Leach Family papers, 1798-1994

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Summary

Creator:
Leach family
Abstract:
The Leach family of Randolph County traces its founding to Stephen Leach who appears in the records of provincial North Carolina in the mid-eighteenth century. The Leach family joined other white families in Randolph County to improve the local school, Brown's Schoolhouse, and continued to be involved with the school through to its development into Trinity College. This collection consists of materials regarding the family's history. Included are genealogy research files, correspondence, personal writings, photographs, scrapbook, autograph books, and clippings. Materials with known dates span 1798 to 1994.
Extent:
3 Linear Feet
Language:
Materials in English.
Collection ID:
UA.01.02.0003
University Archives Record Group:
01 -- General Information and University History
01 -- General Information and University History > 02 -- Trinity College (Randolph County, N.C.)

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains correspondence, writings, genealogy research files, and photographs of Leach family members and those connected to the family such as the Carr and Mendenhall family members. Includes James Leach's daybook; a land deed and life insurance policy; a Leach family necrology; notes and correspondence about genealogy research; a letter written by O.W. Carr about the removal of Trinity College; autograph books; a scrapbook; and transcriptions of entries from O.W. Carr's journal. Also consists of photograph albums, prints, tintypes, and cased photographs of images of James Leach, Margaret (Mendenhall) Leach, Pattie (Lewis) Leach, and James Addison Leach.

This collection is divided into the following series: Family records, Genealogy, Printed material and miscellany, Albums, and Photographs. Materials with known dates span from 1798 to 1994.

Biographical / historical:

The Leach family traces its founding to Stephen Leach, who appears in the records of Rowan County in the mid eighteenth century. The family was connected to several other white families, like the Mendenhalls, Carrs, Elders, and Blairs, in Randolph County and the surrounding area. Members of the family held positions as farmers, merchants, politicians, postmasters, and teachers. Some members of the Leach family enslaved Black people before the end of the Civil War. The family played a role in establishing Brown's Schoolhouse and had close ties to Trinity College.

Margaret (Mendenhall) Leach taught her children and local children out of her home in Randolph County. Following this, Margaret's husband, James Leach, along with John Brown, Joseph Mendenhall, and Joseph Johnson, established the community school, Brown's Schoolhouse. In 1838, Brown's Schoolhouse was renamed Union Institute, and the Union Institiute Educational Society was formed to manage the construction of a new school building. James, Lewis, Jabez, Hugh, and James Madison (Brown) Leach were members of the society and served on its examining and managing committees. James Madison Leach drafted the constitution for the Union Institute Educational Society along with two other society members. Following this, he was appointed secretary for the group. The new school was constructed on land owned by James Leach, Joseph Johnson, and Joseph Mendenhall, and the Union Institute subscription school opened in 1839.

Irene Leach, the daughter of James and Margaret Leach, was one of the first students, and the first female student, to graduate from the Union Institute. After graduating, Irene Leach remained at the Union Institute as a teacher and tutor. Union Institute became Union Institute Academy in 1841, with Lewis, Jabez and Martin Leach serving on its first board of trustees. Irene Leach worked as a teaching assistant for Braxton Craven, who became principal of the school in 1842. The two later married in 1844.

Once the school became Trinity College in 1859, James Madison, Lewis, Martin, and James Leach sat on the first board of trustees for the college. Obed William (O.W.) Carr, a graduate, trustee, and faculty member of Trinity College, married Roxana Leach. Ella Jones Carr, the daughter of Roxana Leach and O.W. Carr, married Ethelred (Dred) Frank Scott, a professor at Trinity College.

James Addison Leach, the son of James and Margaret Leach, was a tobacco manufacturer and politician who resided in Davidson County. In 1865, he and Lavinia Dodson married. After Lavinia died in 1874, James Addison married Pattie Lewis in 1877.

Acquisition information:
The Leach Family papers were received by Duke University Archives as a gift in 2018.
Processing information:

Processed by April Blevins, May 2022

Accessions described in this collection guide: UA2018-0002

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Copyright for official university records is held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Leach Family papers, Duke University Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Permalink:
https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1t437