Edgecombe-Nash County, NC - Obituary of Preston Lewis Baskerville, 1926

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WELL KNOWN COLORED CITIZEN DEAD; FUNERAL SLATED SUNDAY, JULY 25, 1926
 
   Preston Lewis Baskerville, age about 69 years, one of Rocky Mount's best 
known colored citizens died in a local hospital on Wednesday evening after 
an operation.
   He had been suffering for about three months from a complication of 
diseases, the last four weeks being spent in the hospital.
   He was born in Mecklenberg county, VA, but spent the most of his life in 
Edgecombe county, coming from Tarboro to Rocky Mount about twenty years ago.  
He was by trade a painter and decorator and has to his credit the painting 
of some of the best buildings from NC to GA.  During McKinley's 
administration, he was appointed through the influence of Congressman White 
of the Second District of NC to the position of Decorator of the Department 
of Agriculture.
   He has been from time to time engaged by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad 
and has done sign painting, switch targets and block signals for that road 
through half of the Southern division.  He painted the hospital where he 
spent his last days and where the physicians and surgeons strove so hard to 
save his life.
   He was a member of the local Elks Lodge and for 45 years a member of the 
Odd Fellows Lodge of Tarboro, NC.  Above all, he was a devout Christian 
gentleman and for more than a half century, a staunch and faithful member of 
the Methodist church.  At the time of his death, he was the chairman of the 
Trustee Board of St. John Church.
   He leaves a widow, Mrs. Susan C. Baskerville, who for many years has been 
a teacher in the Lincoln High School; three daughters:  Mrs. Lillian Tolar 
of New York City, Mrs. Janey M B Locklear of Baltimore MD, and Mrs. Lida 
Tillery of Rocky Mount; seven grandchildren and a host of relatives and 
friends.
   Funeral services will be held Sunday at St. John A M E Zion at 11 o'clock 
a.m.  Interment will follow in the family plot at Tarboro, NC.

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