This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
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.
Size | 11.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 5000 items) |
Abstract | Elsie H. Booker (1923- ) of Durham County, N.C., is a white collector of antiques, artifacts, and papers of various families. Series 1 Markham, Leigh, and related families: Correspondence, business and legal papers, account books, genealogical information, pictures, and other materials of the Markham, Leigh, and other related families, chiefly of North Carolina. Markham family correspondence includes letters, 1873-1928, from William David Markham of Missouri, the Indian Territory, Texas, and New Mexico, containing information about crop and herd conditions, religion, business, and politics; and letters, 1880s-1900s, mostly from Wake County, N.C., and Bayboro, Ga., concerning Baptists, pregnancy, childbirth, education, deaths, and other matters. Also included are records relating to enslaved people; legal documents, 1867-1869, pertaining to the bankruptcy proceedings of Elizabeth C. Yancey of Chapel Hill and Durham, N.C.; post cards, 1907, picturing men hanged in Durham; scrapbooks of materials collected by Harold Cole Markham, while he was a high school student in Durham, N.C., and during his World War II tour of duty in the United States and Europe; photographs, collectors' cards, and prints, circa 1935-1945, relating to Adolf Hitler, the German military, and scenes in Europe during World War II; and ballads. Series 2 Durham and Lloyd families: Documents relating to the Lloyd and Durham families of Chapel Hill, N.C., include a teacher's application, 1900, for a position at a black public school, probably in Orange County, N.C.; an extensive series of love letters, 1941-1942, discussing dating, high school, and other topics of concern to teenagers; and a labor payroll schedule, 1947-1948, for state roadway construction work in Granville County, N.C. There are also twenty merchant's account books, 1884-1928, many of which probably belonged to W. A. Lloyd, and a diary, 1934-1938, documenting work on a roadway construction crew in piedmont and western North Carolina. Series 3. Abernathy, Blackwood, and other families: Items relating to the Abernathy, Blackwood, Moore, Peeler, Shepherd, Steele, and other unrelated families consist of private letters, business and legal materials, pictures, and other materials chiefly from North Carolina, with some items from Virginia and Pennsylvania. Correspondence covers such topics as family and social life, church meetings and religious revivals, farming and other work, elementary and higher education, military and home life during World War I, and the enjoyment of phonograph records and motion pictures. Also included are court documents, circa 1795, concerning a lawsuit involving the University of North Carolina; a Confederate parole record; and other items. Series 4. Pope, Hudson, and related families papers, 1884-1948: Chiefly private letters and scrapbooks of Elsie Hudson Booker and of other members of the Pope, Hudson, and related families of Durham, N.C. Of particular interest are 43 letters, 1914-1918, from Edna Pearl Pope to her future husband W. Curtis Hudson, discussing school, church, visiting, dating, movies, and other topics; more than 650 letters, 1938-1947, to Elsie Hudson from servicemen pen pals stationed in the European and Pacific theaters and stateside during World War II, including letters from Hudson's fiancee Marine Corps Pvt. Arnold Ellis of Durham, who was killed on Saipan Island in June 1944; and scrapbooks, 1939-1948, belonging to Elsie Hudson Booker, which contain letters, newspaper clippings, photographs, cards, souvenirs, and other miscellaneous items concerning her high school years, her undergraduate experience at the University of North Carolina, the death of her fiancee, and the birth of her son Curtis Booker. |
Creator | Booker, Elsie H., collector. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Patrick J. Huber and Timothy A. Long, with the assistance of Roslyn Holdzkom, June 1993, May 1994, October 1994, July 1998
Updated by: Laura Hart, May 2018 and November 2018; Nancy Kaiser and Biff Hollingsworth, November 2019; Nancy Kaiser, March 2021
Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008
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.
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.
The collection is comprised of papers of three related family groups--Markham/Leigh, Durham/Lloyd, and Pope/Hudson--and one group of unrelated families. The Markham/Leigh family and Durham/Lloyd family are distantly related by blood and marriage to Elsie Hudson Booker, the collector. The Pope/Hudson family is directly related to Elsie Booker. Her mother was Edna Pearl Pope and her father was W. Curtis Hudson. As best as can be determined the families under "Other Families" (see subseries 3.1.) are not related either to the Markham/Leigh, Durham/Lloyd, or Pope/Hudson families.
The Markham and Leigh families were related closely by geography, business associations, and marriage throughout the nineteenth century. For much of the period members of the families lived within several hundred yards of each other in a portion of southern Orange County, N.C. that became part of Durham County in 1881.
The Markham and Leigh families owned considerable lands, much of which was worked by slave labor prior to the Civil War. After the war they rented the fields and field dwellings to laborers--some of whom had been slaves on their plantations--for shares of harvested crops. Members of the Markham and Leigh families also participated in commercial, legal, educational, and other business enterprises.
Several generations of Markhams' papers are included in this collection. (The following summary of the Markham lineage traces only those people whose names are mentioned prominently in the collection.) Thomas Marcom, 1752-1839, was born in Virginia and moved to Orange County, N.C. with his father John Marcom, c. 1717-c. 1798, and the rest of his family. Thomas married Fannie Herndon in 1773, and together they had 14 children. He fought during the Revolutionary War and received a 500-acre land grant for his service.
Thomas and Fannie Herndon Marcom's eldest son Isaiah Marcom, 1776-1863, married Jane Stovall; they had at least nine children. Isaiah and Jane Stovall's eldest son Benjamin A. Marcom, 1803-1866, was born, raised, and lived most of his life in Orange County, N.C. Benjamin A. Marcom married Rhoda Pritchard, and their eldest son Felix., 1845-19??, was born and raised in Orange County, N.C., and became sheriff of Durham County, N.C., for twenty to thirty years in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Thomas and Fannie Herndon Marcom's daughter Polly married Henry Shepherd, the son of William Shepherd (1750-1821) and his wife Susannah. Henry died about 1816, leaving his wife Polly Marcom Shepherd and three minor children, Thomas, George, and Frances. Polly's brother Isaiah was appointed guardian of the children.
