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Collection Number: 01494

Collection Title: Capehart Family Papers, 1782-2005

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 processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.

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Size 2.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 1135 items)
Abstract The collection includes correspondence, volumes, financial items, and other materials, mostly 1811-1899, of the Capehart family of "Scotch Hall Plantation," Bertie County, N.C., plus some material of the related Martin family of Philadelphia. Correspondents include Susan Bryan Martin (b. 1815), who married George Washington Capehart, and her father, Peter Boyd Martin (1777-1838), who settled in Alexandria, La. Letters discuss personal and family matters, including fears and hardships endured by members of the family and their friends in Virginia or in areas of North Carolina occupied by Union forces during the Civil War. Of particular interest are the letters of William Rhodes Capehart, son of George W. and Susan (Martin) Capehart, describing his life as a surgeon and soldier in the Confederate Army. Also included are volumes containing slave records, 1840-1864; miscellaneous accounts; genealogical information; and a recipe book containing a list of the names of former slaves who remained at Scotch Hall after the war. The Addition of September 2007 contains materials documenting later generations of the Capehart Family, primarily William Selby Harney, Jr., and his mother, Clara Capehart Harney. Clara Capehart Harney was the daugther of William Rhodes Capehart. Included is a photograph album of the Capehart family, with most of the images identified; four scrapbooks documenting Capehart and Harney family history compiled by William Selby Harney, Jr.; one scrapbook of items relating to William Selby Harney, Jr., compiled by Clara Capehart Harney; and an oral history interview with William Selby Harney, Jr., conducted by his niece, Helen Harney Conrad.
Creator Capehart (Family : Bertie County, 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.
Restrictions to Use
No usage restrictions.
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 Capehart Family Papers #1494, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Alternate Form of Material
Part of the collection available on microfilm.
Additional microfilm: Part of this collection is also 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 Mr. and Mrs. George W. Capehart, Jr., of Windsor, N.C., in June 1983, and lent for filming by Elizabeth Jacocks Capehart in 1948. Addition of September 2007 (Acc. 100768) received from Helen Harney Conrad and William Selby Harney, Jr.
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: Cynthia Crouch, September 1983; Revised by: Suzanne Ruffing, September 1996

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, December 2009; Dawne Lucas, June 2024

This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.

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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

On 13 February 1812, Jannette Smith Bryan (1789-1818), daughter of William and Elizabeth Gray Brown of Bertie County, N.C., married Peter Boyd Martin (1777-1838) of Philadelphia, Pa. After their mother's death, the Martins' three children, Robert Campbell, Elizabeth Gray, and Susan Bryan, spent some time with their father's family in Philadelphia, but apparently most of their childhood was spent with the Bryans in Bertie County, while their father operated a plantation in Alexandria, La. Susan Bryan Martin (b. 1815) married George Washington Capehart (1810-1885), the son of Cullen and Amelia Capehart of Bertie County, on 28 November 1833. Their son, William Rhodes Capehart (1836-1907) was an assistant surgeon general in the Confederate States Army. His daugther, Clara Cotton Capehart, married William Selby Harney in 1911. They had two children, William Selby Harney, Jr., and Capehart Harney, father of Helen Harney Conrad.

Scotch Hall, the Capehart family plantation overlooking the Albemarle Sound in Bertie County, was begun in the early 1700s by William Maule, a surveyor-general for colonial governor Charles Eden. Cullen Capehart (1789-1866) bought the Scotch Hall property from Jonathan Hill Jacocks in 1818. In 1838, George Washington Capehart built the residence Scotch Hall near the remains of a foundation, presumably of Maule's home. Scotch Hall continued to be the residence of the Capehart family down to Elizabeth Jacocks Capehart and her son George Washington Capehart, Jr.

[For further information concerning Capehart family genealogy, see folder 15, volume 8, and a letter dated 17 April 1952. For further information about Scotch Hall, see the "Chronology of 'Scotch Hall' as recorded in deeds" in folder 15, a clipping in folder 14, and photographs of Scotch Hall in series 5.]

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

The bulk of these papers, about two hundred items, are letters, about half of which date from the Civil War. Also included are about sixty financial and legal items, 1782-1882; about twenty printed items, chiefly clippings, 1861-1966; miscellaneous material; nine volumes; and sixteen pictures of Scotch Hall.

The Addition of September 2007 contains materials documenting later generations of the Capehart Family, primarily William Selby Harney, Jr., and his mother, Clara Capehart Harney. Clara Capehart Harney was the daugther of William Rhodes Capehart. Included is a photograph album of the Capehart family, with most of the images identified; four scrapbooks documenting Capehart and Harney family history compiled by William Selby Harney, Jr.; one scrapbook of items relating to William Selby Harney, Jr., compiled by Clara Capehart Harney; and an oral history interview with William Selby Harney, Jr., conducted by his niece, Helen Harney Conrad.

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Contents list

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Correspondence, 1811-1952.

