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Size | 6.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 3000 items) |
Abstract | Correspondence, business records, and other papers of members of the Cates family of Burlington, N.C. These papers document John Wesley Cates's activities as a businessman, school board member, and city booster; his daughter, Bertha Cates's, activities as a coal merchant in Burlington; his daughter, Verna Cates Stackhouse's, activites as a supervisor at the King Cotton Mill in Burlington and as an active Democrat; and a number of personal and civic concerns of the family. The papers include thirty-three diary volumes kept by Bertha Cates, discussing her daily activities, 1937- 1979. Organizations with which members of the Cates family were involved include the Burlington Merchants Association, the North Carolina Retail Coal Merchants Association, the First Baptist Church of Burlington (of which John W. Cates was a founder), the Burlington Business and Professional Women's Club (of which Bertha Cates was a founder), and the North Carolina Retail Coal Merchants Association. |
Creator | Cates (Family : Burlington, N.C.) |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Carolyn Roff, July 1986; Mark Beasley, April 1987
Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008
Container list updated by: Dawne Howard Lucas, July 2020 and January 2022
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.
John Wesley Cates was born in 1847 in Orange County, N.C., the son of William Cates and Sarah Burns Cheek. In 1869, John Wesley Cates married Sarah Patterson. They had four children. After his wife died, he and his children moved to Burlington, N.C., where he worked as a carpenter. In 1885, Cates opened his own lumber and coffin business and helped organize the First Baptist Church of Burlington. Also in 1885, Cates met his second wife, Sarah Elizabeth Scott, who had come from Virginia to work as a weaver. John Wesley and Sarah had eight children. Sarah died in July 1917. John Wesley was seriously injured in an automobile accident in 1913 and died in 1918. Cates had been actively involved in organizing the Burlington school system and Chamber of Commerce.
Bertha Iona Cates was born in 1887 in Burlington, and was educated at Burlington High School. While still in school, she began working for her father, and after his automobile accident in 1913 she took over more and more responsibility in her father's company, J.W. Cates, Inc. When John Wesley died in 1918, his son-in-law, John Vernon, became president of the company while Bertha stayed on as manager. In the 1930s Bertha took charge of the whole company and continued to do business, much of it dealing with coal. She became involved in state coal affairs and helped to establish the North Carolina Retail Coal Merchants Association. Until she sold the company in 1967, she continued to participate in the Association, holding the positions of treasurer and vice-president for a number of years. She is said to have been the first woman coal merchant in the South.
Bertha Cates also was involved in the Philathea Society, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and the Burlington Business and Professional Women's Club, of which she was a charter member. For her many achievements, she was named Burlington's Woman of the Year in 1956. She died in 1982 at age 95.
Verna Lee Cates Stackhouse was born in 1890 in Burlington. She too was educated at Burlington High School. She went on to study at Meredith College until she accepted a position teaching business courses at Oxford College. She quit teaching to take a position as a supervisor with King Cotton Mills in Burlington, a job which she continued until 1937. Cates married Frank Boyd Stackhouse in 1926. Later, they moved to Durham, N.C., where Verna worked with the Red Cross, the North Carolina Employment Security Commission, and the local office of U.S. Senator B. Everett Jordan. She died in Burlington in 1986.
Back to TopThe Cates Family Papers consist of letters, diaries, records, and pictures of the family, primarily those of the father, John Wesley Cates, and two of his daughters, Bertha Iona Cates and Verna Lee Cates Stackhouse. The collection is divided into three major parts: the papers of the father and of each of the daughters.
John Wesley Cates's papers primarily concern two areas of interest: his business activities and his involvement with schools. John Wesley Cates's business papers are varied. His businesses involved coffin making, undertaking, hardware, lumber, curbing, coal, and shingles; he also found time for a land company. The school papers pertain to the selection of a new superintendent of Burlington schools in 1910 as well as to orders for classroom furniture.
The papers of Bertha Iona Cates are chiefly personal correspondence, diaries (dating from 1937 to 1979), and material relating to the North Carolina Retail Coal Merchants Association.
Verna Lee Cates Stackhouse's papers are primarily personal and political correspondence and papers relating to her work as a supervisor at the King Cotton Mill. There are also notes pertaining to her civic activities, especially the Burlington Business and Professional Women's Club.
Back to TopLetters to John Wesley and Sarah Scott Cates from associates and family members.
Folder 1-6
Folder 1Folder 2Folder 3Folder 4Folder 5Folder 6 |
1867-1917 and undated |
Insurance policies, items concerning stock investments, bills relating to childrens' education, and correspondence with Cates's lawyer.
Folder 7-10
Folder 7Folder 8Folder 9Folder 10 |
1892-1917 and undated |
Items documenting John Wesley Cates's business activities in Burlington and elsewhere in North Carolina, including his lumber, building, undertaker, coal, concrete, and brick businesses.
