We met the “Twin Gastons” — barbers John A. and George A. Gaston — here.
George and Matilda Gaston and their twin sons arrived in Wilson County in the 1870s. The family had also lived in Kinston, North Carolina, and in New Bern, North Carolina, where George Gaston opened an account with the Freedmen’s Bank on 9 March 1872.
The senior Gaston reported that he was born and reared in New Bern; lived “back of the foundery”; had just turned 55 years old; was dark-skinned; worked for William Jones as a blacksmith and plasterer; was married to Matilda Gaston; and had sons George and John. His parents, John George Gaston and Comfort Pruzell, were dead, and he had one sister, Lucinda, who was married to Major Austin. (The Austins appear in the 1870 census of New Bern.) Gaston signed his card with an X.
Freedman’s Bank Records, 1865-1871[database on-line], http://www.ancestry.com.
Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 26 November 1948.
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In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Suggs Street, odd jobs worker Arch Bynum, 37; wife Lillie, 31; and children Nnes, 11, Junis, 7, George, 4, Rena, 2, and Ressie, 6 months.
On 21 October 1929, Raymond Bynum, 19, of Wilson, son of Arch Bynum and Lettie [no maiden name], married Helen Battle, 18, of Wilson, daughter of John Battle and Emma Battle, in Wilson. Missionary Baptist minister F.F. Battle performed the ceremony in the presence of J.H. Battle, Carrie Hardy, and Dollie Roberts.
In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Bynum Raymond (c; Helen) cook h 628 Suggs
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: restaurant cook Raymond Bynum, 30; wife Helen, 29; children Raymond Jr., 10, Lillie M., 7, Alease, 5, and Dolores, 4; and partners Joe, 29, Frances, 23, Joe Jr., 4, and Reginald Hockaday, 3; and Edward, 30, and Mary Whitley, 28.
In 1940, Raymond Bynum registered for the World War II draft in Washington, D.C. Per his registration card, he was born 14 March 1910 in Wilson; lived at 2042 L Street, N.W., Washington; her contact was wife Helen Bynum; and he worked Samuel L. Baber.
Until about the 1930s, white undertakers occasionally handled African-American bodies, but this is the sole instance I have found of a Black undertaker preparing a white person for burial. Here, Charles H. Darden & Son buried the infant son of Walter Pool and Pennie Gordon, who was “premature lived only a few hrs after birth.”
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!
Goodsey H. Holden was primarily a bricklayer (and union man) and building contractor, but prudently diversified into other businesses, including an eating house that operated on South Goldsboro Street between Jones and Hines.
In the 1916 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Holden Goodsy H, eating house 406 1/2 S Spring h 603 S Spring
Washington Times, 18 February 1988.
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In 1940, Willie James Bynum registered for the World War II draft in Washington, D.C. Per his registration card, he was born 23 December 1912 in Holdens Crossroads, Wilson County; lived at 1025 – 22nd Street, N.W., Washington; his contact was wife Lydia Bynum; and he worked for George Van Darkinhouse, Emerson & Orme Company, 17th and M Streets, N.W., Washington.
In the 1940 census of Washington, D.C.: Willie Bynum, 27, car washer at retail auto dealer; wife Lydia, 23; and daughter Alberta, 9. All had lived in Greene County, N.C., in 1935.
Wilson Daily Times, 4 May 1943.
- Virginia Ward — in the 1940 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: on Powell Street, widower Preston Ward, 38, building plasterer; sister Annie, 26; and children James P., 20, building plasterer, Alonza, 18, Johnny Lee, 17, Rosa, 14, Virginia, 12, Sylvester, 10, Ruby, 8, Doris, 6, and Golden, 2.
These documents concerning the City’s discussion of Vick Cemetery in the half-decade prior to its clearing of the space came to me not via my own public records request, but that of a media outlet. I will publish the memos, with comments, in two parts — the first from 1989-1991, and the second from 1994-1995.
