Bogart Family Papers

1823-1970, undated
Manuscript Collection #1198
Creator(s)
Moen, Melody Hinds; Kennedy, Kathleen Bogart Hinds; Rodman, Penelope B., 1929-2019
Physical description
2.4 Cubic Feet, 5 archival boxes and 1 oversized folder, consisting of correspondence, a tintype, gravestone images,photographs, Bible records, autograph books, clippings, and genealogy notes.
Preferred Citation
Bogart Family Papers (#1198), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
Repository
ECU Manuscript Collection
Access
Access to audiovisual and digital media is restricted. Please contact Special Collections for more information.

Collection includes a letter written by Ann Elizabeth Bogart, Washington, N.C., to "My dear Aunt," January 8, 1865, describing wartime conditions in Washington, N.C., and vicinity, a 2-page partial transcription of the letter, a tintype of a woman (possibly Ann Elizabeth Bogart), and two color images of the gravestone for Ann Bogart and the plot where she is buried in Washington, N.C. Also included are research materials concerning David Nevius Bogart of Washington, N.C., and related to the Bogart, Biggs, O'Cain, Lucas, Bonner, Peyton, and Snoad families of Beaufort County, N.C. Photographs, genealogy notes, Bible records, and correspondence relate to the Smallwood, Williams, and Hassell families of Williamston, N.C. Letters related to brothers Will and Bruce Smallwood discuss Will's travels and death (1918) in Alaska and Bruce's life and death (after 1894) in Mexico.


Biographical/historical information

The first installment of this collection was given by Melody Hines Moen and Kathleen Bogart Hinds Kennedy, great-great nieces of Ann Elizabeth Bogart. "Annie E.," or "Aunt Annie" as she became known, was born September 4, 1830, in Washington, N.C. The eldest of six children born to Gilbert Bogart and Christina Barden Bogart, Annie never married and had no children of her own. She lived with her brother, David Nevius Bogart, his wife, Mary Catherine Morton, and their children, after Gilbert and Christina died. Annie lived in the house that her brother David built, located at 206 East Main Street, Washington, N.C., until her death on November 20, 1906. She is the second cousin twice removed of the actor Humphrey DeForest Bogart. The genealogy of the Bogart family can be found in a privately printed book entitled "The Bogart Family" compiled by John Albert Bogart.

Additional installments were given by Penelope Bogart Rodman, daughter of Robert Courtney Bogart (1886-1959) and wife Penelope Biggs Bogart (1891-1978). Robert Courtney was a son of David Nevius Bogart (1847-1893) of Washington, N.C., and wife Mary Catherine Morton (1848-1910). David Bogart's father, Albert Gilbert Bogart emigrated to North Carolina from New Jersey sometime during the first quarter of the nineteenth century, becoming principal of the then newly opened Washington Academy in Washington, N.C. The Morton family arrived in Washington, N.C., from Maine about 1823 as a result of Mary Catherine Bogart's grandfather, Winslow B. Morton's involvement in shipping interests there. Her father, William Z. Morton, married Melissa A. Darden, daughter of George F. Darden of Virginia.

Penelope Biggs Bogart was the daughter of druggist Samuel Romulus Biggs, Sr. (1849-1909) of Williamston, N.C. and wife Sallie Smallwood Biggs. Biggs was a great grandson of Joseph and Margaret Eastwood Biggs who emigrated from Norfolk, Va., to present Martin County, N.C., around 1755. Sallie Smallwood Biggs (1857-1924) was the daughter of John Walker Smallwood and a great granddaughter of early Beaufort County sheriff Thomas Bonner. The Smallwood and related Bonner families were early prominent residents of the towns of Washington and Bath in Beaufort County, N.C. Sallie's sisters Paulina Bonner Smallwood (1877-1961) and Portia Bonner Smallwood Whitley (1853-1925) married Williamston natives Joseph Daniel Biggs(1869-1928) and George L. Whitley respectively. Joseph Daniel Biggs was a distant cousin of Samuel Romulus Biggs.

The collection in general is heavily defined by the numerous relationships between Beaufort and Martin County, N.C., families in particular and their ancestors from New England and Virginia.


