Williamson

P.T. Williamson, the “father” of Williamson and Springfield Schools, honored.

Wilson Daily Times, 18 January 1960.

At “Williamson Community Day,” the Springfield High School Adult and Young Farmer’s Club honored Paul T. Williamson, the merchant/farmer who had been so instrumental in establishing Williamson Elementary, Williamson High, and, finally, the consolidated Springfield High School.

Williamson would surely have been proud of the alumni who recently formed Springfield Community Center for Arts, Education, and Civil Rights Legacy to redevelop the abandoned school building. Their aim is to preserve history while creating new opportunities in the community. See this recent abc11.com spotlight on the project. [Quick note: Springfield was not the first high school in the area. That was Williamson, which opened ten years earlier in 1941. However, when Speight and Williamson High Schools opened in 1951 as the direct result of pressure applied by the black community, they were top-notch facilities.]

B.W.A. Historical Marker Series, no. 29: Williamson High School.

In this series, which will post on occasional Wednesdays, I populate the landscape of Wilson County with imaginary “historical markers” commemorating people, places, and events significant to African-American history or culture.

We been here.

WILLIAMSON HIGH SCHOOL

African-American merchant-farmer Paul T. Williamson donated the land on which the Wilson County School Board built a six-room high school to serve black students in southwestern Wilson County. Williamson High School opened in 1941. Merged with new Springfield H.S. in 1951.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, October 2025.

The history of Williamson High School.

A 14 May 2014 Wilson Daily Times article, “Education’s still a priority: Williamson-Springfield alumni holding gospel festival Saturday,” included this history of Williamson High School:

“In 1939, James Boykin spoke with Luther Wilder about the need for a high school for black children in the western part of the county.

“Students had to attend school in surrounding areas, including Johnson County or Darden High School in Wilson, both of which long distances for students to travel.

“A meeting was eventually held at Rocky Branch Church in Kenly, where then Wilson County Schools Superintendent K.R. Curtis attended. Parents were concerned about the future of their children’s education.

“In July 1940, the Wilson County Board of Education met and discussed the idea about purchasing property for the high school. A six-acre plot was purchased for $600 from Jennie Whitley, was the sister of Paul Williamson, who owned the land.

“A group of 40 young people, both black and white, helped with the construction of the building, which would become Williamson High School.  Construction was completed in March 1941. Until then, Rocky Branch Church held classes there until the school was completed. During the 1941 school year, classes were held on Saturdays at the church and school in order to get credit. Opened in 1942, the Williamson School was a six-room high school that offered grades 9-12. Williamson School merged with Springfield in the fall of 1951. While the first graduating class was in 1952, the first full class, who spent all 12 years at the school, was in 1964.”

Wilson Daily Times, 7 July 1994.

The last will and testament of Jennie Williamson Whitley.

Will book 8, page 551.

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In the 1880 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: farmer Elic Williamson, 44; wife Gracy, 29; and children John, 14, Lugen, 11, Joseph, 9, Jennie, 7, Mary, 6, Clem, 4, Sarah J., 2, and Pall, 1.

In the 1900 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: farmer Alex Williamson, 63; wife Gracy, 50; children Genny Whitley, 26, and Sarah, 22, Paul, 21, Daniel, 19, Henietta, 15, Edna, 15, and Katie Williamson, 12; and grandchildren Nancy, 8, Della, 5, and Pearle Whitley, 4.

In the 1910 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: on Wilson and Smithfield Branch Road, farmer Alexander Williamson, 72; wife Gracy, 62; widowed daughter Jennie Williamson, 38; daughters Sarah, 20, and Henrietta, 26; and grandchildren Nancy, 18, Della, 17, Hattie, 15, and Pearle Whitley, 14.

In the 1920 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: on Old Clayton and Wilson Road, farmer Alexandria Williamson, 83; divorced daughter Janie W. Williamson, 37; granddaughter Dezell Bailey, 4; and stepson [son-in-law?] McKinley Bailey, 28, house carpenter.

In the 1930 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: Ginnie Whitley, 57, laundress, and granddaughter Pearl Hinnant, 14.

