William B. McKoy Collection, 1910-1928

(Manuscript Collection #57)

Title:	William B. McKoy Collection
Creator:	McKoy, William B.
Repository:	ECU Manuscript Collection
Languages:	English
Abstract:	Collection (1910-1928, undated) including correspondence, programs, and a volume relating to a prominent Wilmington (NC) attorney, political leader, and mason.
Extent:	1.3 Cubic feet, 5 items , photocopies of correspondence, programs, and one volume.

Accessions Information

July 18, 1968, Copy of History of Wilmington Lodge No. 319 by William B. McKoy, correspondence, and programs of meetings of Wilmington, N.C. Masonic Lodges. 5 items. Loaned for copying by Miss Elizabeth F. McKoy, Wilmington, N.C.

Access Restrictions

No restrictions

Copyright Notice

Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.

Preferred Citation

William B. McKoy Collections (#57), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.

Acquisition Information

• Loaned by Miss Elizabeth F. McKoy

Processing Information

• Processed by T. Sloan, September 1968

• Encoded by Apex Data Services

William Berry McKoy, a prominent attorney in Wilmington, N.C., was a well-known figure in the state Democratic Party and in the Masonic Order (A.F. & A.M.). He was born in Wilmington on December 24, 1852, graduated from Princeton University in 1876, and was admitted to the bar in 1879. Although a member and chairman of the Democratic executive committee, he avoided office holding, preferring to remain an active attorney.

This collection consists of two items of correspondence relating to a history of Lodge #319 in Wilmington, N.C.; the history itself; and two programs of lodge activities. The history describes the development of the Masonic Order in North Carolina and the origins of Lodge #319 and other lodges in the Wilmington area. Of primary interest are biographical sketches and genealogical information contained in the lodge history. These sketches concern a number of prominent Wilmington citizens who were Masons in the late nineteenth century.

Sketches included are those of Samuel Northrop, a prominent lumber exporter; Charles H. Robinson, businessman and customs official; Reverend George Patterson, chaplain of the Third N. C. Regiment; Louis Henry DeRosset, assistant chief of the Confederate Bureau of Railroads and Transportation and later ordnance agent, and also purser of the blockade runner "Fannie"; Colonel John Lucas Cantwell, Mexican War veteran who seized Fort Caswell in 1860 prior to the Civil War; Nehemiah Taylor Harriss; Captain William A. Cumming; Andrew Jackson Howell; Dr. Thomas B. Carr; Preston Cumming; William Harriss Northrop; John L. Boatwright; George Harriss; Captain Edward Wilson Manning, a member of the Perry Squadron in Japan and later engineer on the ironclads "Virginia"and "North Carolina"during the Civil War; William P. Oldham; Matthew P. Taylor; Colonel John D. Taylor; Barzillai G. Worth, brother of N. C. Governor Jonathan Worth; Rudolph E. Heide, Danish vice consul in Wilmington; Alexander S. Heide, vice consul for Norway, Denmark, and Sweden; and Captain Richard P. Paddison.

Of special interest are anecdotes of the Reverend George Patterson's Civil War experiences and those of William P. Oldham, which describe Northern reaction to Confederate prisoners after Lincoln's assassination. Also of interest is the mention of peanut oil processing for use in cotton mills during the Civil War. Genealogical material on the Robinson and Worth families is also included.