Scope and arrangement

This collection contains a handwritten letter (that is partially transcribed) from Ann Elizabeth Bogart of Washington, N.C., and is dated January 8, 1865. It is addressed to "My Dear Aunt" and written to "communicate with my Northern friends." In the letter she describes the Washington, N.C., area during this wartime period commenting that ". . . we are under no rule now either civil or military . . . ." She discusses the fire that destroyed her family home and garden along with the family's personal library and other homes in the area. She mentions that it was the second of two recent devastating fires that destroyed much of Washington. The letter mentions her brothers William and David and their military duties along with her introduction to Confederate General Beauregard and Confederate States of America President Jefferson Davis in Greensboro, N.C., in September 1864. She concludes her letter with a description of how they have had to make homespun clothing and a discussion about people she knew who were imprisoned or who have died. Also included in the collection are a tintype of a woman who may possibly be Ann Bogart and two color images of the Bogart gravestone and Ann Bogart's plot where she is buried in Washington, N.C.

Subsequent additions to the collection center on research materials and genealogy notes related to the life of David Nevius Bogart of Washington, N.C., including his Civil War service and his death during "The James City War" in 1893 (eviction of "James City" squatters by the N.C. State Troops) and more particularly the families allied through the marriage of his son Robert Courtney Bogart to Penelope Biggs Bogart, native of Williamston, N.C. Of principal mention are notes and correspondence relevant but not limited to O'Cain, Lucas, Bonner, Peyton, Morton, Snoad, Darden and Smallwood families of Beaufort County, N.C., Biggs of Martin County, N.C., Farnell of Onslow and Jones Counties, N.C., and Hooker family of Tyrell, Beaufort and Pamlico Counties, N.C.

A fair number of photographs (both originals and copies) are associated for families in the collection. Identified are late nineteenth and early twentieth century images of members of the S.R. Biggs, Sr., family in Williamston, including views of the family home on Smithwick Street, ca. 1914; Bogart Drug Store in Washington, NC; cabinet photo of the sons of David N. Bogart, carte de visite copies of early miniature images of Sally Ann O'Cain, Samuel Lucas and William O'Cain; a copy of a cabinet card image dated July 26, 1895, of the "Sycamores," also known as Smallwood Place near Washington, N.C.; tombstones and portrait images of William Z. Morton and Mary G. Morton; Darden family members along with late 20th century photos of the Morton and Bradford families' ancestral home and areas in Friendship, Maine. Other Biggs images include Sallie Smallwood Biggs, Sallie and daughters on a New Jersey visit, Bob Biggs entering service during WWI, John William (Jack) Biggs, Warren Biggs and wife Lettie, and Joseph D. and Paulina Smallwood Biggs.

Connected to the S.R. Biggs family are images pertaining to Nannie Biggs Pope, John Pope, John Pope, Jr., Charles Smallwood Pope and Warren Pope and 1924 obituary notices for Sallie Smallwood Biggs. Also of interest is a printing of Warren Pope's play "The Creed" in a 1941 publication, "Plays of Courage" for the North Carolina Crippled Children's League.

Related Smallwood photographs and materials include images of Portia Smallwood Whitley, Thomas Bonner Smallwood, Samuel Smaw Smallwood as well as letters (1888-1918) and photographs concerning brothers William Henry Smallwood (died in Alaska in 1918) and John Bruce Smallwood (died in Mexico after 1894). The two letters from William "Bill" H. Smallwood discuss his financial difficulties as a placer miner in Fairbanks and on Indian River in Alaska, and also prices of necessities. Letters from Bill's mining partner describe his death on July 27, 1918, due to a mental breakdown and subsequent drowning caused by large financial debts and lack of success in his present mining proposition. These letters also show why gold miners continue mining even when things are bad rather than returning home.

Also included are newspaper columns by Charles Smallwood ("Hixty Sige- he wants ter know" and "Old Silas and his mule sense"), a 1916 patent held by Smallwood, and a 1965 Washington Daily News article detailing the creation of Smallwood neighborhood subdivision in Washington, N.C.

