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 Creecy Family Papers #3205-z, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Microfilm copy (filmed June 2004) available:

• Reel 1: Folders 1-4

Acquisitions Information

Received from Mrs. Charles P. Wales, Edenton, N.C., in February 1956 and January 1957.

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: Manuscripts Department Staff, January 1957

Encoded by: Linda Sellars, June 2004

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.

• Confederate States of America--Social conditions.
• Creecy family.
• Creecy, Mary B. Perkins, 1824-1868.
• Creecy, Richard Benbury, 1813-1908.
• Curtis, Kate, 1845-1922.
• Curtis, M. A. (Moses Ashley), 1808-1872.
• Elizabeth City (N.C.)--History--19th century.
• Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Hillsborough (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Nags Head (N.C.)--History--19th century.
• North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Parent and child--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Puritans--New England.
• St. Mary's School (Raleigh, N.C.)--Students--Social life and customs.
• Winston, Elizabeth Brozier Creecy, 1845-1921.
• Women--North Carolina--Social life and customs.

The Creecy family of Pasquotank County, N.C., included Elizabeth Brosher Creecy Winston (1845-1921) and her parents, Mary B. Perkins and Richard Benbury Creecy (1813-1908). R. B. Creecy was a lawyer, journalist, author, farmer, and alumnus and trustee of the University of North Carolina. Elizabeth Brosher Creecy, called Bettie, attended St. Mary's School in Raleigh, N.C. She married Duncan Cameron Winston (1841-1892).

Richard Benbury Creecy practiced law in Elizabeth City, N.C., and farmed. After the Civil War, he edited a newspaper in Elizabeth City. In 1844, he married Mary B. Perkins. They had ten children, one of whom was Elizabeth Brosher Creecy.

The collection is chiefly family letters addressed to Elizabeth Brosher Creecy (Winston). Thirty-six letters, 1861-1862, are to Elizabeth Creecy at St. Mary's School, Raleigh, N.C., from her parents, Richard Benbury Creecy (1813-1908) and Mary B. Perkins Creecy, in Nags Head, N.C., and Elizabeth City, N.C.; they give vivid accounts of life in an area under attack by the federal army and include parental advice and inquiries. Letters after 1862 are chiefly to Elizabeth from her friend, Kate Curtis, in Hillsborough, N.C., a daughter of clergyman and scientist Moses Ashley Curtis (1808-1872), concerning social life in Hillsborough; news of friends and relatives; Civil War news; and daily events. There is one letter, August 1861, from Moses Ashley Curtis, commenting on New England Puritans and the current crisis. Other family letters, 1861-1867, are also included. Also included are a pamphlet advertising R. B. Creecy's book Grandfather's Tales of North Carolina History and a handwritten draft of an obituary of Richard Benbury Creecy.