New issues from thirteen newspaper titles have been added to DigitalNC, thanks to The North Carolina Collection at UNC Chapel Hill. These date from the late 19th century and fill in gaps in our digital newspaper collections. Issues from Our Home, The Daily Record, The Morning Herald, and The Western Herald are the first of these titles on the site.

Below is a list of titles, their cities of publication, and the years from which the issues date.

• Henderson Gold Leaf (Henderson, N.C.) – May 25, 1899
• The Wilmington Messenger (Wilmington, N.C.) – Nov. 18, 1898
• The Home Rule (Raleigh, N.C.) – Oct. 20, 1898
• The Western Herald (Jefferson, N.C.) – June 20, 1899
• The Morning Herald (Durham, N.C.) – Feb. 6, 1898, Sept. 18, 1898, Oct. 2, 1898, and Feb. 12, 1899
• The Lincoln Journal (Lincolnton, N.C.) – Aug. 26, 1898
• The Milton Herald (Milton, N.C.) – Feb. 3, 1898
• The Daily Record (Greensboro, N.C.) – Feb. 15, 1898, May 4, 1898, and June 8, 1898
• Salisbury Daily Sun (Salisbury, N.C.) – Aug. 10, 1898 and Dec. 28, 1899
• Our Home (Marshville, N.C.) – Aug. 16, 1898
• The Raleigh Times (Raleigh, N.C.) – May 26, 1898
• Winston-Salem Journal (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – May 25, 1898
• King’s Weekly (Greenville, N.C.) – March 24, 1899

Search or browse all of our newspapers here.

This week we have the final 35 newspaper titles for this project up on DigitalNC! Over the past 11 months we have uploaded over 2.4 million pages of North Carolina newspapers – bringing our total number of newspaper pages on DigitalNC to 4,175,076 and our total number of titles on DigitalNC to 1,161 – all freely available to anyone! In this closing batch we have our first paper from Bower, North Carolina (which you may know as Clemmons today) and an article in the Union Republican about Stokes County’s would be Wright brother: Jacob A. Hill.

Jacob Hill, Winston-Salem Journal, March 9, 1902

Before Orville and Wilbur’s iconic first flight in 1903, the race to create a manned flying machine was fiercely competitive. One of the contenders was a man from Vade Mecum Springs named Jacob Hill. Hill was born 1862 in Davie County and had been fascinated by the flight of birds ever since he was a child. In 1901 he decided to take that curiosity a little further and solve “the problem of aerial navigation” by building his own dirigible.

Mr. Hill’s machine could have been the first piloted aircraft, but we’ll never know for sure if it could actually fly and be controlled. Momentum ran out when Hill couldn’t secure funding for his invention. According to Thomas Parramore’s First to Fly, witnesses claimed the craft could get off the ground, but couldn’t do much more than hover in place. Even though Hill’s airship became something of a local joke for a time, the legacy of his wild aspirations continues to live on in North Carolina history.

Over the past year, we’ve added millions of newspaper images to DigitalNC. These images were originally digitized a number of years ago in a partnership with Newspapers.com. That project focused on scanning microfilmed papers published before 1923 held by the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Special Collections Library. While you can currently search all of those pre-1923 issues on Newspapers.com, we have made them available in our newspaper database as well. This will allow you to search that content alongside the 2 million pages already on our site – all completely open access and free to use.

This week’s additions include:

Belhaven

• The Belhaven Pilot (Belhaven, N.C.) – 1948-1957

Bower

• The Olive Leaf (Bower, N.C.) – 1904

Charlotte

• The Weekly Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1886

Greensboro

• The Daily Workman (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1883
• The Greensboro Review (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1881
• The Guilford Herald (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1896

Kings Mountain

• The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.) – 1914-1919

Kinston

• The Daily Free Press (Kinston, N.C.) – 1920-1922

Lenoir

• The Lenoir Topic (Lenoir, N.C.) – 1890-1894

Monroe

• The Monroe Express (Monroe, N.C.) – 1881
• The Monroe Register (Monroe, N.C.) – 1890

Mt. Airy

• The Mt. Airy Watchman (Mt. Airy, N.C.) – 1880
• The Mt. Airy Times (Mt. Airy, N.C.) – 1876-1877

