Restrictions to Access

Folders 199-211 of the Addition of August 2005 (Acc. 100170) are CLOSED until 2030.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

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 Auman Family Papers #4401, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Typed transcriptions of Civil War letters in folder 13 available.

Provenance

Received from William Thomas Auman in 1984, 1985, 2004, and 2005 (Acc.84157, 84173, 85091, 85115, 99710, 99763, 100169, 100170, 100963); from Martha K. Prevost of Carthage, N.C., in July 1985 (Acc. 85115); from Graham Auman of Raleigh, N.C., and Catherine Auman DeMaere of Chapel Hill, N.C., in 2001, 2005, 2007, and 2010 (Acc. 99136, 100062, 100587, 101334, 102706); from Michael Hinshaw in June 2005 (Acc. 100095); from Anne Auman Brown in 2013 and 2014 (Acc. 103603, 103604); and from Laura Auman Pitts in 2013, 2015, and 2019 (Acc. 101840, 102231, 103549).

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.

Arrangement of the 2001 and 2004 additions are according to the arrangement of the original deposit. Series designations follow the original series, and new series have been added where necessary. To accommodate the addition to Series 9, Series 9 of the original deposit has been redesignated Subseries 9.1.

Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

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.

• Agriculture--North Carolina.
• Asheville (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Auman family.
• Basketball for women--North Carolina.
• Basketball--North Carolina.
• Basketball--Photographs.
• Candler (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Confederate States of America--Social conditions.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.
• Crisp family.
• Currie family.
• Diaries.
• Distilleries--United States.
• Education--North Carolina.
• Education--Photographs.
• Elon College (N.C.)--Students--Social life and customs.
• Families--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Fields family.
• Graham family.
• High schools--North Carolina.
• Hillsborough (N.C.)--History.
• Love-letters--North Carolina.
• Military sports--United States.
• Moore County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Randolph County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Scrapbooks.
• Soldiers--United States--Correspondence.
• Sports--North Carolina.
• United States. Army--Military life--History.
• West End Woman's Club (Moore County, N.C.)
• Why Not Academy (Randolph County, N.C.)
• Women teachers--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Women--Education--North Carolina.
• Women--North Carolina--Societies and clubs.
• World War, 1914-1918--Panama.
• World War, 1914-1918--Photographs.
• World War, 1939-1945--Photographs.
• World War, 1939-1945--United States.

The Auman family papers pertain to several generations of the Auman family (and the related Luck, Slack, Graham, and Currie families) who lived in Randolph and Moore counties, N.C. They are descendants of German immigrants who lived in Pennsylvania and Maryland for two generations before migrating to North Carolina in the late 18th century. (See The Genealogy of the Andrew Auman Family for the early history of the Auman family.)

Most of the material received in 1988 centers around five people: Braxton Auman, Mary Auman, Frank Auman, Howard Auman, and Joseph Auman. Braxton Auman (1860-1908), the son of Franklin Auman (1826-1911), was born and raised at Auman's Crossroads in south-central Randolph County, N.C. Braxton never married. He spent most of his adult life in the distilling business in Hamlet (Richmond County) and Star (Montgomery County). Frank Auman (1883-1941) was a half-brother to Braxton. He attended Trinity Park High School (Durham) and Guilford College. In 1912, he moved from Auman's Crossroads to Seagrove, where he owned and operated the Seagrove Lumber Company until his death in 1941. His son, Howard Frank Auman (1911- ), was graduated from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1933 and spent most of his life as a farmer (until about 1956) and businessman, mostly in Randolph County. In 1938, he married Lucile Crisp (1916-1991), of Candler, N.C. Mary Auman (1912-1949) was the sister of Howard Frank Auman. She attended Elon College and was graduated from Woman's College in Greensboro about 1933. When she died in Asheboro in 1949, she was the wife of Howard Sprague (originally from Dallas, Tex.) and the mother of one child, Frank. Joseph Aumann, (of no known direct relation to the other Aumans in this collection) served as a major in the German Army during World War I. His research on the origins of the Aumann family in Germany is included in this collection because it throws light on the Aumann family before any member migrated across the Atlantic to North America.

