Letters of George Warren Alston to various family members, 1881-1907

Correspondents include Alston's mother, Jane Crichton Alston, his father, Philip Guston Alston, and his sister, Lucy Tunstall Alston. The correspondence covers the years 1881-1907 and deals largely with the writer's attempts to find employment. He was in Warrenton, N.C., from 188-1890, Fort Payne, Ala., in April 1890, Anniston, Ala., in April and May 1890, and Texarkana, Ark., from June 1890 to 1907. (51 items)

Letters of Hugh Crichton Alston to various family members and others, 1883-1893

Correspondents include Alston's mother, Jane Crichton Alston, his father, Philip Guston Alston, his brother, Philip (Pegie) Guston Alston, his brother, Lewis (later spelled Louis) Watson Alston, his sister, Lucy Tunstall Alston, his sister, Ella Lee Alston, his uncle, Hugh Randolph Crichton, Harry Guston Williams, his wife, Elizabeth McDuffie Williams, and John Buxton Williams. The correspondence covers the years 1888-1893 and tells of the writer's experience as a young man in his first employment in Keyser, N.C., from 1888-1890 in the lumber business, and in Beard's Creek, Ga., from 1890-1896, working for J. R. McDuffie Co., dealers in naval stores and lumber. (38 items)

Notes of Jane Elizabeth Crichton (Mrs. Philip Guston Alston) to her daughter, Lucy Tunstall Alston during the first year of her marriage to Archibald (Baldie) Davis Williams, 1890-1891

Jane Elizabeth Crichton was living either at Buxton Place or Sunny Hill, farms in Fork Township, Warren County, N.C.; her daughter was then living about twelve miles distant at Linwood, a farm near the village of Centerville in Franklin County, N.C. Only one of the notes is dated (11 February 1891); one, however, is written on the back of a letters dated 12 January 1891, from Marina Priscilla Alston to Lucy Tunstall Williams; another is written on the back of a letter from Hugh Crichton Alston to Lucy Tunstall Williams on 2 January 1891; and two others are written on the backs of business letters or other documents. In these notes the writer addresses her daughter as "Lute," a family nickname that was pronounced as if spelled "Lutie." In reading the notes it is helpful to know that Lucy's first child was either stillborn or died shortly after birth. Her first surviving child was named for the writer of these notes, Jane Crichton Williams, born 4 June 1892. (34 items)

Letters to Jane Elizabeth Crichton from various family members, undated

Correspondents include Jane Elizabeth Crichton's mother, Lucy Henry Tunstall writing from her home in Louisburg, N.C.; her mother-in-law, Marina Priscilla Williams writing from her home, Cherry Hill plantation in Fork Township, Warren County, N.C.; her sister, Anna Crichton writing from her home, Rockland farm near Ridgeway, Warren County, N.C.; her aunt, Temperance Williams Tunstall writing from the home of her son, Dr. Joel G. King, in Warrenton, N.C.; and her sister-in-law, Elizabeth (Bettie) Faulcon Alston writing from Cherry Hill plantation. (6 items)

Letters of Laura June King to her cousin and future sister-in-law, Lucy Tunstall Williams, 1890

Letters were written immediately prior to and soon after Lucy's marriage in July of that year to Archibald Davis Williams, Jr. (3 items)

Letters of Louis (originally spelled Lewis) Watson Alston to his sister, Lucy Tunstall Williams, and two miscellaneous items, 1886, 1961, and undated

Miscellaneous items consist of: a note, 1886, from his mother, Jane Crichton Alston enclosing a cutting of the child's hair at age 2 and a copy of an executor's initial report to court in Baltimore in administering Alston's estate, 1961. Letters were written from the home of his aunt, Anna Watson, near Ridgeway, N.C.; from Heartsease, Edgecombe County, N.C., where he found a job; and from Morganton, N.C., where he, his wife, and twins lived. (9 items)

Letters of Philip Guston Alston to his daughter, Lucy Tunstall Williams, 1898-1908

