My maternal grandmother’s parents, Abraham Lincoln McNair Sr. and Martha (Walker) McNair purchased their family home in 1945. I am fortunate to have a copy of the deed paperwork in my family archive collection. The house is at 502 Wilson Street in Plymouth, Washington County, North Carolina. I know from my mother that the house burned down sometime in the 1950s but then Abraham and Martha rebuilt. She remembers her mother telling her “papa burned the house down” as some kind of accident happened while my great-grandmother was away in New York visiting my grandmother. I have been ordering digital copies of the town newspaper and my next batch order is probably going to include this time period – I’ll have to read all the papers to see if I find any article about it.
This home, for me, is a beacon in my family history journey; a beacon because of all of my ancestor’s residences, it is the one for which I have the most pictures over the arc of several decades.
Abraham and Martha bought the house in 1945 for $400. I actually have a picture of it when it was brand new! This photo used to belong to my grandmother Alice.
Throughout our family photo collection, we have pictures of the family that were taken at the house in the 1950s and 1960s; mostly pictures of family standing outside of the house.
We only have one picture that I know of that shows the inside of the house; it is a picture of my great-grandfather Abraham standing at the sink in the kitchen.
My first visit to the house was as a young child in 1976. I was only about 1 year old, but I do have vague memories of what the inside looked like! I can see it in my head now! It was the seventies and I do remember the decor seemingly matching the time era – a green couch, yellow colors throughout the house. This was the only visit I made to the house as a child.
My great-grandmother, Martha, passed away in 1991 and while I did not attend her funeral, we have pictures from that day as the family gathered at the house.
My next visit back to the house was in May 2014 while I was in Plymouth for the McNair Family Reunion. My 3rd visit was in July 2015. I was visiting eastern NC on vacation and to attend a family reunion. I had my daughter with me on the trip and I purposely went to Plymouth so that I could take her to the house.
I write about this house because I feel close to it, connected to it. I’ve only been there 3 times in my whole life, but it symbolizes so much for me as it is the only standing residence of my ancestors that I know of. As I participate in Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks series; the prompt this week is “close to home” so I decided to look over what I have in our family photo collection for the home.
I will be going back to Plymouth this May for the 50th Annual McNair Family Reunion and am looking forward to another visit to the house – this time, with my mother in tow. The home is in a very bad state of disrepair and we cannot go inside, but it is still a home for so many family memories and stories.