ouida, 6, and Wahwee A., 3 months.

In the 1940 census of Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia: at 222 Park Avenue East, physician Samuel Frazier, 50; wife Lucille, 47; and daughters Muriel, 19, Ouida, 16, and Wahwee, 13.

In the 1950 census of Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia: at 222 Park Avenue, physician S.F. Frazier, 56, and wife Lucille D., 54.

Macon News, 15 May 1952.

Charles J. Elmore, Black America Series: Savannah Georgia (2001).

See this Coastal Courier article about the demolition of the small house Dr. Frazier built to house his rural medical practice. Dr. Frazier had deep roots in Georgia’s Sea Islands and was born in 1890 in the Gullah-Geechee community of Freedmen’s Grove, near present-day Midway, Georgia.

——

  • Calvary’s Presbyterian Church — Calvary Presbyterian.
  • Almira Frazier
  • Virginia Dawson
  • Clarence C. Dawson — in the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Clarence Dawson, 23, barber; wife Elizabeth, 22; and daughter Eris, 2; widower father-in-law Charley Thomas, 59; brother-in-law Clifton Venters, 24, his wife Hattie, 20; and in-laws Elton, 29, Marie, 15, Sarah, 10, and Beatrice Thomas, 8.
  • Dr. Cassell
  • Dr. C.C. Dillard — Clarence Dillard.
  • Mrs. Frazier
  • Olivia Peacock — in the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: post office clerk Livia H. Peacock, 60; wife Annie, 31; children Olvia, 23, Annie L., 21, Livia H. Jr.; Sudie 14, Rubie, 12, Vivian, 9, Bennie, 5, and John, 3; boarders Mary S. Roberson, 32, and Mary Brodie, 20; plus widow Susan Byatt, 62.
  • Eva Speight
  • Arlando Dawson — in 1918, Arlando Richard Dawson registered for the World War I in New York, New York. Per his registration card, he was born 26 August 1900; lived at 121 Pender Street, Wilson; was employed as a waiter at Girard Hotel, 44th Street, New York City; and his nearest relative was A.D. Dawson.
  • Esther Bowser — Astor Bowser?
  • Delores Hines — in the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 614 East Green, barber William Hines, 35, wife Ethel, 25, and children Delores, 4, and William, 2.
  • Bettie Silver Taylor
  • Mary Jane Tate — in the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 208 Pender, barber Noah Tate, 42; wife Hattie, 34; boarder Mary Jennings, 28, a public school teacher; and children Helen, 13, Mary Jane, 8, Andrew, 11, and Noah Jr., 3.
  • Inez Tate — in the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 610 Green Street, Hardey Tate, 50, brickmason; wife Annie, 40; children Inez, 8, and Daisy, 6; and lodgers Rome Bagley, 44, and John Boykin, 28.
  • Dr. and Mrs. F.S. Hargrave — Frank S. Hargrave and Bessie Parker Hargrave.

Schoolhouse “I do.”

Well into the twentieth century, African-American couples married overwhelmingly at an office of a justice of the peace or the home of a relative. However, on 21 March 1906, as carefully noted a Wilson County marriage register, William Sutton and Laura Williams tied the knot at Wilson’s Colored Graded School. Free Will Baptist minister John Steward performed the ceremony, and Charles Best, Charley Dawson, Minnie Sutton, and Henry Garnett.

The Reid-Whitehead wedding.

Baltimore Afro-American, 18 May 1935.

 

Edmundson and Dew wed.

Screen Shot 2020-02-17 at 10.45.53 PM.png

Wilson Daily Times, 21 February 1896.

In the 1880 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: Nelson Barnes, 51, farm laborer; wife Angy, 56; children Margaret, 22, Dred, 20, Thomas, 13, “epilepsy;” Mack, 11, Puss, 9, and Roscoe, 7; and John Edmundson, 24, farm laborer.

On 9 February 1896, Jno, Edmunson, 40, of Black Creek, married Sally Ann Dew, 35, of Black Creek, at justice of the peace O.W. Spivey’s in Wilson.

Nancy Staton weds Rev. James Boykin.

Screen Shot 2020-01-21 at 12.19.08 AM.png

Wilson Daily Times, 16 January 1928.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Vick Street, house carpenter James Boykin, 49; tobacco factory worker Eliza, 47; and children Albert, 15, and Ruth, 9; Arthur Chester, 28, transfer car driver; wife Fannie, 28; and children Arthur Jr., 7, Joseph, 5, Irvin, 3, and Charlie, 1.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 713 Viola Street, midwife Nancy Staten, 52, widow; house carpenter James Jenkins, 24, and wife Annie, 19.

On 22 December 1927, James Boykin, 50, married Nancy A. Staton, 55, in Wilson. Rev. B.J. Gregory of Christian Church Colored performed the ceremony at the bride’s home in the presence Glenn S. McBrayer, Lillian McBrayer and Bettie Whitley. [Note the article got the bride’s name wrong.]