Further materials of note include an 1823 family Bible with listing of birth marriage and death dates for members of the Williams, Hassell, and Biggs families of Williamston, autograph books for Mrs. Anna/Annie Phifer and Williamston native Emily L. Whitley (the latter offering social commentary and prominent names associated with Williamston during the decade of the 1890s), a small mid-nineteenth century carte de visite image of prominent Williamston citizen and Primitive Baptist leader, Cushing Biggs Hassell. Cabinet photographs of Alice Davis, Annie Lamb and Jennie Biggs with horse and buggy near Williamston in 1907, and of students Warren Biggs, Charles H. Godwin and Albert Cofield at Oak Ridge, N.C., in 1900, and a 1901-02 class photo of students at the Medical College of Virginia including Bob Biggs are also included.

Relevant to Washington, N.C. is a photo of a sketch of the Fowle family home at the corner of Pierce and Main Streets in Washington, a photocopy of a handwritten biography of Edmond Hoyt Harding by Katherine "Kack" Hodges (n.d.), a photocopy of the publication "Salmagundi" by Katherine Blount Harding (n.d.), a loose binding of materials denoted as a collection of talks given from 1990-1991 for the "Fifty-Five Plus Club" of St. Peter's Parish (Washington, N.C.) prepared by Rena Davenport and a photocopy of a page dated April 23, 1987, with wording for the "Washington high School Alma Mater and Fight Song" with notation that words and music for this are credited to Edmond Harding and Carl Gourch.

Pertaining to Bogart and related family materials is publication by John A. Bogart entitled "The Bogart Family: Tunis Gysbert Bogaert and His Descendants" (1959), photographs of siblings Robert, Alice and Kathleen Bogart, Mary Wilhelmina Bogart, Col. David N. Bogart's home in Washington, N.C., Robert Courtney Bogart and tombstones for Penelope Biggs Bogart, Sarah Frances Nell, Gilbert Bogart, Christina Bogart, Mary Catherine Morton Bogart and D.N. Bogart. Also within this group is correspondence for Penelope Bogart Rodman (1971, 2001), an article on the career of Penny Biggs Bogart, A DAR registration form for Penelope O'Cain Bogart and a Society of Mayflower Descendants application for Brandon Stuart Critcher, images of Penelope Bogart Rodman (ca. 1940-1956), Penelope Rodman's personal photographs of a visit to Friendship Maine including Bradford Farm and Garrison Island (ca. 2000) and copies of portraits for Gilbert Bogart (1804-1867) and William S. Bogart (1819-1892), obituaries for Sally Bogart Owen and Buddy Owen, Jr. (Sally Owen was connected to the Washington North Carolina Field Museum or "Bug House" during her youth) and Sally Owen's letter and chart detailing the families of two sisters, Sallie and Paulina Smallwood, who married men from the Biggs family in Williamston, N.C.

Among generally miscellaneous materials in the collection is a land deed from A.P. Johnson in Bertie County, N.C. to William Walton (1867), a list of fines imposed by Washington County, N.C., Superior Court in 1834, a shipping or sales record between Capt. Levin Bozman and Samuel Jackson (1810), a partial unidentified accounts ledger (1830), several issues of Frank Leslie's Boys and Girls Weekly dated July 1872, an 1856 edition of Mitchell's Intermediate or Secondary Geography, issues of a serial publication entitled "Lesson Paper International Texts" for April – May, 1878, undated cyphering books, early twentieth century Valentine cards, and a "Sterling Cinnamon Gum" ad from ca. 1916.

Oversize material includes the August 17, 1904, issue of The Gazette-Messenger newspaper for Washington, Beaufort Co., N.C.; family charts for Bonner, Smallwood, Snode, and Biggs families; accounts (1816-1817) of sales of goods that were received by Samuel Jackson from the Schooner General Brown captained by Capt. Bosman; photocopies of The North Carolina Society of the Colonial Dames of America pedigree papers for Mrs. Kathleen Bogart Searight and Mrs. Alice Bogart Rollins; and a photocopy of an old map of the Island of Barbadoes.