George M. Markham, 1819-1869, another son of Isaiah and Jane Stovall Marcom, was born in Orange County, N.C. and lived most of his life in Oglethorpe County, Ga. He married Mary E. Raiden, and they had seven children. Their second child George P. Markham lived much of his life in Memphis, Tenn., where he was a businessman.
Henry Stovall Markham, 1806-1893, also one of Isaiah and Jane Stovall Marcom's sons, was born and raised in Orange County, N.C., and lived most of his life in Orange and Durham Counties, N.C. Henry Stovall Markham operated a small plantation with slave labor prior to and during the Civil War and by sharecroppers after the war. He first married Margaret (Peggy) Carlton, and they had seven children, including Isaiah Pressley, Mary Hasseltine, George Dallas, and William David. Henry Stovall Markham later married Elizabeth C. Yancey, a prominent merchant and storekeeper of Chapel Hill and Durham, N.C. They had no children.
Isaiah Pressley, 1834-1862?, eldest son of Henry Stovall and Margaret Carlton Marcom, was born and raised in Orange County, N.C., and enlisted with the 6th N.C. Regiment in May 1861. Six months later he was released for "disability." He apparently re-enlisted a short time later and received wounds that proved fatal near Richmond during the "Seven Days Campaign." Prior to the war, he had married Elizabeth C. E. Norris; they had four children: George P., Theodore, Peyton (Pate), and Caldenna (Enna). George P. Markham married Ada (?), and they lived in Moore County, N.C. Pate Markham, 1859-1890, married Minnie (?), and they had at least two children, Zuba and Peyton. Enna Markham, fl. 1880-1908, married Alsey Thomas Olive. They lived most of the time at Olive's Chapel, Wake Co., N.C. and had six children: Lula, Walter, Bunn, Gordon, Rachel, and Nellie.
Mary Hasseltine (Tiney) Markham, 1840-1934, only surviving daughter of Henry Stovall and Margaret Carlton Marcom, was born, raised, and lived most of her life in Orange and Durham Counties, N.C. She never married.
George Dallas Markham, 1844-1922, son of Henry Stovall and Margaret Carlton Marcom, was born, raised, and lived most of his life in Orange and Durham Counties, N.C. He married Isabelle Johnson, and they had five children who survived to adulthood; including Numa Ralph, 1883-19??, who lived in Durham for most of his life and who married Bertha Cole. Their adopted son Harold Cole Markham, circa 1920-1992, was an X-ray technician with the U.S. 101st Airborne Division during World War II.
William David Markham (see subseries 1.1.1.), 1848-1928, was the youngest son of Henry Stovall and Margaret Carlton Marcom. A few years after the Civil War he moved to Missouri where he worked as a merchant. From the 1880s to the 1920s he lived in the Indian Territory, Arkansas, Texas, and New Mexico, where he was a teacher, merchant, and farmer. He married Josie (?), and they had at least six children who survived to adulthood.
The papers in this collection represent nine generations of the Leigh family of Orange and Durham counties, N.C. Sullivan Leigh (1777-1854), the son of John Leigh (1742-1824) and his first wife, Leah Bingham Leigh (17??-1787), was a planter in Orange County, N.C. He married Nancy Shepherd, daughter of William and Susannah Shepherd and sister of Henry Shepherd, in 1809. Following her death, he married her sister, Catherine Shepherd Clifton. He later married Mary Herndon Lambeth. He and Nancy Shepherd had at least five children, including Richard Stanford Leigh, 18??-18??. He first married Nancy Carlton, and they had 15 children. (Nancy Ann Carlton Leigh's sister Margaret (Peggy) married Henry Stovall Markham.) Nancy Carlton Leigh died in 1860.
In 1864, Stanford Leigh married Leathy Hudgins, with whom he had five children: Walter (1865-1867), Rose (1869-1943), Ida (1873-1943), Anna (1866-1943), and Kate (1870-1946). Anna Rebecca Leigh (1866-1943), daughter of Richard Stanford and Leathy Hudgins Leigh, was born and raised in Orange County, N.C. She received her education from a small boarding school located south of Chapel Hill, N.C., and later was a teacher. She married James William Markham, with whom she had six children.
Katie Frances Leigh and Henry Quinton Hudson had four children: Walter Curtis (1892-1988), who married Pearl Pope; Oliver Wendell (1895-1970), who married Cleora Quinn Boling; Nellie Edith (1897-1993), who married Dr. Brodie Banks McDade; and Stanford Leigh (1901-1971), who married Lillian Cole. Walter Curtis Hudson and Pearl Pope Hudson were the parents of Elsie Hudson Booker and grandparents of Curtis Richard Booker, the donors of these papers.
Series 2 contains the papers of the Durham-Lloyd families of Chapel Hill, N.C. Henry Lloyd was the father of Lizzie Durham and perhaps of W. A. Lloyd, although the latter familial relationship could not be established from the materials at hand. W. A. Lloyd (d. circa 1942) was a grocer and general merchandiser in Chapel Hill, N.C. Lizzie Durham, the wife of Demetrus Ward "Dee" Durham, was the mother of Demetrus "Dee," Jr., Bettie, Bruce, and William Thomas "Billy." Lizzie had rather extensive real estate holdings in Orange County, N.C.
Series 4 contains the papers of the Pope-Hudson families of Durham, N.C., and related families. The Pope and Hudson families are related through the marriage of W. Curtis Hudson and Edna Pearl Pope. Their daughter, Elsie Hudson Booker (1923- ), and grandson, Curtis Booker (1948- ), are the donors of this collection.
