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 Drury Lacy Papers #3641, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Elisabeth Lacy (Chambers) Holt of Charlotte, N.C., in June 1963, October 1963, and October 1964; received from Mrs. Lenoir Chambers in April 1971.

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: Staff, 1992

Encoded by: Peter Hymas, February 2005

Funding from the State Library of North Carolina supported the encoding of this finding aid.

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.

• Charlotte (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Chaplains.
• Confederate States of America. Army. North Carolina Artillery Regiment, 1st. Company B.
• Davidson College--History--19th century.
• Dewey family.
• Dewey, Bessie Lacy, 1832-1910.
• Dewey, Thomas Webber, 1827-1875.
• Edgeworth Female Seminary (Greensboro, N.C.).
• Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Lacy family.
• Lacy, Drury, 1802-1884.
• Lacy, Mary Rice.
• Lacy, William Wilkinson, 1806-1846.
• North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Peace Institute (Raleigh, N.C.)--History--19th century.
• Presbyterian Church in the U.S.--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Prince Edward County (Va.)--Social life and customs.
• Union Theological Seminary in Virginia--Students--History--19th century.
• Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Women--North Carolina--Social life and customs.

Drury Lacy, son of Drury and Anne (Smith) Lacy, Prince Edward County, Va., studied at the Union Theological Seminary in Virginia; was pastor of the Presbyterian Church at New Bern, N.C., 1834-1837, and of the Raleigh Presbyterian Church, 1837-1855; served as president of Davidson College, 1855-1860; as home missionary, Orange Presbytery, living at Warrenton, Va., 1861-1862; and as chaplain at Confederate military hospitals at Raleigh, N.C., and Wilson, N.C., 1862-1865. Three sons served in the Confederate army. During 1866-1878, Drury Lacy served as supply pastor for churches in Orange Presbytery and taught at Peace Institute, where his wife was Lady Principal. He married first Williana Wilkinson (1806-1846), and, in 1849, Mary Ritchie Rice, both of Virginia.

Drury Lacy's oldest daughter Bessie (1832-1900) attended Miss Taylor's school in Raleigh and Edgeworth Female Seminary in Greensboro, N.C., and continued her education in the home of her cousin, Dr. Moses Drury Hoge, in Richmond, Va. In 1853, she married Thomas Webber Dewey (1827-1875) and went to Charlotte, N.C., where he was a banker. She was organist at the First Presbyterian Church, taught classes, was librarian of the Public Library of the Charlotte Library Association from its inception in 1891, and was the inspiration for the Saturday Morning Literary Club.

Drucy Lacy's other children included James Horace Lacy (1835-1852); Drury Lacy, Jr. (1839-1869); William Sterling Lacy (1842-1899); Presbyterian minister Singleton Wilson Lacy (1845-1862); and, with his second wife, Agnes Lacy (b. 1852); Benjamin Rice Lacy (b. 1854); and John Holt Lacy (b. 1856).

The papers consist chiefly of family and personal correspondence of Drury Lacy, Presbyterian minister, educator, and army chaplain; and of his daughter, Bessie Dewey, leader in social and cultural activities in Charlotte, N.C.; and of other members of the Lacy family and the Dewey family. Included are letters from relatives and friends in Prince Edward County, Va., Raleigh, N.C., New Bern, N.C., Charlotte, N.C., and other North Carolina towns; letters written at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia; Presbyterian General Assembly at Philadelphia, Pa., in 1839 and 1842; Edgeworth Female Seminary in Greensboro, N.C., 1845-1848, 1851; a boys' school at Hillsborough, N.C., 1847-1848; and Davidson College. There are also Civil War letters from civilians in Raleigh, N.C., Warrenton, N.C., and Richmond, Va.; Confederate soldier letters from North Carolina and Virginia; and Confederate chaplains' letters written at Richmond, Va., Petersburg, Va., and Wilson, N.C. Letters of the Reconstruction period are chiefly about life in Raleigh, N.C., and Wilmington, N.C. Also included are letters, 1872-1878, from Peace Institute in Raleigh, N.C. Letters of the 1880s and 1890s are mostly from Charlotte, N.C., Morganton, N.C., and Lincolnton, N.C., and include observations on the Presbyterian General Assembly in Charlotte, 1897. Correspondence, spanning nearly 80 years, concerns daily home life and social life; Presbyterian Church matters; education of children; and comments on reading, national issues, and local events. Papers of the 1950s and 1960s belonged to Elisabeth Chambers Holt and address Charlotte, N.C., banking history and her ownership of the Lacy and Dewey family papers. Also included are miscellaneous papers consisting of receipts, songs and poems, essays, orations, compositions, and obituary clippings. Volumes include sermons, notes, and lectures of Drury Lacy; records of literary organizations and musical organizations in Charlotte, N.C.; and teaching notes of Bessie Dewey.