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The United Daughters of the Confederacy World War Records of Lineal Descendants of Confederate Veterans, Record 1
Thanks to the Wilson County Public Library, nearly 70 World War I lineage records are now online.
Compiled by the United Daughters of the Confederacy’s North Carolina Chapter, these war records document information about men from Wilson County who served during the first World War. The records include the name, rank, and address of the soldier, as well as when and where they enlisted, the camps where they were trained, and when the soldier was discharged. In addition, it also includes the father’s name and address, mother’s maiden name, and the names and ranks of Confederate ancestors. Although most of the items are hand written, the names, camps, and dates have been included in the metadata and are searchable.
All of the records are in great condition and the handwriting is legible. These documents could be extremely helpful for genealogists and researchers interested in both World War I and Civil War information.
To learn more about the Wilson County Public Library, please visit the contributor page or the website. You can access more war records from Wilson County within the exhibit Wilson County’s Greatest Generation: The Memories of the World War II Veterans of Wilson County, N.C.
From the 1950-1976 scrapbook
The reverse side of the postcard
Our latest batch of materials from the Wayne County Public Library includes some seriously cool scrapbooks that document almost a century of the library’s history. Ranging from 1910 to the 1990s, these seven scrapbooks contain detailed minutes, photographs, newspaper clippings, event paraphernalia and other ephemera.
One of the most exciting sections is the collection of letters from North Carolina authors—who also happen to be mostly women—in the 1950-1976 scrapbook. Several writers seem to have been invited for readings and events at the library, and they wrote letters back to library staff about their experiences.
From the 1950-1976 scrapbook
One of the most famous writers that visited was Betty Smith, who is probably best known for her novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (there are several materials about her already on DigitalNC, including this video interview). Although she was born in New York, Smith adopted Chapel Hill as her home town later in life and is still buried in the Chapel Hill Memorial Cemetery. Along with the card that she sent to library staff (pictured above), the scrapbook includes a newspaper clipping with an interview of Smith where she encourages Chapel Hill to resist the push for industry and to preserve its small-town character.
“I hate to see commercialism,” she said. “They come in and tear up trees that took 200 years to grow, and pile them up and burn them to get rid of them. Then they stick out little trees—with wire holding them up. Why couldn’t we have a shortage of bulldozers!”
The second half of a letter from Doris Betts
Another well-known author included here is Doris Betts, who served as an English and creative writing professor at UNC Chapel Hill. Betts was born in Statesville, attended UNC Greensboro and eventually settled in Pittsboro. In her literary career, she produced six novels, three short story collections, a Guggenheim Fellowship, three Sir Walter Raleigh Awards and the N.C. Medal for Literature. Her archive is now part of the UNC Chapel Hill Southern Historical Collection at Wilson Library.
Other authors included in the 1950-1976 scrapbook include Inglis Fletcher, Bernice Kelly Harris, Mebane Holoman Burgwyn, Bernadette Hoyle, and Mertie Lee Powers.
You can see the full collection of scrapbooks here. To see more materials from the Wayne County Public Library, you can visit their partner page and their website.
Cover of a ledger/scrapbook from the Cumberland County Public Library, 1873-1875
A trio of nineteenth-century business ledgers from the Cumberland County Public Library are now online at DigitalNC. The ledgers date from the 1830s, the 1850s, and the 1870s, respectively, and can help teach us more about the daily lives of North Carolinians during the nineteenth century. Particularly interesting is the first ledger, which dates from 1832-1834 and documents the business dealings of the merchants Womack and Goodwin in Pittsboro. Operating as general merchants, the firm served the local community with wares ranging from lace, to nails, to sugar, and everything in between.
Page From the Womack and Goodwin Business Ledger, 1832
The second ledger dates from 1852 to 1854 and documents the transactions of an unidentified merchant who conducted business in Cumberland County, Randolph County, and elsewhere. It includes transactions with several prominent Randolph County personalities, including Isaac Holt Faust (1818-1864), a wealthy estate owner who enslaved people, and Pinckney Davenport II (1811-1867), a local moonshine distiller. A selection of papers from the family of Foust’s daughter can be found in the Harris and Foust Family Papers, part of the Southern Historical collection at UNC’s Wilson Library.
Isaac Holt Foust Account in the 1852-1856 Ledger
The third ledger includes more account information, attributable either to one JB Hockaday or one NA Stedman Jr. of Fayetteville, and dates from 1873-1875. The first 21 pages of this ledge are pasted over with unidentified drawings and newspaper clippings, mainly consisting of prose and poetry.
For more materials from the Cumberland County Public Library, please visit their website or their contributor page here at DigitalNC.
A scout making a fire in 1925 as seen on page 17
Boy Scout troop on page 78
A scrapbook provided by the Wilson County Public Library documents the adventures of Boy Scouts in Wilson County from 1925-1932. This scrapbook contains images of swimming, hiking, tent life, boating, troop portraits, and more. Many images contain handwritten identifications noting the date, activity, location, or individuals in the images.