About 200 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

Early correspondence includes an invitation, 1811, to Jannette Bryan of Bertie County, N.C., to attend a ball; and 30 letters from Susan Bryan Martin to her father, Peter Boyd Martin, in Alexandria, La., concerning her school activities, friends in Philadelphia, her sister Eliza, and individuals and events in Bertie County, 1824-1833. After her marriage in 1833 until her father's death in 1838, letters center on household affairs in Bertie County, the births of her children, the death of her daughter Eliza, and other family and neighborhood matters. A very few letters from Peter Martin to Susan Capehart are included. Other items include a letter from James Wilson to Cullen and George W. Capehart, 1853, describing his 73-day journey to Illinois, his success in farming, and the prices of various commodities, and a letter from Robert C. Martin to George W. Capehart, 1843, discussing and enclosing a map of property from Peter Martin's estate in Philadelphia, Pa.

About half of the letters were written during the Civil War and discuss the fears and hardships experienced by various members of the Capehart family and their friends. In particular, William Rhodes Capehart wrote about fifteen letters to his mother, Susan Martin Capehart, and other family members while serving as a surgeon in Poague's Battalion, Williams' Battery, circa C, Tenth N.C.T. (First Artillery). These letters describe the life of a soldier in the Confederate army as his unit marched and fought near Columbia, Tenn., and later between Richmond and Petersburg, Va. Also included are letters from other members of the Capehart family and their friends, most of whom were in Virginia and in areas of northeastern North Carolina occupied by federal troops. Among them were Lucy H. Bryan, James B. Martin, and Mollie Outlaw. There letters describe food shortages, war-time parties, farming and fishing activities, prices and shortages of clothing, farm animals and equipment taken by "impressment agents," fear and disgust of Yankees, and discussions of possible peace. Also of interest is the letter from A. Smith, an overseer, addressed to George W. Capehart in Franklin County, N.C., November 1864, describing events at Scotch Hall while Bertie County was occupied by Federal troops.

Post-Civil War letters include several referring to conditions during Reconstruction at plantations in Bertie County. There are also a few letters from Kate (Mary Carey Capehart?) to her father (Cullen Capehart?), circa February 1866, indicating that some former slaves wished to remain on plantations or with members of their former owners' families, and five letters written by Sophia Capehart in Norfolk, Va., in May 1868. There is also a letter, 1952, from Homer E. Capehart to Mr. and Mrs. George W. Capehart concerning the genealogy of the Capehart family, with a brief genealogical chart enclosed.

Folder 1

1811-1835

Oversize Paper OP-1494/1

Letter from Susan Bryan Martin Capehart to Peter Martin, 16 February 1836

Folder 2

1836-1860

Folder 3

1861-1864

Folder 4

January-February 1865

Folder 5

March 1865

Folder 6

April 1865

Folder 7

May 1865

Folder 8

June-December 1865

Folder 9

1866

Folder 10

1868

Folder 11

1884-1952 and undated

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Financial, Legal, Printed and Related Material, 1782-1966.

About 80 items.

Among the financial and legal material are contracts, agreements, wills, deeds, and bills and receipts of members of the Capehart family. Included is a will of Jonathan Jacocks, 1782; an account of claims on the estate of Peter Boyd Martin, 1836-1839; an account of money received by Susan Bryan Martin Capehart and her husband from Peter Martin's estate, 1838-1847; and a loan agreement, 1882.

Most of the printed items are newspaper clippings from the Richmond Dispatch, the North Carolina Standard, and other papers concerning the Civil War. These chiefly describe battles and local events in Virginia and North Carolina. There is also an article from the Raleigh News and Observer, 1966, which gives a brief history and description of Scotch Hall and its furnishings and includes photographs of Elizabeth Jacocks Capehart and Scotch Hall.

Among the miscellaneous material is a genealogical chart of the Capehart family and a "Chronology of 'Scotch Hall'."

Folder 12

Financial and legal material, 1782-1847

Folder 13

Financial and legal material, 1848-1882 and undated

Folder 14

Printed material, 1861-1966

Folder 15

Miscellaneous material

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 3. Volumes, 1840-1899.

9 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

Chiefly genealogical material relating to the Martin and Capehart families, slave records, and account books of a Capehart business that apparently operated out of Norfolk, Va. Volume 9 is a recipe book that also includes the ages and birth dates of the freed slaves who, presumably, remained on the Capehart estate after the Civil War. Volume 4 includes a diary entry, dated 3 January 1867, concerning a violent storm.

