Scarborough family papers, 1760-1945, 1996 and undated, bulk 1803-1930

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Summary

Creator:
Scarborough family
Abstract:
Family based in Mt. Gilead, Montgomery County, North Carolina; relatives were located in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas. Related family names include Clarke, McLeod, Nash, and Smart. Correspondence, legal and financial papers, and other materials dating from the 1700s to the 1940s, relating to the Scarborough family based in Mt. Gilead, Montgomery County, N.C. Papers document rural life in N.C., cotton and tobacco farming, mercantile activities, and the experiences of family members in the Civil War and World War I, and their careers as teachers, local officials, and members of the Republican Party in the 20th century. Includes many letters from friends and relatives who migrated to other Southern states. Bound volumes include account books, court dockets, a scrapbook, a family history, and public school district registers. There are a few items referring to slaves, including two lists of slave names, most likely from N.C. Over 100 Civil War letters were exchanged between family members at home and relatives and friends serving as Confederate soldiers in N.C. locations such as High Point (Camp Fisher), Greenville, Raleigh (Camp Mangum), Tarboro, and Wilmington; Petersburg, Virginia; and Camp Winder and Jackson Hospitals in Virginia. The letters refer to battles, troop movements, camp life, the status of various individuals both at home and abroad, prices of commodities and produce, and life in home towns such as Mt. Gilead, NC, and Bruceville and Warrior Stand, Alabama.
Extent:
6 Linear Feet
Approx. 2300 Items
Language:
Material in English
Collection ID:
RL.01144

Background

Scope and content:

Correspondence, legal and financial papers, and other materials dating from the 1700s through the 1940s, relating to a family of cotton farmers, merchants, and local officials based in Mt. Gilead, Montgomery County, N.C. Papers document rural life in N.C. in the 19th and 20th centuries, the experiences of family members in the Civil War and World War I, and their careers as teachers and justices of the peace. Includes many letters (chiefly 1832-1874) from friends and relatives who migrated to other Southern states. Bound volumes include memoranda, ledgers and account books, criminal and civil dockets, a scrapbook, notes on family history and genealogy, and public school district registers, all relating to the Scarborough family, especially H. M Scarborough (Justice of the Peace) and Henry T. Scarborough, owner of Fairview Farm in Mt. Gilead and the historian of the family.

There are references to slaves in several documents in the Legal and Financial Papers Series, including a list of slave names belonging to the Ledbetters and Dunns (probably in Montgomery County, N.C.), and a mention in the 1817 will of Samuel Clarke (witnessed by two Scarboroughs) of a female slave transferred to a family member.

There are 115 Civil War letters dating from 1860-1864, exchanged between family members at home and family or friends serving in locations such as High Point (Camp Fisher), Greenville, Raleigh (Camp Mangum), Tarboro, and Wilmington, N.C.; Petersburg, Virginia; and from Camp Winder and Jackson Hospitals in Virginia toward the end of the war. The letters are very detailed and speak of battles, troop movements, camp life, the status of various individuals both at home and abroad, prices of commodities and produce, and life in home towns such as Mt. Gilead, NC, and Bruceville and Warrior Stand, Alabama.

Biographical / historical:

According to Henry T. Scarborough's genealogical notes, the N.C. Scarboroughs descended from Edmund Scarborough, Surveyor General of Accomack County, settling in Montgomery County, N.C. in the mid-1700s. From there, family members migrated to various locations in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas. Related family names include Ballard, McLeod, Nash, and Smart (Alabama). The Scarboroughs of N.C. engaged in farming, blacksmithing, teaching, and acting as justices of the peace in Montgomery County. Several family members served in Confederate units during the Civil War, including Franklin Scarborough, who appears most frequently in Civil War correspondence (44th Regiment, NC Infantry); the names Samuel and Ambrose are also mentioned in passing.

Acquisition information:
The Scarborough family papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift in 1950-1958.
Processing information:

Processed by Joanne Fairhurst, Matthew Warren, February 2013

Encoded by Joanne Fairhurst, Paula Jeannet, Matthew Warren, February 2013

Revised for materials returned from Conservation, Alice Poffinberger, July 2015

Arrangement:

Organized into the following four series: Correspondence, Genealogy and Family Papers, Legal and Financial Papers, and Volumes.

Physical location:
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Scarborough family Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.