Frances Shepherd, granddaughter of Thomas and Fannie Herndon Marcom, married Erasmus Pope, the son of Josiah and Lucy Kennon Pope, in 1838. They were the parents of at least seven children, including Sidney M. Pope (1848-1935). Following Frances Shepherd Pope's death (circa 1863), Erasmus Pope married Frances's cousin, Jane Marcom (1819-1915), daughter of Isaiah Marcom. Jane Marcom Pope had no children.
Sidney M. Pope married Nannie C. Leigh (1850-1881). They had at least five children, including Charles Richard Erasmus Pope (1876-1957) who married Lenora Genevrette King (1873-1952). Charlie and Genevrette were the parents of two daughters--Pearl (1898-1976) and Ruby. Following the death of Nannie Pope, Sidney Pope married Rebecca McLennon, the half-sister of Genevrette King Pope. Sidney and Rebecca Pope were the parents of Anna, Nonie, and Vernon.
Pearl Pope, daughter of Anna Pope, married Walter Curtis Hudson, son of Henry Quentin Hudson and Katie Frances Leigh Hudson, in 1918. Pearl and Curtis Hudson's only child, Elsie Hudson, was born in 1923. She attended Lowes Grove School in southern Durham County and graduated from Hope Valley High School in 1941. She entered the University of North Carolina in 1941 and graduated with a degree in pharmacy in 1945. During World War II, Elsie Hudson corresponded extensively with servicemen pen pals stationed in the European and Pacific Theaters and stateside. Her fiancee, Marine Corps Pvt. Arnold Ellis (1925-1944) of Durham, was killed on Saipan Island in June 1944. In 1946, Elsie married John Gates Booker of Chapel Hill, N.C., another Marine with whom she had corresponded during the war. Together, they had one son, Curtis Richard Booker (1948- ). Curtis Booker, a public school teacher, married Mary Gail Mize in 1973. They are the parents of Anna Leigh Booker and John Carlton Booker.
Back to TopCorrespondence, business and legal papers, scrapbooks, genealogical information, pictures, and miscellaneous papers of the Markham, Leigh, Durham, Lloyd, and other related families, with materials from additional unrelated families, chiefly of North Carolina. Markham, Leigh, and related family correspondence includes letters, 1873-1928, sent by William David Markham to his sister Mary Hasseltine Markham and his brother George Dallas Markham from Missouri, the Indian Territory, Texas, and New Mexico, containing information about crop and herd conditions, religion, business, and politics in the region; and letters, 1880s-1900s, mostly to Mary Hasseltine Markham from Enna Markham Olive, who lived in Wake County, N.C. and Bayboro, Ga., and wrote about Baptist religion, crops, visits from family and friends, pregnancy, childbirth, education, general health, and the deaths of neighbors and relatives. Also included are letters, 1906-1910, from Bertha Cole Markham of Durham to her fiancee and later husband, Numa Ralph Markham; letters, 1909-1910, to Bertha Cole Markham from her brother, Edgar W. Cole, while he was working for a fruit company in Florida; and letters, 1920-1922, to Ralph and Bertha Markham from the Children's Home Society of North Carolina regarding the adoption of a son. Business and legal papers relate primarily to Markham, Leigh, and Shepherd families of Orange and Durham counties, N.C. and include wills, deeds, notes, receipts, inventories, and several records relating to slaves. Also included in the business and legal papers are several legal documents, 1867-1869, pertaining to the bankruptcy proceedings of Elizabeth C. Yancey, who was a merchant of Chapel Hill and Durham, N.C. Scrapbooks contain personal items collected by Harold Cole Markham, circa 1920-1992, while he was a high school student in Durham, N.C., and during his tour of duty in the United States and Europe and include post cards, photographs, newspaper clippings, telegrams, and other items. Genealogical information includes details about the Markham, Leigh, and other related families. Pictures include family photographs, circa 1880-1929; two post cards, 1907, of men hanged in Durham, N.C; and an extensive collection of photographs, 1930s-1940s, collectors' cards, and prints related to Adolf Hitler, the German military, and scenes in Europe during World War II. Miscellaneous items include handwritten temperance, religious, sentimental, and patriotic ballads; children's homework assignments; and a few other items.
The papers of the Lloyd and Durham families of Chapel Hill, N.C., consist chiefly of personal letters, postcards, business and legal items, photographs, and twenty volumes. Of particular interest among the correspondence and business items are a teacher's application, 1900, for a position at a black public school, probably in Orange County, N.C.; a 1939 letter from Dee Durham, Jr.'s, estranged wife complaining of her mother-in-law, Lizzie Durham; an extensive series of love letters, 1941-1942, discussing dating, courtship, high school, football, and other relevant topics of concern to teenagers; and a labor payroll schedule, 1947-1948, for state roadway construction workers in Granville County, N.C., listing the names of workers, hours worked, and wages. Business and legal items detail the Durham family's rather extensive real estate holdings, and include bills, contracts, litigation, deeds, mortgages, insurance policies, property tax assessments, canceled checks, automobile registrations and licenses, and other miscellaneous items. The volumes are chiefly merchant's account books, 1884-1928, most of which probably belonged to W. A. Lloyd, and document a general merchandiser's business, listing customer names, items purchased, and cost of items. Also included among the volumes are a student address book, circa 1934, containing a schedule of classes for a semester at the University of North Carolina; and a diary, 1934-1938, containing brief, daily accounts of his supervisory job working on a roadway construction crew in piedmont and western North Carolina.
Private letters and business and legal materials of the Abernathy, Blackwood, Goodwin, Mitchell, Moore, Peeler, Pickens, Steele, and other unrelated families are chiefly from North Carolina, with some materials from Virginia, South Carolina, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Included are post-Civil War letters from what the donor, Curtis Booker, claims are two families of black freedmen, the Goodwins of South Carolina and the Pickens of Connecticut, and extensive correspondence, 1935-1944, from a black North Carolina family, the Mitchells of Durham. Also included are scattered photographs and miscellaneous materials. The extensive correspondence covers such topics as family and social life, church meetings and religious revivals, farming and work, the funeral of B. F. Randolph (an assassinated black Republican leader in South Carolina [?]), elementary and higher education, school teachers, military life during World War I, influenza and other epidemics, funerals, courting, leisure, phonograph records, motion pictures, Florida vacations, prison and work camp life, and assorted advertisements. Business and legal materials, including a few volumes, consist of scattered land deeds; business letters; court cases, including a case, circa 1795, involving the University of North Carolina; an undated, antebellum hotelkeeper's account book; a Confederate parole sheet; canceled checks; sales receipts; tax lists; voter registration lists; a tobacco warehouse ledger, 1923-1930; farm account books, 1945-1954; and other miscellaneous items.