The addition of November 2001 chiefly pertains to Jason Auman of Moore County, N.C., and to the family of Lillie Graham and Claude Auman of West End, N.C. Jason Auman (d. 1923) was the bother of Braxton Auman and Frank Auman. He had eleven children, including Claude Auman. Several of Claude's siblings also appear in the collection, including Maud Auman; Darius Auman and his wife, Cornelia Auman; and Connie Auman Miller and her husband, Paul Miller. When Jason Auman died in 1923, Claude became the administrator of his estate.

Claude Auman (1878-1939) married Lillie Catherine Graham (1882-1969), the daughter of John McGregor Graham (1846-1908) and Laura Currie Graham (1858-1932) of Jackson Springs, N.C. Laura Currie Graham was the daughter of Marion E. Currie and James L. Currie, a Confederate veteran. John McGregor Graham was a farmer and pioneer of the turpentine industry. The Grahams had ten children: Emma Jane Graham, Lillie Catherine Graham, Annie Maude Graham, Neil Archibald Graham, Tonie Bright Graham, Lizzie Agnes Graham, Lottie Blanche Graham, Lonnie Thompson Graham, Clara Pearl Graham, and William Edgar Graham. Before marrying Claude Auman, Lillie attended the Union Home School and then Flora McDonald College in Red Springs, N.C. Her brothers Lonnie and Edgar served in World War I.

Lillie and Claude Auman operated a farm and peach orchard in West End, N.C. They had ten children: Thelma Auman Brewer (1904-1992), Marion Treva Auman (1906-1994), Toffie Clyde Auman (1909-), Donald Glenn Auman (1911-1985), Jason McGregor (Mack) Auman1913- ), Tressie Auman (1914- ), Loyd Auman (1916-1994),Franklin Earl Auman (1919- ), Howard Claude Auman (1921- ),and Raymond Currie Auman (1923- ).

All of the children attended school in North Carolina, and many of them became teachers. Treva and Thelma attended Flora McDonald College in 1925 and 1926. Treva later attended Appalachian State University. In the late-1920s, she taught in Moores Springs, N.C., where she lived with the Bradshaw family. Glenn, a graduate of Elon College, taught in Hillsboro, N.C. After graduating from North Carolina State College in Raleigh (later North Carolina State University), Loyd taught agriculture at Seventy-First High School in Cumberland County. Tressie was a teacher at the Wesley Chapel School in Monroe. During the early 1940s, Earl studied at North Carolina State College and Howard and Raymond attended Campbell College in the early 1940s.

World War II interrupted the lives of the Auman family shortly thereafter. Clyde, who began operating a peach farm in the early 1930s, remained at home, as did Treva. Tressie was a teacher in Broadway and Gibsonville, N.C., during the 1940s.

Five of the Auman sons served in World War II. Howard left Campbell College in 1942 and applied for military service. He joined the Army and began basic training in Miami Beach, Fla. He spent time in 1943 and 1944 at a base in Wilmington, N.C., where he worked as a guard and played successfully on military baseball, basketball, and football teams. In the spring of 1945, Howard was sent to the Pacific. He served in the Philippines and Okinawa, and remained overseas until 1946. Both Earl and Loyd served in the Air Corps. Earl trained in San Antonio, Tex., in 1942, before attending aviation cadet training in Miami Beach. Classified as a pilot in 1943, he was sent to Yuma Air Field in Arizona. He attended radio and gunnery school in 1944, and was sent in 1945 to England. He participated in flying missions there until his discharge in the fall of 1945. Loyd attended officer training in Boca Raton, Fla., where he played on military softball and basketball teams. In 1943, he was transferred to Greenwood, Miss., where he taught air corps training classes. Loyd was discharged in 1945, but continued to teach in the service until the end of the war. Glenn joined the Navy in 1943, and by the end of that year was at the Amphibious Training Base in Norfolk, Va. He taught in Norfolk until he was discharged in November 1945. Raymond, the youngest of the Auman sons, joined the Army in August 1944 and was sent to basic training at Camp Claiborne, La. He was sent to the Pacific in the early spring of 1945, and remained until the spring of 1946. He was in the Philippines and Okinawa, and in Osaka and Nagoya in Japan.

