Ormond Family Papers

1757-1925
Manuscript Collection #1180
Portions of this collection are digitized (1 item)
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Creator(s)
Turnage family; Ormond family
Physical description
1.75 Cubic Feet, 3 document cases, 1 shoe box, 2 oversized folders, consisting of correspondence, clippings, pamphlets, photographs, land records, financial records, guardian accounts, wills, receipts, sermons, estate inventory, marriage record, and school notes
Preferred Citation
Ormond Family Papers (#1180), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
Repository
ECU Manuscript Collection
Access
No restrictions

The Ormond Family Papers (ca. 1770-1925) include correspondence, land grants, financial records, school notes taken at Trinity College, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, and photographs pertaining to the Ormond and Turnage families of Dobbs, Greene and Pitt Counties, North Carolina. Considerable material pertains to State Senator Yancey T. Ormond of Greene County.

Scope and arrangement

This collection documents multiple generations of the Ormond family of Greene, Pitt, and Dobbs Counties, North Carolina, from 1757 to 1945, with the bulk of the materials dating from the 19th century. Materials include personal and professional correspondence, financial records, land deeds, legal documents, wills, diaries, account books, educational materials, photographs, clippings, genealogical notes, and religious writings. Notable items include a letter from Governor Thomas J. Jarvis to Yancey Ormond, guardian accounts for the children of Thomas C. Ormond, Confederate financial documents, and a diploma issued to Yancey Ormond in 1878.

Photographic materials include ambrotypes, daguerreotypes, tintypes, and portrait prints, with many depicting members of the Ormond and Turnage families. Educational items reflect the academic work of Yancey T. Ormond and others at Trinity College and Davis High School. Oversize materials include 18th-century land deeds and a land plat belonging to William Ormond. The collection provides insight into agricultural life, family relationships, education, property ownership, and local history in eastern North Carolina.

Administrative information
Custodial History

May 18, 2011, (unprocessed) 1.0 cubic feet, 170 items; Papers (ca. 1770-1925) include correspondence, land grants, financial records, school notes take at Trinity College, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, and photographs pertaining to the Ormond and Turnage families of Greene and Pitt Counties, North Carolina. Considerable material pertains to State Senator Yancey T. Ormond of Greene County. Donor: Loys Ormond Turnage Sumrell

May 26, 2021, (unprocessed addition 1) 0.25 cubic feet; This addition (1757-1913) contains documents concerning the Ormond family in Dobbs and Greene Counties, North Carolina. Included are deeds, guardian accounts, wills, receipts, sermons, estate inventory, marriage record, boundaries for tracts of land, and pamphlets. Also included is a book titled The Whole Genuine and Complete Works of Flavius Josephus The Learned and Authentic Jewish Historian and Celebrated Warrior by George Henry Maynard published by William Durrell in 1794. Donor: Pattie McCay Dunn

June 11, 2025, (unprocessed addition 2), 0.15 cubic feet; Addition consists of receipts and promissory notes (1840s-1870s) related to Ormond family members in Greene County and New Bern, North Carolina, two photographs, two letters (1803, 1913) including one from Thomas J. Jarvis written to Yancey Ormond, and a portion of an undated land plat. Donors: Pattie McCay Dunn and her daughter Jane Dunn Pittman.

Source of acquisition

Gift of Loys Ormond Turnage Sumrell

Gift of Pattie McCay Dunn

Gift of Jane Dunn Pittman

Processing information

Container List completed by Amanda Keeny, 2011, and Martha Elmore in 2021. Processed by Patrick Cash, 2025

