James Byron Hilliard Collection, 1760-1965

(Manuscript Collection #182)

Title:	James Byron Hilliard Collection
Creator:	Hilliard, James Byron
Repository:	ECU Manuscript Collection
Languages:	English
Abstract:	Collection (1760-1965) consisting of financial and legal documents, correspondence, genealogical material, a scrapbook, newspapers clippings, photographs, reports.
Extent:	2.39 Cubic feet, consisting of financial and legal documents, correspondence, genealogical material, a scrapbook, newspaper clippings, photographs, and miscellaneous.

Accessions Information

October 4, 1971, ca. 900 items, papers (1760-1965), including correspondence, genealogy, financial papers, clippings, photographs, historical accounts, and miscellaneous. Deposited by Miss Bessie Hilliard, Rocky Mount, NC.

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

James Byron Hilliard Collection (#182), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.

Acquisition Information

• Gift of Miss Bessie Hilliard

Processing Information

• Processed by J. Smith; M. Quintanilla, October 1986

• Encoded by Apex Data Services

James Byron Hilliard (1897-1965), a genealogist and family historian, collected and compiled historical data on the Hilliard and related families. These families were primarily from Northeastern North Carolina and Southeastern Virginia and were prominent in their communities.

The Hilliards were owners of Woodlawn and Hilliardston Plantations in Nash County. Their letters and financial and legal papers (1760-1878) reflect the hiring and sale of slaves, estate settlements, the transferal of land, and their agricultural business. Early correspondence (1783-1818) focuses on illness and death in Halifax (Aug. 31, 1793), the purchase and establishment of a farm in Tennessee Baptists for camp meetings (June 25, 1807), and personal and business affairs (June 7, 1783). Later correspondence (1875-1949) deals primarily with genealogy and family histories. A few letters concern political campaigns for judicial seats in Tennessee (July 17, 1930) and in North Carolina (Fe. 21, Mar. 4, 1932) by R. Hunt Parker. The remainder of the collection contains genealogical notes, photographs, newspaper clippings, a scrapbook pertaining to the history of the Hilliards and related families, and miscellaneous material.

The genealogy portion of the collection pertains to the Hilliards and related families such as Alston, Johnston, Williams, Turnstall, Ruffin, Boddie, Perry, Ballard, Bennett, Carr, Carter, Swann, Crafford, Clark, Davis, Bridger, Drake, Hines, Hunt, Jeffreys, Kearney, Polk, Savage, Pitt, Evans, Godwin, Jones, Norfleet, Whitmel, Barrow, Thomas, Rogers, Hyman, Gray, Barker, Pettway, Eley, and Skipwith. These notes trace the relationships of these families through marriage, taking some lines back to early colonial America and even medieval Western Europe. Much of the genealogy is based on family wills as well as the acquisition of property by deed, purchase, and grant.

Also included are photographs and post cards. The post cards deal primarily with the time span around World War I and depict Nuremberg, Germany; Luxembourg; French Canada; and Eastern Virginia. The photographs included a substantial amount of material depicting life and training of U.S. troops preparing to go to the Western Front during World War I. Other pictures reflect the various plantations belonging to the Hilliards and related families, as well as family members and tombstones.

Miscellaneous materials include a report entitled "Suburban Development of Yorktown, Virginia During the Colonial Period," a pamphlet on Secession, Insurrection of the Negroes, and Northern Incendiarism, and a copy of The Tar Baby (March 17, 1919) published at sea aboard the USS SANTA TERESA.

Included in the oversize file are maps of Nash and Halifax counties, plantation land sketches, several genealogical charts, a copy of a town map of Raleigh (1792) as well as many miscellaneous items.

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Reading Room's card catalog. This system is no longer maintained, but it is left in place to help on-site researchers locate particular topics in the collection.

Geographic Entries :

• North Carolina, Halifax County
• North Carolina, Nash County

Autograph Entry :

• George R. I. [Georg V, King of Great Britain]

Subject Entries :

• AGRICULTURE--Farm Life--Tennessee
• AGRICULTURE--Plantations--Nash Co., NC
• ELECTIONS--N.C. Supreme Court
• GERMANY, NUREMBERG--General Description and History
• HALIFAX, NC
• HEALTH AND MEDICINE--Diseases--Fever
• LAND--Deeds and Sales--Edgecombe Co., NC
• LAND--Deeds and Sales--Nash Co., NC
• LUXEMBOURG--General Description and History
• PLANTATIONS
• PLANTATIONS--Nash Co., NC
• PLANTATIONS--Louisiana
• SECESSION
• VIRGINIA--General Description and History
• VIRGINIA--YORKTOWN
• WAR--WORLD WAR I--Newspapers