Jennie Whitley died 3 April 1948 in Springhill township, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was born in 1878 in Wilson County to Alex Williamson and Gracie Shaw; was the widow of John Whitley; and was buried in Rocky Branch Cemetery.

Will of Jennie Whitley (1948), North Carolina Wills and Probate Records 1665-1998, http://www.ancestry.com.

Williamson seeks brother.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 16 October 1943.

Paul T. Williamson and John Williamson were the sons of Alex and Grace Shaw Williamson.

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John Clemon Williamson, son of Alex and Grace Williamson, practiced medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for 14 years before his death in 1927. This is curious. Could Paul T. Williamson not know that his brother was dead? I’ve found no evidence that Dr. Williamson lived in Texas.

However, in the 1900 census of Waxahachie, Ellis County, Texas: day laborer John Williamson, 24, born in N.C. to parents born in Georgia; wife Minnie, 28; and children Alexander, 6, Beatrice, 4, and Fleta, 3, all born in Texas. [Ellis County is a southeastern suburb of Dallas.]

In 1910 census of Dallas, Dallas County, Texas: laborer John Williamson, 39, born in N.C. to N.C.-born parents; wife Minnie, 32; and children Alexander, 19, Beatrice, 15, Pleta, 13, and Warren, 7.

Did Alex and Grace Williamson have two sons named John? Yes. The first John (whose name is attributed as Ellic in some family trees), their firstborn child, was born about 1866. The second was John Clemon, born about ten years later. Both appear in the 1880 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: farmer Elic Williamson, 44; wife Gracy, 29; and children John, 14, Lugen, 11, Joseph, 9, Jennie, 7, Mary, 6, Clem, 4, Sarah J., 2, and Pall, 1.

John Williamson the elder, who migrated to Texas before 1900, does not appear in census records after 1910 and likely was dead long before his brother Paul advertised for his whereabouts in 1943.

Cemeteries, no. 26: the Alex and Gracy Shaw Williamson cemetery, revisited.

I met up with Britt Edwards last week to explore the Alex and Gracy Williamson cemetery more closely. Someone is taking good care of this graveyard, and I thank them for it.

Looking west toward the tobacco barn, which is still in pretty good shape. 

This enormous white oak surely is a witness tree, offering shade to the earliest enslaved people buried in this cemetery.

Britt standing outside the old fence line. The posts are eastern red cedar and are many decades old.

The tobacco barn.

Hanging poles inside the barn.

The old flue.

Isaac Renfrow’s grave marker.

Hand-hewn fieldstone head and foot markers.

A small child’s grave marker.

With a little help from Britt’s phone flashlight, we were able to decipher that this hand-cut and -engraved marker is for a child who was born in 1912 and died in 1913. The child’s surname was Williamson, and my best decipherment of his(?) first name is THOMAS. The child died just a year before death certificates were required in Wilson County, and I have not been able to identify him with certainty.

Carved wooden grave marker.

I don’t know how I missed this tiny cedar grave marker on earlier visits. It is weathered and encrusted with lichen, but quite solid. There are no visible engravings. How old is this marker?

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, October 2025.

Jack Williamson signs up for sharecropping.

We have seen Jack Williamson as a blacksmith in Wilson in the late 1800s. However, prior to establishing his business in town, he was a sharecropper. The contract below sets out in detail Williamson’s arrangement with white farmer Jacob H. Barnes to work a farm Barnes owned on Hominy Swamp.

