Lecture notes, business accounts, newspaper articles, military papers, and artifacts of the Garrenton Family. The Garrentons include: James Francis Garrenton (1839-1913), Cecil (1883-1935), and Connell (1910-1985). They established the Bethel Clinic near Greenville, North Carolina.
James Francis Garrenton was born September 1838 in Camden County, North Carolina. He was probably apprenticed to be a physician under a local doctor by the name of William Wilbert Griggs, a former Confederate soldier who used to live in Coinjock, Currituck County before the war. During the Civil War, Garrenton served in the 68th North Carolina Volunteers and was injured in battle. It is rumored that he then drove a wagon back and forth through the enemy lines bringing in much needed medical supplies. After the war, he returned to his medical practice until 1911 when he retired because of ill health. In 1874, he married Amanda Bray Frias and they had James, Burfoot, John, Alice, Sallie, and Cecil. Since communications were somewhat limited during the time when Garrenton was practicing medicine, he would run his boat up and down the Inland Waterway and look for stakes with white rags attached; this was a sign that a doctor was needed. Garrenton died 1913 November 2.
Cecil George Garrenton was born 1883 March 5 in Shiloh, North Carolina to James Francis and Amanda (Bray) Garrenton. He married Isabel Nelson Dunn in 1909 and they had two children, Margaret and Connell. He earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia in 1908, and interned at the Philadelphia Orthopedic Hospital and Infirmary for Nervouse Diseases in Philadelphia. During World War I, Garrenton served in France as an orthopedic surgeon. Upon returning to the United States, he established the Bethel Clinic in Bethel, North Carolina on the corner of Pitt and Washington streets, next to his home. He died 1935 August 10 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
Connell George Garrenton was born 1910 July 31 in Currituck, North Carolina to Cecil George and Isabel (Dunn) Garrenton. He studied at Wake Forest Medical School and the University of Pennsylvania. Garrenton met and married Hilda Constance Mather while he was interning at Bryn Mawr Hospital in Philadelphia, and they had Constance, Barbara, Joan, and Elizabeth. They moved to Bethel in 1936 and Connell took over his father's medical practice. Garrenton died 1985 August 1 in Greenville, North Carolina.
Lecture notes, business accounts, newspaper articles, military papers, and artifacts from the Garrenton Family. The Garrenton family includes James Francis Garrenton (1839-1913), Cecil (1883-1935), and Connell (1910-1985). They established the Bethel Clinic near Greenville, North Carolina.
1997 November 15, 3 boxes containing 182 itmes of selected manuscript materials pertaining to Dr. Cecil Garrenton, Dr. Connel Garrenton, and Isabel Dunn, RN. The manuscript materials date from 1908 to 1985. They have since added to the control files biographical data and many artifacts and books which are now in the Laupus Library's collections and at the Country Doctor Museum.
2022, Bethel Clinic arcticles. Gift of Laupus Library employees.
Gift of Hilda M. Garrenton and Connie Garrenton Hackney. Gift of Laupus Library employees.
Processed by Baylus C. Brooks, 2015. Updated by Layne Carpenter, 2022.
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.
Oral History Collection (LL 02.03), at The William E. Laupus Health Sciences Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.