The Auman brothers returned to their wives and families in North Carolina after the war, and all members of the family were active in school, civic, and church affairs. Clyde continued to run the peach business and was a member of the North Carolina General Assembly from Moore County. Glenn taught in Orange County for more than thirty years. He also served as head football and basketball coach of Hillsboro High School. Mack became the executive vice president of Sanford Furniture Company in Sanford, N.C., and an elder in the First Presbyterian Church. He later became a life insurance representative. Loyd returned to Seventy-First High School and served as principal for more than thirty years. For more than thirty-five years, Earl was the postmaster in West End. Howard played for baseball for several years after the war. He attended spring training with the Chicago Cubs in California, and played on teams in Shreveport, La., and in the Texas League. He ended his baseball career in 1952 because of an injured arm, and then ran a grocery store in Fayetteville, N.C. Treva taught in Moore County schools for forty-five years, and retired in the early 1970s. Tressie taught first grade in West End for forty years, retiring in 1977. Both women were active in community affairs and organizations, particularly with the Presbyterian Church and the West End Woman's Club. The children of Claude and Lillie Graham Auman had many children and grandchildren. They are listed in The Genealogy of the Andrew Auman Family.

The addition of June 2005 primarily relates to Sarah Anne Auman Fields. Sarah Anne Fields (1870-1948), daughter of Franklin (1826-1911) and Sarah (nee Lucas, 1827-1877) Auman, farmers and whiskey distillers, was born and raised on a farm in the Auman's Crossroads community in south-central Randolph County, N.C. In 1891, she attended the Asheboro Academy, a private secondary school in Asheboro, N.C. About two years later, she married John Wesley Fields (1869-1953), farmer of Pleasant Garden, N.C., where she lived the remainder of her life. Sarah and Charles Fields had six children: May (1896-1955), Worth (1899-1981), Hal (1902-1978), Lee (1905-1986), Paige (1908-2003), and Blanche (1911-2000). Most of the letters in the collection are from Sarah's brothers Braxton Auman (1860-1908), owner of a chair factory, whisky distillery, and roller mill in Star, Montgomery County, N.C.; Elijah Auman (1865-1927), owner of a whiskey and brandy distillery and general store in McFarlan, Anson County, N.C.; Jasper Auman (1852-1933), owner of a general store in Seagrove, Randolph County, N.C.; Rufus Auman (1867-1946), owner of a farm in Star; Lebbeus Auman (1885-1949), United States Army sergeant living in Langley Field, Va.; and her sisters-in-law Mattie Auman (nee Luck) (1888-1963), wife of Frank Auman, owner of a general store and a lumber company in Seagrove, and Bertha Auman (nee Luck) (1890-1970), wife of Lebbeus Auman. Note that brother Frank and Lebbeus Auman were married to sisters Mattie and Bertha Luck, who were daughters of Charlie (1861-1932) and Mary (nee Allred) (d. 1912) Luck, farmers living in the White House community in south-central Randolph County. Mattie Auman was a 1908 graduate of Why Not Academy, a private secondary school located in southern Randolph County. Between 1903 and 1905, Frank Auman attended Trinity Park School in Durham and Guilford College near Greensboro for his secondary education. Lebbeus Auman attended a private military academy (ca 1903) for his secondary education. In 1912, he attended a school in Chillicothe, Mo., where he studied typewriting and telegraphy for several months. Lebbeus was assigned to an Army base in the Panama Canal Zone in 1916. He spent the rest of his military career in Virginia at Camp Eustis and Langley Field.

