Material (1898-1948) including legal correspondence and summons, tax receipts, accounts ledger, deeds, contracts and life insurance policies related to the real estate business of Gaston Watson (1865-1933) and his wife Fannie Morris Watson (1884-1965) of Wilson, North Carolina. Also included are photographs related to the family; WWII pay records and photographs related to son William Kirby Watson (1919-1993); and an 1854 copy of "Zion's Hymns" compiled for use in Original Free-Will Baptist Churches of North Carolina.
Gaston Watson (1868-1933) and Fannie M. Watson (1884-1965) were involved in the real estate business in Wilson during and after the Great Depression, most often selling to advertising companies for billboard space. A portion of their finances for the business were through Branch Bank and Trust during the Great Depression. Gaston and Fannie, along with their children, were members of the First Baptist Church of Wilson. They had four children: Margaret Virginia Watson (1916-2005), William Kirby Watson (1919-1993), Thomas Gaston Watson (1921-2000), and Mary Elizabeth Watson (1923-1924).
William Kirby Watson served in WWII as a member of the Army in Italy in 1943 and in Germany in 1945. William, often referred to by his middle name, attended the Atlantic Christian College in Wilson, now Barton College. He later married Margaret Louise Hines (1923-1988) in December of 1956.
The collection includes records pertaining to the real estate affairs of the Watson family, their personal finance records and the documents relating to the domestic life of the family. Real estate records include bank records from Branch Bank and Trust, real estate contracts, deeds, financial correspondence, contractor receipts, and a ledger. Personal finance records include account records, checks, legal summons, legal correspondence, commercial receipts, tax receipts, and utilities receipts. Personal domestic records include address books, advertisements, recipe advertisements, newspaper clippings, newsletters, a Federal Civil Defense Administration pamphlet, a report card, bank books, calendar books, personal correspondence, a will, holiday cards, a hymnal, photographs, negatives, a tintype, and WWII records.
2019-10-01, 1.65 cubic feet; Material (1898-1948) including legal correspondence and summons, bankbooks, tax receipts, accounts ledger, deeds, contracts and life insurance policies related to the real estate business of Gaston Watson (1865-1933) and his wife Fannie Morris Watson (1884-1965) of Wilson, North Carolina. Also included are photographs, a tintype, and negatives related to the family; WWII pay records and photographs related to son William Kirby Watson (1919-1993); church-related documents (1945-1956); and an 1854 copy of "Zion's Hymns" compiled for use in Original Free-Will Baptist Churches of North Carolina. Transferred from Wilson County Public Library.
Transferred from Wilson County Public Library
Processed by Casey Harwick April 2022
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.