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
Ormond, Yancey T.
Family Names
Ormond family
Turnage family
Topical
Politicians--North Carolina--Greene County
Container list
Box 1 Folder a Correspondence, including a letter from Thomas J. Jarvis written to Yancey Ormond. 9 items, (1803-1913, undated)
Box 1 Folder b Receipts and promissory notes (1845-1888) of Thomas Ormond and Mrs. M. A. Ormond. Includes a 9/26/1864 tax in kind receipt from the Confederate States Government. 50 items
Box 1 Folder c Wills and estate records (1803-1881) of the Ormond Family of Greene Co., N.C. 7 items
Box 1 Folder d Land records (1767-1875) related to the Ormond Family of Dobbs and Greene Cos., N.C. 7 items
Box 1 Folder e Legal documents (1845-1884) related to the Ormond Family of Pitt and Greene Cos., N.C. 5 items
Box 1 Folder f Account Books (1852-1869) of Thomas C. Ormond. 3 items
Box 1 Folder g Diary (1878-1883) and account book (1888-1893) of Yancey T. Ormond. 2 items
Box 1 Folder i Lecture notes (1876-1877) of Yancey T. Ormond while a student at Trinity College (later Duke University), N.C. 1 item
Box 1 Folder j Exercise books used by Yancey T. Ormond while a student at Trinity College (1876-1877) and while studying the law at Trinity College (1889); Exercise book (1883) used by W. E. Ormond at Davis High School, LaGrange, N.C.; Logic lecture notes (undated). 4 items
Box 1 Folder k Newspaper clippings (1922, undated) consisting mostly of Ormond Family obituaries. 11 items
Box 2 Folder a Photographs (undated) of the Ormond and Turnage Families. 3 items
Box 2 Folder b Photographs (undated) of children Roy, Jean, and Loys Turnage (?). 7 items
Box 2 Folder c Photographs (1898-1945, undated), mostly of Ormond and Turnage Families. 14 items
Box 2 Folder d Publications (1861-1925), including "Motives to Early Piety" (June 1861) by the late Harlan Page; Historical Papers of the North Carolina Conference Historical Society and the Western North Carolina Conference Historical Society (1925) belonging to Mrs. Roy L. Turnage; and The Daily Nut Shell Vol.19(?), No. 87, April 20, 1875, Newbern, N.C. 3 items
Box 2 Folder e Autograph book (1881-1883) of Lela Carr; The Gift Book (1907) pub. by Kleber Denmark (Jeweler and Optician) of Kinston, N.C.; pamphlet (undated) of by-laws and rules of order, probably belonging to the Farmers' Alliance; "Reform Club Constitution and By-Laws" (June 1887); Ormond Family genealogy (undated); Quarterly Report (9/30/1889) of the Greene County Farmers' Alliance; "Church Assessment for 1886" (1886); "Trinity College, N.C. Plan for Facilitating Admission to College" (undated); four "Reward of Merit" cards (undated); receipts (1870, 1881); composition by Fannie Ormond (undated); handwritten scripture John 5:24 (undated); correspondence (12/16/1890) to Yancy Ormond from R. H. Whitaker; and several envelopes (1890-1902, undated), including some from the North Carolina Farmers' State Alliance. 26 items
Box 3 Folder a Cased ambrotype photograph (undated) of a man wearing a suit. 1 item
Box 3 Folder b Tintype photograph with part of a case (undated). Image is no longer visible. 1 item
Box 3 Folder c One-half of a photograph case with glass. Photograph is missing. (undated). 1 item
Box 3 Folder d Cased tintype photograph (undated) of a woman wearing a dress. Case is in rough shape. 1 item
Box 3 Folder e Cased tintype photograph of a woman. Image is dim. Only 1/2 of case is here. (undated). 1 item
Box 3 Folder f Cased tintype photograph (undated) of an infant. 1 item
Box 3 Folder g Cased daguerreotype photograph (undated) of a child. 1 item
Box 3 Folder h Ambrotype photograph (undated) of a child. Case is missing. 1 item
Box 3 Folder i Cased tintype photograph (undated) of Fannie Ormond. Most of case is missing. 1 item
Box 3 Folder j Cased daguerreotype photograph (undated) of a man wearing a suit. One-half of case is missing. 1 item
Box 3 Folder k Cased daguerreotype photograph (undated) of a girl. 1 item
Box 3 Folder l Pieces of old photograph cases. (undated). 1 item
Box os1 Lenoir Co., N.C., deed (9/23/1869) between the sheriff and Needham Moore concerning Jesse Jackson land; indenture (11/29/1800) between William Ormond, Sr. and Watkins Ormond of Greene County, N.C.; Deed (1773 ?) granting land to William Ormond of Dobbs Co., N.C.; Deed (12/15/1778) granting land to William Ormond of Dobbs Co., N.C.; Memorandum (undated) of land purchased (1768-1784) by William Ormond with accompanying plat map; and Diploma (6/13/1878) of Yancey Ormond
Box 2 Folder f Examples of early to mid 20th century portrait folder enclosures produced by local photographers in Baker's Studio in Greenville, Coble's Art Studio in Kinston, and Wootten-Moulton in New Bern, North Carolina.
Box 2 Folder g Greene County, North Carolina, Guardian Accounts related to brothers Yancy Thomas Ormond and Wilbur Edwards Ormond, sons of Thomas C. Ormond, deceased, kept by Margaret A. Ormond from 1875 until her death in 1884. Guardian accounts also found for Wilber Edwards Ormond kept by his brother Yancy Thomas Ormond from 1884 to 1886 after Margaret A. Ormond's death.
Box 2 Folder h Land Records, 1757-1875, for Greene, Beaufort, and Franklin counties, North Carolina.
Box 2 Folder i Wills for William Ormond, Jr. (1804), Thomas C. Ormond (1875), and Elizabeth Edwards (1878).
Box 2 Folder j Financial Records (1848-1865) including receipt (Carolina Female Seminary tuition), Confederate bond, estate record, record for sale of enslaved person named Charles (1848), and promissory notes.
Box 2 Folder k Correspondence (1859, 1892) and name cards.
Box 2 Folder l Family History Material related to the Edwards and Ormond families.
Box 2 Folder m Writings, and the words to the song "North Carolina. Call to Arms" set to the air "The Old North State."
Box 2 Folder n Religious writing.
Box 2 Folder o Receipts and Promissary Notes, 1836-1858
Box 2 Folder p Receipts and Promissary Notes, 1860-1863, 1867-1868
Box 4 Folder a Receipts and Promissary Notes, 1869-1878
Box 4 Folder b Receipts and Promissary Notes, undated
Box 4 Folder c Partial Land Plot Drawings, undated
Box 4 Folder d "The Splendors of War", undated
Oversize Folder os2 Ten Dobbs County, North Carolina, land deeds (1768-1783) involving land owned by Lewis Williams, William Ormond, William Morris, William Curlee, Thomas Davis, John Tillman, and William Skinner.