Folder 16

Volume 1: 1840-1864, 46 pages

Slave records with birth dates, lists of clothing, and a few recipes.
Folder 17

Volume 2: 1843-1866, 200 pages

Accounts of C. Capehart.
Folder 18

Volume 3: 1855-1857, 42 pages

Sick list, presumably of slaves.
Folder 19

Volume 4: 1866-1867, 80 pages

Scrapbook of Sue M. Capehart.
Folder 20

Folder number not used

Oversize Volume SV-1494/5

Volume S-5: circa 1867, 70 pages

Accounts of merchandise and sundries from Norfolk, Va., with pages missing.
Folder 21

Folder number not used

Oversize Volume SV-1494/6

Volume S-6: circa 1867-1899, 300 pages

Accounts of Cheek, Capehart, and Co., Norfolk, Va.
Folder 22

Volume 7: 1877-1879, 24 pages

Account book of Susan Bryan Capehart.
Folder 23

Volume 8: 1882, 150 pages

"Family Record of Marriages, Births, and Deaths," belonging to Sue Martin Capehart Nicholls.
Folder 24

Volume 9: undated, 150 pages

Recipe book to which was added a list of names, birth dates, and ages of former slaves who remained at Scotch Hall after the Civil War.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 4. Microfilm, 1811-1923.

1 reel of microfilm.
Reel M-1494/1

Letters and miscellaneous papers, 1811-1923 and undated

Approximately 220 items, mainly letters, of the Capehart family with originals among the correspondence in Series 1, except for the following: 13 April 1849, 16 June 1858, 12 February 1865, circa 1865 (beginning "A column of Sherman's army.."), 9 January 1866, and 23 February 1890 (from Bill Arp), and two undated letters beginning "Please return my basket.." and "I don't want you...." Other items that are not included among originals in the printed material include an obituary, an account of slaves, and a 1767 map of lands owned by William Rhodes Capehart.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 5. Pictures, 1890-1983.

16 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

Photographs of Scotch Hall, the Capehart residence.

Image P-1494/1

Photograph of Scotch Hall in Bertie County, N.C., circa 1890

Image P-1494/2-16

P-1494/2

P-1494/3

P-1494/4

P-1494/5

P-1494/6

P-1494/7

P-1494/8

P-1494/9

P-1494/10

P-1494/11

P-1494/12

P-1494/13

P-1494/14

P-1494/15

P-1494/16

Color slides of Scotch Hall and grounds, 1983

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 6A. Capehart and Harney Family History (Addition of September 2007), 1890s-2005.

1.5 linear feet

Acquisitions Information: Accession 100768

Contains materials documenting later generations of the Capehart Family, primarily William Selby Harney, Jr., and his mother, Clara Capehart Harney. Clara Capehart Harney was the daugther of William Rhodes Capehart. Included is a photograph album of the Capehart family, with most of the images identified; four scrapbooks documenting Capehart and Harney family history compiled by William Selby Harney, Jr.; one scrapbook of items relating to William Selby Harney, Jr., compiled by Clara Capehart Harney; and an oral history interview with William Selby Harney, Jr., conducted by his niece, Helen Harney Conrad.

Photograph Album PA-1494/1

Photograph album, circa 1890s-1910s

Photograph album of the Capehart family, with most of the images identified.
Folder 25-26

Folder 25

Folder 26

"The Capehart Family" scrapbook, 1991

"The Capehart Family" c. 1700 to 1911, by W. Selby Harney, Jr., Hilton Head, S.C., Summer of 1991

Folder 27-28

Folder 27

Folder 28

"Growing Up" scrapbook, 1993

"Growing Up" in Edenton from 1913-1926, by W. Selby Harney, Jr., Hilton Head, S.C., Spring of 1993

Folder 29

"The Harney Family" scrapbook, 1992

"The Harney Family" ca. 1700 to 1911, by W. Selby Harney, Jr., Hilton Head, S.C., Summer of 1992

Oversize Image Folder OP-PF-1494/1

Scrapbook covers

Contains the front covers from "The Capehart Family," "Growing Up," and "The Harney Family" scrapbooks. "The Capehart Family" and "The Harney Family" covers include the respective family crests. The "Growing Up" cover includes a photograph of William Selby Harney, Jr., and his brother, Capehart Harney.

Folder 30-33

Folder 30

Folder 31

Folder 32

Folder 33

"Family History" scrapbook

Contains materials (copies and originals) documenting the "The Capehart Family," "Growing Up," and "The Harney Family" scrapbooks

Folder 34

"Mama's Scrapbook"

Contains photocopies of items relating to William Selby Harney, Jr., compiled by his mother, Clara Capehart Harney.

Folder 35

"Original Copies of Mamas Bedtime Stories"

Typed manuscript of stories written down circa 1940 by Clara Capehart Harney. They are in the style of and attempt to reproduce the dialect of Albino Hardy, the Black nursemaid to two generations of Harneys. The photograph inside the front cover is of Ms. Hardy and William Selby Harney, Jr.

Audiocassette C-1494/1

Interview with William Selby Harney, Jr., 22 April 2005

Oral history interview conducted by Harney's niece, Helen Harney Conrad. Harney talks about the stories his mother typed and other matters mostly relating to his childhood in Edenton, N.C., and Avoca (Bertie County), N.C.

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