Category Archives: North Carolina

Births Deaths Marriages, Newspaper Articles, North Carolina, Paternal Kin, Photographs

Taylor-Stokes wedding engagement.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 30 April 1949.


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In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 610 East Green Street, rented for $20/month, barber Roderick Taylor, 45; wife Mary, 39; and children Edna G., 8, Mary J., 4, and Roderick Jr., 1.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 607 East Green Street, barber Roderick Taylor, 58; wife Mary J., 50; and children Edna G., 18, Mary J., 14, and Roderick Jr., 12.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1208 Atlantic, barber James Stokes, 45; wife Viola, 35; and children Frank, 18, tobacco factory laborer, Dorothy, 14, Thomas, 12, Annie M., 9, Jannie L., 7, Donnie, 5, and Carlton, 4.

In 1942, Frankin Roosevelt Stokes registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 21 November 1921 in Troupland [Treutlen] County, Georgia; resided at 1208 Atlanta [sic] Street; his mailing address was Carter Hall, Johnson C. Smith University, Charlotte; and his nearest relative was James Stokes, 1208 Atlanta Street.

On 9 June 1949, Frank Stokes, 26, of Wilson, son of James Stokes and Viola Reese Stokes, married Mary Joyce Taylor, 23, daughter of Roderick Taylor and Mary John Taylor, in Wilson. Presbyterian minister O.J. Hawkins performed the ceremony in the presence of Johnnie K. Boatwright, Sue Faucette, and Frances E. Williams.

In the 1950 census of Boulder, Boulder County, Colorado: at the University of Colorado,  Franklin R. Stokes, 28, lodger.

In the 1955 Boulder, Colorado, city directory: Stokes Franklin R (Joyce M) lab Maaco Puget Sound h 1906 Pearl

Mary Joyce Taylor Stokes Crisp died 26 September 2006 in Mount Clemens, Michigan.

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Education, Enslaved People, Maternal Kin, North Carolina, Other Documents, Uncategorized

Henry W. McNeely, teacher.

I knew from oral history and the 1870 census that my great-great-great-grandfather Henry W. McNeely was a teacher during Reconstruction. Born in 1841 to John W. McNeely, a white slaveowner, and Lucinda McNeely, the woman he enslaved, Henry presumably learned to read and write during slavery.

The document above is extracted from “List of School Teachers & School-buildings North Carolina” compiled by a Freedmen’s Bureau official. Miranda was a community on present-day Millbridge Road in Rowan County, southwest of Salisbury and just a few miles northwest of China Grove. Henry’s home was closer to Mount Ulla, a few miles northwest of Miranda. Another document in this dataset notes that H.W. McNeely taught 138 students in one building under the patronage of the Friends Freedmen’s Association.

Roll 028, Monthly and Other School Reports North Carolina July 1868-Dec 1870, Records of the Education Division, Headquarters Records, U.S. Freedmen’s Bureau Records 1865-1878, http://www.ancestry.com.

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Births Deaths Marriages, North Carolina, Paternal Kin

Taylor applies for Battle-Cannon marriage license.

I happened upon the 10 September 1938 marriage license for Arthur Lee Battle, 21, and Dorothy Cannon, 18, in Wilson. My grandfather Roderick “Mike” Taylor applied for the license. What was his relationship to the couple? Was Arthur Battle, whose parents were William and Nora Battle, related to Taylor, whose maternal grandmother was Cherry Battle Barnes?

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Births Deaths Marriages, North Carolina, Paternal Kin, Photographs

Remembering Reginald Henderson on his birthday.

In June of this year, the Henderson family lost an extra-special cousin to COVID-19. Today would have been Reginald J. Henderson Sr.‘s 76th birthday. By happenstance, I ran across his high school yearbook online today and found his senior portrait.

We miss you, Cousin Reggie!

The Tiger (1962), G.W. Carver High School, Mount Olive, N.C., digitized at DigitalNC.

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Births Deaths Marriages, North Carolina, Other Documents, Paternal Kin, Photographs

They know of their own certain knowledge.

42091_333084-01061

In June 1923, my grandfather Roderick Taylor vouched for his first cousin Howard Willis Barnes when Barnes applied for a license to marry Elmer Pentecost Wright in Greensboro, North Carolina. Taylor was still spelling his first name with two D’s and no E at the time. His mother, Rachel Barnes Taylor, and Howard’s father, Ned Barnes, were siblings.

Handwritten on the rear: “To Jas. Battle from Roddrick Taylor.” The photo likely dates from about 1905.

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North Carolina, Paternal Kin, Photographs

Edgar and James Broady Artis.

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Edgar J. “Buddy” Artis (1914-1988) and James Broady Artis (1912-1963), sons of June S. and Ethel Becton Artis, circa 1919.

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The Artis brothers were my double cousins. My great-great-great-grandfather Adam T. Artis was their paternal grandfather, and my great-great-great-aunt Amanda Aldridge Artis was their paternal grandmother.

The 1920 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County, recorded the family right around the time the boys posed for this portrait: on Stantonsburg & Wilson Road, farm manager June S. Artis, 30, wife Ethel, 26, and children James, 7, Edgar, 5, Manda Bell, 3, and farm laborer Edgar Exum.

 

Many thanks to my cousin Adam S. Artis, Edgar J. Artis’ grandson, for sharing this photo.

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