Where we worked: department stores.

Lundy Brewington, Norfolk VA – elevator conductor, circa 1910.

R. Henry McNeely, Statesville NC – porter, Polk-Gray Drug Company, 1920s.

William McNeely, New York NY – elevator operator, circa 1930.

Jimmie Reaves, Greenville NC – deliveryman for department store, circa 1930; department store maintenance man, circa 1940.

Bertha Reaves, Greenville NC – department store “elevator girl,” circa 1940.

Bessie Henderson Smith, Wilson NC – “elevator girl,” circa 1940.

The thirteenth in an occasional series exploring the ways in which my kinfolk made their livings in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Births Deaths Marriages, Education, North Carolina, Other Documents, Paternal Kin, Vocation

Lincoln University, Class of ’95.

Mack Daniel Coley was born in 1866 in northern Wayne County. He graduated from Hampton Institute’s preparatory division in 1890, then received a bachelor’s degree from Lincoln in 1895. He returned to North Carolina shortly after and, in November 1896, married fellow Hampton graduate Hattie B. Wynn, daughter of Charles W. and Frances Aldridge Winn.

M.D. Coley’s remarkable career as educator — and lawyer — was chronicled in Arthur Bunyan Caldwell’s History of the American Negro and His Institutions (1921):

[Sidenote: Mack Coley appears in the 1870 census of Wayne Coley in a household headed by Winney Coley. At age 61, she is too old to have been his mother (never mind the bad information posted on a dozen family trees on Ancestry.com.) Grandmother, perhaps? If so, how do the Yelvertons mentioned above fit? Winnie Coley is not kin, but she was the mother of children by Napoleon Hagans and Adam T. Artis. Stay tuned.]

Maternal Kin, Paternal Kin, Vocation

Where we worked: morticians and embalmers.

Isham Smith, Goldsboro NC – husband of Nancy Henderson Smith; undertaker, circa 1900-1914.

William T. Abrams Jr., Union SC — husband of Mamie Aldridge Abrams Rochelle; undertaker in family business, circa 1930.

William J. Allen, Newport News VA – embalmer, 1930s-1970s?

James N. Guess Sr., Goldsboro NC — husband of Annie Smith Guess; owner and operator of funeral home, Pine between James and Center Streets, 1910s-1950s.

The Afro-American, 22 June 1940.

James N. Guess, Jr., Goldsboro NC – worked for father’s funeral business.

Columbus E. Artis, Wilson NC – owner and operator of Artis & Freeman Funeral Home, 1920s; C.E. Artis Funeral Home, 1920s-1950s.

Concord Daily Tribune, 24 May 1921.

The twelfth in an occasional series exploring the ways in which my kinfolk made their livings in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Enslaved People, Free People of Color, Land, Newspaper Articles, North Carolina, Paternal Kin, Vocation

Black carpenter makes name for himself.

I’ve been pulling together a descendant chart for Daniel Artis. In part, I want to keep the names straight and, in part, I’m trying to see if I’m related to any of the other Edwardses, Saulses or Artises I grew up with. Tonight I Googled some random names from this family and up popped this, published just three days ago in Kinston.com, the on-line version of the Kinston Free Press. Andrew Sauls’ father was Isaac Sauls, son of Isaac Sauls, son of Prior Ann Artis Sauls Thompson, daughter of Daniel Artis, brother of my great-great-great-great-grandmother Vicey Artis Williams.

[Update, 7 March 2014: I emailed the Free Press journalist and two days later — yesterday — got a call from Andrew Sauls himself! He lives on land his grandfather bought in 1920 (plus 400 more); confirmed that the Artis Town sign is gone; knew M.’s grandfather, “Cousin Booker T.,” well; and promised to show me around Sauls-Edwards-Artis territory next time I’m home! — LYH]

Maternal Kin, Paternal Kin, Vocation

Where we worked: hewers and builders.

Adam T. Artis, near Eureka NC – carpenter, 1850s-circa 1900.

Adam T. Artis Jr., Washington DC – hod carrier, circa 1910.

Isham Smith, Goldsboro NC – husband of Nancy Henderson Smith, blacksmith, 1880s?-1914.

Junius Allen, Newport News VA – carpenter, circa 1917.

Prince A. Aldridge, Wilson NC – plasterer, circa 1940.

Van Smith – husband of Mattie Taylor Smith; bricklayer, Pool & Whitehead, Smithfield NC, 1917; Wilson NC, circa 1920.