Letters were written from a farm near Tatum in Marlboro County, S.C. Alston's second wife, Lucy McColl Roper, bolonged to the McColl-Roper family connection: John W. Roper first married Henrietta McLaurin and had one child; following his first wife's death, Roper married Lucy McColl by whom he had four children; the Roper children were Daniel C. (by his first wife) and Eula, Thomas, Dell, and John (called Jack) (by his second wife). After Roper's death his widow, Lucy McColl Roper was married to Philip Guston Alston as his second wife, and it was on her farm that he was living when these letters were written. In addition to the Roper children, Alston mentions his wife's sister, Elizabeth (Lizzie) McColl, and his own children, in particular Louis Watson Alston. The letters record Alston's work as an insurance agent in South Carolina and the physical problems he suffered with his throat. (11 items)

The papers of Daniel C. Roper, later Secretary of Commerce in the cabinet of Franklin D. Roosevelt, are deposited in the library of Duke University and should be consulted for information on the family life of the South Carolina group into which Alston married.

Letters to Philip Guston Alston from various family members, 1891-1915

Correspondents include Dr. Edgar Williams of Myrtle Lawn plantation, Fork Township, Warren County, N.C., in 1891; his grandson, Archibald Davis Williams, III, in 1905 and 1906; his daughter, Lucy Tunstall Williams in 1906; his daughter Ella Lee Thorne, undated and 1905; his granddaughter, Mary (Mamie) Lewis Williams, describing student life at the new East Carolina Teachers Training School at Greenville, N.C., and her first position as a teacher in the public school in Hookerton, N.C., in 1909, 1910, and 1914; his granddaughter, Crichton Alston Thorne, in 1912; his granddaughter, Lucy Alston Williams, 1915; his son, William Henry Alston, 1909; his daughter-in-law, Laura June (King) Alston, 1910 and 1912; his daughter-in-law, Rowena (Watson) Alston, wife of William Henry Alston, 1912; his daughter-in-law, Annie Branch Alston, 1915; and a letter to Lucy McColl Alston from Alston's granddaughter, Jane (Jennie) Crichton Williams, 1905. (19 items)

Miscellaneous business papers of Philip Guston Alston, 1859-1883

All of these items were found in Alston's wallet, one that he apparently used many years before his death. (31 items) Notable items include: 1 January 1867, a document settling executorship and guardianship of John Buxton Williams, who had served as executor of George W. Alston and as guardian for his two younger sons, William Henry Alston and George W Alston, Jr.; George W. Alston was father also of Philip Guston Alston; 20 May 1868, assumption of debt by William Henry Alston of Philip Guston Alston to Henry Blount Hunter as guardian of the children of Charles Kennedy; 1 January 1869, "Agreement of Labor" form made out in the name of Philip Guston Alston but left blank. One of the provisions of the form requiring the landowner-employer to "encourage the establishment of schools" for the children of his employees was stricken out.

Letters and Notes of Philip (Pegie) Guston Alston, Jr. to his father, Philip Guston Alston, his mother, Jane (Crichton) Alston, and sister, Lucy Tunstall (Alston) Williams, 1884-1891

Letters deal with a young man's initial work experience away from home (at Palmyra, Halifax County, N.C.), his religious commitment, and his understanding of the stress generated by the death of his mother and the consequent need to make provisions for his younger sister, Ella Lee Alston, and younger brothers, Samuel Williams Alston and Louis Watson Alston. (10 items.)

Letters and postcards of William Henry Alston to his father, Philip Guston Alston, his sister, Lucy Tunstall Williams, and his uncle, William Henry Alston, 1897-1904

Letters and cards were written from Henderson, N.C. (1897); London, Dresden, and Cavalla (Turkey) (1901); Constantinople (1903); and Dresden (1904). The letters from Cavalla are of interest because they describe Turkish customs and go into detail as to how tobacco was processed and marketed there. Alston had gone abroad as an employee of one of the major tobacco manufacturers. (15 items)

Letters of Hugh Randolph Crichton to various family members and two miscellaneous items, circa 1863-1864 and undated