New Bern

• The Republic and Courier (New Bern, N.C.) – 1872-1874
• The True Republican, and Newbern Weekly Advertiser (New Bern, N.C.) – 1810-1811
• The Morning Herald (New Bern, N.C.) – 1807-1808
• Newbern Herald (New Bern, N.C.) – 1809-1810
• The North Carolina Circular, and Newbern Weekly Advertiser (New Bern, N.C.) – 1803-1805
• The Daily Herald (New Bern, N.C.) – 1868
• The Republican & Courier (New Bern, N.C.) – 1871
• Newbern Enquirer (New Bern, N.C.) – 1860
• The Daily Journal (New Bern, N.C.) – 1894
• New Berne Daily Journal (New Bern, N.C.) – 1894-1895

Salem

• The Farmers’ Reporter (Salem, N.C.) – 1832
• The Salem Observer (Salem, N.C.) – 1867

Salisbury

• North Carolina Herald (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1885-1888

Shelby

• The Highlander (Shelby, N.C.) – 1914-1919
• The Aurora-Highlander (Shelby, N.C.) – 1917

Statesville

• Statesville Christian Advocate (Statesville, N.C.) – 1887-1890

Swan Quarter

• The Hyde County Herald (Swan Quarter, N.C.) – 1941-1956

Taylorsville

• The Mountain Scout (Taylorsville, N.C.) – 1907-1917

Warrenton

• The Indicator (Warrenton, N.C.) – 1867-1868

Winston

• The Union Republican (Winston, N.C.) – 1874-1918
• The Twin-City Daily (Winston, N.C.) – 1889

Winston-Salem

• The Twin-City Daily Sentinel (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1916

If you want to see all of the newspapers we have available on DigitalNC, you can find them here. Thanks to UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries for permission to and support for adding all of this content as well as the content to come. We also thank the North Caroliniana Society for providing funding to support staff working on this project.

This week we have another 40 newspaper titles and thousands of issues up on DigitalNC, including over 1,000 issues from The Messenger and Intelligencer from Wadesboro, the birthplace of Piedmont blues musician Blind Boy Fuller (read a brief biography about Fuller here). In this post we have some interesting new information regarding the blues legend’s birth!

Via John Edwards Memorial Foundation Records (PF-20001), Southern Folklife Collection, Wilson Library

Blind Boy Fuller was born Fulton Allen to parents Calvin Allen and Mary Jane Walker in Wadesboro, North Carolina, but the actual date of his birth is very much up for debate. The date of July 10 seems to be generally agreed upon, but the actual year tends to differ. While there are some sources that put it at 1904, folklorist Bruce Bastin puts Allen’s date of birth at July 10, 1907 based on statements from the North Carolina State Commission for the Blind, the Social Security Board, and the Durham County Welfare records. However, his 1941 death certificate states that he was 32 years old when he died, putting the year of his birth at 1908.

Rockingham Post-Dispatch, July 28, 1921

What we found makes things a little interesting. After the family relocated to Rockingham sometime in the early 1900s, his father posted a notice in the July 28, 1921 issue of the Rockingham Post-Dispatch that would suggest that none of these are accurate. The notice supports the idea of a July birthday but implies that, being 16 years old, he would have actually been born in 1905.

Bruce Bastin is the author of Red River Blues: The Blues Tradition in the Southeast and Early Masters of American Blues Guitar: Blind Boy Fuller with Stefan Grossman. The Bruce Bastin and Stefan Grossman Collections are housed here at UNC as part of the Southern Folklife Collection.

Over the next year, we’ll be adding millions of newspaper images to DigitalNC. These images were originally digitized a number of years ago in a partnership with Newspapers.com. That project focused on scanning microfilmed papers published before 1923 held by the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Special Collections Library. While you can currently search all of those pre-1923 issues on Newspapers.com, over the next year we will also make them available in our newspaper database as well. This will allow you to search that content alongside the 2 million pages already on our site – all completely open access and free to use.

This week’s additions include:

Charlotte

• Daily Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1892-1893
• The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1921
• Beasley’s Farm and Home Weekly (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1945

Edenton

• Biblical Recorder and Journal of Passing Events (Edenton, N.C.) – 1834

Greensboro

• The Greensborough Patriot (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1865
• Greensboro Evening Telegram (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1898

High Point

• High Point Reporter (High Point, N.C.) – 1860

Lexington

• The Davidson Dispatch (Lexington, N.C.) – 1882

Milton

• The Milton Chronicle (Milton, N.C.) – 1882

New Bern

• The Biblical Recorder (New Bern, N.C.) – 1835-1837

Raleigh

• The Biblical Recorder and Southern Watchman (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1838-1841
• The Biblical Recorder (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1843-1903
• North Carolina Standard (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1868
• The Daily North Carolina Standard (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1868
• The Raleigh Student (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1924-1929
• North Carolina Christian Advocate (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1929-1930