The papers of the Pope and Hudson families of Durham, N.C., consist chiefly of the private letters and scrapbooks of Elsie Hudson Booker, and other family members. Of particular interest are forty-three letters, 1914-1918, from Edna Pearl Pope to her future husband, W. Curtis Hudson, discussing school, church, visiting, dating, movies, and other topics; more than 650 letters, 1938-1947, to Elsie Hudson from servicemen pen pals stationed in the European and Pacific Theaters and stateside during World War II, including letters from Hudson's fiancee, Marine Corps Pvt. Arnold Ellis of Durham, who was killed on Saipan Island in June 1944; and scrapbooks, 1939-1948, belonging to Elsie Hudson Booker which contain letters, newspaper clippings, photographs, cards, souvenirs, and other miscellaneous items concerning her high school years, her undergraduate experience at the University of North Carolina, the death of her fiancee Pvt. Arnold Ellis, and the birth of her son, Curtis Booker.
Additions received after April 1994 have not been fully processed or integrated into the other materials. Each accession is described separately and may contain materials closely related to those in other series or accessions.
Back to TopArrangement: chronological within subseries.
Chiefly papers and other items related to the Markham, Leigh, and other families of Orange and Durham Counties, N.C., the Indian Territory, Texas, and Tennessee. Items include extensive correspondence and business and legal papers. Also included are scrapbooks, genealogical information, photographs, and other miscellaneous items.
Arrangement: chronological within subseries.
Arrangement: chronological.
Chiefly letters sent by William David (W.D.) Markham to his North Carolina relatives, including his father Henry Stovall Markham, his brother George Dallas Markham, and his sister Mary Hasseltine Markham. General topics include advantages of living in the "West", crop and herd conditions, religion, and family news. William David Markham wrote letters describing living conditions in many different locations, mostly in Missouri, the Indian Territory, Texas, and New Mexico. Items of particular interest include a series of letters, 1873-1876, from William David Markham to Henry Stovall and Mary Hasseltine Markham, giving his reasons for leaving North Carolina and settling in New Madrid, Missouri, and Comanche, Texas; a letter, 11 June 1918, from William David Markham to Mary Hasseltine Markham, referring to food shortages related to World War I and responding to reports of German war atrocities; and a series of letters, 1923-1928, from William David Markham and members of his immediate family primarily to Mary Hasseltine Markham, describing William David's declining health and giving details about the Texas branch of the Markham family.
Folder 1 |
1873-1891 |
Folder 2 |
1892-1922 |
Folder 3 |
1823-1928 |
Arrangement: chronological.
Chiefly correspondence received by members of the Markham, Leigh, and other related families. Most of the letters were written by family members and deal with family matters. General topics include farming, business prospects, travel, internal (U.S.) migration, health, education, religion, and death.
Items of particular interest include a series of letters, 1851-1858 from Duncan and Catherine King of Mt. Elon, S.C. and Laurens Co., Ga., to her sister Nancy Hudgins in Orange Co., N.C., giving some details about living conditions in South Carolina and Georgia and suggesting why they had moved from North Carolina; a letter, 15 June 1861, from John C. Hudgins to Leathy Hudgins, informing her that he was about to leave home to join the Granville Targeteers; several letters, 1877-1878 from Attorney John W. Norwood of Hillsboro, N.C. to Henry Stovall Markham of Durham, regarding the sale of land related to the estate of Isaiah Marcom; a letter, 21 March 1879, from Lula Harris in Raleigh, N.C. to her cousin, in which she described dental work she had done and her response to hearing a phonograph for the first time; a letter, 20 April 1879, from George P. Markham to Mary Hasseltine Markham, describing a revival led by a famous female evangelist "Mrs. Moon" [Lottie Moon, one-time missionary to China?]; dozens of letters, 1880s-1900s, from Enna Markham Olive to Mary Hasseltine Markham and Anna Leigh (Markham), detailing various aspects of life in and around Olive's Chapel and Raleigh, N.C., and Bayboro, Ga., including news about church, crops, visits from family and friends, pregnancy, childbirth, general health, and the deaths of neighbors and relatives; several letters, 1885-1886, from Anna Leigh to her parents, giving information about her activities as a student at a small boarding school in Lambsville, N.C. [a few miles south of Chapel Hill]; letters, 1906-1910, from Bertha Cole Markham of Durham to her fiancee and later husband, Numa Ralph Markham (married circa 1910); four letters, 1909-1910, to Bertha from her brother, Edgar W. Cole, while he was working for a fruit company in Florida; letters, 1920-1923, to Ralph and Bertha Markham from the Children's Home Society of North Carolina regarding the adoption of a son, including applications and a handwritten note from a mother giving up rights to her son; several letters, 1920-1928, from George P. Markham to George Dallas and Mary Hasseltine Markham, giving information on the Georgia and Tennessee branches of the Markham family and comments about politics, business, and society; and a note, 1945, from an army representative to Harold Cole Markham, informing him that he had been granted a Purple Heart for an injury received during World War II.
