Biographical/historical information

Helen K. Peel was born Helen Keel on August 10, 1916, in Everetts, Martin County, North Carolina, to Jesse Keel (1878-1950) and Ida Augusta Keel, neé Peal (1897-1973). Her maternal grandparents were Charles Thomas Peal (1869-1934) and Willie Etta Peal, neé Speight (1868-1943). She attended the local school until graduation in 1933; she then attended Louisburg College where she graduated in 1935. In 1938 she married a fellow Everetts resident, J. Woolard Peel, son of the owner of the local general store, James Stephen Peel, and his wife Emma Gertrude Woolard Peel. Helen K. Peel was an active member of Everetts Baptist Church and within the local community. She passed away on June 5, 2005.

Their son, Dr. Jesse R. Peel, is an Atlanta, Georgia, psychiatrist who is a leading activist in the LGBT community.

Sources: Find a Grave: Ida Augusta Peal Keel

Scope and arrangement

The Helen K. Peel Collection is comprised of a wide range of materials relating to the Peel and Keel families of Martin County, North Carolina. A large portion of the collection consists of letters, photographs, academic and military records, scrapbooks, and various personal and legal documents of Helen Peel (neé Keel) and her husband J. Woolard Peel. Mrs. Peel's correspondence consists mainly of letters from the early 1930's from her mother, Ida Keel, and her grandmother, Willie Speight Peal, relaying the local news of Everetts, North Carolina. Additional letters from friends and former beaux discuss dances, movies, and how they are faring in their new adult lives. Several of her scrapbooks are present as well. They mainly consist of local newspaper clippings regarding marriages and deaths of acquaintances and local human interest stories. Helen K. Peel wrote the History of Everetts Baptist Church, 1877-1974, published in 1974 by Enterprise Publishing Company of Williamston, North Carolina. The manuscript and collected research, which contains early twentieth century photographs of the Everetts schoolhouse, are contained within the collection.

J. Woolard Peel's academic career at North Carolina State College and his U.S. Army service in World War II are well documented, consisting of reports, service records, and discharge materials. Mr. Peel had been a member of ROTC during his college years and was a member of the Army Reserves. He was called to service in February of 1942. He attended officers advanced training at Fort Benning and attained the rank of Captain by the time of his honorable discharge in December of 1945. Though he was primarily based stateside he did serve overseas, from April 1944 to December 1944, as an Administrative Officer with the 411th Infantry Regiment during their campaigns in Normandy, Rhineland, and Northern France. Two letters from his time in Belgium and England are included in the collection. He was also a member of the Masonic Order of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite and his certificate of ascension to the rank of Master of the Royal Secret is included as well as two aprons made by the Ihling Bros. Everard Co. of Kalamazoo, Michigan.

An unusual addition to this collection are the detailed and copious amounts of deeds relating to the large property holdings of both the Peel and Keel families in Martin County. These records include: property deeds, plats, timber sales dating from 1884 to 2005 on the homesteads of Barnhill and Forbes, the Whitehurst Farm, and the procurement of adjacent parcels of land for expansion.

Other family records within the collection are the Last Will and Testaments of Gertrude Peel, Ida Keel, and Helen K. Peel. Of note, is an 1836 Bible that has family birth, marriage and death records covering the years from 1808 to 1851 for members of the Peel, Woolard, Ward, Martin and Barnhill families of Martin County. Photographs of J. Woolard and Helen K. Peel are predominately post-1950, but there are some photographs of their youth in Martin County, the earliest of which dates to 1917. Additionally, there are photographs of the family farm showing damage to buildings from a tornado in 1955.

Woolard Peel's father, James Stephen Peel, owned and operated J.S. Peel's General Merchandise Store in Everetts, North Carolina, and his ledgers from 1908 to 1944 are also included. Oversize materials include a photograph of the 1919 Scottish Rite members of the New Bern, North Carolina, chapter, and land plats (1913-2005) of Peel family properties in Martin County, N.C.

Administrative information

Custodial History

August 19, 2014, 2.64 cu. ft.; This collection (1836, ca. 1908-2006) includes the papers of Helen Keel Peel (who died in 2005 at the age of 88) and her husband James Woolard Peel (who died in 1986), of Everetts in Martin County, North Carolina. The donor, Dr. Jesse R. Peel, is their son. Included in the collection are photographs; typescripts related to Helen Peel's historical research about Everetts and Martin County; correspondence, scrapbook, and autograph books related to her public school years and her 1933-1934 time at Louisburg College; scrapbooks covering the time span of ca. 1956-1994; and Bible (1836) records, especially births, for the years 1808-1851 for members of the Peel, Woolard, Ward, Martin and Barnhill families of Martin County. Also included are report cards, transcripts, and correspondence related to James Peel's public schooling and time (1931-1935) at N.C. State University; U.S. Army service-related materials for his time in the Reserves (1936) and World War II (1942-1945); memorabilia related to his membership in the Order of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite; Martin County deeds and plats (1919-1972); account books (1908-1944); and remodeling plans (2000-2006) by Dr. Jesse R. Peel for his parents' house. Gift of Dr. Jesse R. Peel.

August 20, 2014, (addition 1), 0.218 cu. ft.; This addition (1916-2005, undated) includes a diary (1934-1937) kept by Helen Keel during the years just before she married James Woolard Peel in 1938, a letter written by Mr. Peel in 1944 while he was in Belgium during WWII to his brother D. C. Peel at home in Everetts, N.C., photographs (1917-1955, undated) of people and of old schools in Everetts, church anniversary programs, and the program from Helen Peel's funeral service. A large part of the addition pertains to deeds for various tracts of land in Everetts and elsewhere in Martin County, N.C., and papers (plat maps, correspondence, financial papers) that document involvement with Timberlands Unlimited, Inc., of Windsor, N.C. Gift of Dr. Jesse R. Peel.

Source of acquisition

Gift of Dr. Jesse R. Peel

Processing information

Processing completed by Samantha Sheffield on October 7, 2015.

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

Peel, Helen K., 1916-2005
Peel, James Woolard, -1986

Family Names

Keel family
Peale family

Topical

Account books--North Carolina--Everetts
General stores--North Carolina--Everetts
Land titles--North Carolina--Martin County
Timber--North Carolina--Martin County
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American

Places

Everetts (N.C.)--Pictorial works

Container list