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No restrictions. Open for research.

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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 Southall and Bowen Family Papers, #4135, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Bland Clifton Bowen of Long Beach, N.C., 1977. Additional material received from Julia Bowen Peebles Seibert of Raleigh, N.C., December 1987 (Acc. 88021).

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid for this collection 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.

Processed by: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, March 2010

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

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.

• Bowen family.
• Bowen, William Cornelius, 1849-1911.
• Bulloch County (Ga.)--Social life and customs.
• Confederate States of America--Social conditions.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.
• Confederate States of America. Navy--Officers--Correspondence.
• Denver (Colo.)--History.
• Episcopal Church--History.
• Family--United States--Social life and customs.
• Florida (Cruiser)
• Hertford County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Lawyers--Colorado--History--19th century.
• Lawyers--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Lowndes County (Miss.)--Social life and customs.
• Migration, Internal--United States--History--19th century.
• Moore family.
• Moore, Thomas Longworth, d. 1922.
• Norfolk (Va.)--Social life and customs.
• North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Peebles family.
• Ramsey County (Minn.)--Social life and customs.
• Soldiers--Confederate States of America--Correspondence.
• Southall family.
• Southall, Emily Bland, 1843-1878.
• Southall, Julia Munroe, 1838-1928.
• Southall, Sarah Clifton Wheeler, 1819-1861.
• St. Mary's School (Raleigh, N.C.)--Students--History--19th century.
• Teachers--Southern States--History.
• Wayne County (Mich.)--Social life and customs.
• Wesleyan Female College (Murfreesboro, N.C.)--Faculty--History.
• Wheeler family.
• Wilmington (N.C.)--History--19th century.
• Women--Southern States--Social life and customs.
• Women--United States--Diaries.

• Britton and Moore family papers (#4136).

Members of the Southall, Bowen, Wheeler, Moore, and Peebles families have resided in Lowndes County, Miss.; Northampton and Hertford counties, N.C.; Denver, Colo.; Norfolk, Va.; Wayne County, Mich.; Ramsey County, Minn.; and Bulloch County, Ga.

Sarah Clifton Wheeler (died 1861) was educated in Wilmington, Del. In 1835, she married James Hunter Southall (circa 1788-1862) and they moved to Columbus, Miss., where James Southall may have been connected with the Columbus Female Institute. They had six children: Julia Munroe (born 1838); Emily Bland (1843-1878); James Hunter; Annie Rebecca (born 1851); Frances Josephine (1853-1893); and Joseph Branch (circa 1855-1866). When Sarah Clifton Wheeler Southall died in 1861, her children Emily Bland, Annie Rebecca, James, and Frances Josephine returned to North Carolina where they lived with their aunt and uncle Julia Munroe Wheeler and Godwin Cotten Moore (1806-1880) in Hertford County, N.C. Julia and Joseph Branch remained in Columbus, where Julia kept house for her father until his death in 1862 and taught at Columbus Female Institute. After Joseph Branch Southall's death in 1866, Julia Munroe Southall moved to Murfreesboro, N.C., and taught at Wesleyan Female College.

In 1877, Frances Josephine (Josie) Southall married William Cornelius (Neil) Bowen (died 1912), a lawyer of Northampton County, N.C. They had five daughters: Harriet (born 1878); Julia Southall (born 1880), who married Calvert Goosely Peebles; Ellen Britton; Josephine (born 1886); and Bland Clifton (born circa 1890). In 1890, William Cornelius Bowen moved to Colorado, while his wife and children remained in Jackson, North Carolina. Frances Josephine Bowen died in 1893, and her sister, Julia Southall, moved to Jackson to care for her children, as their father remained in Colorado.

The collection is chiefly family correspondence and other papers of four generations of the Southall, Bowen, Wheeler, Moore, and Peebles families of Lowndes County, Miss.; Northampton and Hertford counties, N.C.; Denver, Colo.; Norfolk, Va.; Wayne County, Mich.; Ramsey County, Minn.; and Bulloch County, Ga. The earliest papers are letters from Sarah Clifton Wheeler to her parents describing a visit to Philadelphia, Pa., and her school in Wilmington, Del. The papers, 1846-1860, are family correspondence between Sarah Clifton Wheeler Southall in Columbus, Miss.; her husband traveling in Mississippi and Louisiana; her relatives in North Carolina, Alabama, and Washington, D.C., especially her sister Julie Munroe Wheeler Moore in Murfreesboro, N.C., and her brother John Hill Wheeler in Washington, D.C.; and her children traveling and visiting in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. Letters focus on health and personal affairs, children, household management, and neighborhood news especially marriages and deaths, with occasional comments on politics and frequent references to personal religious faith.

