Papers (1780-1969; bulk 1808-1924) including correspondence, land records, legal papers, financial papers, ledgers, etc., of two prominent Eastern North Carolina families--Grimes and Bryan--related through marriage. Other material concerns the Wharton and Conrad families of Clemmonsville, North Carolina, in Davidson County, who are also related by marriage to the Grimes family.
Collection (2005) of research material regarding the Battle of Wyse Forks, North Carolina, compiled by the donor for Through the Eyes of Soldiers: The Battle of Wyse Forks, Kinston, North Carolina, March 7-10, 1865, by Tom J. Edwards and William Rowland, edited by Ashleigh D. Brothers, published by the Lenoir County Historical Association, Kinston, N.C., in 2006, including typescripts of unit histories, excerpts from official records and published works, and manuscript maps of the battle.
Photocopies of a diary (May 30-Aug. 7, 1862) kept by Alfred F. Williams of the 1st North Carolina Cavalry during the Civil War covering troop movements, his capture, and his exchange. Also includes a general store account record (1865-1867).
Personal Correspondence (December 30, 1861-September 16, 1862; April 1863) written by William Wilberforce Douglas to his family members during his service in the Fifth Rhode Island Volunteers and in General Ambrose Burnside's Expeditionary Corps in North Carolina. Letters, copied by his mother, Sarah Sawyer Douglas, from originals into a single bound journal, include references to his time at the battles of Roanoke Island, New Bern, and Fort Macon. Additionally, the journal includes newspaper clippings accounting his exploits in the war.
Matthew W. Ransom letter, recounting the Battle of Second Gum Swamp (22 May), Kinston, 5/25/1863; photocopy of letter; transcript of letter.
Papers (1767-1976) of three generations of Beaufort County, NC, lawyers named William B. Rodman, including correspondence, letterpress books, speeches, financial records, legal files, farm records, clippings, printed material, newspapers, photographs, genealogical material and miscellaneous. Originally from New York, the Rodmans married into the prominent Blount family in Beaufort County, NC. The Rodmans also held local and state government offices and were judges.
Collection (1863-1865) related to the American Civil War and Andrew Giddings of Company E, 3rd North Carolina infantry. Includes Oath of Allegiance to the United States signed by Andrew Giddings on November 6, 1865 [Following the American Civil War, Confederate officials, veterans and prisoners of war were obliged to sign an "oath of allegiance" to regain their civil rights under the U. S. Constitution.]. The collection also includes a note concerning the capture of Washington Rose, a member of Company C, 6th Louisiana Regiment at the Battle of the Wilderness. Most significantly, the collection contains Andrew Giddings' leather-bound diary and ledger of income and expenses, which includes eyewitness accounts of the engagements in which he participated, including Gettysburg, Cold Harbor, Sharpsburg, Malvern Hill, 2nd Winchester, Chancellorsville, and Wilderness. It also includes descriptions of his capture and imprisonment in a Union prisoner of war camp. The collection also includes an envelope that held the diary with "Granddad Giddings Diary" written on it.
Papers (1819-1872) of Thomas Sparrow (1819-1884), a Washington, N.C., lawyer until the outbreak of the Civil War. He was commissioned a captain in the Confederate Army in 1861 and served at Fort Hatteras until he was taken prisoner by Union forces in August of that year. After the war he returned to Washington and represented Beaufort County in the North Carolina General Assembly in 1870 and 1881. Papers include correspondence, military papers, prisoner of war diary kept at Fort Warren, Massachusetts, articles, essays, speeches, accounts, clippings, genealogical notes, and Sparrow family Bible records. Also included are letters (1858-1881) written by Thomas Sparrow's son George Attmore Sparrow (1845-1922) to him describing life in Okaw/Arcola, Illinois, at Hillsborough Military Academy, in military service as a Confederate soldier, and in his post-war life as a farmer and lawyer and later as a Presbyterian minister.
Papers (1862-1885) consisting of diary, with description of camp, confederate and activities of knights of Golden Circle.
Papers (1856-1898) consisting correspondence in Civil War, letters, post-war correspondence, diaries, miscellaneous items about camp life, etc.
Papers (1864-1865) consisting of correspondence, issues of food and clothing, photocopies, battles. 9 items. Recd. 10/21/1971 12/16/1971