Includes a clipping from a Petersburg, Va., newspaper dated 25 December 1864 reporting Crichton's imprisonment at Fort Delaware and a typed extract from a memorial address on Crichton by Judge Saffold Berney, Mobile, Ala., 6 December 1909. The letters are addressed to the writer's sister, Jane (Crichton) Alston, his brother-in-law, Philip Guston Alston, his mother, Lucy Henry (Tunstall) Crichton, his nephew, George Warren Alston, and his nephew, Hugh Crichton Alston. Includes a letter to Jane from camp on the Rapidan River, twelve miles from Gordonsville, Va., reporting on skirmishes there, 9 February 1863; an undated letter from Crichton to his mother, Mrs. Hugh Crichton, that is almost illegible; a letter from Hugh Randolph Crichton near Petersburg to Jane, 11 August 1864; a letter from Crichton to Captain and Mrs. Philip Guston Alston (his sister, Jane) "on skirmish" near Petersburg, 28 August 1864. (14 items)

Letters of Jane (Jennie) Crichton Williams to various family members, 1903-1924

Correspondents include her mother, Lucy Tunstall (Alston) Williams; her grandfather, Philip Guston Alston; her aunt, Ella (Nettie) Lee (Alston) Thorne; her step-grandmother, Lucy (McColl) Roper; her sister, Mary (Mamie) Lewis Williams; her sister, Lucy Alston Williams; her son, Henry Wilkins Lewis; and her cousin, Crichton Alston Thorne. The letters were written from Cherry Hill plantation, 1903; Linwood farm near Centerville, Franklin County, N.C., 1904-1907; Warrenton, N.C., where the writer was attending Graham School, 1908; Townsville, Vance County, N.C., where the writer held her first position as a school teacher, 1913; Washington, D.C., where the writer was on her honeymoon, 1915; and from Jackson, N.C., where she lived after her marriage, 1915-1924. This folder also contains letters from two of her children, Henry Wilkins Lewis and Philip Alston Lewis, to their grandmother, Lucy Tunstall (Alston) Williams, and to their aunt, Lucy Alston Williams. (69 items)

Letters of Hartwell Hodges (Hodgie) Williams of Pikesville, Md., to her brother, Archibald Davis Williams, Jr., and her sister-in-law Lucy Tunstall (Alston) Williams at the time of their wedding, 1890 (2 items)

Letters of Ella Lee Alston written from Littleton, N.C., to her sister Lucy Tunstall (Alston Williams), summer 1900.

A letter (unsigned), dated Brinkleyville, N.C., 25 January 1891, apparently to Jane (Crichton) Alston, her mother, and a letter from the writer's daughter, Crichton Alston Thorne to Archibald Davis Williams, III, are also included in this folder. (4 items)

Miscellaneous items of Jane (Jennie) Crichton Williams, 1910-1912 and undated

The first is a poem entitled "Centerville" in which the writer attempts to describe the Franklin County, N.C., near which she lived with her family. The second is the program of Music Recital in which the subject was a participant at East Carolina Teachers Training School, Greenville, N.C., 20 December 1910. The third is a letter from the subject postmarked Greenville, N.C., 9 January 1912, to her mother, Lucy Tunstall (Alston) Williams and her aunt, Ella Lee (Alston) Thorne, who were then living in Warrenton, N.C.; this letter describes in detail the writer's visit to the Tarboro, N.C., home of Edwin Cherry, one of her suitors. (3 items)

Letters of Lucy Tunstall Alston to various family members, 1890-1923, 1981, and undated

Correspondents include her mother, Jane Elizabeth (Crichton) Alston, undated written in 1890-1891; her father, Philip Guston Alston, while he was a resident of Marlboro County, S.C., 1904 and 1918; her brother, Philip Guston Alston, Jr., 4 April 1905; her cousin, Lucy Tunstall Crichton in Mobile, Ala., 17 September 1923, with a typed commentary written by the writer's grandson, Henry Wilkins Lewis, 13 September 1981; and her husband, Archibald Davis Williams, Jr. (52 items)

Letters to Lucy Tunstall Alston from various family members, 1879-1921 and undated

