Edward Dromgoole Papers, 1775-1840

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Summary

Creator:
Dromgoole, Edward, 1751-1835.
Abstract:

Edward Dromgoole was an Irish immigrant who settled in Maryland, ca. 1770; became a Methodist minister, ca. 1772; and, after 1777, was a minister, merchant, and planter in Brunswick County, Va. Also represented are his sons Edward Dromgoole, Jr. (1788-1840), Methodist minister, physician, and planter of Brunswick County and Northampton County, N.C., and George Coke Dromgoole (1797-1847), lawyer, Virginia legislator, militia general, and Democratic U.S. representative.

The collection includes chiefly correspondence and other papers, mainly 1840-1848, of Edward Dromgoole and sons Edward, Jr., and George. Pre-1807 papers are mainly letters from other Methodist ministers pertaining to the state of religion in Maryland and Virginia. Included is a letter, 17 September 1783, from John Wesley. From 1807 to 1830, there are family letters concerning religion, land holdings, and plantation business. Included is correspondence from friends who had moved to Ohio with family and regional news, descriptions of the financial prospects there, and exhortations to the Dromgooles to migrate. Later papers are mainly letters to George Dromgoole concerning state and national politics, Democratic Party business, conventions, elections, John C. Calhoun, an 1838 duel, the annexation of Texas, the Mexican War, and monetary issues. There are also letters from two generations of college students at various schools and correspondence among the Dromgooles concerning family business.

Extent:
1,350 items (2.5 linear feet)
Language:
Materials in English
Library Catalog Link:
View UNC library catalog record for this item

Background

Biographical / historical:

The Dromgoole family of Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, included:

Edward Dromgoole, Sr. (1751-1835), a linen weaver of Sligo, Ireland, who migrated to America in 1770. He converted from Catholicism to Methodism in 1772, becoming a minister soon thereafter, and rode the Brunswick County, Va., and other circuits until 1786. In 1777 he married Rebecca Walton and settled his family on "Canaan," his plantation in Brunswick County. He and Rebecca had five children who lived to maturity, including: Thomas (1779-1817?); Rebecca (1783 1847); Polly (d. 1833); Edward (1788 1840); and George Coke (1797-1847).

Edward Dromgoole, Jr. (1788-1840), a Methodist preacher, physician, and planter in Brunswick County, Va., and Northampton County, N.C. He also, for a time, ran his father's store, Sligo, at Canaan plantation. He married Sarah C. Pelham around 1812 and they had eight children, three of whom lived to maturity, including Peter, who disappeared after migrating west in 1833; Isabella; and Edward III.

George Coke Dromgoole (1797-1847), who attended the University of North Carolina and The College of William and Mary, 1816 1820, before commencing a legal and political career. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates, 1823-1826; was a member and Speaker, of the Virginia State Senate, 1826-1835; and was a Democratic Representative in the U.S. Congress, 1835-1841 and 1843-1847. In addition he was the Grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of Virginia, 1830-1832 (although this is not represented in the papers), and a brigadier general in the Virginia militia, 1835-1838. Dromgoole never married. Later in life he became a planter, was executor of the estates of Edward Dromgoole, Jr., and Sr., and managed family business affairs.

Scope and content:

Chiefly correspondence and other papers, mainly 1840-1848, of Edward Dromgoole, Methodist minister, merchant, and planter of Brunswick County, Va., and sons Edward Dromgoole, Jr., and George Dromgoole. Pre-1807 papers are mainly letters from other Methodist ministers pertaining to the state of religion in Maryland and Virginia. Included is a letter, 17 September 1783, from John Wesley. From 1807 to 1830, there are family letters concerning religion, land holdings, and plantation business. Included is correspondence from friends who had moved to Ohio with family and regional news, descriptions of the financial prospects there, and exhortations to the Dromgooles to migrate. Later papers are mainly letters to George Dromgoole concerning state and national politics, Democratic Party business, conventions, elections, John C. Calhoun, an 1838 duel, the annexation of Texas, the Mexican War, and monetary issues. There are also letters from two generations of college students at various schools and correspondence among the Dromgooles concerning family business.

Acquisition information:

Received from Bruce Cotton in 1939 and 1942 and Mrs. Cecil Wood in 1941.

Processing information:

Processed by: Tracy K'Meyer, July 1991

Encoded by: Eben Lehman, February 2006

This collection was reprocessed under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990 1992.

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.

Access and use

Restrictions to access:

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to use:

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 Edward Dromgoole Papers #230, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Location of this collection:
Louis Round Wilson Library
200 South Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27515
Contact:
(919) 962-3765
wilsonlibrary@unc.edu