Other letters are from Gertrude Fields and Ann Reynolds, sisters of Sarah's husband, Charles W. Fields; Worth, Lee, and Mae Fields, Sarah's children; and relatives living in Jackson Springs, Clark's Mills, and West End, all located in Moore County, including Dora (1877-1951), Reid (1903-1980), Treva (1906-1994), Tressie (1914-1999), and Thelma (1904-1992) Auman, and Lalan May Patterson (1902-1991). Treva, Tressie, and Thelma Auman were children of Claude (1878-1939) and Lillie (nee Graham) (1882-1969) Auman, farmers living in West End; grandnieces of Sarah Fields; grandchildren of Jason (1850-1923) and Sarah (nee Burroughs) Auman of Jackson Springs; and great grandchildren of Franklin and Sarah Auman of Auman's Crossroads. Treva and Thelma attended Flora McDonald College in Laurinburg, N.C., and each taught over 40 years in the public schools, mostly in Moore County. Reid and Dora Auman were children of Jason and Sarah Auman of Jackson Springs. In 1894, Dora Auman married John Edward Patterson (1860-1931) of Jackson Springs. They had seven children, including Lalan May Patterson. Reid Auman capped a long career in public education as principal of Lowes Grove School in Durham County, N.C. Gertrude Fields was a public school teacher in Guilford County, N.C. Annie Reynolds was a housewife and mother living in Ramseur, Randolph County, N.C. In November 1918, Worth Fields was stationed at a United States Army post located on the campus of the University of North Carolina awaiting his discharge orders. He later worked for the United States Postal Service. Mae Fields, a graduate of the North Carolina College for Women in Greensboro, became a public school teacher.

The original deposit of materials includes letters, a diary, deeds, family photographs, genealogical information, and other material pertaining to the white Auman family in southern Randolph County, N.C., from the early 19th to the mid-20th century. Included are love-letters from Braxton Auman (1860-1908) to Agnes Graves; material about the Why Not Academy in Randolph County; many deeds to lands acquired by members of the Auman family; a diary, 1928-1930, of high school and Elon College student Mary Elizabeth Auman; and materials relating to Howard Auman (1911- ) and Frank Auman (1883-1941).

The November 2001 addition contains correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, financial and legal papers, and other material relating to Jason Auman of Moore County, N.C.; the Auman family of West End, N.C.; and the Graham and Currie families of Jackson Springs, N.C., during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Many items relate to Lillie Graham Auman (1882-1969) and Claude Auman (1878-1939), who operated a farm and peach orchards, and their ten children. Topics include the Civil War experiences of family members, education in North Carolina, domestic and social activities, and news of the Auman family and its peach business. World War II letters describe military training, military service, and military sports leagues as well as civilian life in the United States in the early 1940s. Photographs depict members of the Currie, Graham, and Auman families; basketball; education; and World War II. Scrapbooks contain family mementos and newspaper clippings about several Auman family generations. Scrapbooks also include materials relating to education, sports, community and church news, and the family's peach business. Other materials include financial and legal, school, and genealogical documents pertaining to the Auman family and to Jason Auman. Scrapbooks and photographs of the West End Woman's Club in Moore County, N.C., are also included.

The February 2004 addition contains a diary, scrapbook, and autograph books relating to experiences of Lucile Crisp (1916-1991) while she attended high school in Candler, N.C. The April 2004 addition contains a compact disc with digital images (jpg) of Lucile Crisp volumes, and of other Crisp family members, chiefly John B. Crisp (1920-1942), an Army Air Corps airman on a B-24 during World War II.

The April 2005 addition consists of scrapbooks, 1964, of Catherine Graham Auman at Governor's School and Vicky Auman, studying with Seminars Abroad; family planners, 1960-1998; Bryan-Monroe business letters, 1946; letters to Vicky Auman, 1957-1966, from adolescent and teenage girls; yearbooks and conference programs for the Durham-Orange Home Economics Association, 1950s-60s; teaching materials, 1930s-1950s; travel materials, 1970s-1980s, including diaries, itineraries, printed materials; financial and legal, 1940s; a biology sketch book by Vicky Auman, 1963; a scrapbook by Glenn Auman with newspaper clippings of poems and reflections; and miscellaneous other papers, 1960s-1970s.

The June 2005 addition includes routine family correspondence; family photographs; deeds; business records, including some relating to a whiskey distillery; estate records, and other materials from the late 19th to the early 20th centuries primarily relating to Sarah Anne Auman Fields and members of the Auman and Fields families. Some materials relate to service in the Panama Canal Zone during World War I.