Folder 4 |
1851-1869 |
Folder 5 |
1870-1879 |
Folder 6 |
1880-1883 |
Folder 7 |
1884-1885 |
Folder 8 |
1886 |
Folder 9 |
1887-1890 |
Folder 10 |
1891-1893 |
Folder 11 |
1894-1899 |
Folder 12 |
1900-1903 |
Folder 13 |
1904-1906 |
Folder 14 |
1907-1919 |
Folder 15 |
1920-1928 |
Folder 16 |
1929-1945 |
Folder 17 |
Undated |
Folder 18 |
Undated |
Arrangement: chronological.
Business and legal papers primarily of the Shepherd, Leigh, and Markham families of Orange and Durham counties, N.C. Papers document agricultural, merchant, legal, distilling, and blacksmithing activities for much of the nineteenth century, and include receipts, bills, promissory notes, accounts, bonds, licenses, wills, inventories, deeds and other materials.
Items of special interest include John Leigh's will, 19 October 1819, which called for the sale of all of his real and personal estate, including all lands, slaves, and cattle; several bills, June and July 1810, for blacksmith work completed by Robert Campbell; John Leigh's property inventory, 13 February 1821, including slaves; inventory, 26 March 1821, of John Leigh's estate sale, with a relatively complete list of what was purchased and prices paid; inventories and agreements, January 1825, January 1826, and March 1827, relating to the sale and distribution of William Sheppard's estate; promissory note, 1 January 1832, concerning the hiring of a young female slave and including an agreement to furnish her clothing; deed of indenture, 22 June 1839, between Mary Leigh and William Leigh (her husband) through which she gave to him all the real and personal property held in her name; hiring contract, 28 December 1839, in which William Leigh promised Elizabeth and Sarah Atkins that he would provide specific articles of clothing for a slave; an account, circa 1820-1839?, of food, lodging, transportation, and other expenses incurred while transporting the Yancey family of Chapel Hill, N.C., to Plaquemines Parish, La.; federal census-takers questionnaire, 1840, with list of questions to be asked heads of household; inventory, 27 September 1845, of items sold at estate sale following the death of Nancy Hudgins; notes, 1846, taken by Sullivan Leigh regarding the administration of Mary Sheppard's estate; accounts, 1857-1859, giving details on the merchant activities of Mrs. E. C. Yancey, a store owner of Chapel Hill, N.C; legal documents, 1867-1869, pertaining to the bankruptcy proceedings of Elizabeth C. Yancey; and tax receipts, 1880s-1910s, for Leigh and Markham properties in Durham, N.C.
Folder 19 |
1743-1799 |
Folder 20 |
1800-1809 |
Folder 21 |
1810-1819 |
Folder 22 |
1820-1824 |
Folder 23 |
1825-1826 |
Folder 24 |
1827-1829 |
Folder 25 |
1830-1833 |
Folder 26 |
1834-1836 |
Folder 27 |
1837-1839 |
Folder 28 |
1840-1844 |
Folder 29 |
1845-1849 |
Folder 30 |
1850-1859 |
Folder 31 |
1860-1869 |
Folder 32 |
1870-1876 |
Folder 33 |
1877-1879 |
Folder 34 |
1880-1882 |
Folder 35 |
1883-1884 |
Folder 36 |
1885-1889 |
Folder 37 |
1890-1899 |
Folder 38 |
1900-1923 |
Folder 39 |
1924-1947 |
Folder 40-41
Folder 40Folder 41 |
Undated |
Arrangement: chronological.
Photocopies of genealogical information collected by Allen B. Markham, Sr., on the Markham, Leigh, and other related families. Included are family notes made by the collector and transcribed copies of a Revolutionary War pension application; marriage license names for Orange and Granville counties, N.C.; wills; inventories; legal documents; census records; tax receipt lists; deed records; and a few family letters. Prominent family names include: Markham, Leigh, Carlton, Johnston, Trice, Couch, Jones, Barbee, Craig, Pickett, Duke, Witherspoon, Cabe, Hester, and Gattis.
Folder 45 |
pp. 1-50 |
Folder 46 |
pp. 51-101 |
Folder 47 |
pp. 102-150 |
Folder 48 |
pp. 151-200 |
Folder 49 |
pp. 201-245 |
Arrangement: topical.
Chiefly World War II photographs, post cards, and collector's cards, of Harold Cole Markham. Other items include family photographs and two post cards of men hanged in Durham Co., N.C., 1907.
Arrangement: topical.
Miscellaneous papers chiefly of the Markham, Leigh, and related families. Multiple items include ballads, quotation collections, school assignments, and recipes. Contained with the ballads is a bound notebook of handwritten lyrics from temperance, religious, sentimental, and patriotic songs. Most of the other ballads were also handwritten; some were typewritten. Most seem to date from the late nineteenth century. Included with the quotations and school-related materials are notebooks and many loose sheets of spelling and handwriting practice, math problems, and essays about historical subjects. Also included with these items are several quotations which may have been assigned for handwriting practice. Included with the other items are several handwritten and printed recipes, a few drawings, and a play written by Grant Shepherd relating to his World War I experiences and containing marginal editorial comments.
Folder 50 |
Ballads |
Folder 51 |
Quotations and school-related |
Folder 52 |
Miscellaneous |
Arrangement: chronological.
Chiefly personal letters, postcards, business and legal items, and photographs of the Lloyd and Durham families of Chapel Hill, N.C., with twenty volumes. Business and legal items detail the Durham family's rather extensive real estate holdings. The volumes are chiefly merchant's account books, 1884-1928, most of which probably belonged to W. A. Lloyd. Included in the correspondence are references to black public education, dating and courtship, roadway construction, and other topics.
Arrangement: chronological.
