This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
This collection was rehoused under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.
Size | 1.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 450 items) |
Abstract | The Brevard family included brothers Alexander (1755-1829) of Lincoln County, N.C., and Joseph (1766-1821), lawyer of Camden, S.C. The Brevards were related to the McDowell family of Charlotte, N.C. McDowell family members included Rebecca Brevard McDowell (1823-1904) and newspaper editor and businessman Franklin Brevard McDowell (1849-1928). The collection consists of papers of members of the Brevard, McDowell, and related families. Papers of Alexander Brevard include land grants, deeds, wills, and business papers relating to Mount Tirzah Forge in Lincoln County, including some relating to slaves working at the Forge; North Carolina Revolutionary War militia papers, including a muster roll, 1780-1781; and an account, 1827, of his war service. Joseph Brevard's papers include a diary of a trip, 1791, from Camden, S.C., to Philadelphia and New York; a catalog, 1794, of his library; and a military order book kept at Fort Moultrie, S.C., during the War of 1812. Papers after 1871 are chiefly business papers of the McDowell family, including the diary, 1870-1874, of Rebecca Brevard McDowell, concerning her household and family activities, and her housekeeping book, circa 1859-1870. Other items include volumes containing Brevard, McDowell, Wright, and Roach family genealogical information and newspaper articles written by Franklin Brevard McDowell about historical topics. |
Creator | Brevard (Family : Brevard, Alexander, 1755-1829)
McDowell (Family : Charlotte, N.C.) |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Rebecca Hollingsworth, February 1993
Encoded by: Joseph Nicholson, June 2006
Revisions by: Nancy Kaiser, August 2020; and Laura Smith, January 2022
This collection was rehoused under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.
Back to TopThe 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.
Alexander Brevard (1755-1829), fifth son of John and Jane McWhorter Brevard, was a native of Iredell County, N.C., but spent most of his adult life in Lincoln County. During the Revolutionary War, he and seven of his brothers served in the Continental army. After 1779, Alexander Brevard was a captain of the North Carolina militia. After the war, he married Rebecca Davidson (1762-1824), daughter of John Davidson (1735-1832). About 1792, Brevard and his father-in-law, along with Joseph Graham (1759-1836), another son-in-law of John Davidson, went into partnership with Peter Forney, a pioneer in the Lincoln County iron industry. Together they purchased a share in the "big ore bank," a few miles east of Lincolnton, and made plans to erect facilities to manufacture iron products. For his part in the enterprise, Brevard built Mount Tirza Forge on Leeper's Creek. In 1795, Forney sold his interest in the partnership and the others continued to operate under the name of Joseph Graham and Company. By 1804, when Davidson sold his interest to Brevard and Graham, the company assets included over five thousand acres; nine slaves; improvements, equipment, and stock conservatively valued at $5,000; and cash and notes receivable in the amount of $8,876. Brevard manufactured and sold iron until his death in 1829, and, despite declining profits, the business remained in the family until 1870.
Joseph Brevard (1766-1821) was one of Alexander Brevard's younger brothers. Joseph also served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, enlisting at the age of seventeen. He became a lieutenant in the 10th North Carolina Regiment before transferring to the 2nd as regimental quartermaster. After the war, he settled in Camden, S.C. He was sheriff of the Camden District from 1789 to 1791, when he was appointed commissioner in equity for the Northern District of South Carolina. In 1792, he was admitted to the bar. He was elected circuit court judge in December 1801 and served until forced by poor health to resign in December 1815. He was a member of Congress from 1819 to 1821.
Franklin Brevard McDowell (1849-1928) was the son of Robert Irwin McDowell (1813-1885) and Rebecca Rowena Brevard McDowell (1823-1904). He attended Davidson College and the University of Virginia, practiced law in Statesville, N.C., and came to Charlotte in 1872 to work for the Charlotte Observer. He succeeded D. H. Hill as editor of The Southern Home; served as mayor of Charlotte and state senator; was an owner of a publishing company and the Consolidated Construction Company, which manufactured streetcars; and took an interest in local and regional history, making addresses and contributing articles for local publication. He married May King in 1884.
Back to TopThe collection consists of papers of members of the Brevard, McDowell, and related families. Papers of Alexander Brevard include land grants, deeds, wills, and business papers relating to Mount Tirzah Forge in Lincoln County, including some relating to slaves working at the Forge; North Carolina Revolutionary War militia papers, including a muster roll, 1780-1781; and an account, 1827, of his war service. Joseph Brevard's papers include a diary of a trip, 1791, from Camden, S.C., to Philadelphia and New York; a catalog, 1794, of his library; and a military order book kept at Fort Moultrie, S.C., during the War of 1812. Papers after 1871 are chiefly business papers of the McDowell family, including the diary, 1870-1874, of Rebecca Brevard McDowell, concerning her household and family activities, and her housekeeping book, ca. 1859-1870. Other items include volumes containing Brevard, McDowell, Wright, and Roach family genealogical information and newspaper articles written by Franklin Brevard McDowell about historical topics.
Back to TopArrangement: chronological.
