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 James Evans Papers #248, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

All or part of this collection is available on microfilm from University Publications of America as part of the Records of ante-bellum southern plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War, Series J.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Henrietta Evans Kent of Greensboro, N.C., in 1935. Withdrawn by descendants of James Evans in 1971, and redeposited in June 1991 (Acc. 91068).

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 Hollingsworth, February 1992

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, October 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.

• African Americans--North Carolina--Social conditions.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.
• Confederate States of America. Army. North Carolina Light Artillery Battalion, 13th. Company B.
• Cumberland County (N.C.)--Climate--History--19th century.
• Cumberland County (N.C.)--Politics and government.
• Diaries (Blank-books)
• Evans, James, -1869.
• Evans, James, Jr., 1841-
• Evans, Martha Henrietta Knight, -1890.
• Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Farmers--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Fayetteville (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Fayetteville news (Fayetteville, N.C.)
• Fort Fisher (N.C.)
• Freedmen--North Carolina.
• Inland water transportation--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Merchants--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• River steamers--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Schools--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Slavery--North Carolina.

James Evans was a son of Josiah Evans of Cumberland County, N.C. He married Martha Henrietta Knight in 1839; they had eleven children, including sons James Jr., Josiah, and Oliver, and daughters Larry, Cecilia, Sue Douglas, and Henrietta.

Before the Civil War, Evans was a farmer. After the war, he went into business with James Evans, Jr., running a general store. In the last years of his life, Evans wrote many essays and articles for the Fayetteville News. He died in 1869.

James Evans, Jr., was born in 1841. During the Civil War, he served in the 13th Battalion, N.C. Light Artillery, writing many letters home about military actions and camp life in such places as Fort Fisher, Greenville, and Washington, N.C. After the war, he ran a general store with his father for a time and later became the captain of the steamship Little Sam

Oliver Evans, younger brother of James, Jr., was the father of Henrietta Evans Kent.

Personal and business correspondence, financial and legal Papers, and other items, chiefly 1837-1870, of Evans and his wife, children, and other relatives. Included are items relating to Evans's life as a farmer before the Civil War and a merchant after the war, and a few manuscript copies of articles Evans wrote for the Fayetteville News. Many letters relate to the status of blacks before and after the Civil War. Also included are letters that James Evans, Jr., wrote during the Civil War while serving with the N.C. Light Artillery at Fort Fisher, N.C., and other locations, in which he described camp life and military actions; a series of account books and ledgers relating to the Evanses' agricultural and merchandise businesses; financial records, 1870s, of the Cape Fear River steamer Little Sam; Cumberland County school records, 1849-1862; records, 1850s-1860s, of taxable property in Locke's Creek District, Cumberland County; and a diary of James Evans, written on a series of loose sheets, chiefly concerning the weather, planting, the progress of crops, and family activities.

• Volume SV-248/1