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 | 2.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 150 items) |
Abstract | The collection documents the white Clegg family and enslaved and (likely) formerly enslaved people who worked at the family's farms, mercantile businesses, and gold and mineral mines in Moore, Chatham, and Forsyth Counties, N.C. Materials include account ledgers and time books kept by brothers Isaac N. Clegg (1823-1864), Thomas J. Clegg (1828-1862), and William Baxter Clegg (1834-1912) for Rock Springs Steam Saw Mill and Soapstone Mills, with entries for enslaved people and (likely) formerly enslaved people, usually listed with only a first name; a copy of a January 1865 letter concerning conscription of people enslaved at the farm of William Baxter Clegg to work on fortifications for the Confederate States of America Army; scattered financial documents; documents from the mid-1870s pertaining to the establishment of a Moore County, N.C., chapter of the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry; copies of an 1890s political newsletter titled "The Shooting Stick"; correspondence received by Marie Lee Clegg (1872-1960) in the late 1890s; and William Russell Clegg's University of North Carolina law school notebooks from circa 1905. Other white Clegg family members represented in the collection include Isaac N. Clegg (1823-1864) and Thomas J. Clegg (1828-1862). |
Creator | Clegg (Family : Moore County, N.C.) |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Laura Hart, June 2019; Meaghan Alston and Nancy Kaiser, September 2021
Encoded by: Laura Hart, June 2019
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.
Clegg family members represented in the collection include brothers Isaac N. Clegg (1823-1864), Thomas J. Clegg (1828-1862), and William Baxter Clegg (1834-1912). The brothers owned farms and mercantile stores and other businesses in Chatham, Forsyth, and Moore Counties, N.C. Marie Lee Clegg (1872-1960) and William Russell Clegg are also represented.
Enslaved people and (likely) formerly enslaved people who worked on the Clegg farms and in the mills are also represented in the collection, but often by first name only. Included are Horace, Henry, and John, who worked on Clegg farms. Others represented in various account books are Gillis, Lorenzo, Dempsey, Silas, Solomon, Henderson, Jerry, Macolm [sic], Alfred, Bob, Dan, Manuel, Simon, Willis, Wesley, George, Isaac, Dave, Ben, Percy, Mary, Kidd, Cato, Bill, Cooper Alston, Harman Alston, James Brewer, Isabella Clegg, Emeline Clegg, Brantley Cheek, Redin Davis, Green Dowdy, Elias Hayes, Joseph Harrington, George Lane, Joseph Lane, George McRea, John Petty, Henry Peoples, Elias Phillips, Arch Rieves, William Rieves, John Roberts, Levy Tyson, Elisha Tyson, James Tyson, Essex Womble, Daniel Womble, Blake Womble, and John White.
Also included is an entry for a worker who was Indigenous: John Taylor.
Back to TopThe collection documents the white Clegg family and people who were enslaved and (likely) formerly enslaved at the family's farms, mercantile businesses, and gold and mineral mines in Moore, Chatham, and Forsyth Counties, N.C. Materials include account ledgers and time books kept by brothers Isaac N. Clegg (1823-1864), Thomas J. Clegg (1828-1862), and William Baxter Clegg (1834-1912) for Rock Springs Steam Saw Mill and Soapstone Mills, with entries for enslaved people and (likely) formerly enslaved people, usually listed with only a first name; a copy of a January 1865 letter concerning conscription of people enslaved at the farm of William Baxter Clegg to work on fortifications for the Confederate States of America Army; scattered financial documents; documents from the mid-1870s pertaining to the establishment of a Moore County, N.C., chapter of the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry; copies of an 1890s political newsletter titled "The Shooting Stick"; correspondence received by Marie Lee Clegg (1872-1960) in the late 1890s; and William Russell Clegg's University of North Carolina law school notebooks from circa 1905. Other white Clegg family members represented in the collection include Isaac N. Clegg (1823-1864) and Thomas J. Clegg (1828-1862).
