Lemuel Showell Blades, III, Papers
circa 1711-2011
Manuscript Collection #1418- Creator(s)
- Blades, Lemuel Showell, III, February 20, 1933 - June 14, 2011
- Physical description
- 20 Cubic Feet, 65 archival boxes
- Preferred Citation
- Lemuel Showell Blades, III, Papers (#1418), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA
- Repository
- ECU Manuscript Collection
- Access
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Lemuel Showell Blades, III, (1933-2011) began his career as a lawyer and then went on to become the president of the Norfolk Telephone Company while serving on a number of committees in Elizabeth City, and New Bern, North Carolina. This collection spans from 1711-2011 and includes newspaper clippings, photographs, genealogical charts, letters, oral histories, books, videos, and career files. The strength of this collection is the genealogical overview of the several generations linking to the Blades family.
Biographical/historical information
Lemuel Showell Blades, III, was born on February 20, 1933, in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, to Lemuel Showell Blades, Jr., and Eliza O'Hagan Laughinghouse Blades. Blades received his A.B. in History from Trinity College (now Duke University) in 1955 and his L.L.B. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law in 1958.
Blades began his career as a law partner with his father in the firm Blades and Blades. He went on to become general counsel and later president of Norfolk Carolina Telephone Company. He lived in New Bern, North Carolina, while acting as a liaison between the telephone company and an eleven-county area. Blades also had many other business connections such as president of Apex Chemical Company, with Southern Insurance Agency, Southern Mortgage Company, and as director of the Elizabeth City branch of the First Union National Bank.
Blades was very involved with his community in Elizabeth City and in New Bern as a lifelong Presbyterian, a Rotarian, chairing several committees, as president of the Pasquotank County Historical Society, and as chair of New Bern's 275th Anniversary Celebration. He was also an avid genealogist.
Blades married Nancy Ann Caldwell and they had two sons, Lemuel Showell Blades, IV, and Walter Caldwell Blades. Lemuel Showell Blades, III, died on June 14, 2011, and is buried in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.
Source: Obituary for Lemuel Showell Blades, III. https://www.twifordfh.com/obituaries/Lemuel-Blades-III?obId=27037301
Administrative information
Custodial History
June 22, 2023, 60 cubic feet; Lemuel Showell Blades, III was born in 1933. He began his career as a lawyer and then went on to become the president of the Norfolk Telephone Company while serving on a number of committees in Elizabeth City, N.C. The collection spans from 1711-2011 and includes newspaper clippings, photographs, genealogical charts, letters, oral histories, books, videos, and career files. The strength of this collection is the genealogical overview of the several generations linking to the Blades family. Gift of Lemuel Showell Blades, III
Source of acquisition
Gift of Lemuel Showell Blades, IV.
Processing information
Processed by Ashlyn Racine, November 2022.