Correspondents include her niece, Marion Frances Alston, from Tarboro, N.C.; her brother, Philip Guston Alston, Jr.; her cousin, Lucy Tunstall Crichton (sometimes referred to as her "aunt"); her cousin, Della Pope Hunter from Louisburg, N.C.; her cousin, Mary T. King, from Louisburg, N.C.; J. W. Jenkins, a Methodist minister asked to perform her marriage ceremony; her sister-in-law, Charlotte Niven McKinney from Binghamton, N.Y., and Morganton, N.C.; her sister-in-law, Hartwell Hodges (Hodgie) Williams, from Baltimore, Md.; her granddaughter, Jane Crichton Lewis, from Jackson, N.C.; her grandson, Philip Alston Lewis, from Jackson, N.C.; her cousin, James H. Dent from Franklinton, N.C.; her sister-in-law, Eloise (Ella) Williams from Baltimore, Md.; her sister-in-law, Rowena Watson, from White Plains and Bronxville, N.Y.; her cousin, Sallie Crichton Watson, from near Ridgeway, N.C.; her son, Archibald Davis Williams, III, from New York, N.Y.; her cousin, Buxton Barker Williams, a lawyer in Warrenton, N.C.; her husband's sister-in-law, Mamie Ridley Watson, from Spring Hope, N.C.; and her daughter, Mary (Mamie) Lewis Williams, from Goldsboro, N.C. A substantial number of the letters are concerned with family events of importance: the death of her mother, Jane (Crichton) Alston, in December 1891; her marriage to Archibald (Baldie) Davis Williams, Jr. in July 1890; and the births of three children to William Henry and Rowena (Onie) (Watson) Alston: William Henry Alston, Jr. (1915), William Watson Alston (1916), and Philip Guston Alston (1921). This folder also contains a portion of a letter from Mary (Mamie) Lewis Watson, her cousin. (29 items)

Letters of Marina Priscilla Alston to Lucy Tunstall (Alston) Williams, 1890-1892 and undated

The writer, niece of Philip Guston Alston, had married a brother of Archibald (Baldie) Davis Williams, Jr., husband of the addressee. The letters were written from Epsom in Vance County, N.C.; Cherry Hill plantation in Fork Township, Warren County, N.C.; and Battleboro in Edgecombe County, N.C. (6 items)

Letters to Mary (Mamie) Lewis Williams and miscellaneous items that she collected, 1933-1978

Correspondents include: Frances Buckner Kemper, wife of her cousin, from Izmir, Turkey; Jane Alden (Durfee) Alston and her husband, Philip Guston Alston, her cousin, from Bronxville, N.Y.; Lucy Alston Williams, her sister; Louis Watson Alston, her uncle, from Binghamton, N.Y., and Baltimore, Md.; Mary Niven Alston, her cousin from New York, N.Y.; Matilda Alston, her cousin, from Greenwich, Conn.; William Henry Alston, her uncle, from Bronxville, N.Y.; Henry Wilkins Lewis, her nephew, from Cambridge, Mass., and Camp Beauregard, La.; Philip Alston Lewis, her nephew, from the United States Navy; George A. Manderioli, President of the Salesman Club of the Austin Nichols Co., N.Y.; Fairfax (Polk) Mitchell and her husband John G. Mitchell, from Jacksonville, Fla.; Mary Dancy Battle from Butner, N.C.; Dr. Claiborne Thweatt Smith, Jr., from Butner, N.C. and Rebecca Drane from Edenton, N.C. Miscellaneous items in the folder include: John Philip Sousa Band Concert Program, Raleigh, N.C., 4 March 1924; Mary Lewis Williams' confirmation certificate from Chapel of Christ Church, Raleigh, N.C., 23 November 1942; a humorous poem, "Attention, First Aiders," undated and unsigned but from the period of World War II; a poem, "As It Looks to Me," copied by Margaret (Peggy) Gill; two "sent-off" poems, "Memo to Mamie-O" and "Tune: Silver Threads Among the Gold," from employees of the Citizens Bank, Warrenton, N.C., at the time Mamie Williams was leaving for a European vacation; Cathedral Columns, a leaflet published in December 1958, by the Cathedral of the Incarnation, Baltimore, Md., picturing and describing the great Resurrection Window given to that church by Louis Watson Alston in memory of his wife, Charlotte Nevin (McKinney) Alston; ">In Memoriam, Louis Watson Alston, 28 June 1884-18 January 1960," a typed copy of a memorial written by Edward W. Phifer, M.D., Morganton, N.C., 1960; a 1967 Christmas card from her nephew Henry Wilkins Lewis; program of a chamber recital, 14 November 1970, Morganton, N.C., by Mary Niven Alston, Soprano, her cousin, and others; program from St. John's Episcopal Church, Williamsboro, N.C., 11 October 1970; map of Williamsboro Area for Colonial Dames visit, 21 October 1970; program booklet of the Granville-Warren Committee of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of North Carolina, 1967-1969; an article by Robert B. House entitled "The Poetry of Our Lives" from The Chapel Hill Weekly, 18 July 1971; "A Song of Seven Sisters" by Williams' nephew, Henry Wilkins Lewis for Christmas, 1977; "A Thorn(e)y Fault Corrected" by Henry Wilkins Lewis sent to Williams early in 1978; and a leaflet from the Church of the Resurrection, New York City, with a picture of the McManis organ given as a memorial to Charlotte Niven (McKinney) Alston and Louis Watson Alston by their daughter Mary Niven Alston, together with a description of the instrument and program recital by David Hewlett, 13 January 1963. (65 items)

