Williams

A continuation of the bad feelings.

This article captures the apparent exasperation of Wilson school officials with the sizable “element” of the African-American community that refused to send its children to public school after Superintendent Charles Coon slapped a black teacher. The “Anti-Reidies” appointed local pastors Robert N. Perry and Spurgeon D. Davis to head their new schools at such time as they were able to open. (An occasion the health department was doing its part to thwart.) The basis of black opposition to J.D. Reid is sorely understated here, and the Reidites claim of public dislike of successor Clarissa Williams misses a larger problem with Reid himself. (Reid rebounded from this setback with a key role in the establishment of Wilson’s only black-owned bank, only to fall again spectacularly.) See here for a fuller account of the Mary Euell incident and its aftermath.

The Independent School (one, not two) in fact opened a week after this article ran and operated for the next ten years.

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News & Observer (Raleigh), 7 October 1918.

The last will and testament of Aggie Mercer Williams.

Aggie M. Williams of Elm City dictated her will on 15 July 1914 in the presence of W.G. Britt Jr. and W.F. Cuddington.

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The details:

  • to daughter Mary Eliza Nicholson and her children, 45 acres from her farm located about three miles from Elm City (and, specifically, the 45 acres must come from the middle of the farm, running north and south); remainder of household and kitchen furniture; house and lot on which she lived;
  • to daughter Cora C. Lucas, 20 acres to the north of Mary Eliza’s 45; two pair of bleaching sheets and a portion of her wearing apparel; any other personal property not mentioned to be split with Mary Eliza;
  • to Alice Marie Nicholson, the bedroom suite upstairs in the front room;
  • to Albert Thomas Lucas, the oak suite upstairs in the back room;
  • to Horace Lucas, a single bed;
  • Rev. C[larence] Dillard of Goldsboro, North Carolina, appointed executor.

Toward the end of her life, Williams made a codicil, dated 15 September 1949:

  • To her three grandsons Clarence E. Nicholson, Charles B. Nicholson, and Alonzo G. Nicholson Sr., jointly, with some restrictions, her property on East Main Street opposite the Jesse Wynn store in Elm City, consisting of a lot and two frame structures.

——

Aggy Mercer, 17, married Thos. Williams, 21, on 5 February 1876 at Toisnot township, Wilson County.

In the 1880 census of Upper Town Creek township, Edgecombe County: farmer Thomas Williams, 24, wife Aggie, 21, and daughters Clara, 3, and Mattie, 1.

On 31 May 1899, Thomas H. Nicholson, 24, of Halifax County, son of Zach Nicholson, married Clara Williams, 23, of Wilson County, daughter of Tom and Aggie Williams, at Elm City in Toisnot township.

In the 1900 census of the Town of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: widow Aggie Williams, 41, dress maker; and her children, nurse Cora, 18, and day laborer Burtas, 14.

On 2 January 1901, Haywood Lucas, 22, of Rocky Mount, married Cora Williams, 20, of Toisnot, at 1st Baptist Church in Elm City. Witnesses were J.C. Ellis, Preston Faison and H.W. Hunter.

In 1910 in the Town of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: Aggie Williams, 59, lived alone in a house she owned on Main Street. Also on Main Street: Hayward Lucas, 30, farm laborer, wife Cora, 29, laundress, and children Aggie, 9, Jessie M., 6, Albert Thomas, 4, Elias S., 2, and Hayward C., 6 months. On Wilson Street: tenant farmer Thomas H. Nicholson, 34, wife Clara, 33, and children Alonzo, 7, and Alice M., 4 months.

In 1920 in the Town of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: Aggie Williams, 51, dress maker, lived alone in a house she owned on Main Street.

Thomas Harrison Nicholson died 19 April 1923 in Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County. Per his death certificate, he was born 1 May 1876 in Halifax County to Zackerie Nickolson and Nettie Lee, was a farmer, and died of pulmonary tuberculosis. Wife Clarra M. Nickolson was informant.

In the 1930 census of Washington, D.C.: at 1608 – 15th Street, N.W., lodgers Alonzo G. Nicholson, 26, barber, and wife Alice E., 19. Alonzo was born in North Carolina.

In the 1930 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: Cora Lucas, 46, laundress, divorced, with sons Elias T., 20, a filling station repairman, and Horace, 18. Both young men were described as “absent.” Cora owned her house and reported its value at $1500.

In 1940 in the Town of Elm City, Toisnot, Wilson County: Aggie Williams, 81, lived alone in a house she owned on Main Street. Daughter Cora lived next door.