The contract’s terms (which read like a set-up for failure):

  • Barnes would provide the land and a house on it, rent-free.
  • Williamson would “plant and properly cultivate” 30 acres of cotton on land designated by Barnes.
  • Williamson would plant additional acreage “with the force he employs” in corn and cotton, at Barnes’ designation.
  • Williamson would plant “seed oats” on 15 acres “on the left side of the path leading from his house to Hominy Swamp,” then cut and store it.
  • Williamson would plant peas on all the uplands planted in corn.
  • Williamson would store all crops harvested.
  • Williamson would furnish, feed, and pay all labor [this likely meant Williamson would put his family to work, with — or without — pay.]
  • Williamson would furnish the feed for his team of work animals; compost all the land planted in cotton; furnish all farming utensils; furnish any guano that “Barnes shall consider most advisable to use”; would clean out all the ditches; and would repair all fences.
  • Barnes would own all the cotton seed Williamson produced.
  • Williamson’s two-thirds of the crop would remain in Barnes’ control until Williamson repaid all advances made in provisions, fertilizer, money, etc.
  • Barnes had sold Williamson one bay horse mule and one cart for $135, which, while in Williamson’s possession, would remain Barnes’ property until paid for.

Barnes and Williamson signed the contract on 2 February 1875, with Frank W. Barnes as witness.

Deed book 10, page 215-216, Wilson County Register of Deeds, Wilson.

Williamson and Williams post bond for distressed farmer.

In August 1912, Luther Vailes‘ landlords, George W. Dew and D.W. Dew, sued him for allegedly failing to produce the crops due under the terms of a sharecropping agreement.

Pending a judgment, the Wilson County sheriff seized from Vailes a thousand pounds of tobacco and four acres each of fodder and cotton. Alex Williamson and Jonah Williams stepped forward to post bond for Vailes, each averring that they owned sufficient property to do so. Williamson was one of the most prosperous African-American farmers in Springhill township, and his involvement is not surprising. Primitive Baptist elder Williams was also relatively well-to-do, but has no obvious links to Vailes beyond a shared home county.

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In the 1900 census of Goldsboro, Wayne County, N.C.: farmer Lafayette Vail, 30; wife Jane, 27; and children Luther, 9, Minnie, 3, Dallas, 1, and Lafayette, 6 months; plus Hattie Edmondson, 23, servant.

In the 1910 census of Bull Head township, Greene County, N.C.: farmer Lafyette Vales, 40; wife Jane, 38; and children Luther, 19, Dallas, 11, Lafyette, 9, Clarence, 7, and Pearlie Jane, 1.

On 12 August 1911, Luther Vail, 20, of Springhill township, married Della Whitley, 19, of Springhill township, in Wilson County. Rev. J.M. Richardson performed the ceremony in the presence of Willie Edmundson, Elizzi Edmundson, and John Newsom.

In 1917, Luther Vailes registered for the World War I draft in Washington, D.C. Per his registration card, he was born 3 October 1891 in Wayne County, N.C.; lived in Deanwood, Washington, D.C.; worked for C.H. Thompkins; and supported a wife and four children.

In the 1920 census of Washington, D.C.: Luther Valle, 29, wiper at round house; wife Della, 27; children Leonard, 7, Ola, 5, Ethel, 3, J.T., 9 months; and brother Lafayette, 18.

In the 1930 census of Dale township, Chesterfield County, Virginia: Luther Vailes, 39, odd jobs laborer; wife Della, 37; and children Leard, 18, Alia, 15, Ethel, 13, Claud, 7, Olive B., 5, Bernie, 4, Kenneth, 2, and Virginia, 5 months.

In the 1940 census of Richmond, Virginia: Luther Vailes, city government laborer; wife Della, 42; and children Ollie, 23, Claude, 17, Ollie B., 15, Bernice, 13, Kenneth, 11, Virginia, 8, Dorsey, 6, and Dolores, 4.

In 1942, Luther Vailes registered for the World War II draft in Washington, D.C. Per his registration card, he was born 3 October 1891 in Wane [sic] County, North Carolina; lived at 1704 V Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.; his contact was Della Vailes; and he worked for Ross Company Construction, Captain Johns, Maryland. Vailes was measured at 4’5″ tall.

In the 1950 census of Kings County, New York: Luther Vailes, 58, butler; wife Della, 54; children Ollie B., 27, Bernice, 25, Virginia, 19, Dorsey, 16, and Delores, 13; and grandchildren Gloria Jean Vailes, 4, Patricia Ann Harvey, 4, Robbie Stuckey, 2, Carol Stuckey, 18 months, and Deborea Vailes, 1.