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 900 Viola Street, owned and valued at $4000, private practical nurse Nancy S. Boykin, 59; husband Christian Church clergyman James, 44; daughter Lila R., 19; and roomers Ines Williams, 23, and Minnie Nelson, 20, both servants.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 812 Viola, owned and valued at $1500, James Boykin, 60, and wife Nancy, 79; and, renting at $12/month, Lucias Smith, 28, skilled sewer contractor laborer, wife Jacqueline, 18, daughter Louise, 2, and Sidney Ramsouear, 89; and, renting at $4/month, Ray Brockman, 33, skilled sewer contractor laborer, and wife Hattie, 22. The Smiths and Brockmans were from South Carolina.

The Redd-Moore wedding.

An account of the wedding of Dr. James H. Redd to Inez Emily Moore, who had been a teacher at Wilson Colored Graded School for the past four years.

Screen Shot 2019-07-19 at 5.28.44 PM

Screen Shot 2019-07-19 at 5.35.28 PM.png

Screen Shot 2019-07-19 at 5.29.22 PM.png

Screen Shot 2019-07-19 at 5.29.36 PM.png

Screen Shot 2019-07-19 at 5.29.57 PM.png

The New York Age, 28 September 1911.

  • Inez Emily Moore– in the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: barber Walter Hines, 30; wife Sarah, 29; children Elizabeth, 2, and Walter D., 8 months; and boarder Inez Moore, 31, a school teacher.
  • Dr. James H. Redd
  • Prof. Chas. H. Moore — Charles H. Moore, organizer of the National Negro Business League and close associate of Booker T. Washington. Moore accompanied Washington during the latter’s historic 1910 visit to Wilson.
  • Anna L. Bullock
  • Prof. Chas. Stewart
  • Elizabeth Hines
  • Uhlma and Edith Moore
  • Rev. W.H. Goler — William H. Goler, educator, church leader, and president of Livingstone College.

 

 

The Darden-James wedding.

img

New York Age, 11 July 1912.

 

An approaching marriage.

Wilson Daily Times, 24 December 1938.

Mary Thelma Barnes, daughter of John M. and Annie Darden Barnes, in fact married Walter Byers, not Bias. Thelma Barnes Byers received degrees from Virginia State College in 1928 and Columbia University in 1941. The Byerses later relocated to Charlotte, where an elementary school still bears Walter G. Byers’ name.

The Pope-Morisey wedding.

Screen Shot 2017-10-19 at 8.59.04 PM

Pittsburgh Courier, 8 January 1938.

This blurb appears in the “Rocky Mount, N.C.” column of the Courier‘s 8 January 1938 society page. Per their marriage license, the wedding took place in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina. Juanita Marion Pope was the daughter of O.R. and Myrtle Pope of Rocky Mount, and Alfred Alexander Morisey was the son of Rev. A.A. and Mamie Morisey of Raleigh. The couple did not live in Wilson very long — had they met there? — and it is not clear whether they taught at Darden or the Sallie Barbour school (or in the county). Though they are not found in the 1940 census, the 1942 Raleigh city directory lists: Morisey A Alex (c; Juanita) news reporter h S Davie ter CH. By 1946, the couple is listed in the Greensboro city directory with Alex working in public relations for Bennett College (his wife’s alma mater) and Juanita for the Colored Division of the United States Employment Service. 

Morisey’s obituary, published 26 July 1979 in the Washington Post, sheds light on his accomplishments after his time in Wilson:

“A. Alexander Morisey, 65, a former director of public relations at Howard University who was one of the first black reporters to work for a white owned southern newspaper, died of cancer Monday in New York City hospital.

“Mr. Morisey worked for the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal from 1949 to 1955 where he covered the black community and did general assignment reporting.

“Journal reporter Roy Thompson said, “Not a handful of people here remember after all these years, but blacks and whites in this town know a great deal more about one another than they did when Alex came to town, and he had a hand in this.”

“After working for the American Friends Service Committee, Mr. Morisey came to Washington and was public relations director at Howard University from 1967 to 1969.

“He left Howard to become public relations director of the Philadelphia Committee on Human Relations. Mr. Morisey joined the public relations staff of The New York Times in 1969, and was named public relations director two years later.

“Since 1973, he had been assistant for community relations to the president of Manhattan Community College in New York.

“Mr. Morisey was a native of Smithfield, N.C., and a graduate of Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C. He also did graduate work at American University.

“He is survived by his wife, Dr. Patricia Morisey, of the home in New York City; a son, A. Alexander Jr., of Philadelphia; two daughters Jean Alexander and Muriel Morisey, both of Washington; a stepson, Paul Garland, of New York City; a brother, John, of Philadelphia; a sister, Grace Jones, of Burlington, N.C., and three grandchildren.”