Chiefly personal letters and postcards of the Lloyd and Durham families of Chapel Hill, N.C., with some scattered business and legal letters. Most of the letters are to Henry Lloyd, W. A. Lloyd, Lizzie Lloyd Durham, or Billy Durham, and concern family and business matters. Included are a letter, 1900, from W. H. Burwell to Henry Lloyd applying for a position as a teacher at a black public school in the Beth-Carr District, probably in Orange County, N.C.; love letters, 1905, from Stella Holt to W. A. Lloyd; a postcard, 1908, from a soldier stationed in Manilla, the Philippines; a 1918 letter from a military quartermaster to W. A. Lloyd commenting on construction contracts, debts, and camp food; a 1939 letter to Dee Durham, Jr., from his estranged wife complaining of her mother-in-law, Lizzie Durham, as well as several other later letters reflecting the discord among certain members of the Durham family; and twenty-two love letters, 1941-1942, from Betty Lou to Billy Thomas Durham discussing dating, courtship, high school, football, and other relevant topics of concern to teenagers.
Folder 53 |
1893-1912 |
Folder 54 |
1917-1927 |
Folder 55 |
1928-1930 |
Folder 56 |
1931-1939 |
Folder 57 |
1941-1942 |
Folder 58 |
1943-1946 |
Folder 59 |
1947-1966; undated |
Folder 60 |
Undated |
Arrangement: chronological.
Chiefly business and legal items of Lizzie Lloyd Durham, and of the Durham and Lloyd families of Chapel Hill, N.C., including bills, contracts, litigation, deeds, mortgages, insurance policies, property tax assessments, canceled checks, automobile registrations and licenses, and other miscellaneous items. Of particular interest is a labor payroll schedule, 1947-1948, for state roadway construction workers in Granville County, N.C., listing the names of workers, hours worked, and wages.
Folder 61 |
1873-1912 |
Folder 62 |
1913-1914 |
Folder 63 |
1915-1919 |
Folder 64 |
1920-1924 |
Folder 65 |
1925-1931 |
Folder 66 |
1934-1948 |
Folder 67 |
Undated |
Arrangement: chronological.
Chiefly merchant's account books, 1884-1928, most of which probably belonged to W. A. Lloyd, listing customer names, items purchased, and cost of items. Also included are a payment account book, belonging to Demetrus Durham, Sr., for membership dues to the White Cross Council; a student address book, circa 1934, probably belonging to either Jack or Bruce Durham, containing a schedule of classes for a semester at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and a diary, 1934-1938, belonging to Jack Durham, containing brief, daily accounts of his supervisory job on a roadway construction crew in central and western North Carolina.
Arrangement: chronological.
Image P-4580/237 |
Photograph of W.A. Lloyd, circa 1880. |
Image P-4580/238 |
Photograph of Lennie Durham, circa 1890s. |
Image P-4580/239a |
Photograph of Dee Durham, Jr.'s, high school football team, 1924-1925. |
Image P-4580/239b |
Photograph of Dee Durham and Bill Durham(?), on farm, circa 1940-1950s. |
Image P-4580/240a |
Photograph of the Durham family, circa mid-1920s. |
Image P-4580/240b |
Portrait photograph of Betty Durham, circa 1940s-1950s |
Private letters and business and legal materials of the Abernathy, Blackwood, Goodwin, Mitchell, Moore, Peeler, Pickens, Steele, and other unrelated families chiefly from North Carolina, with some materials from Virginia, South Carolina, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Included are post-Civil War letters from what the donor, Curtis Booker, claims are two families of black freedmen, the Goodwins of South Carolina and the Pickens of Connecticut, and extensive correspondence, 1935-1944, from a black North Carolina family, the Mitchells of Durham. Also included are scattered photographs, eleven volumes, and miscellaneous materials. The folders for subseries 3.1, "Abernathy, Blackwood, and Other Families," are arranged alphabetically by family name, and within each folder arranged chronologically, while subseries 3.2, "Miscellaneous Items," is arranged by document type and within each type chronologically.
Arrangement: alphabetical by family name.
Chiefly private letters and business and legal materials of the Abernathy, Blackwood, Goodwin, Mitchell, Moore, Peeler, Pickens, Steele, and other unrelated families from North Carolina, with some scattered volumes and photographs. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by family name, and the materials within each family grouping are arranged chronologically.
The Abernathy family letters, 1919-1949, are written primarily to Lola Belle Abernathy of Newton, N.C., from her cousin Lola Lee Mundry, Private George Letsches, and other friends, and discuss elementary schools in Catawba and Burke counties, N.C., teachers, homework, classmates, a cakewalk, "April Fool's letters," a group of students cheating on an exam, scarlet fever and influenza epidemics, life at the North Carolina School for the Deaf, attending "picture shows," U.S. Army life at Fort Jay, N.J., and other assorted topics. Also included are a dance card from a Hattaras high school junior-senior prom (volume 27), 22 photographs of unidentified, elementary-school students, and 1 picture postcard of an unidentified woman (P-4580/241-263).
The letters of the Baum-Gibbs families of Hyde County, N.C., are primarily to Mrs. Alton E. Baum, who perhaps was a school teacher, from her husband, family, and friends, and concern a funeral in Amity, N.C., in 1930; motion pictures; and school teachers and education in coastal North Carolina. The Blackwood family letters are primarily to Robert Blackwood of Chapel Hill, N.C., from his daughter, Mattie, a school teacher from Seaboard, N.C., concerning gospel records and phonographs, teaching and students, and her dislike for Yankees. The Browning family materials from Hillsborough include a business ledger, 1944-1947 (SV-4580/28).
The documents of the Coleman family of Hillsborough discuss the scarcity of meat during World War II, a Florida vacation, and farming, and include two farm account books, 1952 and 1945-1954, that probably belonged to Charles B. Coleman, mentioning the birth of calves and pigs, renting out land, and hiring out a stud bull (volumes 29 and 30). The Godwin family letters are written to Mildred Godwin, a young student at the Eastern Carolina Teachers College in Greensboro, from her mother and friend, and concern a funeral, quilting, and news of family and friends. The letters of the Goodwins of South Carolina, who according to Curtis Booker is an African American family, contain an 1871 description of the funeral of B. F. Randolph, an assassinated black Republican politician of that state.
