TABRON, PERCY

Percy Tabron was born to Dick Tabron and Mamye Mayes on 13 Mar 1878.¹Percy Tabron death certificate: 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. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/253837:1121 : accessed 20 Sept 2022.

WWI Draft Registration card: 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. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui- content/view/71021280:6482 : accessed 21 Sept 2022. At this time, we have no information about his parents or his childhood. The earliest documentation we can locate is a 1903 Durham City Directory entry informing us that he resided at 612 Cameron and was working as a laborer.²City Directory: Year: 1903: Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui- content/view/732737709:2469 : accessed 21 Sept 2022. In Percy’s case, he labored as a drayman; a driver of a low, flat-bed wagon without sides, pulled generally by horses or mules that were used for transport of all kinds of goods.³Percy Tabron death certificate.

https://www.definitions.net/definition/drayman : accessed 2 October 2022. Two years later, at the age of 27, he married Rena Veazey and they had four children together: Earlie (1906), Wilmer (1907), Mamie (1908), and Lucy (1914).⁴Percy Tabron marriage license: North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1792992:60548?tid=&pid=&queryId=44731d5569657a21ef59e97f4f9b9b54&_phsrc=tyO2716&_phstart=successSource : accessed 21 Sept 2022.

Percy Tabron: Federal Census: Year: 1910: Census Place: Durham Ward 4, Durham, North Carolina; Roll: T624_1108; Page: 26B; Enumeration District: 0040; FHL microfilm: 1375121. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/20481382:7884 : accessed 21 Sept 2022.

Percy Tabron: Federal Census: Year: 1920: Census Place: Durham Ward 4, Durham, North Carolina; Roll: T625_1292; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 57. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/27176759:6061?tid=&pid=&queryId=44731d5569657a21ef59e97f4f9b9b54&_phsrc=tyO2713&_phstart=successSource : accessed 21 Sept 2022.

Earlie Tabor death certificate: Ancestry.com. Virginia, U.S., Death Records, 1912-2014 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.  https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid=9278&h=602223298&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=60901 : accessed 7 Nov 2022. Original data: Virginia, Deaths, 1912–2014. Virginia Department of Health, Richmond, Virginia.

Rena Veazey was the daughter of Virgil Veazey and Amelia Mayo.⁵Percy Tabron marriage license. Amelia was in her 20s at the time of this, her second, marriage; having first been married to a man with the surname Tilley.⁶Amelia: Federal Census: Year: 1880; Census Place: Dutchville, Granville, North Carolina; Roll: 964; Page: 378C; Enumeration District: 101. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/19514379:6742?tid=&pid=&queryId=4a06598b59d99d3e1e95535ede11118d&_phsrc=tyO2828&_phstart=successSource : accessed 25 Sept 2022. By 1900, Amelia had married again, this time to Ben Sowell, and brought her five children (Medlin, Malah, Jadoc, Cordelia, and Irena) from her relationship with Virgil.⁷Amelia: Federal Census: Year: 1900; Census Place: Mangum, Durham, North Carolina; Roll: 1193; Page: 60; Enumeration District: 0035; FHL microfilm: 1241193. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/68152356:7602 : accessed 25 Sept 2022. At the time of their marriage, Ben was sharecropping on the Bennehan-Cameron lands, the former Stagville Plantation, where his ancestors had been enslaved. In fact, in the 1900 census, Rena and her new family are living just a few doors down from Bennehan Cameron, his wife, Sallie, and daughter, Bell.⁸Amelia: 1900 US Census Mangum.

It wasn’t long into their marriage that Percy and Rena experienced the pain of losing a child. Wilmer, age 5, died from Scarlet Fever on 13 Dec 1911.⁹Wilmer Tabron death certificate: North Carolina, Deaths, 1906-1930. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/252708:60090 : accessed 21 Sept 2022. Her death certificate indicates that she was buried at Fairntosh.¹⁰Wilmer Tabron death certificate. But where is Fairntosh? The site of Fairntosh was originally part of the Stagville Plantation and began with the gift of 300 acres from Richard Bennehan to Duncan Cameron.¹¹“Fairntosh,” Open Durham (Durham NC). https://opendurham.org/buildings/fairntosh : accessed 2 Oct 2022. By 1891, Bennehan Cameron inherited the tracts of land with Fairntosh and Stagville on them.¹²“Fairntosh.” Like Geer Cemetery (aka City Cemetery, City Colored Cemetery, Mason Cemetery), Fairntosh may have a similar misnaming. While there is no definitive documentation that Fairntosh lands housed a cemetery, it is speculated that Cameron Grove Cemetery or, Little River Cemetery, may be the site of Fairntosh Cemetery. This possible connection is borne out by evidence indicating that not only were Rena’s brother, Medlin, and sister, Cordelia, buried at Cameron Grove Cemetery; but as previously mentioned, Rena had lived just a few doors away from Bennehan Cameron in 1900.¹³Medlin Veasey Death Certificate: 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. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/600711006:1121?tid=&pid=&queryId=4a06598b59d99d3e1e95535ede11118d&_phsrc=tyO2830&_phstart=successSource : accessed 25 Sept 2022.

Cordelia Brandon Death Certificate: 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. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/600692802:1121?tid=&pid=&queryId=634375dca08447ac5e8e3c03f8e8cfc5&_phsrc=tyO2835&_phstart=successSource : accessed 25 Sept 2022.

Amelia: 1900 US Census Mangum.