The Boy Scouts of America was founded in 1910, so this scrapbook documents early BSA groups in Wilson County. Boys of all ages seem to have taken part, with many activities looking similar to Scouting that takes place today. One image from 1929 shows boys swimming using the “buddy system” where each camper is in charge of monitoring the swimming of their buddy. This system is a safety protocol still advocated by the Boy Scouts today.
To take a look at the scrapbook click here. To see more materials from Wilson County Public Library visit their partner page, or take a look at their website.
Scouts swimming using the “buddy system” in 1929 as seen on page 76
Part of The Wilson Advance header from the March 24, 1876 issue.
The Local Briefs section detailing happenings of the week as seen on the first page of the March 30, 1876 issue.
Two more issues of The Wilson Advance from March of 1876 are now up on DigitalNC, courtesy of our partner Wilson County Public Library. These issues join many previously digitized issues from 1874-1899 and give a glimpse into daily life in Wilson N.C. during the late 1800s. The Wilson advance was published every Friday, and included local and national news stories as well as obituaries, marriage announcements, events, and advertisements.
To view the new issues, click the links below:
To view more issues of The Wilson Advance on DigitalNC, click here. To see more materials from Wilson County Public Library, take a look at their partner page, or visit their website.
An advertisement for Leibig’s Liquid Extract of Beef from page 2 of the March 24, 1876 issue.
The circulation records of an ambitious student
What books were popular in school libraries over 100 years ago? New material from the Wilson County Public Library give us a fascinating glimpse into the reading habits of young people around the turn of the century. A book of circulation records from Wilson School’s Spring 1899 term details loan records from more than 250 students, showing what they read and when. Popular choices included books still well-known today such as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, as well as less currently read volumes such as Young Maids and Old by Clara Louise Burnham.
Wilson County Public Library has also contributed a set of portraits of Reverend Owen L.W. Smith, and his wife Dora Oden Smith. Reverend Smith was born as an enslaved person 1851, but as a young man ran away to join the Union Army when General Sherman marched through the south. He had an impressive and varied career as a school teacher, a Justice of the Peace, a lawyer, a preacher, and the Consul General to Liberia for two terms. He passed away in 1926 in Wilson County.
To learn more about Wilson County Public Library, and see other materials they’ve contributed to DigitalNC, visit their partner page.
Reverend Owen L.W. Smith
From the 1930-1931 booklet, a listing of the topics of discussion since 1898.
85 more years of the Wilson Book Club programs are now available online, thanks to our partner, the Wilson County Public Library. We have previously posted about the earliest of these programs, dating back to 1901. With the addition of 93 years of programs starting in 1911 and going through 2005, one can now have a good glimpse into changing interests in the literary world and how book clubs operate over the past 100 years. The earliest programs in this new batch often had a subject for that whole year, whether it was based on genre or topic, such as “The Netherlands” or “Modern Irish Literature“. Later years tended to have much more diverse set of subjects across the year, although on occasion still have a primary focus for the year. The 1975-1976 program reflects the bicentennial being celebrated and many of months have a colonial era focus. In addition to the information on the books read, a listing of the club members and who hosted each month is also included in the programs.
Perhaps a question many of us were asking in 2005.
To view all the book club programs, visit here. And to learn more about our partner Wilson County Public Library and view their digitized materials, visit their partner page.
The Wayne County Public Library has provided three more scrapbooks for digitization. These scrapbooks feature local baseball player Bobby Wilson throughout his time playing for the Baltimore Orioles (1948), Toronto Maple Leafs (1953-1954), and Indianapolis Indians (1952). Mr. Wilson was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, but he played baseball all over the country during his career.
“Bobbing Bobby” Wilson
A hit by Bobby Wilson drives a run in
Wayne County Public Library has provided a number of scrapbooks about Bobby Wilson in the past, as well as other baseball players and teams. For more information about Mr. Wilson and his career, see these previous blog posts, and for more information and to view the other materials from Wayne County Public Library, visit their contributor page.
Wilson County World War II Scrapbook, Page 52
The newest addition to the Wilson County’s Greatest Generation: The Memories of the World War II Veterans of Wilson County, N.C. digital exhibit is a scrapbook of newspaper clippings.
The scrapbook is a collection of newspaper clippings from various local newspapers and features citizens from Martin County and the surrounding towns, including Jamesville, Williamson, and Washington. The clippings include marriage announcements, injury and death announcements, new appointments, and overall movements of battles and the war.
Researchers might be interested in the way that smaller, local communities used the press to raise support around members of the community serving and the war effort overall. It is also a great source of genealogical information.
Check out all of the materials from Wilson County Public Library by visiting their contributor page and learn more about them by visiting their website.
Bobby Wilson, 1950
An additional scrapbook documenting the life and career of Minor League Baseball player Bobby Wilson has been added to DigitalNC. From the Wayne County Public Library, this scrapbook covers 1950-1951, during which Wilson played for the San Diego Padres. It includes newspaper clippings as well as a couple of photographs.
This scrapbook joins several earlier scrapbooks about Wilson, as well as a number of other scrapbooks from the same Library that document local baseball players.
View all materials from Wayne County Public Library on DigitalNC.