Civil Issues Dockets, Wilson County, N.C., Miscellaneous Records, http://www.familysearch.org.

Historic Black Business Series, no. 15: Jack Williamson’s blacksmith shop.

The 1872 map of Wilson shows Jack Williamson‘s blacksmith shop on Tarboro Street, west of Barnes Street. The approximate location is now a parking lot.

Williamson, born enslaved in the Rock Ridge area, came to Wilson shortly after Emancipation. His wife, Ann Jackson Williamson, learned blacksmithing and horseshoeing from him and worked alongside him and their son Charles Williamson.

Jack Williamson died in 1899.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, March 2024.

The Blind Jubilee Singers, “the most remarkable and inimitable songsters of the age.”

The Macon (Ga.) Telegraph, 24 May 1885.

A recent email inquiry has made me take another look at the singing Williamson siblings, whom we met here and here and here.

The Charlotte Observer, 28 July 1881.

Edmund and Bethania “Thaney” Williamson and their oldest children were enslaved in Wilson County. (Edmund Williamson was enslaved by Hardy H. Williamson.) The family is not found in the 1870 census of Wilson County, but in 1880 they appear in Cross Roads township. The enumerator noted nine children at home — William, 25, Nicie, 23, Eliza, 22, Eddie, 21, Ally, 19, Pollina, 17, Dolly Ann, 15, Isaac, 12, and Raiford, 7. Six of the children — William, Eddie, Ally, Pollina, Isaac, and Raiford — were described as blind, and the occupation of the elder four was “gives concerts.” We know those four attended the North Carolina School for the Deaf, the Dumb, and the Blind, whose “colored” division opened circa 1869. Into the 1890s, the Williamson siblings toured the Southeast, singing and performing musical mimicry.

The Tarborough Southerner, 17 October 1878.

The Monroe (N.C.) Express, 22 July 1881.

  • William Williamson

Per an asylum enrollment book, William Williamson was born August 1853 in Wilson County to Edmund and Thanie Williamson. He was born totally blind. Two second cousins on his father’s side were also blind.

In May 1867, the Wilson County sheriff identified to a local Freedmen’s Bureau the names of “unfortunates,” including Wm. Williamson, 8, Edward Williamson, 12, Allice Williamson, 4, Pauline Williamson, 5, and Aquilla Williamson, 7. All were described as blind. (Aquilla apparently was a seventh vision-impaired Williamson sibling and likely died before 1870.) This identification may have led to the placement of four of the Williamson children in the North Carolina Colored Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylum.

In the 1870 census of Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina: at the North Carolina Colored Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylum, pupils included Ally, 9, Pauline, 6, William, 15, and Edward Williamson, 11.

William Williamson apparently toured with his siblings for decades. I have not found him in census records subsequent to 1880.

On 12 October 1903, Edmund Williamson drafted his last will and testament. Per his wishes, his “two blind sons William Williamson and Edmund Williamson” and his “blind daughter Leany Williamson” were to equally divide a life estate in all his real estate and then to successive heirs “to remain in the Williamson family forever.”

  • Nicie Williamson

On 18 October 1891, David Barnes, 32, of Cross Roads township, son of Joshua and Maria Barnes, married Nicy Williamson, 35, of Cross Roads township, daughter of Edd and Bethany Williamson, at Edmund Williamson’s in Wilson County.

Nicie Williamson Barnes is not listed in her father’s 1903 will and apparently died before it was written.

  • Eliza Williamson

Eliza Williamson is not listed in her father’s 1903 will and apparently died before it was written.

  • Eddie J. Williamson

Per the enrollment book, Eddie J. Williamson was born June 1859 in Wilson County to Edmund and Thanie Williamson. He was born totally blind.

He is named as “Edward Williamson” in the 1867 sheriff’s letter.

In the 1870 census of Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina: at the North Carolina Colored Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylum, pupils included Ally, 9, Pauline, 6, William, 15, and Edward Williamson, 11.

Edmund “Eddie” Williamson apparently toured with his siblings for decades. I have not found him in census records subsequent to 1880. He was alive as late as 1903, however, when he was named in his father’s will.