Percy and Rena continued to live and labor in Durham until his death at the age of 44 on 7 July 1922.¹⁴Percy Tabron death certificate. In 1925, Rena was living at 1302 Jackson St., with Herbert Curtis.¹⁵Rena Tabron: City Directory: Year: 1925. Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/718223758:2469?tid=&pid=&queryId=cac49371b53c1c25fc3d9b8713a86f88&_phsrc=tyO2797&_phstart=successSourceaccessed : accessed 24 Sept 2022. While a marriage certificate has not been located, Rena was identified as Rena Curtis on her daughter Mamie’s marriage certificate in 1926.¹⁶Mamie Tabron marriage certificate: North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/13072863:60548 : accessed 24 Sept 2022. By 1927, Rena was living with John Mills at the Jackson Street address, and by the 1930 census, they were married and living at 918 Morehead Avenue.¹⁷Rena Tabron: Federal Census: Year: 1930; Census Place: Durham, Durham, North Carolina; Page: 20B; Enumeration District: 0017; FHL microfilm: 2341421. https://www.ancestry.com/search/categories/35/?name=john_mills&event=_durham-durham-north+carolina-usa_20488 : accessed 24 Sept 2022.

All three of Percy and Rena’s children resided at the Morehead Ave. address for much of their lives. Earlie Tabron (d. 14 Jan 1965) lived there until at least 1940 before moving to Norfolk VA to work as a packer at the US Naval Supply Center.¹⁸Earlie Tabron World War II Draft Registration Card: The National Archives at Atlanta; Atlanta, Georgia; WWII Draft Registration Cards for North Carolina, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 360. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/75596:2238 : accessed 24 Sept 2022.

Earlie Tabron death certificate: Virginia, Deaths, 1912–2014. Virginia Department of Health, Richmond, Virginia. https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid=9278&h=602223298&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=60901 : accessed 24 Sep 2022. Mamie (d. 10 Jul 1988) would remain there until at least 1950 with her second husband, James Mills, her daughter, Mabel Glenn, granddaughter, Jacquiline Glenn, and grandson, Gregory Glenn.¹⁹Mamie Tabron Federal Census: Year: 1950: United States of America, Bureau of the Census; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790-2007; Record Group Number: 29; Residence Date: 1950; Home in 1950: Durham, Durham, North Carolina; Roll: 5669; Sheet Number: 18; Enumeration District: 103-57. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/148067950:62308 : accessed 24 Sept 2022.

Mamie Tabron death index: North Carolina Deaths, 1997-2004. North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics, Raleigh, North Carolina. North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. North Carolina Death Records, 1968-1996. North Carolina Vital Records, Raleigh, North Carolina. North Carolina Archives and Records Section. North Carolina County Records, 1908-1967. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/6210832:8908 : accessed 24 Sept 2022. Lucy (DOD: 7 Jul 1998) and her husband Fred Gilliam resided at the family home until at least 1936.²⁰Lucy Tabron marriage certificate: North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/13031686:60548 : accessed on 24 Sept 2022.

Lucy Tabron City Directory: 1936: Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/600026555:2469 : accessed 24 Sept 2022.

Lucy Tabron Gilliam funeral program: R. Kelly Bryant Papers and Obituary Collection. Date 1974-2002. https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/24105?ln=en : accessed 18 Sept 2022.

Percy appears to have had a younger brother, Lewis Brinkley Taborn (8 Feb 1892–9 Oct 1963). He was married to Mary Frances Taborn, and worked as a blacksmith.²¹Lewis Taborn 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/601138975:1121 : accessed 8 Nov 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. They had at least one child, Richard Taborn, who shared Lewis’s address at the time of Lewis’s death (2204 Cheek Road, Durham).²²Address: Lewis Taborn death certificate.

Lewis as father: Richard I. Taborn 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/316135:1121 : accessed 10 Nov 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. Richard and his wife Lucy had at least nine children and a number of grandchildren.²³“Richard I. Taborn,” The Durham Sun (Durham NC), 1 Aug 1966, p. 1B. https://www.newspapers.com/image/791760569/ : accessed 10 Nov 2022.

BORN: 13 Mar 1878.²⁵Percy Tabron WWI draft registration card.

DIED: 26 Jan 1941.²⁶Percy Tabron death certificate.

BIRTH PLACE: Durham NC.²⁷Percy Tabron death certificate.

DEATH PLACE: Durham NC.²⁸Percy Tabron death certificate.

SPOUSE: Rena Veazey.²⁹Percy Tabron marriage license.

PARENTS: Dick Tabron and Mayme Mayes.³⁰Percy Tabron death certificate.

CHILDREN: Earlie, Mamie, Wilmer, Lucy.³¹Earlie, Mamie Wilmer: 1910 US Census Durham. Lucy: 1920 US Census Durham.

OTHER FAMILY: Brother: Lewis B. Tabron, Granddaughter: Mabel Glenn, Great Granddaughter: Jaquiline Glenn, Great Grandson: Gregory Glenn.³²Lewis: Lewis B. Taborn death certificate. Others: 1950 US Census Durham.

FAMILY BURIED IN GEER CEMETERY: N/A

OCCUPATION: Drayman.³³Percy Tabron death certificate.

CHURCH: N/A

AFFILIATIONS: N/A

ADDRESS: 1302 Jackson Street.³⁴Percy Tabron death certificate.

MILITARY SERVICE: N/A