LASSITER, MACIO

Macio Lassiter was born on 24 December 1904 in the community of Severn in Northampton County, NC.¹Macio Lassiter headstone: Geer Cemetery (800 Colonial St, Durham, NC), photographed by Nicholas Levy, 6 Nov 2020. Used by permission.

Elijah Lassiter Severn properties: https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/296804?availability=Family%20History%20Library : accessed 13 Dec 2022. He was the fourth and likely last child of Elijah and Joanna Green Lassiter, who had married in 1897.²Elijah Lassiter marriage license: Ancestry.com. North Carolina, U.S., Marriage Records, 1741-2011 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/14279590:60548 : accessed 12 Dec 2022. Original data: North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC. He had two older brothers, Chauncy (b. 1902) and Norman (b. 1900), and an older sister Oza (b. 1898).³Oza and Norman: 1900 US Census Kirby: Year: 1900; Census Place: Kirby, Northampton, North Carolina; Roll: 1209; Page: 10; Enumeration District: 0070; FHL microfilm: 1241209. Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/50293722:7602 : accessed 12 Dec 2022. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. T623, 1854 rolls. NOTE: At this point Oza was known as Wandalla and one-month-old Norman was “no name.”

Chauncey: National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for Pennsylvania, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 1430. Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/5345770:2238 : accessed 12 Dec 2022. Elijah owned a number of agricultural tracts south of Severn on both sides of present-day HWY 35, including some land passed down to him by his father (also named Elijah). Records show Elijah having financial difficulties starting in 1901, having to put up the land as collateral for debt numerous times.⁴Elijah Lassiter Severn properties. In late December 1905, just after Macio’s first birthday, Elijah sold all his land and moved the family to Durham where he subsequently bought an acre of land in East Durham.⁵Elijah Lassiter Durham properties: https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/141867?availability=Family%20History%20Library : accessed 13 Dec 2022. It is possible the family was drawn to Durham, which was over 100 miles away, by Joanna’s sister Ilene Green Walden and her husband John S. Walden who had married there in 1903.⁶Ancestry.com. North Carolina, U.S., Marriage Records, 1741-2011 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1792721:60548 : accessed 13 Dec 2022. Original data: North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.

This land in East Durham that Elijah purchased was adjacent to the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company, on the corner where Macademized Road (extension of Angier Avenue) met an unnamed road adjacent to the Seabord Railroad (today this is Hoover Road). Unfortunately, the move to Durham did not alleviate Elijah’s financial troubles, and within three years he defaulted on his mortgage and lost the property.⁷Elijah Lassiter Durham properties.

The family disappears from records for a few years, and it is uncertain whether they returned to the Severn area or stayed in Durham. They appear again in 1913, living on Cates Avenue in Durham, which was on the eastern edge of the East End neighborhood in an area today bounded by Mallard, Gilbert, Pearl, and Neville Streets, and occupied by industrial facilities.⁸Durham, NC Directory 1913-1914 (Durham, NC: Hill Directory Company, 1913-1914) p. 198 (PDF p. 204), Lassater surname; digital image, “North Carolina City Directories,” DigitalNC (https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/25165 : accessed 13 Dec 2022). Macio was a student at East End school, recognized in the local paper for making the honor roll.⁹1914: “Honor Roll City Schools,” Durham Morning Herald (Durham NC), 8 May 1914, p. 5. https://www.newspapers.com/image/787317078/ : accessed 13 Dec 2022.

1916: “Honor Roll of City Schools,” Durham Morning Herald (Durham NC) 16 Jan 1916, p. 6. https://www.newspapers.com/image/787320608/ : accessed 13 Dec 2022. In 1916, Elijah died of pneumonia, with his death certificate showing the family living on Willard Street in the Hayti neighborhood. Elijah was buried back in his native Severn, possibly in a cemetery associated with the church he had donated land to in 1901.¹⁰Elijah Lassiter death certificate: Ancestry.com. North Carolina, U.S., Deaths, 1906-1930 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/998182:60090 : accessed 13 Dec 2022. Original data: North Carolina, Deaths, 1906-1930. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.  (This church was named Haywood Tabernacle No. 80 in 1901, but may be in the same location as present day First Baptist Church in Severn, which has an associated cemetery.)

After Elijah’s passing, Macio’s mother Joanna remarried Anthony T. Hill in Durham in 1918.¹¹Ancestry.com. North Carolina, U.S., Marriage Records, 1741-2011 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1795247:60548 : accessed 13 Dec 2022. Original data: North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC. Anthony also had children from his first marriage.¹²1920 US Census Portsmouth: Year: 1920; Census Place: Portsmouth Harrison Ward, Portsmouth (Independent City), Virginia; Roll: T625_1905; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 193. Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/55787975:6061 : accessed 13 Dec 2022. Original data: Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. (NARA microfilm publication T625, 2076 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: NARA. Note: Enumeration Districts 819-839 are on roll 323 (Chicago City). It is likely the two had known each other for some time, as numerous connections between the Hill and Lassiter families exist in records from Northampton County NC and Southampton County VA. Records show the blended family apparently splitting time between Durham and Portsmouth VA, with the 1920 census showing Macio and his brother Chauncey living with Anthony, Joanna, and four of the Hill children in Portsmouth.¹³1920 US Census Portsmouth. Around 1922 it appears the marriage became estranged, with Joanna returning to using the Lassiter surname in records, and Anthony Hill leaving Durham and relocating to Atlantic City NJ.¹⁴Joanna (as “Anna”): Durham, NC Directory 1922 (Durham, NC: Hill Directory Company, 1922) p. 319, Lassiter surname; digital image, “North Carolina City Directories,” DigitalNC (https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/25156 : accessed 15 Dec 2022).