Back to TopArrangement: as received
Oversize Volume SV-5503/1 |
Account book and scrapbook, circa 1903Includes alphabetical list of names, merchandise and interest entries, clippings on religion, spirituality, and philosophy. |
Oversize Volume SV-5503/2 |
Rock Springs Steam Saw Mill, circa 1866-1868Mill account includes entries documenting the work of people who were (likely) formerly enslaved, as indicated by use of first name only. Examples include but are not limited to: Gillis, Lorenzo, Dempsey, Silas, Solomon, Henderson, Jerry, Macolm. |
Oversize Volume SV-5503/3 |
Mill account book, circa 1866-1868Entries of mill workers and their debts and credits. Workers who were (likely) formerly enslaved are listed by their first name only. Examples include but are not limited to: Jerry (page 8); Henry (page 8); Bob (page 9); Lorenzo and Henderson (page 13); Dan, Manuel, and, Gillis (page 17); Simon (page 18); Solomon (page 19); Silas and Dempsey (page 22); Macolm (page 26); Willis (page 28); Wesley, George, and Isaac (page 29); Dave (page 32); Ben (page 36); Percy (page 51); Henry (page 56). |
Oversize Volume SV-5503/4 |
Soapstone Mills merchandise account book, 1870 |
Folder 1 |
Account book with names of enslaved people, 1854-1860Includes Alfred (Clegg) and Horace (Clegg), as well as John, an Indigenous person. |
Folder 2 |
Accounts, circa 1854-1857 |
Folder 3 |
Accounts, circa 1854-1860 |
Folder 4 |
Day Book: Oak Grove, 1854, and Soapstone Mills, 1859"Thomas J. Clegg Day Book Opened at Oak Grove Forsythe County North Carolina The 5th day of May 1857." "Thomas J. Clegg and William B. Clegg Commenced the merchentile __ at the Soapstone Mills and bought the first _ in Fayetteville May 25th 1859." |
Folder 5 |
White Soap Stone Co. receipt book, 1859-1861 |
Folder 6 |
Soapstone Mills merchandise account book, 1859 |
Folder 7 |
Soapstone Mills merchandise account book, 1860 |
Folder 8 |
Soapstone Mills merchandise account book, 1861 |
Folder 9 |
Accounts, circa 1860-1861 |
Folder 10 |
Accounts, 1864-1865 |
Folder 11 |
Soapstone Mills merchandise account book, 1869-1870 |
Folder 12 |
Soapstone Mills merchandise account book, circa 1869-1871Includes entries for African American people who were (likely) formerly enslaved: Cooper Alston, Harman Alston, James Brewer, Isabella Clegg, Emeline Clegg, Brantley Cheek, Redin Davis, Green Dowdy, Elias Hayes, Joseph Harrington, George Lane, Joseph Lane, George McRea, John Petty, Henry Peoples, Elias Phillips, Arch Rieves, William Rieves, John Roberts, Levy Tyson, Elisha Tyson, James Tyson, Essex Womble, Daniel Womble, John White, Blake Womble. Also included is an entry for a worker who was Indigenous: John Taylor. |
Folder 13 |
Rock Spring Steam Saw Mill, circa 1866-1867Includes entries for African American workers who were (likely) formerly enslaved: Jerry, Gillis, Lorenzo, Dempsey, Silas, Henderson, Henry, Dan, Wesley, John, Macolm. |
Folder 14 |
Farm time book, circa 1865-1868Includes entries for African American workers who were (likely) formerly enslaved: Dan, Henry, John, Simon, John, Cato, Bill, Emeline. |
Folder 15 |
Rocky River Mill time book, 1865, 1875-1876Includes entries for African American workers who were (likely) formerly enslaved: Solomon, Jerry, Mary. |
Folder 16 |
Time book, circa 1872-1873Includes entries for African American workers who were (likely) formerly enslaved: Solomon, Isaac, Mary. |
Folder 17 |
Farm time book, circa 24 August 1873-1874Includes entries for African American workers who were (likely) formerly enslaved: Horace, Kidd, Mary. |
Folder 18 |
Goldmine, circa 1870,1874-1875 |
Folder 19 |
Time book, 1872 |
Folder 20 |
Correspondence, 1865Letter to Colonel William Richardson, 6 January 1865, from Moore County, N.C., mentions Horace and Henry who were enslaved and working on W. B. Clegg's farm until fall 1863, when they were sent to Wilmington. Horace died at Wilmington and Henry returned to Clegg's farm too sick to work. The letter requests that the other people enslaved by Clegg family members not be conscripted to work on fortifications for the Confederate Army because they all had been trafficked out to other places at that time, or they were enslaved by minors. The only enslaved person remaining at the farm was John, who was enslaved by the letter writer’s brother Benjamin Franklin Clegg (1836-1926). John was considered to have mental and physical disabilities. |
Folder 21 |
Marie Clegg correspondence, 1890s |
Folder 22 |
Scattered documents, circa 1860s-1870s |
Folder 23 |
Scattered documents, circa 1860s-1920s |
Folder 24 |
Grange, circa 1870s |
Folder 25 |
The Shooting Stick, circa 1864 |
Folder 26 |
Law school notebooks, circa 1905, 1935Notebooks of William Russell Clegg (1877-1945). Also includes a copy of State of North Carolina v. Arnie Carlyle, Ed Gaddy, Luther Smith, and Robert Comer in the Supreme Court of Northa Carolina, fall term, 1935. Clegg served as attorney for Ed Gaddy. |