In the 1940 census of Washington, D.C.: at 2603 J Street, N.W., Alonzo G. Nicholson, 36, janitor, wife Alice E., 29, son Alonzo G. Nicholson, 8, and a lodger.

Aggie M. Williams died 21 March 1951 in Elm City. Her death certificate records her birth as 14 February 1859 in Edgecombe County to Jessie and Fannie Mercer. The informant was Cora C. Lucas, her daughter.

On 22 August 1952, Clara M. Nicholson made out her will in the presence of Priscilla M. Gaston and Nannie Gaston of Elm City and Alma L. Guess of Raleigh. She left her “home place” on Branch Street in Elm City to her four children in the noted proportions: Alice Nicholson Spivey (1/2), sons Alonzo, Charles and Clarence (1/2 jointly). She also left Alice her piano. Her three sons were to divide four bedsheets, with Alice to receive the remainder of her linens. Other household furnishings they were to divide equally. In other property was devised to Alice (2/5 share) and her sons (1/5 each). Alice was named executor.

Clara Mary Nicholson died 1 February 1953 at her home on Branch Street in Elm City. Per her death certificate, she was born 25 October 1876 in Wilson County to Thomas Williams and Aggie M. Mercer. Informant was Alice Spivey.

Cora Christine Lucas died 22 March 1963 in Rocky Mount, Nash County. Per her death certificate, she was born 23 September 1880 in Wilson County to Thomas Williams and Aggie Mercer, and was the widow of Haywood Lucas. She was buried in Elm City cemetery.

North Carolina Wills and Estates, 1665-1998 [database on-line], http://www.ancestry.com.

Establishing a graded school.

From “The Graded School Bill: An Act to Establish a Graded School in Wilson township, Wilson County,” as published in the Wilson Advance. The North Carolina legislature ratified the bill on 27 February 1883.

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Wilson Advance, 23 March 1883.

  • E.C. Simms. Edward Cicero Simms was a teacher. In the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County: school teacher Edward C. Simms, 23, wife Nicy, 26, and son Edward, 7 months. By 1891, the Simms family had moved to Norfolk, Virginia, where Edward is listed in the city directory. By 1897, Edward was an ordained A.M.E. Zion minister, as shown in this 9 May 1897 edition of the Norfolk Virginian:

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  • G.A. Farmer. Probably, Gray Farmer, a carpenter and constable.
  • Peter Rountree was a shoemaker.
  • Charles Battle was a blacksmith.
  • Jerry Washington. Jeremiah Washington was a blacksmith. His daughter Annie Maria married Samuel H. Vick.
  • C.M. Jones
  • Daniel Vick, carpenter, farmer and politician, was the father of Samuel H. Vick.
  • Samuel Williams was a baker, then grocer. In the 1870 census of Wilson, Wilson County: baker Samuel Williams, 30, with carpenter Daniel Vick, 25, wife Fanny, 24, and children Samuel, 8, Earnest, 3, Netta M., 5, and Violet Drake, 52. On 24 September 1870, Samuel Williams, parents unknown, married Ann Scarbro, daughter of Jack and Zaly Adams, in Wilson. In the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Samuel Williams, 38, wife Ann, 47, and daughter Anna, 9. In the 1900 census, grocer Samuel Williams, 58, with lodgers William Jackson, 36, and William Allen, 25, both tobacco graders.
  • C.H. Darden. Charles H. Darden was a blacksmith and, later, undertaker. In 1938, Wilson’s high school for African-American children would be named for Darden.

Wilson items.

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Raleigh Gazette, 18 September 1897.

  • Clarissa Williams, a Wayne County native, briefly served as principal of the colored graded school after the teacher-slapping scandal.
  • S.H. Vick — Samuel H. Vick‘s sister Nettie Vick Jones was murdered in August 1897. His daughter Viola Leroy Vick died in September of that year.
  • Dr. George Williams was perhaps Wilson’s first black physician.
  • J.W. Rogers — Per the city directory, in 1922, John Wesley Rogers lived at 548 East Nash Street and worked as a porter at Oettinger’s department store. His wife,  a native of Johnston County, was Mary Elizabeth Thomas Rogers (1878-1950). Rogers was born in Durham County in 1870 and died in Wilson in 1951.
  • Mrs. A.V.C. Hunt — Annie V. Collins Hunt owned a grocery on Goldsboro Street.
  • J.W. Williams
  • B.J.W. Moore — Pullman porter Benjamin J.W. Moore settled briefly in Wilson, his wife’s hometown, to run a grocery.
  • Mr. Moore — perhaps Andrew J.C. Moore, a teacher-cum-grocer.

