The Fowler family papers collection Includes records, 1779-1809, of a mercantile business run by Stephen Fowler, Fairfield, Connecticut, and after 1805 of Trenton, Jones County, North Carolina, which engaged in trade between New York and North Carolina. Stephen's son Joseph, about 1820, engaged in export of lumber, naval stores, tobacco, grain, and blackeyed peas from North Carolina to Bermuda; and later in coastal trade from New Bern to New York. There is also correspondence relating to his duties as U.S. deputy marshal, Pamlico District, North Carolina, 1831-1860. Family correspondence predominates between 1840 and 1860. For the Civil War years there are many letters from Joseph S. Fowler, Jr., written largely from the Confederate Commissary Office, Kinston, North Carolina.
The collection also includes diplomas; a ledger of Joseph S. Fowler, (1817-1834), 1836, 1866, 1 vol.; financial and legal papers, 1800-1860; broadsides concerning state policies; the logbook of Absalom Fulford kept on the Neuse River lightship, 1845-1849, recording weather and the passage of ships; certificates for jurors, U.S. District Court, New Bern, 1839-1858; business letters addressed to DeWitt C. Fowler and Brother at Bay River, 1860-1868, a general store and liquor dealer; and a few items relating to North Carolina schools. Among correspondents in the collection are Silvester Brown, Benjamin Q. Tucker, Absalom Fulford, and Wesley Jones.
Stephen Fowler (d. 1829) ran a mercantile business, first in Fairfield, Connecticut, and after 1805 in Trenton, Jones County, North Carolina., which engaged in trade between New York and North Carolina. Stephen's son, Joseph, in about 1820 expanded the business to engage in the export of lumber, naval stores, tobacco, grain, and blackeyed peas from North Carolina to Bermuda; and later in coastal trade from New Bern to New York. He also worked as as U.S. deputy marshal, Pamlico District, North Carolina from 1831-1860. His brother Dewitt C. Fowler, was a general store and liquor merchant in Bay River, North Carolina. His son, Joseph S. Fowler, Jr. (1838-1873), served in the Civil War, largely at the Confederate Commissary Office in Kinston, North Carolina.
