Collection (1719-1910) including newspaper, periodicals, sheet music, poems, photocopies of legal records, letters, agriculture, Livestock Journal, magazine etc.
Bellair Plantation is a plantation house that was built circa 1792. The Georgia style brick house is located west of New Bern, NC. In 1972, it was included on the National Register of Historic Places. The property went through various owners until 1838, when it was bought by John H. Richardson. The plantation was not affected by the Civil War and the Richardson family remained there while New Bern was occupied by Federal forces for four years. A Union safeguard was placed over the Richardson family, with all US Army soldiers being commanded to keep the Richardson family and property safe. In 1874, Richardson passed away of typhoid pneumonia at the age of 66. The plantation remains in the ownership of the Richardson family.
John Lovick was a colonial official who arrived in North Carolina in early 1713. Lovick proceeded to become a notable figure in North Carolina politics. He was appointed to the Proprietary Council circa 1720 and was a delegate of the General Assembly in 1731. In 1719, he acquired the Bellair Plantation after John Swift's grant of the property lapsed. He held the property until his death in November of 1733.
Written March 2024
The collection is made up primarily of miscellaneous unrelated material which had accumulated at Bellair Plantation near New Bern, N.C.
The only segment pertaining directly to the plantation consists of photocopies of legal papers which reflect the history of the property located on Batchelor's Creek south of the Neuse River. These include land descriptions from grants to John Lovick (1719, 1757), deeds showing the transfer of the property to various individuals, legal briefs and other documents resulting from disputed ownership, and eventual purchase of the property by John H. Richardson in 1838. The name "Belair" first appears in the records in an 1830 power of attorney. The plantation has remained in the Richardson family since 1838.
Also included is a copy of a 1791 letter describing a wedding celebration in New Bern, chattel mortgages (1875, 1880), a U.S. Senate Bill (1905) for restitution for Richardson property destroyed by Union forces during the Civil War, a New Bern theater notice (1877), a New Bern souvenir calendar (1903), a fictional love story set in Revolutionary War New Bern, poetry, and Mitchell's School Atlas (1856).
The remainder of the collection consists of published material pertaining to a variety of topics. In the area of agriculture, an issue of Livestock Journal (1874), The Window and Flower Gardener (1875), and seven issues of American Agriculturist (1873-1881) are included. Relative to ladies' fashions and activities, there are copies of The Delineator (1901), Munsey's Magazine (1897), Everybody's Magazine (1899-1900), and Ladies Home Journal (1899-1910). Religious publications consisting of Our Little People (1872, published by the M. E. Church, South), the Christian Herald (1893, 1894) and the Sunday School Visitor (1873, Nashville, Tennessee). Also included is a sizeable collection of sheet music along with two music books. The sheet music contains such titles as "Softly ye nightwinds" (ca. 1851), "Nags Head Polka" (ca. 1852), "The Hazel Dell" (ca. 1853), "Tomorrow" (ca. 1854), "Kiss me quick and go" (ca. 1856), "Sweet Genevieve" (ca. 1869), "President Cleveland's Grand March" (ca. 1884), "Beautiful Venice," and "Songs from the opera 'Gizelle or the Night Dancers,' " to name but a few.
Newspapers in the collection date from 1862 to 1891 and were published in New Bern, Raleigh, New York, and Louisville, Kentucky. Some of the poetry, music, magazines, and newspapers are also found in the two oversize folders.
Gift of Mrs. G. T. Richardson
Processed by D. Lennon, January 1971
Encoded by Apex Data Services
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.