The best people buy the best pianos.

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In the very long “partial list of Ivers & Pond purchasers”:

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Charlotte Daily Observer, 15 August 1909.

  • A.J.C. Moore — in the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: retail grocer Andrew Moore, 51, wife Robetta, 39, and children Evyln, 17, Omia, 16, and Willie, 1. Moore also worked as a teacher.
  • Clarissa Williams

Where did they go?: Indiana death certificates, no. 3.

Death certificates of Wilson County natives who died in Indiana.

  • Jack Sims

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In the 1880 census of Stantonsburg, Wilson County: Isaac Simms, 32, wife Elvy, 33, and children Lucy, 12, Lilly, 10, Jack, 6, Isaac, 5, and unnamed 10 day-old twins, a boy and a girl.

In the 1940 census of Indianapolis, Indiana: North Carolina-born Jack Sims, 69, was a lodger in a household on 17th Street.

  • Ella Farmer Suggs

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In the 1940 census of Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana: hotel night porter Adock Thompson, 68, wife Hattie, 55, and widowed sister-in-law Ella Suggs, 68. Ella indicated that she had been living in Indianapolis in 1935.

  • Joseph Levi Sutton

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In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Wiggins Street, Joseph Sutton, 31, wife Maryliza, 30, and children Lula M., 9, Collie L., 6, Amanda, 4, and Bessie E., 1.

In the 1920 census of Taylors township, Wilson County: on Finch Mill Road, Joseph B. Sutton, 40, wife Malissa, 40, and children Lula May, 19, Carrol Lee, 16, Senoa, 13, Bessie, 11, Rosa Belle, 9, Beatrice, 7, James W., 5, Frederick C., 2, and Levi J., 10 months.

In the 1930 census of Pottstown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania: at 329 Front Street, Joseph B. Sutton, 50, wife Malissa G., 53, and children Beatrice, 17, James W., 15, Frederick, 13, Joseph L., 11, Bruce, 9, Beulah, 9, and Mable E., 7.

On 22 May 1940, in Emporia, Greensville County, Virginia, Joseph L. Sutton, 21, of Petersburg, Virginia, married Josie Mae Kenney, 18, of Wilson, North Carolina. Joseph, son of Joseph B. Sutton and Melissa G. Thaggard, reported that he was born in Sussex County, Virginia. Josie, daughter of Frank Kenney and Ida Barnes, reported that she was born in Baltimore, Maryland.

On 16 October 1940, Joseph Levi Sutton registered for the World War II draft. His registration card notes that he was born 19 May 1919 in Wilson County, that he resided at 534 East Nash Street in Wilson, that he worked for Southern Tobacco Company, and that his nearest relative was Malissie Gray Sutton of 716 East Green Street.

Malissie Gray Sutton died 17 May 1964 at her daughter’s home at 1200 Carolina Street in Wilson. Her death certificate states that she was born 15 May 1880 in Cumberland County to Andrew Thaggard and Annie Edwards. Informant was Lula Hayes of 1200 Carolina.

  • Eliza Patterson Venable

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In the 1910 census of Indianapolis, Indiana: at 27 West 10th Street, widow Eliza Venable, 53, laundress, and daughter Fannie Patterson, 30, domestic.

In the 1920 census of Indianapolis, Indiana: at 913 Camp Street, Edward Thompkins, 47, wife Fannie, 36, daughter Elizabeth, 4, and widowed mother-in-law Eliza Venable, 63.

In the 1930 census of Indianapolis, Indiana: at 2846 Shriver Street, Edward Tompkins, 56, wife Fannie, 44, daughter Elizabeth, 15, and mother-in-law Eliza Venable, 73. Edward worked as a stock clerk in an electric shop and Fannie as a church secretary.

  • Eleanor Bynum Whitlock

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  • Eugene Williams

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In 1942, Eugene Williams of 918 Fayette Street, Indianapolis, Indiana, registered for the World War II draft. His draft card reports that he was born 9 May 1878 in Wilson County, North Carolina, that his contact was Jannie Williams, and that he worked for Heteren & Burner & Co.

  • John A. Woodard

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In the 1920 census of Indianapolis, Indiana: at 1146 West 26th Street, North Carolina-born laborer John Woodard, 46, and Ohio-born wife Belle, 44.

In the 1930 census of Indianapolis, Indiana: at 1146 West 27th Street, owned and valued at $2500, John Woodard, 56,  wife Belle, 54, and son Frederick, 7. John worked as a janitor in a business building.