Genealogy Entries :

• ALSTON FAMILY--Gates Co., NC
• BALLARD FAMILY--Chowan Co., NC
• BARKER FAMILY--Maryland; North Carolina
• BARROW FAMILY--Louisiana
• BENNETT FAMILY--Northampton Co., NC
• BRIDGER FAMILY--Isle of Wight Co., VA.
• BODDIE FAMILY--Nash Co., NC
• BUNN FAMILY--Nash Co., NC
• CARR FAMILY
• CARTER FAMILY--Surry Co., VA
• CLARK FAMILY--Nansemond Co., VA
• CRAFFORD FAMILY--Surry Co., VA
• DAVIS FAMILY--Halifax Co., NC
• DRAKE FAMILY--Nash Co., NC
• ELEY FAMILY--Isle of Wight Co., VA
• EVANS FAMILY--Beaufort, Pitt, and Edgecombe Counties, NC
• GODWIN FAMILY--Nansemond Co., VA
• GRAY FAMILY--North Carolina; Virginia
• HILLIARD FAMILY--Nash and Halifax Counties, NC
• HINES FAMILY--Nash Co., NC
• HUNT FAMILY--Tipton, TN
• HYMAN FAMILY--Bertie and Martin Counties, NC
• JEFFREYS FAMILY--Northampton Co., NC
• JOHNSTON FAMILY--Edgecombe Co., NC
• JONES FAMILY--Wake Co., NC
• KEARNEY FAMILY--Nansemond and Surry Counties, VA
• KENNON FAMILY
• McKENZIE FAMILY
• NEWSOME FAMILY--Surry Co., VA
• NORFLEET FAMILY--Scotland Neck, NC
• PERRY FAMILY--North Carolina
• PETTWAY FAMILY--North Carolina
• PITT FAMILY--Isle of Wight Co., VA
• POLK FAMILY--Tennessee
• PUGH FAMILY
• ROGERS FAMILY--Wake Co., NC
• RUFFIN FAMILY--Bertie and Northampton Counties, NC
• SAVAGE FAMILY--Virginia
• SHEPPARD FAMILY--Virginia
• SKIPWITH FAMILY
• SPENCER FAMILY--Virginia
• SWANN FAMILY--Virginia
• THOMAS FAMILY--Nash Co., NC
• TURNSTALL FAMILY
• WHITMEL FAMILY
• WILLIAMS FAMILY--North Carolina

Pamphlet Entry :

Map Entries :

• NORTH CAROLINA: HALIFAX COUNTY (undated)
• NORTH CAROLINA: NASH COUNTY (undated)
• NORTH CAROLINA: NASH COUNTY (undated)
• NORTH CAROLINA: RALEIGH (1792)

Newspaper Entries:

Date Entries :

• 1770-1779
• 1780-1789
• 1790-1799
• 1800-1809
• 1810-1819
• 1820-1829
• 1830-1839

Images below are listed alphabetically by subject. This list reflects only those portions of the collection for which negatives have been prepared.

BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE--Dwellings
Description: Old Eaton Place
Location: Roanoke River, NC
Date: 1920s
Call Number: p-182/103(694)

BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE--Dwellings
Description: Buxton Place
Location: Warren Co., NC
Date: 1920s
Call Number: p-182/96(697)

BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE--Dwellings
Description: Cherry Hill
Location: Warren Co., NC
Date: 1930s
Call Number: p-182/90(698)

BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE--PLANTATIONS--Dwellings
Description: Myrtle Lawn Plantation
Location: Lewiston, NC
Date: 1930s
Call Number: p-182/100(696); 102(699)

BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE--Dwellings
Date: 1930s
Call Number: p-182/117(693)

PLANTATIONS--BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE--Dwellings
Description: Old Montmorence Plantation
Date: 1929
Call Number: p-182/103(692)

RELIGION--Churches
Date: 1930s
Call Number: p-182/128(695)

WAR--WORLD WAR I--Camp Life
Description: Soldiers reading paper
Date: 1918
Call Number: p-182/30(702)

WAR--WORLD WAR I--Camps
Description: 113th Artillery
Date: 1918
Call Number: p-182/11b(701)

WAR--WORLD WAR I--Camps
Description: 113th Artillery training camp
Date: 1918
Call Number: p-182/11a(700)

WAR--WORLD WAR I--Ships--USS SANTA TERESA
Date: 1918
Call Number: p-182/123(691)