Letters to Lucy Tunstall Crichton Sneveley, 1923-1955

Correspondence consists of letters from: Mary (Mamie) Lewis Watson Burwell (Warrenton, N.C.) to Lucy Tunstall Crichton Sneveley (Mobile, Ala.), 9 January 1923; Fred A. Olds (Raleigh, N.C.) to same, 21 July 1926; Ivey Watson (Enfield, N.C.), 14 September 1942; 4 April 1947; 21 June 1949; Whit Morris (San Antonio, Tex.) to same, 12 August 1949; S. Porter Myers (Richmond, Va.) to same, 20 June 1951; and Sallie Davis Daniel (Santa Fe, N.M.) to same, 16 May 1955. (8 items)

Birth announcements, wedding invitations, and graduation invitations, circa 1908-1970 (22 items)

Miscellaneous letters, 1827-1937

Correspondence includes: Eliza P. Johnston to her daughter Mary (Polly) Hardee Alston written from Warren County, N.C., and addressed to Hayes, near Edenton, Chowan County, N.C., 29 February 1827, containing a graphic description of the economic distresses that impelled so many from that area to migrate to the south and west; Temperance Boddie Williams to her sister, Marina Priscilla Alston upon the birth of her first child, Philip Guston Alston, from near the Jones plantation near Bolivar, Tenn., to Alston at the post office address of their recently-widowed mother, Elizabeth Kinchen Williams, Reuben Town (now Centerville), Franklin County, N.C., 3 August 1839, also discussing the relative prosperity that she and her Connecticut-born husband had found "beyond the mountains" after his brilliant and versatile career in North Carolina; Robert Lewis Williams to his sister, Hartwell Hodges Williams written from Brownsville, N.C., while he was in school, and refers to the local reaction to Abraham Lincoln's election, 12 November 1860; Robert L. Williams again to his sister Hartwell (Hodgie) as a lieutenant in the Confederate Army from camp near Taylorsville, Va., 3 May 1864; Nathaniel Richard Tunstall to his father George Tunstall from General Hospital, Petersburg, Va., with an appended note to his daughter, probably Mary (Polly) F. Tunstall, 15 June 1864; Mary (Polly) F. Tunstall to her aunt Jane Elizabeth Crichton lamenting the death of her brother George Dudley Tunstall and concern for her remaining brothers, Nathaniel Richard and Landon Clanton Tunstall, and her uncle, Hugh Randolph Crichton, 30 November 1864; Sarah (Tunstall) Block in Pass Christian, Miss., to her cousin, Molly (Mary L. T. King?) in Louisburg, N.C., 2 December 1891; Samuel Williams Alston to his sister, Lucy Tunstall (Alston) Williams from Texarkana, Ark., where he had just begun work, 22 August 1900; Mary (Mamie) Lewis Williams to Delle (Roper) McColl, step-daughter of the writer's grandfather, Philip Guston Alston, 18 July 1907; Lucy Alston Williams in Warrenton, N.C., to Mrs. Pleasants, a former neighbor near Centerville, N.C., 1912; S. H. Vance to Samuel Williams Alston, 12 December 1936; and P. F. Cleaver to F. E. Wilson in regard to Samuel Williams Alston who had recently died, 31 March 1937. (12 items)