The August 2005 addition consists of a World War II-era scrapbook of John B. Crisp, containing posthumous materials and an issue his high school newspaper, and two boxes of correspondence, 1957-1977, relating to the life of William Thomas Auman (CLOSED until 2030).

The October 2005 addition consists of transcripts for the Lucille Crisp diary, 1934; the Mary Elizabeth Auman diary, 1928-1930; and the Sarah Ann Auman Fields correspondence, 1881-1932.

The February 2007 addition consists of materials relating Henriette Auman's work as an teacher at Hillsboro High School in Hillsborough, N.C., in the 1950s and 1960s, including girls basketball scorebooks, communications of the North Carolina Congress of Parents and Teachers, and school publications. Also included are Hillsborough Garden Club yearbooks, 1988-2002.

The August 2010 addition includes correspondence, 1942-1977, that consists chiefly of letters to Glenn Auman. Of note are letters from family serving in the military during World War II; a 1959 letter from Ken Rosemond about lessons learned from playing basketball; and a letter from Henrietta C. Auman, a teacher, to the state superintendent of schools about class size. Also included are printed ephemera for Boy Scouts, the Hillsboro Flower Show, and a sports banquet; printed guides to teaching basketball technique; hand-drawn diagrams of basketball plays; and "An Indian Lullaby" and "The Indians' Twenty-Third Psalm," poems copied in a child's hand.

The September 2010 addition consists of day books and accounting ledgers of W.D. Graham, 1880s; Glenn Auman's grade books from Hillsboro High School, 1930s; a notebook with handwritten notes from educational courses taken in 1955 on family financial planning, parenting, and child development; correspondence; West End School newsletters, 1939, and other printed materials for local organizations and events; a funeral home fan; and miscellaneous other papers.

The July 2013 addition consists primarily of papers relating to the professional and political work of Toffie Clyde Auman (1909?-2000). He served in North Carolina Legislature from 1965 to 1979 and again in 1983, and ran unsuccessfully in the late 1980s. He also served on the board of the Sandhills Center for Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse Services. The addition includes correspondence and other papers relating to legislative work; an appointment book 1975; letters from students in schools in West End and Vass, N.C.; land development reports for Aberdeen, N.C.; printed materials of public and private organizations in North Carolina concerned with access to abortion, disability services, education, mental health services, and human rights.

The December 2013 addition consists chiefly of papers of William T. Auman, especially correspondence and email, 1960s-2002. There are also letters, scrapbooks, diaries, and school materials of other family members, including Frank Auman, Donna Crisp, Howard and Lucille Auman, Ann Auman, and others. Printed materials include funeral, church, school event programs, and family newspaper clippings. Also included are bank statements from the 1950s; postcard album, circa 1910; a Dixie Classic 1960 program; and Ash-Hi-Chat newspaper, 1958-1959; and family photographs.

The February 2014 addition consists of a copy of Civil War in the North Carolina Quaker Belt: The Confederate Campaign Against Peace Agitators, Deserters, and Draft Dodgers (2014) by William T. Auman and a family portrait.

The June 2015 addition includes correspondence relating to legislative work on liquor laws and other concerns, Council on Developmental Disabilities; family correspondence, 1860s-1900s (bulk 1895-1900); political correspondence and ephemera, 1930s, including national Democratic Party materials and a letter from Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1932; legal and financial, 1808-1950s, including Moore County, N.C., warrants for arrest for debt and various crimes reported including assault, "bastard child," and theft, bank statements; and newspaper clippings, 1932.

The February 2019 addition consists of Clyde Auman legislative materials, 1969-1970; a DeWitts 200 Year Calendar and Book of Horoscopes and Useful Information; and an Auman family portrait, circa 1890s-1910s.

• Pictures (PF-4401/1-23, IB-4401/3-4, OP-P-4401/1-4, OP-PF-4401/1-2)
• Digital (DCD-4401/1)
• Oversize paper (OPF-4401/1)
• Oversize volumes (SV-4401/3-23)