Papers, 1861-1865, are primarily letters between Julia and Emily Bland Southall. These are warm, sentimental letters, much concerned with the affection between the two sisters and their grief over the death of their parents, but dealing also with local and family affairs, the other children, visits to and from relatives, their teaching careers, and the Civil War. There are also letters to both girls from friends and relatives commenting on the war and its effect on civilian population in Alabama, North Carolina, and New York, as well as more personal affairs. Included also are scattered, largely personal letters from soldiers in Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and North Carolina, which provide some information on camp life and military affairs, and more detailed letters from T. L. Moore, an officer on the C. S. S. "Florida." in Mobile, Ala., and later naval attache in Paris, France. There are a number of letters from Julian Godwin "Jule" Moore, son of Godwin Cotten and Julia Moore, to his parents and to Julia and Emily Bland Southall, which include detailed description of military and camp life in Wilmington, N.C., in 1863 and 1864.

Papers, 1870-1876, consist primarily of letters among James Hunter Southall with the United States Lake Survey in Detroit, Mich.; Julia Southall, a teacher at Wesleyan Female College, Murfreesboro, N.C., West Point, N.Y., and Detroit, Mich.; Emily Bland Southall and Julia Moore of Hertford County, N.C.; Annie Rebecca Southall who married Walter Biggs of Norfolk, Va., in 1875; and Frances Josephine Southall, a student at Wesleyan Female College and later a teacher in Detroit, Mich. The Southall children write of their personal lives and religious feelings; their affection for each other; their careers, spouses and children; mutual friends; events in the communities in which they lived; and the schools with which they were associated, especially Wesleyan Female College.

Beginning in 1872 are a few scattered items of William Cornelius (Neil) Bowen, a lawyer of Northampton County, N.C., and letters between him and Frances Josephine Southall, whom he married in 1877. There are also scattered letters to the Southall children from friends and relatives in New York, West Virginia, and Alabama.

Papers, 1877-1893, are primarily letters between William Cornelius (Neil) Bowen and Frances Josephine Bowen and letters to them from friends and relatives, especially Frances Josephine's brother James and sisters, and Neil's aunt and uncle Fannie and J. Blodgett Britton, of Warrenton, Va. These family letters are similar to those described above. Subjects frequently mentioned are their careers, especially teaching, law and politics; their children and spouses; the Episcopal church; and events in their respective communities. There is also business and political correspondence of William C. Bowen, including six letters to him from Furnifold M. Simmons about North Carolina and national politics and a series of letters about the settlement of the estate of Samuel Britton, his great-grandfather.

Papers, 1890-1893, are chiefly between William Cornelius Bowen and Frances Josephine Bowen, after William moved to Colorado for health reasons. Letters discuss management of the farm and other property, local politics and other events, and their five daughters.

Papers, 1894-1900, are letters between William Cornelius Bowen in Colorado and his daughters in North Carolina, especially Harriett, and between Harriett, her sisters, and her Southall relatives, especially her aunt Julia Moore. During the 1890s, each of the Bowen daughters attended St. Mary's School in Raleigh, N.C., and their correspondence gives an interesting picture of the school during the period and of their relationships. Their letters also provide information about household management, dress-making, the Episcopal church, community affairs, and their own activities.

The correspondence, 1900-1914, is similar to that of the 1890s, consisting primarily of letters among the Bowen daughters and letters to them from their relatives, but the volume decreases sharply after 1901. There are no papers between 1914 and 1921. There are only scattered letters after 1921, pricipally correspondence between Julia Southall Bowen Peebles in Hendersonville, N.C., and her husband Calvert Goosely Peebles, on their farm in Hubert, Ga., and in Jackson, N.C. There are also a few letters to Julia Peebles from her sisters, her children, and other relatives.

There are also volumes, including diaries of Sarah Clifton Southall, 1859-1860; Emily Bland Southall, 1857 and 1862; and Julia Southall, 1868-1874; three autograph albums; a photograph album, circa 1900-1930; an account book, 1874-1877, of William C. Bowen and a volume of his legal notes; a scrapbook and undated personal journals of Julia Southall; a copy of the funeral sermon preached for Sarah Clifton Southall; a history of Wesleyan Female College; and five school exercise books.

• Photograph album (PA-4135/20)
• Oversize papers (OPF-4135/1b, X-OPF-4135/1a)