Collection Number: 01455-z

Collection Title: Craft, Fort, and Thorne Family Papers, 1850-1864

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.

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Size 119 items
Abstract Hugh Craft (1800-1867) was a farmer and merchant of Holly Springs, Miss.; his first wife was Mary E. Pitts; his son was Henry (born 1823); and his daughter was Martha. Martha's husband was James Fort (1822-1878). Edward Alston Thorne (born 1828) served with Ransom's Brigade, Confederate States of America, in North Carolina and Virginia. The collection contains correspondence and other items of Hugh, Mary E. Pitts Craft, Henry Craft; and Martha and James Fort. There are also letters from Confederate soldier Edward Alston Thorne to his wife Alice about military movements and camp life. Many items are family letters, 1820-1826, 1840-1876, to Hugh or Mary Craft or to Martha Craft Fort discussing illnesses, trips, and various activities of family members in Holly Springs, Miss., Memphis, Tenn., and Clinton and other locations in Georgia. There also are letters from Henry Craft telling of his life as a student at Princeton, 1847-1848; a detailed diary kept by Henry at Princeton, 1848-1849, with his impressions of people and events and reflections on politics, love, philosophy, etc.; and a two-volume diary of Henry Craft, 1859-1860, 1863-1864, focusing chiefly on family life in Memphis.
Creator Craft (Family : Holly Springs, Miss.)



Fort (Family : Holly Springs, Miss.)



Thorne (Family : Thorne, Edward Alston, 1828-1911)
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 Craft, Fort, and Thorne Family Papers, #1455-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Alternate Form of Material
Typed transcriptions of the two later diary volumes are available.
In part microfilm.
Additional Descriptive Resources
Original finding aid is filed in folder 1a.
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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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

Hugh Craft (1800-1867) was a farmer and merchant of Holly Springs, Miss.; his first wife was Mary E. Pitts; his son was Henry (born 1823); and his daughter was Martha. Martha's husband was James Fort (1822-1878). Edward Alston Thorne (born 1828) served with Ransom's Brigade, Confederate States of America, in North Carolina and Virginia.

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The collection contains correspondence and other items of Hugh, Mary E. Pitts Craft, Henry Craft; and Martha and James Fort. There are also letters from Confederate soldier Edward Alston Thorne to his wife Alice about military movements and camp life. Many items are family letters, 1820-1826, 1840-1876, to Hugh or Mary Craft or to Martha Craft Fort discussing illnesses, trips, and various activities of family members in Holly Springs, Miss., Memphis, Tenn., and Clinton and other locations in Georgia. There also are letters from Henry Craft telling of his life as a student at Princeton, 1847-1848; a detailed diary kept by Henry at Princeton, 1848-1849, with his impressions of people and events and reflections on politics, love, philosophy, etc.; and a two-volume diary of Henry Craft, 1859-1860, 1863-1864, focusing chiefly on family life in Memphis.

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Contents list

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Processing Information

Processed by: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Finding aid updated for digitization by Kathryn Michaelis, September 2010

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