Miscellaneous items, 1892, 1910, and undated

Items consist of: a handwritten copy of a poem, "Oh Did I Love Three Less!" to Pattie Tunstall (Martha Frances?); partial draft of a Memorial to John Graham, Jr. (1874-1892), who died in Ridgeway, N.C., 8 June 1892; an unsigned postcard addressed to Jennie C. Williams, East Carolina Teachers Training School, Greenville, N.C., with a hand-lettered copy of the toast to "The Old North State"; and an undated postcard with a picture of the town of Alston in England from Jane Crichton Alston to her father, William Henry Alston. (4 items)

School records, 1874-1909

Includes a report on Philip Guston Alston, Jr., by John Graham while at the Fork Institute, Warren County, N.C., 1 April 1874; John Graham's bill to Philip Guston Alston for tuition (George Warren Alston's?) for 1878 and 1879; "Cards of Approbation" awarded to Lucy Tunstall Alston from Miss Lucy Hawkins' School, Warrenton, N.C., 1879 and 1882, and to Hugh Crichton Alston, 1880; a report on Hugh Crichton Alston by Manuel Fetter from the Warrenton (N.C.) High School, 2 June 1884; report on Louis Watson Alston's first (1897) and fourth quarter (1898) by Graham and Watkins, principal of the Warrenton High School; report on Jane Crichton Williams' first quarter (1908-1909) by John Graham, principal of the Warrenton High School. (10 items)

Genealogical records, 1922-1963 and undated

Includes a notebook kept by Lucy Tunstall (Alston) Williams containing data concerning the Alston, Barker, Crichton, Savage, Shaw, Tunstall, Williams, and Lewis families; worksheets for Colonial Dames ancestry of Grace Jackson Alston; typed copy of the will of Thomas Barker, 1786; Bennett ancestry of Temperance Boddie Williams, written by Rie Alston Williams; inscriptions from the Davis family cemetery at Columbia Farm, Franklin County, N.C.; Gloster family Bible records, 1763-1828; memorandum regarding Colonel Philemon Hawkins (1752-1833) and Colonel Benjamin Hawkins (1754-1816); Hilliard ancestry of Elizabeth Hilliard, wife of Archibald Davis; typed copy of the will of Hartwell (Hodges) Davis-Drake, 1796; typed list of the children of William Kinchen Kearney; essay on Thomas Barker, 1960; list of ancestors of Mary Lewis Williams qualifying for Colonial Dames, Daughters of the American Revolution, etc.; final papers for Daughters of the American Revolution of Mary (Mamie) Lewis Williams; and miscellaneous coats-of-arms. (19 items)

Pamphlets and other printed materials, 1809, 1923-1972, and undated

Consists of three copies of "The Power and Excellence of Religion, Exemplified in the Happy Conversion and Triumphant Death of Miss Ruina J. Williams" by Joel Rivers published for the Tract Society of the methodist Episcopal Church, New York, 1809, with a silhouette of Ruina Williams; an Address at Presentation of the Portrait of Judge Walter A. Montgomery to the Supreme Court of North Carolina by T. T. Hicks, 1923; "In Memory of Lucy Williams Perry" by William Willis Boddie, 1925; "The Attitude of the Church Towards Dissection before 1500" by Mary Niven Alston for the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, Vol. XVI, No. 3, October, 1944; announcement of the publication of Marian Niven (Alston), The Altar and the Crown, The University Press, Sewanee, Tennessee, 1972; "An Easter Card-Letter" by Tasker Polk, undated; "Warren County" by Fred A. Olds, undated; and a list of the North Carolina Historical Highway Markers in Warren County compiled with additional information by Warren County Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, undated. (8 items)

Album of Jane Elizabeth Crichton (Mrs. Philip Guston Alston) while a student at Louisburg College, Louisburg, N.C., circa 1858

Autograph album of Philip Guston Alston while a student at the University of North Carolina, 1855-1857

Autograph album of Lucy Tunstall Alston (Mrs. Archibald Davis Williams, Jr.), circa 1886-1890