Correspondence Series, 1808-1945 and undated

Extent:

3 boxes

Scope and content:

The correspondence is arranged chronologically, centering chiefly around the periods 1832-1874 and 1914-1933, and consists primarily of exchanges between members of the large and widespread Scarborough family. Samuel, Franklin and Henry T. Scarborough, all active in the mid-19th to early 20th centuries, figure prominently among the letter writers. Mount Gilead, North Carolina is the epicenter of the exchanges, but letters also come from other counties in North Carolina, and from Alabama, South Carolina, Kentucky, Florida, Texas, and Virginia.

The subject matter of the correspondence spans from health to crops, the Civil War to World War I, family history to politics, and slavery to race relations. Specific topics include the regional post office (the Scarboroughs served as postmasters), crops, disease and sickness, teaching, business matters, religion, politics (tariff, constitution, secession, farm relief bills, Republicanism, nullification), land sales, traveling to California to find gold, the Civil War (camp life, emancipation, troop movements, conditions during the war), Reconstruction, teaching as a profession, fire on a Pee Dee River Trestle, the Mexican War, crashes in crop prices, the home front during World War I, Davenport Female College, Lenoir College, Davidson College, women working, county extension services, the early oil industry, urbanization and development (railroads, dams, bridges, roads), and patents. One family member writes about life as a professor at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, during the 1920s. In the 1920s Henry T. Scarborough undertook a family history, sending out letters of inquiry to Scarboroughs across the South; thus there are many replies during this period that offer genealogical information.

Correspondents include the following Scarboroughs: Samuel, Thomas, Frank (Franklin), S.E. (Sarah?), William, Edmund, Benjamin, Calvin, Sarah, Wilson, Piety, Martha, Ambrose, Wylie, Alfred, Franklin, Wilson, Mary Ann, Bett, John, Saul, Ada, Sallie, Mary, Pearl, Myra, Cordelia, Henry, Elmo, J.H., J.B., Myrtle, W.W., Charles, Sam, Julia, and Nannie. Also prominent are members of the Andrews, Ballard, Billingsly, Boling, Clarke, Covington, Gardner, King, McCrae, McLeod, Merchison, Nash, Smart, and Williams families.

Place names appearing most frequently in family letters include Mt. Gilead, NC; Bruceville, AL; Warrior Stand, AL. Other prominent names include Benton County, AL; Shelby County, AL; Fayette County, TN; Russell County, AL; Forsythe, Monroe County, GA; Madison County, TN; White Plains, AL; Washington County, AK; Simpson County, KY; Newberry District, SC; Lawrenceville, Montgomery County, NC; Asheville, NC; Campbell County, GA; Talladega County, AL; Macon, AL; Salisbury, Rowan County, NC; Knoxville, TN; Gibson's Store, NC; Franklin County, KY; China Grove, NC; Tuskegee, AL; Rockingham, NC; Proctor's Creek, VA; Thomasville, NC; Greensboro, NC; Lynchburg, VA; Kerrville, TN; Louisville, KY; Miami, FL; Covington, KY; Sherman TX; Annapolis, MD; Stoughton, WI; New Smyrna, FL; Goldsboro, NC; Seagrove, NC; Davidson College; Davenport Female College, Lenoir, NC; Bluefield, West VA; El Dorado, NC; and Coconut Grove, FL.

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, NC; Petersburg, VA; and from Camp Winder and Jackson hospitals in VA (1864). There are no letters from 1865 or 1866; the correspondence resumes in 1867. Individuals who write or appear most frequently are Franklin and Samuel Scarborough; Martin Smart from Alabama(a cousin); Joseph Smart; C.C. Wade from N.C.; William G. Gardner; Susan McLeod; Mary A. Scarborough; and Sarah Scarborough (mother to Franklin and Samuel). The letters speak of battles, the merging of units, troop movements, camp life, illnesses, the military and personal status of various individuals both at home and abroad, prices of commodities and produce, and life in home towns during the war.

Contents

Using These Materials