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Collection Number: 01042

Collection Title: Beall and Harper Family Papers, 1830-1914.

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.

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Size 0.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 315 items)
Abstract The collection is family correspondence, chiefly 1850s, of the Beall, Harper, and Jones families of Rowan, Davidson, and Caldwell counties, N.C., including letters from students at the following North Carolina schools: Davidson College (Davidson), Edgeworth Female Seminary (Greensboro), Bingham School (Orange County), and St. Mary's School (Raleigh). Also, guardian and other accounts, bills, and receipts.
Creator Beall (Family : Lenoir, N.C.)

Harper (Family : Lenoir, N.C.)
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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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 Beall and Harper Family Papers #1042, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections 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 Mrs. E. F. Reid and Mrs. Rufus Gwyn of Lenoir, N.C., in November 1945.
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.
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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Processing Information

Processed by: Rebecca Hollingsworth, September 1992

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

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.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subject Headings

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.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Dr. Robert Lamar Beall was the son of Burgess L. Beall of Lexington and Lenoir, N.C., and the nephew of Mary C. Jones of Jersey Settlement in Rowan County. Robert Lamar Beall was graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1852 and received his M.D. from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pa., in 1856. From 1854 to about 1858, he was the guardian of his brothers Thomas and James and his sisters Ellen and Margaret. He married Mary (Mollie) Harper of Lenoir, N.C.

James Harper (1799-1879) was a founder of Lenoir, N.C. He married Caroline Finley in 1833; their children included sons George and Samuel and daughters Mary and Cornelia. Mary Harper married Robert Lamar Beall, and Cornelia (Nealie) Harper married James F. Beall.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

Family and business papers of the Harper, Beall, and Jones families of Rowan, Davidson, and Caldwell counties, N.C. Included are accounts of physician Robert Lamar Beall as guardian for his brothers and sisters; bills and receipts for Robert Lamar Beall, his wife Mary Harper Beall, and others; and correspondence of various members of the three families, including Mary C. Jones of Rowan County; Mary and Cornelia Harper of Lenoir, N.C.; Dr. Beall in Lexington and Lenoir; and students at Davidson College in Davidson, N.C., the Edgeworth Female Seminary in Greensboro, N.C., and the Bingham School in Orange County, N.C.

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Contents list

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Correspondence, 1830-1914.

About 260 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

Family letters of various members of the Jones, Harper, and Beall families. Included are letters, 1830-1850, to Mary C. Jones of Jersey Settlement, Rowan County, N.C., from her nephew Robert Lamar Beall and from her brothers Walter Jones of Wadesboro and A. R. Jones, of Alabama and New Orleans; letters, 1851-1853, to Robert Lamar Beall at Chapel Hill and Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia; letters, 1853-1856, from Mary (Mollie) Harper, at Edgeworth Female Seminary in Greensboro, N.C., to her family in Lenoir, N.C.; letters, 1854, to Robert Lamar Beall regarding the progress of his brothers Thomas and James at the Bingham School in Orange County, N.C.; letters, 1856-1858, to Mary Harper and her sister Cornelia (Nealie) from various friends and relatives, including classmates at Edgeworth; letters, 1864-1875, from Robert Lamar Beall to his wife; and a letter, 1891, to Robert Lamar Beall from Rev. S. Milton Frost, University of North Carolina alumnus, concerning the surviving members of the class of 1852.

Letters contain mainly family news, and include information about visits, local parties, and other social events. Letters from students include comments on classes and teachers and news about other students at school. Undated correspondence includes letters to Mary Harper from her cousin Mag Gaithers regarding the return of borrowed books, and a letter, probably written in 1863 or 1864, from Robert Lamar Beall, recommending the promotion of his brother Captain James F. Beall of the 21st North Carolina Regiment.

Folder 1

1830-1844

Folder 2

1846-1850

Folder 3

1851-1852

Folder 4

1853-1854

Folder 5

1855

Folder 6

1856

Folder 7

1857-1858

Folder 8

1860-1865

Folder 9

1866-1875, 1891, 1914

Folder 10

Undated

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Financial and Legal Papers, 1840-1865 and undated.

About 110 items.

Chiefly accounts of Robert Lamar Beall as guardian for his brother James and sisters Ellen and Margaret. Also included are bills, receipts, promissory notes, and other financial items pertaining chiefly to Robert Lamar Beall; bills and receipts of Robert and Thomas Beall; and scattered papers of various members of the Harper family.

Folder 11

Guardian accounts, 1854-1858

Folder 12

Other financial and legal papers, 1840-1865 and undated

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 3. Other Papers, 1840-1865 and undated.

About 10 items.

School compositions of Robert Lamar Beall, poems apparently addressed to him, and other items.

Folder 13

Other Papers

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