Papers (1762-1902, undated) documenting the life of the Noble family from the Chicod Township of Pitt County and the Creeping Swamp and Swift Creek areas of Craven County. The bulk of the collection includes material related to the activities of Celina Clark Noble (1829-) and her family and includes land records, land description and surveys, promissory notes, mortgages and other legal papers, bank notes, ballads, financial papers, receipts, etc. Also included is the Civil War correspondence (1864-1865) of Corporal E. E. (Evans Everette) Noble (1829-1895) of the 67th Regiment North Carolina Infantry to his wife Susan J. Noble (1837-1873) while serving throughout Eastern North Carolina.
Stephen Noble (b. 1827) and Celina Clark Noble (b. 1829) were the parents of Osborn Clark Noble (b. 1852) and the grandparents of the donor's husband.
E. E. (Evan Everette) Noble (1829-1895) of Deep Run, Lenoir County, North Carolina was a Corporal who served in the 67th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry during the Civil War. He married Susan J. Noble (1837-1873) on August 11, 1857. On 8 April 1874 in Duplin County, North Carolina, he married Nancy Elizabeth Glisson (1846-1941) as his second wife. Noble was believed to work as an ordained minister following the war.
The bulk of the collection consists of the papers of Celina Clark Noble and members of her family. Also included are transfers of property with the Campbell, Chapman, and Clark families.
The collection is composed mainly of land records (1762-1893) for these families in the Chicod Township of Pitt County and the Creeping Swamp and Swift Creek areas of Craven County. Of significance is the commissioner's report (1845) dividing the land and listing the heirs of Osborn Clark, deeds for land sold by administrators of estates (1881, 1893), and a deed of the East Carolina Land and Improvement Company (1893) for land in Ayden, N.C. Related to the land records are land descriptions and surveys (1765-1848, undated) of land held by these families in Pitt and Craven counties.
The collection also contains legal and financial papers consisting of promissory notes (1881-1894) to Celina Noble, mortgages and foreclosures (1849-1901) held mainly by Celina Noble and David Purser a bill of sale transferring an enslaved person from their previous enslaver to their new enslaver, Stephen Noble (1854), and legal action concerning estates (1823, 1871, 1873, 1898). Other legal papers included are a tenant lease (1889), a lien bond (1889), and deeds for timber land (1887, 1888) in Pitt County. Another section of the collection consists of Confederate currency and bonds, and bank notes of North Carolina banks during the Civil War period.
The collection also contains original mid-nineteenth century ballads on a variety of topics. These include "John Barly Corne," "Miss Lucy Long," "The Bonny Brown Hen," "John Actkins," "Cathy Wells," and several of a risquéadult nature.
Miscellaneous items include business accounts, an account and personal notebook, bills, receipts, a petition to President Cleveland to appoint Osborn C. Noble as postmaster in Vanceboro, N.C., a notice to elect Edward Stanly as congressman from the Third District (1841), and receipts for tuition at Carolina Christian College at Ayden, N.C. (1900-1902).
Includes five letters on paper composed December 3, 1864-January 29, 1865 from Corporal E. (Evan) E. (Everette Noble (1829-) to his wife, Susan J. Noble and his brother. The letters contain news on where Noble and the 67th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry were during this period, updates on his health, requests for news from home, issues regarding being paid on time, and several requests for new socks. From the period 1864-1865, Noble was stationed at a camp near Kinston, North Carolina, New Bern, N.C., Fort Branch in Martin County, N.C., and Sugar Loaf near Wilmington, N.C. Some of the contents of the letters written in pencil are illegible due to rubbing.
April 11, 2023 (Addition #1); Five letters on paper composed December 3, 1864-January 29, 1865 from Corporal E. (Evan) E. (Everette Noble (1829-) to his wife, Susan J. Noble and his brother. Gift of Christy K. Woodruff.
Gift of Mrs. O. C. Noble
Gift of Christy K. Woodruff and Anna M. Bunting
Processed by L. Parks, March 1972
Encoded by Apex Data Services
Descriptions updated by Ashlyn Racine and John Dunning, May 2023
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.