DAWKINS, EMMA JENNIE

Emma Jennie Fentress was born in the Tanner’s Creek district of Norfolk, VA, to Kezie Fentress and an unknown father.¹“United States Census, 1880,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYB2-43X?cc=1417683&wc=XCS5-RM9%3A1589415431%2C1589405820%2C1589416342%2C1589395557 : 24 December 2015), Virginia > Norfolk > Tanners Creek > ED 63 > image 21 of 75; citing NARA microfilm publication T9, (National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C., n.d.). Note that there is also a white Keziah Fentress, married to Gideon Dawley, who is mixed up with Kezie on Ancestry.com. We know nothing of Emma’s youth except that she seems to have had a good enough education to get her into Hampton University in Hampton, VA, where she apparently met P. W. Dawkins. By 1892, they were married with one child.²Twenty-two years’ work of the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute at Hampton, Virginia (Hampton : Normal School Press, 1893), 242 (PDF p. 260). https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiug.30112037738793. Dawkins describes her here as an “ex-student,” in a context that implies that she was a Hampton student, but doesn’t prove it definitively. They went on to have four more children as P. W. moved from one school teaching assignment to another in Salem, NJ; Durham, NC; High Point NC; and St. Helena Island, SC.³Salem NJ: Twenty-two years’ work.

Durham and High Point NC: Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7602/images/4117826_00509?pId=57133162: accessed 15 Apr 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.

St Helena SC: “Significance of the Hampton Conference,” Southern Workman 31 no. 8 (1 Aug 1902): 421, https://virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=SWM19020801.1.9&e=01-01-1900-31-12-1900—20–1–txt-txIN——–: accessed 17 Apr 2022. P. W. spent his final years in Durham, accompanied by Emma, and died there in 1913, a well-respected man in the Black community.⁴“Prof. Dawkins Dead,” Durham Morning Herald-Sun (Durham, North Carolina), 19 Oct 1913, p. 3. https://www.newspapers.com/image/787327308/. See Dawkins’ life story for more information.

Emma stayed on in their home at 322 Umstead (later 402 Umstead, probably due to renumbering) along with various of her children. Though her husband must have left her well off, she worked as a dressmaker and domestic as late as 1926.⁵Well off: “What are Negroes Doing in Durham,” Southern Workman 42 no. 7 (1 Jul 1913): 393, https://virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=SWM19130701.1.27&e=01-01-1900-31-12-1900—20–1–txt-txIN——–: accessed 17 Apr 2022.

Occupations: Various Durham City Directories from 1913 to 1929.

She died on 13 October 1929. She seems have suffered from dementia and anxiety in her later years. Her official cause of death was heart and liver disease, complicated by “mental derangement” and “excessive worry.”⁶Emma Dawkins death certificate: “North Carolina Deaths, 1906-1930,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-D1H3-LQY?cc=1609799&wc=MJWY-829%3A1042624401 : 3 May 2019), 004219870 > image 1065 of 2403; State Department of Archives and History, Raleigh.

BORN: 1862.⁸1880 Federal Census.

DIED: 13 Oct 1929.⁹Emma Dawkins death certificate.

BIRTH PLACE: Tanner’s Creek, Norfolk, VA.¹⁰1880 Federal Census.

DEATH PLACE: Durham, NC.¹¹Emma Dawkins death certificate.

SPOUSE: Pinckney William “P. W.” Dawkins.¹²Twenty-two years’ work.

PARENT: Kisie Fentress.¹³1880 Federal Census.

CHILDREN: P. W., Jr. (Sep 1891–8 Dec 1955)¹⁴P. W. Dawkins, Jr., death certificate: Ancestry.com. Tennessee, U.S., Death Records, 1908-1965 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2376/images/40059_b086810-13455?pId=1427343. Original data: Tennessee Death Records, 1908-1965. Nashville, Tennessee: Tennessee State Library and Archives. Tennessee City Death Records Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Memphis 1848-1907. Nashville, Tennessee: Tennessee State Library and Archives.
Estelle/Essel M. (Nov 1893?–23 Nov 1971)¹⁵Essell Dunlap death certificate. Death certificate shows date of birth of 30 Nov 1902. But 1900 Federal Census shows Estelle already age 6. 1910 Federal Census proves Estelle and Essel (now 16) are the same person.
Fentress Lorenzo (2 Sep 1896–5 Jan 1966)¹⁶Fentress Lorenzo death certificate.
Alexander/Elbert/Allie Moore (14 Sep 1898–28 Jul 1976)¹⁷Elbert Dawkins death certificate: North Carolina, U.S., Death Indexes, 1908-2004; https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/5710549:8908.
Wilder F. (1903–25 Mar 1934).¹⁸Birth: 1910 Federal Census.

Death: Wilder Dawkins death certificate.

OTHER FAMILY: N/A

FAMILY BURIED IN GEER CEMETERY: P. W. Dawkins.

OCCUPATION: Teacher, domestic, dressmaker.¹⁹Teacher: “Mr. and Mrs. Dawkins and baby Wilder” (Image P-3615/0056la) in the Penn School Papers #3615, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/03615/: accessed 17 Apr 2022.

Domestic, seamstress: Various Durham City Directories from 1913 to 1929.

CHURCH: St. Joseph’s AME.²⁰“Prof. Dawkins Dead.”

AFFILIATIONS: N/A

ADDRESS: 402 Umstead.²¹Emma Dawkins death certificate.

MILITARY SERVICE: N/A