A tobacco warehouse ledger, 1923-1930, belonging to Malone Hall and listing the names of sellers and debts owed, is included in the folder of the Hall family of Hillsborough (volume 31). Of particular interest are the items relating to the Mitchells, an African American family in Durham, which include letters, 1935-1944, from Irene Mitchell to her husband, Thomas Mitchell, while he was serving time in prison camps at Marion and Spruce Pine, N.C. and in the state penitentiary in Raleigh, and other matters. The items of the Moore family of Pittsboro, are chiefly personal letters from Mrs. Moore to her daughter Lillie at the Greensboro Female College, and to Myrtle at the Durham Conservatory of Music, as well as from beaus of the two young women. Topics include news of family and friends, revivals in Fayetteville, courting, a masked ball, a going-out-of-business sale at which female shoppers "got wild," and other assorted subjects. Also included is the Reverend W. H. Moore's presiding elder's minute book, 1903, containing newspaper clipping enclosures (volume 32).
Also included are a few post-Civil War letters, 1871-1880, from what Curtis Booker claims is another family of black freedmen, the Pickens of Connecticut. Of particular interest are the letters of the Peeler family written from Hickory, N.C., chiefly World War I correspondence between Etta Peeler and her son, Corporal Lawrence T. Peeler, of Co. H, 119th Infantry, American Expeditionary Force. Peeler was stationed at Camp Sevier, S.C., and later in France where he was killed in battle on 29 September 1918. Letters include information on military life, descriptions of France and the people, news of Hickory, daylight savings time, rationing, an influenza epidemic, and Lawrence's death. Also included are letters of sympathy to Mrs. Peeler, a letter from Corporal Peeler's commanding officer; and a photograph of Clutz Peeler, circa 1890 (OP-P-4580/264). Shepard family papers consist primarily of letters, 1917-1930, from family members and friends and relate to personal and family matters and one son's experiences during World War I with the American Expeditionary Forces. Also included are a silhouette, 1929, of Mary Ervin Shepherd and a play, undated, written by Grant Shepherd relating to his World War I experiences and containing marginal editorial comments. The folder of the Steele family of Rockingham, N.C. includes letters of William Little Steel, Jr., while he was a student at North Carolina State College in Raleigh and later an executive in a textile mill in Concord, N.C.
Image P-4580/241-263
P-4580/241P-4580/242P-4580/243P-4580/244P-4580/245P-4580/246P-4580/247P-4580/248P-4580/249P-4580/250P-4580/251P-4580/252P-4580/253P-4580/254P-4580/255P-4580/256P-4580/257P-4580/258P-4580/259P-4580/260P-4580/261P-4580/262P-4580/263 |
PhotographsPhotographs of unidentified, elementary-school students, and one picture postcard of an unidentified woman. |
Folder 88 |
Abernathy, 1919-1928 |
Folder 89 |
Abernathy, 1929-1949; undated |
Folder 90 |
Baum-Gibbs, 1930-1951; undated |
Folder 91 |
Blackwood, 1917-1927 |
Folder 92 |
Browning, 1935; 1944-1955 |
Oversize Volume SV-4580/28 |
Browning, 1944-1947Business ledger. |
Folder 93 |
Coleman, 1910; 1940-1959; undated |
Folder 94 |
Couch, 1870; 1909; 1923; 1932 |
Folder 94a |
Crowley, 1869-1873 |
Folder 95 |
Godwin, 1927 |
Folder 95a |
Goodwin, 1869-1871 |
Folder 96 |
Hall, 1923-1930 |
Folder 97 |
Hall, 1913-1932; undated |
Folder 98 |
Koch, 1898-1899; undated |
Folder 99 |
Lewis, 1847-1851 |
Folder 100 |
Lyon, 1940; 1954 |
Folder 100a |
Mitchell, 1935-1944; undated |
Folder 101 |
Moore, 1886-1902 |
Folder 102 |
Moore, 1903-1905; 1924; 1945; undated |
Folder 103 |
Peeler, 1917-1918 |
Oversize Image OP-P-4580/264 |
Photograph of Clutz Peeler, circa 1890s |
Folder 103a |
Pickens, 1871-1880 |
Folder 104a |
Roberts, 1930 |
Folder 104b |
Shepherd, 1917-1930; undated |
Folder 104c |
Somers, 1904-1912; undated |
Folder 105 |
Steele, 1918-1939; undated |
Folder 106 |
Williams, 1918 |
Arrangement: by document type.
Chiefly private letters, business and legal materials, advertisements, postcards, a few photographs and volumes, and other miscellaneous items from North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. This subseries is arranged by document type and, within each type, arranged chronologically. Included among the letters are items, 1879-1880, relating to various court cases in Granville County, N.C.; scattered letters from Richmond, Va.; several letters from Durham, N.C. pharmacists; a chain-letter from a Dallas, Tex., religious organization trying to raise funds for a school; a 1938 issue of the Tryon Daily Bulletin; a letter from Howard W. Odum concerning a cow's registration certificate; miscellaneous materials relating to the University of North Carolina; and assorted advertisements for consumer products and vacation spots.
Business and legal materials include items, 1712 and 1781, from Berks County, Pa.; legal documents, 1795-1797, concerning a court case involving Salisbury, N.C., litigants and the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina; what appears to be an 1826 list of heads of household and an 1832 voter registration list from Salisbury, N.C.; scattered land sales from Orange County; a record of leaves of indulgences for paroled federal prisoners in Richmond, 1865; state complaint and warrant against Moses Griffin for refusing to work on the roads in Wake County, 1896; a Chapel Hill Township Road Commission bill of goods; voter registration lists for Durham County; and scattered bills of general merchandisers from Petersburg, Va., and East Bend, Durham, Orange, Pittsboro, and Wake Forest, N.C.