In the 1940 census of Indianapolis, Indiana: at 104 Geisendorf Street, laborer John Woodard, 66, and wife Belle, 65.

Dr. George W. Williams.

Though his tenure was short-lived, George W. Williams may have been the first African-American physician to practice in Wilson.

He was a native of Raleigh, where his family appeared in the 1880 census: house carpenter Thomas Williams, 50, wife Anna Eliza, 38, and children: Lucy, 22, Maria, 20, Thomas, 18, John, 16, Walker, 13, Joseph, 10, George, 8, Theodore, 5, Peter, 2, and William, 8 months.

Williams graduated from Shaw University’s Leonard Medical College in 1896 and arrived in Wilson shortly after.

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Raleigh Gazette, 13 February 1897.

4-17-97

Raleigh Gazette, 17 April 1897.

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Raleigh Gazette, 5 June 1897.

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Raleigh Gazette, 8 January 1898.

Dr. Williams quickly left Raleigh for Charlotte. In the 1900 census of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County: medical doctor George W. Williams, 25, wife Lizzie O., 25, with their boarders, the family of John and Emma Harris. In Charlotte’s 1910 census: physician George W. Williams, 36, and wife Lizzie, 38.

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Charlotte Evening Chronicle, 5 March 1912.

Dr. Williams was buried in Raleigh’s Oberlin cemetery.

Minutes of the Turner Swamp Primitive Baptist Association.

Elder Jonah Williams (1841-1915) was involved in the establishment of nearly every church in the Turner Swamp Primitive Baptist Association, including Turner Swamp (1897), Barnes (1898), Little Union (1899), and Rocky Mount (1908). Turner Swamp still meets at or near its original location just north of Eureka in Wayne County. Barnes Chapel was close to Stantonsburg, in southwest Wilson County. Little Union Primitive Baptist Church, which is under reconstruction, was in the Town Creek area east of Elm City. I have not been able to find current references to Rocky Mount Primitive Baptist Church. London’s Church, now inside city limits, was then just north of the town of Wilson. The church is closely associated with London Woodard, an enslaved man who was purchased by his free-born wife, Penny Lassiter. Just after the Civil War, London, who had been a staunch member of Toisnot Primitive Baptist Church, founded an African-American congregation, which reorganized as an independent Primitive Baptist congregation in 1897.

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Barnes Church, near Stantonsburg. 

Elder Williams participated in five Association annual sessions before his death, and the minutes of two survive, including the 1914 session excerpted below.

Minutes 5th Ann TSPBA

Minutes 5th Ann 1

5th Ann TSPBA 2

5th Ann TSPBA 3

Visitations, no. 1.

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New York Age, 30 April 1914.

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New York Age, 1 October 1927.

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Pittsburgh Courier, 6 January 1934.

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New York Age, 5 September 1936.

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New York Age, 31 August 1946.

  • W.H. Lytle and Weslow Lytle
  • Mabel E. Roundtree — In the 1920 census of Town of Wilson, Wilson County: on Old Stantonsburg Road, farmer Jack Rountree, 57, wife Lucile, 47, and children Julius, 24, Julius’ wife Leda, 23, John Henry, 17, Jessie, 16, Mabel, 14, and Ola May Rountree, 10, and Cora Farmer, 19.

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New York Age, 12 July 1919.

  • Mrs. Levy Arrington — In the 1930 census of Town of Wilson, Wilson County: at 208 Reid Street, carpenter Levi Arrington, 38, wife Rosa, 40, daughter Zelma, 16, and lodger Nelly Sharp, 20, a cook.
  • Gilda A. Whitley
  • Emma Williams
  • Mrs. Georgianna Artis — Nathan Artis married George Anna Fort on 8 January 1929 in Wayne County. In the 1940 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: laborer Nathan Artis, 39, wife Georgiana, 37, and children Bertha Lee, 17, Virginia, 14, and Minnie Louise, 7. Georgianna O. Artis died 14 October 1949 in Stantonsburg. Her death certificate reports that she was born 16 June 1903 in Wayne County to James Ford [Forte] and Mary Coley.

The poor house.

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In 1880, seven of the 22 paupers living in Wilson County’s poorhouse were African-American — Cary Williams, 65; Sampson Odam (“sore leg”), 89; David Rountree, 75; Mary Applewhite, 50; Mourning Privett, 52; Sallie Selby, 54; and Doublin Short, 75. Rountree appears in the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County, as a 67 year-old farm laborer living alone. The others’ whereabouts in 1870 are unclear.