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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 Alice Lee Larkins Houston Papers #05022, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Provenance

Received from Irene Blackwell of Davidson, N.C., in May 2000 (Acc. 98630).

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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.

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• Autograph albums--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Boardinghouses--North Carolina--Wilmington.
• Businesswomen--North Carolina.
• Diaries.
• Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs--19th century.
• Houston family.
• Houston, Alice Lee Larkins.
• Larkins family.
• Women--Diaries--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Women--North Carolina--Social life and customs--19th century.

Alice Lee Larkins Houston was born on March 2, 1840 in New Hanover County, N.C., to Robert Larkins and Mary Jane Berry; the Larkins family originally arrived in Virginia from Bedfordshire, England, in the mid-1600s shortly after the English Civil War.

In 1863, Alice Lee Larkins (also called "Allie") married Robert Bruce Houston (b. 1833), a North Carolina lawyer from a prominent Duplin County family who served in the 3rd NC Infantry during the Civil War. Alice and Robert had two children: Alice Irene, "Rena" (b. 1865), and Percival, "Percy" (b. 1867). Robert died from undetermined causes in Wilmington in early 1870. Upon Robert's death Alice began keeping a journal and in July of that year returned with her children to live with her parents and niece Rosa ("Rose") Belmont Chatterton. In October 1870, Alice Lee Larkins Houston's father and son Percy both succumbed to an illness, possibly tuberculosis, that seems to have afflicted all members of the household. In December 1870, Alice Lee Larkins Houston moved with her daughter, mother, and niece Rose to downtown Wilmington where Alice opened a boarding house to provide for her family.

In 1872, Alice Lee Larkins Houston married George Patterson Quinn (b. 1840), a coppersmith from New York. Alice died May 9, 1891 and is buried in Wilmington, N.C. George Patterson Quinn remained in Wilmington until his death in 1893.

The papers of Alice Lee Larkins Houston consist of an autograph book, a journal, and two loose poems. The autograph book contains greetings, 1859-1877, addressed to Alice Lee Larkins Houston by her husband, friends, and acquaintances. The journal contains periodic entries, 1870-1871, about Alice Lee Larkins Houston's life after the death of her husband in 1870. In the journal, she described everyday life, illnesses that afflicted the Larkins and Houston families, and social activities during her early days as a boardinghouse operator in Wilmington, N.C. The two undated poems appear to have been written by Alice Lee Larkins Houston.