Jesse Artis, Norfolk VA – laborer, house builder, circa 1920.

Dock Simmons, Logansport IN – owned and operated hauling and excavating company, circa 1924.

John C. Allen Jr., Newport News VA – carpenter, construction contractor, 1920s-1948.

Benjamin A. Harris, Wilson NC – husband of Pauline Artis Harris; brickmason, 1930s-1950s.

Daniel Simmons, Philadelphia PA – construction laborer, circa 1930.

Johnnie Smith, Goldsboro NC – carpenter, circa 1930.

Eugene Stockton, Statesville NC – husband of Ida Colvert Stockton; brickmason, circa 1930.

Ira Henderson, Mount Olive NC – carpenter, circa 1940.

Ned Barnes, Wilson NC — building carpenter, circa 1930.

Richard G. Wynn, Wilmington NC – brickmason, 1950s.

The eleventh in an occasional series exploring the ways in which my kinfolk made their livings in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Newspaper Articles, North Carolina, Paternal Kin, Vocation

The splendid side-wheeler Rough and Ready.

Needham Kennedy — Mathew W. Aldridge‘s father-in-law — just gets more and more interesting.

New Berne Weekly Journal, 17 January 1884.

and

New Bern Daily Journal, 9 April 1884.

How did this man, enslaved until 1865, own a steamer plying the Neuse River from Goldsboro down to New Bern??? And why has he left so little trace in the record? I’m on the hunt.

Here’s an article from a Raleigh newspaper announcing the Rough and Ready‘s arrival in North Carolina:

Star, 8 December 1847.

Stay tuned.

Maternal Kin, Paternal Kin, Vocation

Where we worked: grocers and storekeepers.

Jesse Artis, Eureka NC – owned and operated a general store, circa 1890.

Mathew W. Aldridge, Goldsboro NC – grocer, 219 Pine Street, 1900s-1920.

John C. Allen Sr., Newport News VA – owned and operated grocery, 2006 or 2206 Madison Avenue, circa 1916-1917.

John W. Aldridge, Dudley NC – owned and operated a general store, circa 1900?-1910.

Columbus E. Artis, Stantonsburg NC – “grocery storekeeper,” circa 1910.

Isaac Lee, Fremont NC – husband of Eva Aldridge Lee; general store operator; circa 1930-1970.

J. Leslie Thompson, Goldsboro NC – husband of Margaret Artis Thompson; storekeeper, circa ??-1960s.

Richard T. Price, Newport News VA — Price’s Confectionery, 12th Street & Ivy Avenue; 1940s-1970s.

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The tenth in an occasional series exploring the ways in which my kinfolk made their livings in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Maternal Kin, Paternal Kin, Religion, Vocation

Where we worked: men and women of the cloth.

Joseph Silver, near Enfield NC – husband of Sarah Henderson Jacobs Silver; founder of Plumbline Holiness Church, 1893; organizer of the United Holiness Church of America (see Estrelda Alexander, Black Fire: One Hundred Years of African American Pentacostalism); 1890s-1958. [Said my grandmother: Mama got married there on Elba Street, there at the house. Yeah. Reverend Silver was a little short brown-skinned man, and he was a elder and the head of the church where was down there in Halifax County.]

Graham Allen, Charles City County VA – Baptist minister, circa 1880?-1928.

Jonah Williams, near Eureka NC – Baptist minister; pastor of Turner Swamp Primitive Baptist Church and other small churches between Wilson and Goldsboro NC; circa 1890?-1915.

William H. Henderson, Goldsboro NC – minister, ??-1950s.

Larry R. Artis, Washington DC – minister, Sharon Baptist Church, 9^th Street between U and Barrett Place NW, circa 1917.

Sarah Henderson Jacobs Silver, Wilson NC – Holiness evangelist, 1920s-1938.

Ruffin C. Carroll, Goldsboro NC — preacher, 1920s.

Kinchen C. Holt, Greensboro NC – husband of Vera Baker Holt; African Methodist Episcopal minister; Presiding Elder, Greensboro District, 1924; circa 1900?-1940.

Joseph Aldridge, Goldsboro NC — minister, ??-1930s.

Joseph L. Aldridge, Dayton OH — United Methodist minister.

Elias Lewis “E.L.” Henderson, Eureka NC — founder of Saint Mark Church of Christ, Saulston NC.

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The ninth in an occasional series exploring the ways in which my kinfolk made their livings in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Education, Newspaper Articles, Other Documents, Vocation

Where we worked: educators.