Folder 11-50
Folder 11Folder 12Folder 13Folder 14Folder 15Folder 16Folder 17Folder 18Folder 19Folder 20Folder 21Folder 22Folder 23Folder 24Folder 25Folder 26Folder 27Folder 28Folder 29Folder 30Folder 31Folder 32Folder 33Folder 34Folder 35Folder 36Folder 37Folder 38Folder 39Folder 40Folder 41Folder 42Folder 43Folder 44Folder 45Folder 46Folder 47Folder 48Folder 49Folder 50 |
1880-1920 and undated |
Correspondence concerning Cates's activities on the Burlington school board. Most items are letters concerning the selection of a new superintendent in 1910.
Folder 51-68
Folder 51Folder 52Folder 53Folder 54Folder 55Folder 56Folder 57Folder 58Folder 59Folder 60Folder 61Folder 62Folder 63Folder 64Folder 65Folder 66Folder 67Folder 68 |
1894-1913 and undated |
Items concerning Cates's involvement with such civic organizations as the First Baptist Church, the Oxford Orphans Home, and the Burlington Merchants Association.
Folder 69 |
Church material |
Folder 70 |
Civic material |
Correspondence with friends, relatives, and business associates.
Folder 71-75
Folder 71Folder 72Folder 73Folder 74Folder 75 |
1907-1981 and undated |
School papers and exams from Bertha's years at Burlington High School.
Folder 76-77
Folder 76Folder 77 |
1902-1906 |
Diaries kept by Bertha Cates, discussing her daily activities, 1937-1979.
Folder 78-110
Folder 78Folder 79Folder 80Folder 81Folder 82Folder 83Folder 84Folder 85Folder 86Folder 87Folder 88Folder 89Folder 90Folder 91Folder 92Folder 93Folder 94Folder 95Folder 96Folder 97Folder 98Folder 99Folder 100Folder 101Folder 102Folder 103Folder 104Folder 105Folder 106Folder 107Folder 108Folder 109Folder 110 |
1937-1979 |
Material relating to the Burlington Business and Professional Womens Club, the Kill Kare Club, and various other activities.
Folder 111-113
Folder 111Folder 112Folder 113 |
1909-1981 and undated |
Correspondence, agreements, and customer lists pertaining to J. W. Cates, Incorporated, while the company was managed by Bertha Cates.
Folder 114 |
Business Papers, 1918-1959 |
Folder 115a |
Store Ledger, 1941-1967 |
Correspondence concerning the Association, relating chiefly to its meetings, and a scrapbook kept by Bertha.
Folder 115b-118 |
1931-1958 and undated |
Folder 119 |
Register of those attending N. C. Retail Coal Merchant Association meetings, 1938-1959 |
Folder 120-124
Folder 120Folder 121Folder 122Folder 123Folder 124 |
Scrapbook of the North Carolina Retail Coal Merchants Association |
Letters from Frank Stackhouse, friends, other family members, and political associates. These items document Verna's family concerns and political activities.
Among Stackhouse's political correspondents are U. S. Senator B. Everett Jordon, for whom Stackhouse was an aide; Senator Josiah Bailey; U.S. Representatives William Umstead, Carl Durham, and Frank W. Hancock; and North Carolina Governors Cameron Morrison, J. Melville Broughton, Terry Sanford, and Robert Scott. Correspondence with these officials is scattered throughout their terms in office. It relates chiefly to contributions Stackhouse made to their campaigns and to Stackhouse's interest in particular issues, chiefly government retirement benefits.
Folder 126-141
Folder 126Folder 127Folder 128Folder 129Folder 130Folder 131Folder 132Folder 133Folder 134Folder 135Folder 136Folder 137Folder 138Folder 139Folder 140Folder 141 |
1912-1982 and undated |
Journals of Frank and Verna Lee Cates Stackhouse from different periods of their lives, chiefly documenting routine activities.
Folder 142 |
1904-1905 [Verna] |
Folder 143 |
1907-1910, November 1934 [Verna] |
Folder 144 |
1955 [Frank]/1981 [Verna] (one volume) |
Folder 145 |
1961 [Frank]/ 1963, 1964, and 1981 [Verna] |
Correspondence of Verna Stackhouse relating to her management of the mill, and newspaper clippings related to the mill.
Folder 146-159
Folder 146Folder 147Folder 148Folder 149Folder 150Folder 151Folder 152Folder 153Folder 154Folder 155Folder 156Folder 157Folder 158Folder 159 |
1913-1937 and undated. |
Items documenting Verna's activities with the Burlington Business and Professional Women's Club and other civic organizations.
Folder 160-164
Folder 160Folder 161Folder 162Folder 163Folder 164 |
Civic items |
Personal financial and legal items, chiefly relating to a 1957 dispute between Stackhouse and her health insurance company.
Folder 165-166
Folder 165Folder 166 |
Financial and legal items |
Items relating to Meredith College, where Stackhouse was a student, and Oxford College, where she taught.1
Folder 167 |
College items |
Papers of William M. Cates, George Robert Cates, Frank Boyd Stackhouse, and other members of the Cates family, as well as items with unidentified authors.
Letters and letter fragments to and from members of the Cates family and associates, including William M. and Sarah Cates.
Folder 170-171
Folder 170Folder 171 |
Correspondence |
Financial and legal items of Frank Stackhouse and other members of the Cates family.
Folder 172 |
Financial and legal items |
Photographs of Bertha and Verna Cates, other family members, and associates.