Anthony: Year: 1930; Census Place: Atlantic City, Atlantic, New Jersey; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 0007; FHL microfilm: 2341043. Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/3083335:6224 : accessed 14 Dec 2022. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626, 2,667 rolls.

Also in the late 1910s, the Lassiter children began looking northward for better economic opportunities. A WW1 Draft Card record for Norman Lassiter shows him working at the Bethlehem Steel Company mine in Cornwall PA, while still maintaining a permanent residence with his mother and stepfather in Durham.¹⁵Registration State: North Carolina; Registration County: Durham County. Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/16196222:6482 : accessed 14 Dec 2022. Original data: United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls. Imaged from Family History Library microfilm. The progression of looking northward for work continued into the 1920’s, with records showing a concurrent presence of Joanna and her children in both Durham and Philadelphia. Macio is listed working as a chauffeur in the 1922 Durham City Directory, but sadly it was while working in Philadelphia as a tailor in 1923 that he contracted pneumonia at the young age of 19, passing away after a stay at the Lankenau Hospital.¹⁶Chauffeur: Durham 1922 City Directory, p. 319.

Macio Lassiter death certificate: Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates, 1906-1968 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/5164/images/41381_2421401757_0438-01737 : accessed 14 Dec 2022 Original data: Pennsylvania (State). Death certificates, 1906–1968. Series 11.90 (1,905 cartons). Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. His body was removed back to Durham, and buried in Geer Cemetery where a headstone still stands for him at the southwest corner of the cemetery adjacent to Colonial Street and McGill Place.¹⁷Macio Lassiter headstone. He would be joined in Geer a few years later by brother Norman’s wife Gertrude Reed Lassiter, who died in 1925 only a year after their marriage.¹⁸Gertrude Lassiter death certificate: Ancestry.com. North Carolina, U.S., Death Certificates, 1909-1976 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/2253910:1121 : accessed 14 Dec 2022. Original data: North Carolina State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics. North Carolina Death Certificates. Microfilm S.123. Rolls 19-242, 280, 313-682, 1040-1297. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina.

While family members maintained a presence in Durham until 1932, eventually they would call Philadelphia their new home. Joanna died in 1936 while working as a school teacher, and was buried in historic African-American Eden Cemetery in Collingdale PA outside Philadelphia.¹⁹Joanna Lassiter death certificate: Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission; Harrisburg, PA; Pennsylvania (State). Death Certificates, 1906-1968; Certificate Number Range: 033501-036500. Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates, 1906-1968 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/5164/images/42342_645856_0597-00742 : accessed 14 Dec 2022. Original data :Pennsylvania (State). Death certificates, 1906–1968. Series 11.90 (1,905 cartons). Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Macio’s siblings would all spend the majority of their adult lives in Philadelphia until their deaths: Chauncey in 1970, Norman in 1975, and Oza in 1977.²⁰Chauncey: “United States Social Security Death Index,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JP86-W5S : 8 January 2021), Chauncey Lassiter, Jul 1970; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).

Norman: “United States Social Security Death Index,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JPNS-CYQ : 8 January 2021), Norman Lassiter, Mar 1975; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).

Oza: “United States Social Security Death Index,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JKY2-65Q : 8 January 2021), Oza Lassiter, May 1977; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).

BORN: 24 December 1904.²²Macio Lassiter headstone.

DIED: 7 December 1923.²³Macio Lassiter death certificate.

BIRTH PLACE: Severin NC.²⁴Elijah Lassiter Severn properties.

DEATH PLACE: Philadelphia PA.²⁵Macio Lassiter death certificate.

SPOUSE: N/A

PARENTS: Elijah Lassiter and Joanna Green Lassiter.²⁶Elijah Lassiter marriage license.

CHILDREN: N/A

OTHER FAMILY: Siblings Oza (1898–1977), Norman (1900–1975), and Chauncy (1902–1970).²⁷Oza and Norman: 1900 US Census Kirby.

Chauncey: WWII Draft Registration Card.

FAMILY BURIED IN GEER CEMETERY: Sister-in-law Gertrude Lassiter (wife of Norman Lassiter).

OCCUPATION: Chauffer, tailor.²⁸Chauffeur: Durham 1922 City Directory, p. 319.

Tailor: Macio Lassiter death certificate.

CHURCH: N/A

AFFILIATIONS: N/A

ADDRESS: 500 N 22nd., Philadelphia, PA.²⁹Macio Lassiter death certificate.

MILITARY SERVICE: N/A