Mrs. L. B. Yeargan (Yeargin)

Mrs. L.B. Yeargan (also Yeargen) Tourist Home was listed in the Green Book as “Mrs. L.B. Yeargan—210 E. Cabarrus” under “Tourist Homes” in Raleigh from 1939-1941.

Mrs. L. B. Yeargan Tourist Home was operated by Lizzie B. Yeargan (also Yergan), a dressmaker. Her son, Max Yergan (a prominent civil rights activist, missionary, and race man), lived with her in early 1940, along with his wife (Susie, a university professor) and their children. Max and Susie divorced in 1945, but the couple separated earlier. Later in 1940 Susie and her children lived on Shaw University’s campus; she moved back in with her mother-in-law by 1941.²

Lizzie B. Yeargen inherited the home at 210 E. Cabarrus Street from her father, Frederick Yeargen, in 1912. She took out a building permit to add a room that same year. A widower with two young children, she earned extra money by hosting lodgers as early as 1920.³

Lizzie B. Yeargen passed away in 1962. The property at 210 E. Cabarrus Street is now owned by Tupper Memorial Baptist Church.⁴

Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2024

Notes

1. Victor Green, 1948 Green Book, 63; Green, 1949 Green Book, 57; Green, 1950 Green Book, 63; Green, 1951 Green Book, 54; Green, 1952 Green Book, 54; Green, 1953 Green Book, 54; Green, 1954 Green Book, 54; Green, 1955 Green Book, 54.
2. Hill’s Raleigh City Directories, 1939-1942, alphabetical listing, street listing; “Susie W. Yergan,” Shaw University, Raleigh, Wake County, 1940 United States Federal Census, accessed from www.ancestry.com; “Lizzie B. Yeargan,” 210 E. Cabarrus Street, Ward 3, Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, 1940 United States Federal Census, accessed from www.ancestry.com; “Gets Reno Divorce,” The New York Age, March 10, 1945, p. 1, accessed from www.newspapers.com; Peter Edson, “Washington News,” The Daily Freeman (Kingston, NY), December 22, 1961, p. 4, accessed from www.newspapers.com. 
3. “Frederick Yeargan, 1912,” North Carolina, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998, accessed from www.ancestry.com; “Building Permits,” The News and Observer, November 12, 1912, p. 3, accessed from www.newspapers.com; “Elizabeth Yeargins,” 210 E. Cabarrus Street, Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, 1920 United States Federal Census, accessed from www.ancestry.com.
4. “Lizzie B. Yergan,” 1962, Mount Hope Cemetery, Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, Find a Grave, accessed from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/131415248/lizzie-b.-yergan;  Bowers, Katherine, Derek Huss, and Rachel Jacobson, “The Green Book Assignment, North Carolina, Durham, Wake, Halifax, Vance: Historical Structure Report for the North Carolina Historic Preservation Office,” HI 587: Cultural Resource Management, North Carolina State University, Spring 2016, 10-11.