Administrative information
Custodial History

April 20, 2012, 5 items, 0.01 cubic feet; Collection includes a letter (10 pp. on 3 sheets of paper) written by Ann Elizabeth Bogart, Washington, N.C., to "My dear Aunt," January 8, 1865, describing wartime conditions in Washington and vicinity, a 2-page partial transcription of the letter, a tintype of a woman (possibly Ann Elizabeth Bogart), and two color images of the gravestone for Ann Bogart and the plot where she is buried in Washington, N.C. Donors: Melody Hinds Moen and Kathleen Bogart Hinds Kennedy

January 22, 2016, (addition 1), 0.072 cubic feet; This donation (1912-1970, undated) includes research materials and genealogy notes related to the life of David Nevius Bogart of Washington, North Carolina, including his Civil War service and his death during "The James City War" in 1893 (eviction of "James City" squatters by the N.C. State Troops); and genealogy notes and correspondence related to the Biggs, Bogart, O'Cain, Lucas, Bonner, Peyton, and Snoad family lines of Beaufort County, North Carolina. Donor: Penelope Bogart Rodman

November 9, 2016, (addition 2), 1.44 cubic feet; Included in this addition are genealogy notes and photographs related to the Biggs, Bogart, O'Cain, Lucas, Pope, and Smallwood families of the Washington and Williamston, North Carolina, area and the Bradford, and Morton families of Maine and Massachusetts. Also included are an 1823 Bible listing birth, death, and marriage dates related to the Williams, Hassell, and Biggs families of Williamston; autograph books for Mrs. Anna/Annie Phifer and Emily L. Whitley; Bogart Family written by John Albert Bogart (1959); photographs and letters pertaining to brothers William "Will" Henry Smallwood (died in Alaska 1918) and John "Bruce" Smallwood (died in Mexico after 1894); collections of Washington, N.C., historical information; and an 1856 edition of Mitchell's Intermediate Geography in poor condition that apparently belonged to Margaret T. (or J.) Howard. Donor: Penelope Bogart Rodman

February 5, 2017, (addition 3), 0.88 cubic feet; Included in this addition are genealogy notes and clippings related to the Biggs and the Bogart families of Beaufort and Martin Cos., North Carolina, area; transcriptions of wills of the Bonner, Snoad, and Peyton families; Bible records (births) for the Farnell family of Onslow and Jones Cos. and the Hooker family of Tyrrell, Beaufort, and Pamlico Cos., North Carolina. Also included are newspaper columns by Charles Smallwood ("Hixty Sige – he wants ter know" and "Old Silas and his mule sense"); a 1916 patent held by Smallwood; and issues (1904, 1931-1945) of Washington, N.C., newspapers (Gazette-Messenger, Washington Daily News). Donor: Penelope Bogart Rodman

Source of acquisition

Gift of Melody Hinds Moen and Kathleen Bogart Hinds Kennedy

Gift of Penelope Bogart Rodman

Processing information

Processed by D. Zeltmann, September 2012

Additions processed by Fred Harrison, March 27, 2017

Copyright notice

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


Key terms
Personal Names
Bogart, Ann Elizabeth
Bogart, David Nevius, 1847-1893
Harding, Edmund H. (Edmund Hoyt), 1890-1970
Own, Sally Bogart
Rodman, Penelope B., 1929-2019
Smallwood, Charles
Smallwood, William H.
Family Names
Biggs family
Bogart family
Smallwood family
Topical
Bible records--North Carolina
Fires--North Carolina--Washington
Gold mines and mining--Alaska
Places
Beaufort County (N.C.)--Genealogy
James City (N.C.)--History, Military
Martin County (N.C.)--Genealogy
North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narratives
Washington (N.C.)--History, Military--19th century