On 18 February 1989, the Wilson Daily Times ran a full-length feature article on Ben Mincey‘s attempts to maintain Odd Fellows cemetery. Perhaps it was coincidence, but several months later, the cemetery commission solicited a bid from James A. Hill for cleaning “Rountree Cemetery.”
The bid was not accepted.
In January 1990, Assistant City Manager Charles W. Pittman III sent City Manager Cyrus Brooks a memo detailing the history of Wilson Cemetery Commission. It’s not quite accurate, as it completely skips over Oakdale and Vick Cemeteries and misdates Rest Haven’s establishment in recounting cemetery operations pre-commission. Still, it’s an interesting document.
Three months later, in April 1990, Pittman sent Brooks another memo. The first three paragraphs deal with changes to the management of the cemetery commission’s ledger. Concerns about the commission’s accounting practices are not new. The final paragraph though: “The Vick Cemetery located one Lane Street continues to be under study by both the Fire Department and the Public Works Department for possible means of addressing the grown-up situation. At the present, it appears burning is the most feasible process and possibly following with soil sterilization. As the weather clears a decision will be made in the near future of how to address this situation.”
A year later, a new city manager, Edward A. Wyatt, was in place. On 29 May 1991, Director of Public Works William P. Bartlett sent Wyatt a memo with his recommendations for Vick Cemetery. In the first paragraph, he notes that a staff member “determined” that the City bought Vick years prior. (A simple deed search establishes this, but as recently as 2021, the City was still scratching its head and acting perplexed about this basic fact.) He follows with “it was the responsibility of the Cemetery Commission to maintain same.” (And yet the cemetery was not deeded to the Commission until 2021 — 30 years later — when the City “determined,” again, that it owned Vick.)
Bartlett mentioned James Hill’s 1989 proposal, noting there had been insufficient funds to carry it out. Also, “they [Hill] informed the City that if the City would prepare the site so that it could be mowed, they would maintain it.” Eventually, this is what happened.Hill and employees mowed Vick (and apparently unbeknownst to the city, the front of Odd Fellows) until about 2020.
Bartlett asserted his disapproval of the Commission’s proposed plan for Vick (which Hill’s bid responded to), “as it suggests using dozers and backhoes to dig up stumps and remove the growth. This would destroy grave sites and I believe the intent is to preserve same.” (This is odd. On 11 January 1991, the Daily Times published a photo of two city employees using a bushhog to clear Vick.) Bartlett then laid out his counterproposal, which can be summarized as: soil sterilization, controlled burn, level and grade with soil to fill depressions. (Soil sterilization, of course, would have killed any plantings, like yucca, daffodils, or cedars, by families to mark graves. Fire destroys wooden grave markers and can damage cement headstones.)
Kent Montgomery, Director of Parks & Recreation, followed up with a formal outline of Bartlett’s proposal, but noted that his department was unequipped to handle the work.
This photo was published about 1972 in a Chamber of Commerce booklet, Wilson, North Carolina: Community Improvement through Citizen Action. Though it dates 20+ years after Black Wide-Awake’s focus period, it depicts a streetscape much closer to that of the first half of the twentieth century than what we see today in the 100 block of East Barnes [now, bizarrely, Barnes Street, S.W.] (An exception: at right, Heilig-Meyers furniture store wears a “modern” false front. It since has been restored to its original brick facade and houses the Wilsonian Event Center.)
At left, we see a vacant lot (formerly home to a series of grocery stores), a white-painted brick building, then a dark brick building. A sign hanging from the darker building reads Star Cafe. In 1948, Greek-American restaurateur Gus Gliarmis announced the opening of Star Cafe “for COLORED ONLY,” and the block became a weekend gathering spot for African-Americans.
Next to this building is a two-story building with a lower facade. “Picture-taking” George W. Barnes‘ photography studio occupied a space on the second floor from about 1915 to about 1930. The building no longer stands.
