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 rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities; this finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.
Size | 4.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 1,700 items) |
Abstract | The Southall, Bowen, Wheeler, Moore, and Peebles families resided in Lowndes County, Miss.; Northampton County, N.C.; Hertford County, N.C.; Denver, Colo.; Norfolk, Va.; Wayne County, Mich.; Ramsey County, Minn.; and Bulloch County, Ga. The collection contains the family correspondence and other papers of these families. Included are mostly brief and routine family letters, 1846-1860; affectionate letters during the Civil War between sisters in Columbus, Miss., and Hertford County, N.C., about family and community affairs and their teaching careers; letters from Confederate soldiers in many places, especially Wilmington, N.C., 1863-1864; and letters from Thomas L. Moore, officer on the C.S.S. "Florida." Also included are letters written by family members about their lives and careers, including the work of William Cornelius (Neil) Bowen (died 1912), lawyer of Jackson, N.C., and Denver, Colo.; Episcopal Church affairs; community matters; and family activities and household management. Among the later papers are letters, 1890s, from students at St. Mary's School in Raleigh, N.C. There are also diaries of Sarah Clifton Southall of Columbus, Miss., 1859-1860; of Emily Bland Southall of Jackson, N.C., 1862, including a detailed description of the federal invasion of North Carolina; and of Julia M. Southall, 1862- 1876, written while she was teaching in Columbus, Miss., at Wesleyan Female College in Murfreesboro, N.C., and in West Point, N.Y., and including her reflections on teaching. |
Creator | Bowen (Family : Northampton County, N.C.)
Southall (Family : Lowndes County, Miss.) |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
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.
Back to TopThe 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.
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.
Back to TopThe 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.
Back to TopFolder 1a |
Original finding aid |
Folder 1 |
1833-1849 |
Folder 2 |
1850-1855 |
Folder 3 |
1856-1859 |
Folder 4 |
1850s, undated |
Folder 5 |
1860 |
Folder 6 |
1861 |
Folder 7-8
Folder 7Folder 8 |
1862 |
Folder 9-10
Folder 9Folder 10 |
1863 |
Folder 11-12
Folder 11Folder 12 |
1864 |
Folder 13 |
1865 |
Folder 14 |
1866 |
Folder 15 |
1867 |
Folder 16 |
1868 |
Folder 17 |
1869 |
Folder 18 |
1860s, undated |
Folder 19 |
1870-1871 |
Folder 20 |
1872 |
Folder 21 |
1873 |
Folder 22 |
1874 |
Folder 23 |
1875 |
Folder 24 |
1876 |
Folder 25 |
1877 |
Folder 26 |
1878-1879 |
Folder 27-28
Folder 27Folder 28 |
1870s, undated |
Folder 29 |
1880-1881 |
Folder 30 |
1882-1885 |
Folder 31 |
1886-1889 |
Folder 32-33
Folder 32Folder 33 |
1890 |
Folder 34-35
Folder 34Folder 35 |
1891 |
Folder 36-37
Folder 36Folder 37 |
1892 |
Folder 38-39
Folder 38Folder 39 |
1893 |
Folder 40 |
1894 |
Folder 41 |
1895 |
Folder 42 |
1896 |
Folder 43 |
1897 |
Folder 44-45
Folder 44Folder 45 |
1898 |
Folder 46 |
1899 |
Folder 47 |
Samuel Blodgett estate, 1890s |
Folder 48 |
1900-1901 |
Folder 49 |
1902-1903 |
Folder 50 |
1904 |
Folder 51 |
1905 |
Folder 52 |
1906 |
Folder 53 |
1908-1914 |
Folder 54 |
1921-1931 |
Folder 55 |
1932-1936 |
Folder 56 |
Southall, undated letters |
Folder 57 |
Harriet Bowen, undated letters |
Folder 58 |
Bowen, undated letters |
Folder 59 |
Undated papers |
Folder 60-61
Folder 60Folder 61 |
Undated fragments |
Oversize Paper Folder OPF-4135/1b |
Oversize papers |
Extra Oversize Paper Folder X-OPF-4135/1a |
Oversize papers |
Folder 62 |
Volume 1: Memorandum book of James Hunter Southall, 1856Slight, scattered entries mostly consist of mathematical forumulas. Also contains brief diary, 19 July-3 September 1857, of Blannie Southall, with short, barely legible notes about school, visitors, family, daily activities, and growing religious feelings. |
Folder 63 |
Volume 2: Diary of Sarah Clifton Southall, 1859-1860Brief, sporadic entries about the weather; her daily life, especially housekeeping, visitors, and letters written and received; her children; community events, especially deaths; and her religious thoughts which predominate the last few months of the diary. |
