Collection (1800-1964) consisting correspondence of Historical society, letters, "dull" times, "Suggestions to Masters of Ships," photographs, newspapers, guide books, clippings.
Frank C. Salisbury (1875-1964) came to Morehead City, N.C., from Warsaw, New York. He became editor of The Coaster of Morehead City and in 1924 the Carteret County News-Times. Mr. Salisbury was one of the principal organizers and first president of the Carteret County Historical Society. His interest in Carteret County history led him to write numerous articles on local history for which he was awarded in 1958, 1962, and 1964, the Smithwick Cup, top award of the North Carolina Society of County and Local Historians.
This collection consists of Mr. Salisbury's own papers and those of the Carteret County Historical Society, which dissolved after his death.
Correspondence (January 11, 1947 to May 11, 1962) touches upon such topics as the possibility that Benjamin Franklin wrote on the practice of making salt (January 11, 1947); Irish, Civil War, and popular songs (August 8, 1958); Indian artifacts found in eastern Carteret County (1959); and an 1862 letter from Robert Church (enclosed in a 1962 letter with a biographical sketch of him) who served in the Confederate Army and died when Union forces captured Fort Fisher (January 1865). Church was stationed at Harkers Island when he wrote concerning rumors about the casualties suffered at the fall of Raonoke Island.
Within the Salisbury Papers is a collection of Samuel Leffers letters covering the years 1800 to 1821. These letters were written by Samuel Leffers of Beaufort, North Carolina, to his brother, John Lefferts at Long Island, New York. A March 19, 1800, letter describes the fevers raging in the principal towns of coastal North Carolina, particularly New Bern, Edenton, and Washington. Other Leffers correspondence speaks of the "dull" times in trading with the English and French Caribbean Islands since the peace in Europe (May 1802); frequency of mail delivery from New Bern to Beaufort; and severe hurricanes that struck the coast of North Carolina in 1803 and 1815 and the subsequent losses reported in crops, ships, homes, and livestock. Additional letters report on the fever (presumably yellow fever) that was raging in Philadelphia, New York, and New Haven (1805); establishment of a post office in Beaufort (1805); the effect of local sentiment concerning the embargo (1809); and the construction of Fort Hampton at Beaufort (1809). A letter of July 20, 1812, reports that the "alarms of war" had sounded and a battalion of militia was being raised to station at Fort Hampton. Also, concerning the effect of the War of 1812 on Beaufort, there is a May 15, 1814, letter that indicates that actual influx had increased and the price of goods had not altered significantly. Typed copies of the Leffers correspondence are available, but as these are not always accurate, the originals should be used for research purposes.
Miscellaneous documents from the Carteret County Historical Society include Suggestions to Masters of Ships published in 1848 by the Merchants Underwriters Association, a copy of one of the first deeds (June 14, 1859) issued by the Shepard Point Land Company, Morehead City, and a letter (November 24, 1864) from Robert W. Humphrey, Company "C," First Division, North Carolina Troops, to his cousin Lucy Pigott, written while a prisoner at Point Lookout, Maryland. The last of these miscellaneous documents is a map and description (November 1877) of land owned by Amber Jones.
Miscellaneous materials include a scrapbook on Fort Macon, excerpts from the corporate history of Seaboard Air Line Railroad Co. that tied in the fate of the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad, and reports, essays, and speeches concerning Carteret County. Also included are miscellaneous notes concerning Carteret County history, pamphlets, guidebooks, reports, and a compilation of Beaufort graveyard headstones. Some topics covered by the publications are St. Paul's School in Beaufort, the Methodists in Beaufort, and the Chadwick family of Carteret County. A typescript of a paper presented before the Carteret County Historical Society in 1960 discusses the life of the Appleton Oaksmith family of Hollywood Plantation near Morehead City in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Photographs in the collection concern local history of the county including among other subjects windmills, houses, the Atlantic Hotel, a Masonic lodge, stores, a church, and a Coast Guard station. There are also photographs of photocopies of a will and several old maps of the area. Newspaper clippings of articles by Mr. Salisbury concern county history and are dated from 1950 to 1964.
The oversize folders contain newspapers from coastal North Carolina and Buffalo, New York, and a railroad bond (1861) for the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad Company. The maps in the oversize map folder are of the coastal area around Beaufort and Morehead City.
Gift of Mrs. Frank C. Salisbury
Processed by G. Newbold; M. Elmore, February 1997
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.