Container list
Box 1 Folder b Smallwood Correspondence from Mexico and Alaska 1888-1919
Box 1 Folder c Penelope Bogart Rodman Correspondence, 1971
Box 1 Folder d Biggs Family Genealogy Notes, 1924-1993
Box 1 Folder e Bogart Family Genealogy Notes, 1949-2005
Box 1 Folder f Bonner Family Genealogy Notes, 1919
Box 1 Folder g Peyton, Bonner, Lucas, Biggs and Darden Families Miscellaneous Notes. 1968, 1970, undated
Box 1 Folder h Bradford, Morton, Darden, and Bogart family genealogical notes and applications for Mayflower Descendants and Colonial Dames of America. 1995, 1997, undated
Box 1 Folder i Family History Notes Kept by Piny Biggs on the Smallwood, Snoad, O'Cain, Lucas, and Biggs families. Undated
Box 1 Folder j Bogart Family Photographs, 1918-1966
Box 1 Folder l Morton and Darden Families and Fowle Home Photographs
Box 2 Folder a Samuel R. Biggs Family and Smallwood Family Photographs (including 2 tintypes), 1900-1918, undated. Also a photograph of medical students at the Medical College of Virginia posed with a cadaver (1901-1902 college session)
Box 2 Folder b Biggs-Pope Family Photographs, 1920, 1925, undated
Box 2 Folder c Smallwood Family Photographs, 1895, undated
Box 2 Folder d Friendship, Maine, color photographs related to the Bradford family. Undated
Box 2 Folder e Charles Smallwood Patents for Bifurcated Nethergarments (1916) and An Improvement in Back-Band Buckles (1937)
Box 2 Folder f Bertie and Washington Counties, N.C., Legal and Business records including accounts, fines, and part of an 1867 deed (Johnson to Walton, Bertie Co.), 1829-1867
Box 2 Folder g Washington, N.C., Historical Materials, 1940-1987
Box 2 Folder h Lt. Col. David N. Bogart Monograph and Related Materials, undated
Box 2 Folder i Writings by W. L. Vaughan, Washington, N.C., for Work Projects Administration (WPA), 1933-1941
Box 2 Folder j Photocopy of handwritten Biography of Edward Hoyt Harding of Washington, N.C., by his daughter Katherine "Kack" Hodges, undated. Mention is made of Cecil B. DeMille
Box 2 Folder k Photocopy of typescript titled "Memories of the War Between the States 1861-1865" by Matilda Morton Lamb who was a child at the time of the war. Concerns eastern N.C. Undated
Box 2 Folder l Ephemera including greeting postcards (1910-1911), Sterling Gum wrapper (ca. 1916), U.S. tax stamps for Lundborg's Perfume, and artwork by E. Grainger Sollers
Box 2 Folder m Typescript article about "Old Pop Castle" (near Kittrell, N.C.) by C. W. Raney, 1917
Box 2 Folder n Newspaper columns by Charles Smallwood (undated) and undated typescript of letter to Cecil B. DeMille
Box 2 Folder o Notes of Rena Davenport used for talks presented to the Fifty-Five Plus Club of St. Peter's Parish, Washington, N.C., 1990-1991
Box 3 Folder a Salmagundi (Partial Text), (History, Stories, Traditions--More or Less Authentic About Washington, North Carolina and Beaufort County), written by Katherine Blount Harding (Class of 1932). Undated
Box 3 Folder b Autograph Books for Anna Phifer and Emily L. Whitley, 1883-1925
Box 3 Folder c John Albert Bogart, The Bogart Family, published 1959
Box 3 Folder d Morton-Bradford Families Pedigree Charts gathered by Isabell Litchfield
Box 3 Folder e Issues of "Lesson Paper" (International Texts) published by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1878
Box 3 Folder f "Plays of Courage," written by C.R. Sumner (Asheville, N.C.) and Warren Pope (Williamston, N.C.) in 1942. Sponsored by The Carolina Dramatic Assoc. and The N.C. League for Crippled Children
Box 4 Folder a Loose Material From Biggs Bible (1909, 1911, undated) and photocopies of Family Record contained in the Bible
Box 4 Folder b Biggs Bible (1823) containing family records (late 1700s and early 1800s) for the Biggs, Williams, and Hassell families of Williamston (Martin Co., N.C.)
Box 5 Folder a "Mitchell's Intermediate or Secondary Geography," 1856
Box 5 Folder b Portions of three issues of "Frank Leslie's Boys and Girls Weekly," 1872
Box 5 Folder c Cyphering Books, 1828-1833