Land grants, deeds, indentures, wills, and other financial and legal papers of Alexander Brevard and members of his family, and of John Davidson, Joseph Graham, and Robert McDowell. Included are several colonial grants; receipts, 1780, of Captain Alexander Brevard, and a muster roll, 1781, of Brevard's company in the North Carolina militia; deeds and indentures, circa 1786-1899, for sale of land, mostly in Lincoln County, N.C., and plat maps of land surveyed for Brevard and his associates; an agreement, 1823, between Alexander Brevard and his son A. M. Brevard, concerning the operation of the Mount Tirza Forge, for which Alexander Brevard provided some slave workers; and the will, 1828, of Alexander Brevard. There are a few scattered letters to members of the Brevard family, including one, 1814, from Joseph Brevard of Camden, S.C., to his nephew John Franklin Brevard, and one, 1854, from Robert Davidson to his cousin Robert Brevard.
Also included are many accounts, promissory notes, and receipts, 1835-1856, of Dr. Joel Houston of Lincolnton; accounts for general merchandise, 1858-1859, of Robert McDowell as guardian for Ann Houston; stock certificates, 1860, belonging to Robert A. Brevard, for the Bank of Charlotte, the Bank of North Carolina, and the Montgomery and West Point Railroad Company of Alabama; receipts and accounts, 1866-1869, of Robert McDowell as treasurer of Davidson College; and a few papers, 1904-1924, of Franklin Brevard McDowell, including certificates for membership in the Society of Cincinnati, 1904, and in the Sons of the American Revolution, 1924.
Undated papers consist mainly of maps of land surveyed in Lincoln County, a few receipts of Robert McDowell as treasurer of Davidson College, and one letter to Robert McDowell from his wife.
Folder 1 |
Revolutionary War Material, 1780-1781 |
Folder 2 |
1754-1779 |
Folder 3 |
1780-1786 |
Folder 4 |
1787-1794 |
Folder 5 |
1795-1797 |
Folder 6 |
1798 |
Folder 7 |
1799 |
Folder 8 |
1800-1804 |
Folder 9 |
1805-1811 |
Folder 10 |
1812-1815 |
Folder 11 |
1816-1820 |
Folder 12 |
1821-1827 |
Folder 13 |
1828-1834 |
Folder 14 |
1835-1839 |
Folder 15 |
1840-1854 |
Folder 16 |
1855 |
Folder 17 |
1856-1859 |
Folder 18 |
1860-1872 |
Folder 19 |
1873-1875 |
Folder 20 |
1876-1879 |
Folder 21 |
1880-1899 |
Folder 22 |
1900-1924 |
Folder 23-25
Folder 23Folder 24Folder 25 |
Undated |
Folder 26 |
Volume 1: 1791, 1794, 1798; 180 pp.Diary and accounts of Joseph Brevard, June 1791 to August 1791, on a trip from Camden, S.C., to New York and Philadelphia, by way of Charleston and returning via Virginia and North Carolina; a catalog of Brevard's personal library, listing 1,145 titles; a list of slaves and their values, 1798; and miscellaneous memoranda. |
Folder 27 |
Volume 2: April 1813-May 1814; 76 pp.Orderly book of the 6th Military District with copies of orders from Francis K. Huger, adjutant general headquartered at Charleston, and orders by Major D.M. Forney of the artillery battalion, Fort Moultrie. |
Folder 28 |
Volume 3: 1870-1871, 1874; and Volume 4: circa 1859-1870sVolume 3: Diary of Rebecca Brevard McDowell, Charlotte, N.C., concerning her household and family activities, sewing, illnesses, neighbors, and other matters. Volume 4: Housekeeping book of Rebecca Brevard McDowell, containing cooking recipes and household hints; rose lists, 1859 and 1873; lists of china and linens, 1864, 1866, 1867; and memoranda about servants, and other household concerns. |
Folder 29 |
Volume 5: 1880s-1953; 97 pp.McDowell and Wright family scrapbook, containing poems clipped from newspapers and items of family interest--wedding invitations, programs, souvenirs; typed lists of family data; and clippings about McDowell, Roach, King, Caldwell, Wright, Chambers, and Brevard kin and friends. |
Folder 30 |
Volume 6: undatedA manuscript volume with family data copied into it on scattered pages between 1 and 143, including genealogical information about Dr. Edward Weldon Roach (1857-1897), his wife Rena McDowell Roach, Robert Irwin, and members of the Robert Irwin McDowell family and of the Brevard family. |
Mostly newspaper articles written by Franklin Brevard McDowell about historical topics or historical documents and articles about McDowell or addresses made by him in Charlotte. There are a few clippings collected by him in connection with his interest in local and regional history. With a few exceptions, the clippings are from the Charlotte Observer from 1874 to 1922.
Among the clippings are items about the signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration and other Mecklenburg families; a series of notes on Cape Fear history compiled by James Sprunt, including minutes of the Wilmington Committee of Safety, 23 November 1774 to 7 July 1775; the "Footprints of the Pioneers" series in the Charlotte Observer, 1903; and an address given at the laying of the cornerstone of the Caldwell Memorial (Presbyterian) Church, Charlotte, 1922.
Folder 31 |
1874-1900 |
Folder 32 |
1901-1904 |
Folder 33 |
1905-1922 |
Image P-86/1 |
Group portrait of the members of the North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati, Charlotte, N.C., 1916Surnames of members have been written in at the bottom of the photograph. "McDowell," presumably Franklin Brevard McDowell, is in the front row. |
Reel M-00086/1 |
Microfilm |