This collection contains twenty-four pages of genealogical notes related to Beaufort County, N.C., families including Bonner, Snoad, Smallwood, and Latham written by Lucretia Hughes of Washington, N.C.; and a scrapbook of "About Town" columns (1946-1947) written by Penelope Bogart (Rodman) as a teenager for the Washington Daily News published in Washington, N.C. Also included are two typescripts of interviews done in 1938 with a mill worker at Glen Raven Cotton Mill in Burlington, N.C., and with a woman who ran a lodging house in Raleigh, N.C.; and an undated typescript titled "Description of Mill Village" about life on Factory Hill where many of the Asheville Cotton Mill workers lived. The interview with the woman in Raleigh also includes her experiences during the Civil War in Wake County, N.C. In addition, there is an errata of corrections to Van Camp's Images of America: Washington, North Carolina and a Bible containing family history information.
Penelope O'Cain Bogart was born on September 12th, 1929, in Washington N.C to Robert Courtney Bogart and Penelope Biggs Bogart. Penelope was not a direct descendant of the Rodman family, rather she married into it. In 1956 she married George Farnell Rodman, the son of William Blount Rodman III and Helen Farnell Rodman. Together they had three children, and would live abroad in different countries throughout their lives because her husband was a Foreign Service officer with the U.S. State Department. After her husband retired, they moved back Beaufort County. She enjoyed collecting the genealogical history of several Beaufort County families and local history of Washington N.C. Penelope passed away on April 29th 2019 at the age of 89 in Williamsburg VA.
Sources:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/198795005/penelope-o'cain-rodman
This collection consists of genealogical information on families, including that of Penelope B. Rodman, and other families from Beaufort County N.C as well as local history related to the county and Washington N.C.
Those families mentioned include the Bonner, Latham, Smallwood, Peyton, Biggs, O'Cain, Grimes, Rodman, and Snoad family. Besides notes and pedigree charts, there is also a rendering of the Bonner family coat of arms.
The material related to local and family history of Washington N.C includes papers written about the area's history and customs, notes of physical maps, information on houses used in a slide show, photographs and photocopies of images of houses, and a layout of the area in 1776. A copy of Louis Van Camp's book "Images of America, Washington North Carolina" (2000) is also included along with an errata sheet of corrections suggested by Washington citizens.
Material that is not related to Washington or Beaufort Country includes transcriptions of interviews done by an unknown interviewer in 1938. Interview subjects include Mary Rumble, a worker at Glen Raven Cotton Mill in Burlington, and a person staying at Mrs. Nancy Gill's Lodging House in Raleigh. The other transcription contains a description of Mill Village, where workers from Asheville Cotton Mill lived. There is also a journal kept by an unidentified person discussing a visit to a solider stationed at Camp Mills on Long Island (1918).
Personal items include a Bible that was gifted to Penelope Biggs Bogart in 1909. The Bible has one page of births and deaths dates. Two personal scrapbooks were made by Penelope Rodman. The "About Town" scrapbook (1946) contains columns that Penelope wrote for The Washington Daily News when she was a teenager. The other scrapbook is titled "Tide Land Scrap Book" (1960s) and mostly concerns Washington history.
Additional material (1846-1861, 1871) concerns Stephen F. Harrison of Beaufort County, North Carolina, and includes correspondence, receipts, promissory notes and court summonses. The relationship to the other families represented by this collection is unknown.
The publications donated as part of this collection were transferred to the North Carolina Collection in Joyner Library.
October 31, 2019, (addition 2) 2.0 cubic feet; Donation includes a 1918 journal documenting a visit to a soldier stationed at Camp Mills on Long Island, genealogy notes, framed Bonner Coat of Arms, a photograph of a drawing of the Smallwood Place, a copy of Louis Van Camp's "Images of America Washington, North Carolina," with handwritten corrections and a typed Errata submitted by several people including Penelope Rodman, correspondence (1989-1990), two 1944 edition Books of Common Prayer, a Bible with a few family births and deaths listed, and 19 volumes of genealogy publications (most by Marilu Burch Smallwood). Donor: George Rodman.
September 19, 2025, (addition 3), 0.10 cubic feet; Donation (1846-1861, 1871) includes receipts, promissory notes, court summons and correspondence related to Stephen F. Harrison of Beaufort County, North Carolina. The connection to Penelope Bogart Rodman's family is unknown but the material was in her possession. Donor: Penelope Rodman Justice (daughter of Penelope B. Rodman).
Gift of Penelope B. Rodman
Gift of George Rodman
Gift of Penelope Rodman Justice
Processing completed September 15, 2022, by Lindsey Grider.
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.