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 | 4 items |
Abstract | Ellen Cook Whitehurst was born in 1856 in Elizabeth City, N.C., to Nancy Cook, an enslaved woman, and an unknown father. The collection includes a letter, circa 1930, from Ellen Cook Whitehurst of New York to William White Griffin of Kinston, N.C., a cousin through their common Cook family line. The letter is a twenty-page manuscript written as reminiscences of Whitehurst's life and family history. Also included are several background and contextual items: a verbatim transcription of the letter, a key to the individuals mentioned in the letter, and a copy of Ellen Whitehurst's obituary. |
Creator | Whitehurst, Ellen, 1856-1944. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
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.
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Ellen Cook Whitehurst was born in 1856 in Elizabeth City, N.C., to Nancy Cook, an enslaved woman, and an unknown father, whom Whitehurst knew to be white. Her grandfather, Nancy Cook’s father, was Thomas Murphy Cook, also a white man. Whitehurst explained in her reminiscences that she was eventually "bound" to the Cook family after the Civil War and raised by Thomas Murphy Cook's mother, Emily Murphy Cook (her white great-grandmother), alongside members of the Cook family.
Ellen Cook married Walter Whitehurst (b. 1855). The couple had seven children: Catherine (b. 1886), Olivia (1888-1950), Mary (b. 1891), Alice (b. 1893), Edward (1896-1938), Alvin (b. 1898), and Mattie (b. 1902). The family later migrated to New York City and settled in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood. Ellen Cook Whitehurst died in New York in 1944.
Back to TopThe collection includes a letter, circa 1930, from Ellen Cook Whitehurst of New York to William White Griffin of Kinston, N.C., a cousin through their common Cook family line. The letter is a twenty-page manuscript written as reminiscences of Whitehurst's life and family history. Also included are several background and contextual items: a verbatim transcription of the letter, a key to the individuals mentioned in the letter, and a copy of Ellen Whitehurst's obituary.
Back to TopThe collection includes a letter, circa 1930, from Ellen Cook Whitehurst of New York to William White Griffin of Kinston, N.C., a cousin through their common Cook family line. The letter is a twenty-page manuscript written as reminiscences of Whitehurst's life and family history. Also included are several background and contextual items: a verbatim transcription of the letter, a key to the individuals mentioned in the letter, and a copy of Ellen Whitehurst's obituary.
Folder 1 |
Letter, circa 1930 |
Digital Folder DF-05634/1 |
Background documents, undatedBackground documents are born-digital and can be accessed in the Carolina Digital Repository by clicking on the folder number. |