2001-11-29, 176 items; 1.42 cubic feet; Papers (ca. 1878-1980) including manuscripts, notes, ledgers, clippings, photographs, printed forms and published works, pertaining to the life of Rev. Jesse W. Castelloe and his family, including Ray's School records (1878-1889), Wake Forest College, Crozer Theological Seminary (Chester, PA), Cashie Baptist Church, Ross Baptist Church, Hope Plantation, and Bertie and Washington counties, N.C. Gift of Mrs. Gwendolyn Phelps, Plymouth, N.C. .

No Restrictions

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

Reverend Jesse Woodrow Castelloe Papers (#846), Special Collections Department, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.

Gift of Mrs. Gwendolyn Phelps.

Processed by David J. Montgomery and Mary Boccaccio, 2002
Encoded by Gerald J. Judd, October 4, 2006

Jesse Woodrow Castelloe [1913-1980] was from the town of Windsor, located in Bertie County, North Carolina. He attended Rays Elementary School and graduated from Windsor High School. Castelloe attended Chowan College from 1933 through 1935, and Wake Forest College from 1935 through 1937, where he received his B.A. He received his B.D. in 1940 from Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. Crozer’s distinguished alumni includes Martin Luther King, Jr., who attended the school from 1948 through 1951.

Castelloe married Annie Ward in 1941. Ward was from Merry Hill, Bertie County, North Carolina, and attended East Carolina Teachers College. Afterwards she taught in the public schools of Gates County, North Carolina.

Castelloe served as pastor of five churches in Duplin and Onslow counties, N.C., from June 1941 through November 1942. He also served as director of Boys and Youth Work at Weirton Christian Center in Weirton, West Virginia, from November 1942 through August 1944, and as chaplain at the West Virginia Industrial School for boys in Grafton, West Virginia, from August 1944 through September 1945. Castelloe then served as executive director at Rankin Christian Center in Rankin, Pennsylvania, from September 1945 through December 1953. He served as a staff member and eventually vice president at Crozer Theological Seminary from January 1954 through June 1966.

This collection consists of the papers (1878-1980, 1998) of Rev. Jesse Woodrow Castelloe, a Baptist minister and educator from Bertie County, N.C. The papers pertain to his family, education and career, but mainly focus on his work at Crozer Theological Seminary.

Clippings, photographs, certificates and a college scrapbook make up the bulk of materials that document Castelloe’s life and career. Also included are a few photographs of Castelloe and his future wife (1939, undated).

Also in the collection are photographs of Crozer Theological Seminary (1960). Other materials relating to Crozer’s history include financial reports, publications and other printed materials. Among these items are letters to alumni regarding the merger between Crozer and the Colgate-Rochester/Bexley Hall School in Rochester, New York. Publications pertaining to Crozer include The Crozer Quarterly, The Crossroads, Bulletin of Crozer Theological Seminaryand thirty-eight copies of a school publication entitled The Voice (1952-1960, 1962, 1969-1970). There is also a bulletin, entitled The United News (1954) containing information on Castelloe’s work as director of public relations while at Crozer. Printed materials such as histories and photographs document the use of the Seminary's first building as a hospital for soldiers during the Civil War.

Materials concerning other religious history include "Religion in the Colonies," a paper on the colonial history of several Protestant church branches in the U.S. and North Carolina, and "The Baptist of Eastern North Carolina." Also present is a paper written by Castelloe entitled "Sourcebook For Old Testament Life and Literature."

Several items on the history of Bertie and Washington counties, N.C. are also contained in the collection. Of particular interest is a school register (1878-1889) for Common School [for whites only], District 7, Bertie County. The register gives the teacher’s name and salary. Student information supplied includes names, parents' names, attendance records, courses taken, books used and scholastic progress. Also present are a few newspapers including the Bertie Ledger-Advance (1968, 1972) and the Virginian Pilot (1972-1973). These issues contain information on the 250th anniversary of Bertie County and the bicentennial of the town of Windsor. Numerous articles on several historic structures including homes, churches, and the Hope Plantation are described in great detail.

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog.

Geographic Entries

Autograph Entries

Subject Entries

Corporate Entries