Collection (1910-1928, undated) of photocopies of correspondence, programs, and a volume relating to a Wilmington (NC) attorney, political leader, and mason. **Please note the collection is photocopies only. ECU does not own the originals.
William Berry McKoy was an attorney in Wilmington, NC. He was a Democrat and member of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce. McKoy was aslo a chairman of the State Democratic Executive Committee during the Wilmington Coup d'état of 1898. He was born in Wilmington on December 24, 1852, graduated from Princeton University in 1876, and was admitted to the bar in 1879.
This collection consists of photocopies of correspondence relating to a history of Lodge #319 in Wilmington, N.C.; a photocopy of the written history of the lodge; and photocopies of two programs of lodge activities. The history describes the development of the Masonic Order in North Carolina and the origins of lodges in the Wilmington area. Of primary interest are photocopies of 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.
Loaned by Miss Elizabeth F. McKoy
Processed by T. Sloan, September 1968
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.