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Size | 70 items |
Abstract | William Belvidere Meares was a physician and planter of Davidson County, N.C. The collection includes letters of William Belvidere Meares, his wife Mary Thomas Exum Meares, their children, and other family members; genealogical and biographical information; clippings; writings; certificates and other miscellaneous papers; and photographs. Included are letters, 1850s, from Adelaide Savage Meares, sister of William Belvidere Meares who later married Moses John De Rosset, to Mary Thomas Exum Meares about family and social life in eastern North Carolina; letters, 1863 and 1966, from Martha Exum Ransom (Mrs. Matt W. Ransom) to her sister, Mary Thomas Exum Meares, about social life and hard times in North Carolina; letters, 1870s, from his parents and others to Frederick P. Meares, containing family news, advice on the importance of education and on behavior relating to "the Negro cadet" at his school, and news of his father's attempt to sell his plantation because of the difficulty of hiring labor and the dullness of plantation life; and other letters. Also included are a labor contract, 1867, between four laborers and William Belvidere Meares; photographs of Meares family members; and other items. |
Creator | Meares, William Belvidere, 1826-1896. |
Curatorial Unit | Southern Historical Collection |
Language | English |
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.
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William Belvidere Meares (1826-1896), physician and planter of Davidson County, N.C., was the fifth son of Catherine Grady Davis and William Belvidere Meares (1787-1841) of Wilmington, N.C. Meares was educated at the Bingham School in Hillsborough and graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1846. After he received a medical degree from Jefferson College in Philadelphia, he returned to Wilmington. In 1850, Meares married Mary Thomas Exum (1833-1883) of Northampton County, N.C. Mary Thomas Exum Meares's sister Martha married Matt W. (Matthew Whitaker) Ransom (1826-1904).
William Belvidere Meares volunteered for service in the Confederate Army and was commissioned in June 1861 as assistant surgeon of the 20th North Carolina Regiment. Meares transferred to the staff of his brother-in-law, General Matt Ransom, and served throughout the rest of the war as Ransom's aide-de-camp. In May 1862, William Belvidere Meares moved his family from Wilmington to Davidson County, N.C., where he purchased a plantation that had previously belonged to Governor John W. Ellis. When the war ended, the family chose to remain there rather than return to Wilmington.
William Belvidere Meares and Mary Thomas Exum Meares had seven children: William (b. 1853), Esther Exum (b. 1854), Anastasia (1855-1900), Frederick P. (b. 1858), Gaston (b. 1862), Joseph Exum (1864-1954), and Edward G. (b. 1874).
Joseph Exum Meares married Amanda Antoinette Adickes (1878-1966) in 1901. They had two daughters, Anastasia ("Annis") Lafayette Meares (1902-1993) and Emily Adickes Meares (1905-1991). Anastasia Meares married Harry Watson Gordon (1904-1943), who was manager of the J. Walter Thompson Company of South America, the largest advertising agency in Argentina. Emily Adickes Meares married Dewey Wilbur Zimmerman (1898-1976).
Back to TopThe collection includes letters of William Belvidere Meares, his wife Mary Thomas Exum Meares, their children, and other family members; genealogical and biographical information; clippings; writings; certificates and other miscellaneous papers; and photographs. Included are letters, 1850s, from Adelaide Savage Meares, who was the sister of William Belvidere Meares and who later married Moses John De Rosset (1838-1881), to Mary Thomas Exum Meares about family and social life in eastern North Carolina; two letters from Martha Exum Ransom (Mrs. Matt W. Ransom) to her sister, Mary Thomas Meares, one in 1863 about social life and another, 1866, about hard times in North Carolina; letters, 1870s, from his parents and others to Frederick P. Meares, containing family news, advice on the importance of education and the need to improve his school performance, advice on behavior relating to "the Negro cadet" at his school, and news of his father's attempt to sell his plantation because of the difficulty of hiring labor and the dullness of plantation life; and a letter of sympathy, 1896, from Matt W. Ransom to Willie Meares. Also included is a labor contract, 1867, between four laborers and William Belvidere Meares.
The addition of November 2004 contains a few miscellaneous papers and clippings as well as photographs of Meares family members. The papers and photographs mostly relate to Joseph Exum Meares, Antoinette Adickes Meares, and their children.
Back to TopFolder 1 |
Papers, 1851-1911, 1940Includes letter discussing behavior relating to an African American student. |
Folder 2 |
Undated papers, family and biographical data, clippings, miscellaneous papers |
Folder 3 |
Addition of November 2004 (Acc. 99989): Papers, 1854-1940s |
Image Folder P-2058/1 |
Addition of November 2004 (Acc. 99989): Meares family pictures |
Items separated include photographs (P-2058).
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