Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Sylvester S. Hassell Papers #321, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Microfilm available.

• Reel 1: Volumes 20-22, 24

Acquisitions Information

Received from Frank S. Hassell, Jr., in 1943 and 1995 (Acc. 95026).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Rebecca McCoy, May 1984; Roslyn Holdzkom, March 1995

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated: July 2019 (Folders 21-25, 41, 43 removed); Nancy Kaiser, November 2020.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Account books.
• Court records--North Carolina--Martin County--History--19th century.
• Diaries--North Carolina--History.
• Gospel messenger.
• Hassell, Cushing Biggs, 1808-1880.
• Hassell, Sylvester, 1842-1928.
• Martin County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Merchants--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Primitive Baptists (N.C.)--History--19th century.
• Primitive Baptists--Clergy--History.
• Schools--North Carolina--History.
• Swain, David L. (David Lowry), 1801-1868.
• Teachers--North Carolina--History.
• Williamston (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Williamston Academy (Martin County, N.C.)
• Wilson Collegiate Institute (Wilson, N.C.)

• Cushing Biggs Hassell Papers (#810); Cushing Biggs Hassell Papers, Special Collections, Duke University.

Sylvester Hassell, son of Cushing Biggs Hassell (1808-1880) and Mary Davis Hassell, was born in 1842 in Williamston, N.C. His father was a Baptist preacher and merchant in Williamston, Halifax, and Plymouth, N.C. Sylvester taught school at several academies; he was also a Primitive Baptist preacher. In 1895, he bought the Gospel Messenger, a monthly religious publication, and served as its editor until his death in 1928.

Correspondence, volumes, and other items, chiefly 1910-1927, relating to matters of the Primitive Baptist Church in North Carolina and to the Gospel Messenger of which Hassell was editor. Included is an 1867 letter from David Lowry Swain, North Carolina governor and president of the University of North Carolina. Volumes include Hassell's diaries, 1870- 1928; accounts and subscription lists for the Gospel Messenger; and records of the Wilson Collegiate Institute and the Williamston Academy with which Hasselll was involved. There are also some materials relating to Cushing Biggs Hassell, including notes for an autobiography, circa 1840; antebellum account books and inventories from his time as a merchant at Williamston and other places in eastern North Carolina; and a record book of his tenure as Martin County, N.C., court clerk, 1839-1850.

• Photographs (PA-321/1; P-321/1-2)
• Oversive volumes (SV-321/5-9, 25, 27)
• Microfilm (M-321/1)