Henry W. McNeely, Mount Ulla NC — schoolteacher, circa 1870.

Joseph C. Carroll, Wayne County NC — second grade teacher, circa 1880.

John W. Aldridge, Wayne County NC — second grade teacher, circa 1880.

George W. Aldridge, Wayne County NC — first grade teacher, circa 1880.

Matthew W. Aldridge, Wayne County NC — second grade teacher, circa 1880.

Henry E. Hagans, Goldsboro NC — principal, State Colored Normal School, circa 1892-1920.

The State Colored Normal School opened in this city yesterday, of which Prof. H.E. Hagans, son of Napoleon Hagans, one of the most respected and prosperous colored men in the State, from the Fremont section, has recently been elected principal. The ARGUS is glad to note his election. He merited the preferment, and we wish the school all success under his administration. [– Goldsboro Weekly Argus, Thursday, 15 Sep 1892]

Clarissa Williams, Wilson NC — teacher, Eureka; Wilson Colored Graded School, circa 1890-1922.

2 Feb 1901. Called meeting of the Board, all present. Secretary stated that he had received the resignation of Mrs. Hunt as teacher of 5th grade, Col. school. Resignation accepted to take effect at once. Motion made that Clarrissy Williams be elected to fill the unexpired term of Mrs. Hunt. Carried. There being no further business Board adjourned, by order of Geo. Hackney, Chairman E.P. Mangum, Rec. Sec’y

27 May 1901. Miss Clarissa Williams re-elected a teacher.

9 June 1902. Teachers elected for Colored School: J.D. Reid, principal; Miss Clarissa Williams; Mrs. Annie Vick; Miss Geneva Battle; Miss Sallie Dortch (Goldsboro, N.C.) [from Minutes of the Wilson Graded Schools, bound volume, Wilson County Public Library]

Tabitha Pace Brunson, Garland AR – teacher, circa 1920.

Louise Colvert Renwick, Statesville NC — teacher, 1920s.

Golar Colvert Bradshaw, Iredell County NC — teacher, 1920s-30s.

Lillie Colvert Stockton, Statesville NC — teacher, Iredell County Schools, 1920s.

Mamie Aldridge Abrams Rochelle, Goldsboro NC, Union SC — teacher, circa 1930-1960s.

Arnetta L. Randall, Washington DC — teacher, Knoxville TN, circa 1930; Washington DC, circa 1940.

Fannie Randall Dorsey, Washington DC — teacher, circa 1930.

Vivian Manley Smith, Wayne County NC — teacher, circa 1930.

Margaret Colvert Allen, Statesville NC — teacher, circa 1930.

Marion Allen Lomans, Newport News VA — teacher, John Marshall School, 1935-1942.

Daisy Aldridge Williams, Asheville NC — teacher, circa 1940.

Mable Williams McCaine, Asheville NC — teacher, circa 1940.

Price B. Brown, Salisbury NC — teacher, circa 1940.

Sallie Bullock Brown, Salisbury NC — wife of Price Brown, “library work at school,” circa 1940.

Oscar Randall, Chicago IL — mathematics teacher, DuSable High School, circa 1940.

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The eighth in an occasional series exploring the ways in which my kinfolk made their livings in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Maternal Kin, Paternal Kin, Vocation

Where we worked: drivers and chauffeurs.

Haywood Artis, Norfolk VA – coachman, 1898.

Ned Barnes, Wilson NC – coachman, circa 1900.

Harry Artis, Washington DC – chauffeur, circa 1920.

Lon W. Colvert, Statesville NC – owned and operated jitney service, 1920s.

John W. Colvert II, Statesville NC – drove for jitney service, 1920s-1930s.

Earle M. Hagans, Norfolk VA — chauffeur for automobile dealer, circa 1920.

Andrew Ashford, Fremont NC – husband of Reka Aldridge Ashford; chauffeur; circa 1917.

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The seventh in an occasional series exploring the ways in which my kinfolk made their livings in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Scuffalong: Genealogy.

Category Archives: Vocation

Where we worked: department stores.

Lincoln University, Class of ’95.

Where we worked: morticians and embalmers.

Black carpenter makes name for himself.

Where we worked: hewers and builders.

The splendid side-wheeler Rough and Ready.

Where we worked: grocers and storekeepers.

Where we worked: men and women of the cloth.

Where we worked: educators.

Where we worked: drivers and chauffeurs.