  • Allie A. Williamson

Per the enrollment book, Allie A. Williamson was born January 1861 in Wilson County to Edmund and Thanie Williamson. She was born blind, “totally or nearly so.”

She is named as “Allice Williamson” in the 1867 sheriff’s letter.

In the 1870 census of Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina: at the North Carolina Colored Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylum, pupils included Ally, 9, Pauline, 6, William, 15, and Edward Williamson, 11.

Allie Williamson is not listed in her father’s 1903 will and apparently died before it was written.

  • Pelina M. Williamson

Per the enrollment book, Pelina M. Williamson was born September 1862 in Wilson County to Edmund and Thanie Williamson. She was born blind, “totally or nearly so.”

She is named as “Pauline Williamson” in the 1867 sheriff’s letter.

In the 1870 census of Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina: at the North Carolina Colored Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylum, pupils included Ally, 9, Pauline, 6, William, 15, and Edward Williamson, 11.

Pelina Williamson apparently toured with her siblings for decades. I have not found her in census records subsequent to 1880.

Pauline Williamson died 7 March 1925 in Griffin, Spalding County, Georgia. Per her death certificate, she was born “sometime in 1859” in Raleigh, N.C., to Edd Williamson and an unnamed mother; was single; worked as a musician; and was buried in the city cemetery. Mary Ella Moore was informant.

I have found no record of her in Georgia prior to her death.

  • Dolly Ann Williamson

On 20 April 1884, Jesse Seaberry, 25, married Dolley Ann Williamson, , at Ed Williamson’s in Wilson County.

On 22 May 1899, Bristow Brownrigg, 52, of Wilson County, son of Reddick Brownrigg and Annie Barnes, married Dolly Ann Seabury, 35, of Wilson County, daughter of Edmund and Thaney Williamson, Cross Roads township, Wilson County. S.H. Vick applied for the license, and Burket Woodard, Stephen Hadley, and Nellie Barnes were witnesses to the ceremony.

Per Edmund Williamson’s 1903, daughter Dollie Ann Brownricks [Brownrigg] was to receive a life estate in all his personal property, money, stock and crops, with her children Timothy, Bethania, and Lizzie Seabury [Seaberry] to receive the remainder.

On 24 December 1919, Madison Barnes, 64, applied for a license to marry Dollie Barnes, 54.

In the 1920 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farm laborer Madison Barnes, 70; wife Dollie Ann, 53; and granddaughter Annie V. Vick, 8.

Dollie Ann Barnes died 19 January 1928 in Cross Roads township, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was 67 years old; was born in Wilson County to Edmond and Bethune Williamson; was married Matherson Barnes; worked as a common laborer; and was buried in Williamson Cemetery, Wilson County. Timothy Seabury, Lucama, N.C., was informant.

Elizabeth Edmundson died 21 November 1970 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 13 January 1887 to Jessie Seabury and Dollie Ann Williams; was a widow; lived in Lucama, N.C.; and worked in farming. L.V. Edmundson was informant.

  • Isaac Williamson

Isaac Williamson died 1 September 1895 in Norfolk, Virginia. Per an index of death certificates, he was born about 1868 in North Carolina; was single; and worked as a musician.

Isaac Williamson is listed in the 1887-1889 Annual Report of the North Carolina Institution for the Deaf, the Dumb, and the Blind.

  • Raiford Williamson

Raiford Williamson is not listed in his father’s 1903 will and apparently died before it was written.

Raiford Williamson is listed in the 1881-1883 Annual Report, but I have found no evidence to date that he, like his musical siblings, performed for a living.

From page 367 of the 1881-’83 Annual Report.

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The Norfolk Virginian, 5 June 1879.

The News and Advance (Lynchburg, Va.), 21 July 1880.

The Daily Journal (New Bern, N.C.), 14 July 1891.

Enrollment Book, Negro Deaf 1873-1893, Negro Blind 1869-1893; Student Records; Box 1; General Records; State School for the Blind and Deaf; North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, N.C. (Thank you, Amanda Stuckey!)