The volumes include a merchant's account book, 1833-1868, belonging to Wilington Hayes (volume 33); a memoranda book, 1895, belonging to J. Weldon Smith, containing poetry and verse (volume 34); another memoranda book, 1900-1901, belonging to the R. A Wilkerson (volume 34a); a Coca-Cola memoranda book, 1906, belonging to Oscar Smith of Durham, N.C., containing snippets of poetry (volume 35); a notebook, 1912, belonging to Anna M.Rogers, filled with information from a college course on pediatrics (volume 35b); a notebook, circa 1930, filled with examples of business letters (volume 36a); and three account books, 1907, 1927-1928, and circa 1939, the latter perhaps of a filling station (volumes 35a, 36, and 37).
Pictures (all of which are filed separately) include a photograph of an unidentified woman, circa 1890s (P-4580/265); a photograph of grade-school classes from Merry Oaks School, Chatham County, N.C., circa 1905 (P-4580/266); photographs of homes, downtown stores, businesses, and colleges chiefly in Durham and Chapel Hill, N.C., and perhaps a few other unidentified towns, circa 1910s-1930s (P-4580/267-269, 275-304); a film trade sheet advertising releases from the Norman Film Company, a black-owned company in Jacksonville, Fla. (P-4580/270); a film poster for the company's Green-Eyed Monster, circa mid-1920s (OP-P-4580/271); and a photograph of two unidentified women in swimsuits, circa 1930-1940s (P-4580/272); photographs of the Gastonia Railway Express Agency, 1936-1937 (P-4580/273-274); and a colored print of the Buggs Isalnd Dam Project, 1946 (OP-P-4580/305).
Arrangement: see subseries arrangement schemes.
Chiefly private letters and scrapbooks of Elsie Hudson Booker and of others members of the Pope, Hudson, and related families of Durham, N.C. Of particular interest are forty-three letters, 1914-1918, from Edna Pearl Pope to her future husband, W. Curtis Hudson, discussing school, church, visiting, dating, movies, and other topics; more than 650 letters, 1938-1947, to Elsie Hudson from servicemen pen pals stationed in the European and Pacific Theaters and stateside during World War II, including letters from Hudson's fiancee, Marine Corps Pvt. Arnold Ellis of Durham, who was killed on Saipan Island in June 1944; and scrapbooks, 1939-1948, belonging to Elsie Hudson Booker which contain letters, newspaper clippings, photographs, cards, souvenirs, and other miscellaneous items concerning her high school years, her undergraduate experience at the University of North Carolina, the death of her fiancee Pvt. Arnold Ellis, and the birth of her son, Curtis Booker.
Arrangement: chronological.
Chiefly letters, 1938-1947, to Elsie Hudson from servicemen pen pals stationed in the European and Pacific Theaters and stateside during World War II. Also included are letters from Hudson's fiancee, Marine Corps Pvt. Arnold Ellis (1925-1944) of Durham, who was killed on Saipan Island in June 1944.
Folder 116 |
1938 |
Folder 117 |
1939 |
Folder 118 |
1940 |
Folder 119 |
1941-1943 |
Folder 120 |
January-June 1944 |
Folder 121 |
July-September 1944 |
Folder 122 |
October-December 1944 |
Folder 123 |
January 1945 |
Folder 124 |
February 1945 |
Folder 125 |
March 1945 |
Folder 126 |
April 1945 |
Folder 127 |
May 1945 |
Folder 128 |
June 1945 |
Folder 129 |
July 1945 |
Folder 130 |
August 1945 |
Folder 131 |
September 1945 |
Folder 132 |
October 1945 |
Folder 133 |
November-December 1945 |
Folder 134 |
1946-1947; undated |
Arrangement: chronological.
Correspondence and a few other items of members of the Pope, Hudson, and related families of Durham, N.C. Included are forty-three letters, 1914-1918, from Edna Pearl Pope to her future husband, W. Curtis Hudson, discussing school, church, visiting, dating, movies, and other topics.
Folder 135 |
1884-1916 |
Folder 136 |
1917-1929; undated |
Arrangement: chronological.
Scrapbooks, 1939-1948, belonging to Elsie Hudson Booker and containing letters, newspaper clippings, photographs, cards, souvenirs, and other miscellaneous items. Included are materials relating to her high school years, her undergraduate experience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the death of her fiancee Pvt. Arnold Ellis, and the birth of her son Curtis Booker.
Oversize Volume SV-4580/38 |
Elsie Hudson scrapbook, 1939-1943circa 100 pp.Contains letters, newspaper clippings, photographs, cards, souvenirs, and other miscellaneous items related to her high school years and her first years at the University of North Carolina. |
Oversize Volume SV-4580/39 |
Elsie Hudson scrapbook, 1943-1944circa 100 pp. Contains letters, newspaper clippings, photographs, cards, souvenirs, and other miscellaneous items related to her undergraduate years at the University of North Carolina and mementos of her fiancee Pvt. Arnold Ellis's death in 1944. |
Folder 137 |
Volume 40 : Elsie Hudson scrapbook, 1944circa 100 pp. Contains letters, newspaper clippings, photographs, cards, dried flowers, souvenirs, and other miscellaneous items related chiefly to her fiancee Pvt. Arnold Ellis's death in 1944. |
Oversize Volume SV-4580/41 |
Elsie Hudson scrapbook, 1941-1945circa 100 pp. Contains letters, newspaper clippings, photographs, cards, souvenirs, and other miscellaneous items related to her undergraduate years at the University of North Carolina. |
Oversize Volume SV-4580/42 |
Elsie Hudson scrapbook, 1948circa 100 pp. Contains letters, cards, souvenirs, and other miscellaneous items related to the birth of her son, Curtis Booker. |
Folder 188 |
Peeler, 1917-1918Three letters from Etta Peeler to her son, Corporal Lawrence Peeler, during World War I, one of which mentions the influenza outbreak; one commercial letter to Rev. J. A. Peeler from Williams Piano & Organ Co.; and a group of letters to Mrs. O. D. Rankin and Etta Peeler. |
Extra Oversize Paper Folder XOPF-4580/1 |
Oversize papers |