Folder 64-66
Folder 64Folder 65Folder 66 |
Volumes 3-5: Autograph albums of Emily Bland and Julia Southall, 1856-1859 |
Folder 67 |
Volume 6: "Funeral Sermon Preached on the Death of Mrs. Sarah C. Southall, by Dr. P. P. Neeley, July 14, 1861, Columbus, Mississippi."Also contains comforting relgious poetry and a printed obituary. |
Folder 68 |
Volume 7: Diary of Emily Bland Southall, January-March, 1862Daily entries with emphesis on her reading; religious life; relations with her sisters, aunt, uncle, and other relatives; visitors; daily activities; grief over her mother's death and her sister Julia's absence; and her friendship with her cousin Julian Moore, who returned from prison on 10 February and rejoined the army on 19 March. Detailed entries, 10 February-1 March, describe the federal invasion of North Carolina. |
Folder 69 |
Volume 8: Autograph album of Julia Southall, 1864Includes signatures of Confederate generals Frank C. Armstrong, W. H. Jackson, L. L. Polk, and S. D. Lee. |
Folder 70 |
Volume 9: Diary-journal of Julia M. Southall, 1862-1865Long but scattered entries which are largely religious meditations and reflections on the death of her mother, her affection for, and separation from, her siblings. Also arithmetic and penmanship exercises. |
Folder 71-72
Folder 71Folder 72 |
Volumes 10-11: Diary of Julia Southall, 1868-1871Daily, then weekly entries containing reflective, religious analysis of her life and its meaning and reports of her daily activities, especially books which she read, teaching, her relations with her sister Blannie, sermons heard, deaths and illness in the community, visits with friends, and a trip to Norfolk, Va., in August, 1869. |
Folder 73 |
Enclosures from Volume 11Include three essays and detailed pencil sketches of a paddle-wheel ship and a house. |
Folder 74 |
Volume 12: Journal of Julia M. Southall, 1871-1876Includes essays, comments, and aphorisms about life, human nature, and her own condition, as well as poetry. |
Folder 75 |
Volume 13: Diary-journal of Julia M. Southall, 1873Contains long cheerful daily entries about teaching and her pupils, events at West Point Military Academy, news from her sisters, visits and recreations with friends, and a trip to Detroit and New York City, including a railroad accident. |
Folder 76 |
Volume 14: Diary of Julia M. Southall, 1873-1874Scattered entries describing teaching and her pupils, a visit from her sister Josie and their trip to Boston, Mass., and New York City, conflict with the Wheeler family, her visit to New York City at Christmas, and other events. |
Folder 77 |
Volume 15: Account book of William Cornelius Bowen, 1874-1877Journal of funds received and paid, including personal expenses and legal fees. Also includes accounts receivable and payable, entered by name of creditor/debtor including legal clients, and a list of money loaned. |
Folder 78 |
Volume 16: Scrapbook of Julia Southall, 1880-?Literary, religious, historical, travelogue, and biographical clippings not identified by either date or source. |
Folder 79 |
Volume 17: Account book, 1884-1890Unidentified journal of personal and household expenses with sporadic entries. |
Folder 80 |
Volume 18: Journal, undatedThis collection of personal thoughts, philosophy, and quotations from other sources is presumably of Julia Southall and appears to be a companion to volumes 9-14 and 24. |
Folder 81 |
Volume 19: "Notes of Authorities on Questions of Law and in Equity" |
Folder 82 |
Volume 20: Photograph album, undated |
Photograph Album PA-4135/20 |
Volume 20: Photograph album, undatedLargely unidentified photgraphs and cyanotypes of individuals, both adults and children, and scenes in North Carolina and Virginia. Appears to be 1900-1930 and was probably assembled by Julia (Bowen) Peebles. Front picture is "Southerly," the Bowen home in Jackson, N.C. |
Folder 83 |
Volume 21: "Chronicles of the Wesleyan"History of Wesleyan Female College, Murfreesboro, N.C. |
Folder 84-88
Folder 84Folder 85Folder 86Folder 87Folder 88 |
Volumes 22-26: School exercise books |
Please note, this material was arranged and described by the donor; only slight changes in arrangement and description were made during processing.