Rocky Mount

• The Phoenix (Rocky Mount, N.C.) – 1889-1895
• The Rocky Mount Motor (Rocky Mount, N.C.) – 1900
• The Evening Telegram (Rocky Mount, N.C.) – 1921-1922
• Rocky Mount Weekly News (Rocky Mount, N.C.) – 1921-1922

Salem

• The People’s Press (Salem, N.C.) – 1860-1861

Salisbury

• The Rowan Whig and Western Advocate (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1855
• Republican Banner (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1856
• Daily Carolina Watchman (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1864-1865
• The Salisbury Press (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1888

Wadesboro

• The Messenger and Intelligencer (Wadesboro, N.C.) – 1888-1919
• The Messenger and Intelligencer and Ansonian (Wadesboro, N.C.) – 1919-1923

Wilmington

• The Daily Journal (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1852-1877
• Wilmington Journal (Wilmington, N.C.) – 1877

Winston

• Western Sentinel (Winston, N.C.) – 1857-1883
• The Twin-City Daily (Winston, N.C.) – 1885-1889
• The Winston Leader (Winston, N.C.) – 1885
• The Friend of Home (Winston, N.C.) – 1887
• The Winston Weekly Journal (Winston, N.C.) – 1897-1901
• The Twin-City Sentinel (Winston, N.C.) – 1892-1916
• The Union Republican (Winston, N.C.) – 1912-1922

Winston-Salem

• The Journal (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1898-1900
• The Daily Journal (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1900
• Winston-Salem Journal (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1902-1922
• Twin City Sentinel (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1916-1923

If you want to see all of the newspapers we have available on DigitalNC, you can find them here. Thanks to UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries for permission to and support for adding all of this content as well as the content to come. We also thank the North Caroliniana Society for providing funding to support staff working on this project.

This week we’ve added another 60 titles to DigitalNC. Included in this batch is the possible origin of a classic North Carolina ghost story!

The Maco Light story tells of a train conductor name Joe Baldwin who was decapitated in a tragic railway accident near the small community of Maco, North Carolina. Legend has it that the ghost of Mr. Baldwin could be seen walking the tracks at night, carrying a lantern and searching for his misplaced head, but once the railroad was removed in the 1970s he was never seen again.

The Southerner, January 12, 1856

As is the case with most folk tales, the story is passed down and embellished over the years and the origin becomes a little fuzzy. There is no record of a “Joe” Baldwin being involved in a wreck, but the January 12^th, 1856 issue of The Southerner has an article detailing a train accident that took place just outside of Wilmington a week earlier. The deceased in this incident is Charles Baldwin, who suffered a fatal head injury during the crash. Given the similarities in these stories, it seems our ghost might have actually stayed in one piece.

Over the next year, we’ll be adding millions of newspaper images to DigitalNC. These images were originally digitized a number of years ago in a partnership with Newspapers.com. That project focused on scanning microfilmed papers published before 1923 held by the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Special Collections Library. While you can currently search all of those pre-1923 issues on Newspapers.com, over the next year we will also make them available in our newspaper database as well. This will allow you to search that content alongside the 2 million pages already on our site – all completely open access and free to use.

This week’s additions include:

Elizabeth City

• Daily Economist (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1905

Greensboro

• The Way of the World (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1862-1864
• The Weekly Tar Heel (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1905-1906
• The Twice-A-Week Tar Heel (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1907

Hendersonville

• The Visitor (Hendersonville, N.C.) – 1916-1918
• The Hendersonville Visitor (Hendersonville, N.C.) – 1918
• The News of Henderson County (Hendersonville, N.C.) – 1918-1919

Oxford

• The Tattler (Oxford, N.C.) – 1921-1922
• The Oxford Leader (Oxford, N.C.) – 1876
• The Torch-Light (Oxford, N.C.) – 1874-1880
• The Oxford Torchlight (Oxford, N.C.) – 1880-1886
• The Torchlight (Oxford, N.C.) – 1886-1888

Rutherfordton

• The Rutherfordton Tribune (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1901-1904
• The Western Vindicator (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1868-1899

Salem

• Weekly Chronicle and Farmers’ Register (Salem, N.C.) – 1836-1837
• The Little Typo (Salem, N.C.) – 1885-1889
• The News (Salem, N.C.) – 1883-1885

Salisbury

• The Salisbury Truth (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1887-1899

Southern Pines

• The Pine Knot (Southern Pines, N.C.) – 1886-1888

Southport

• The Southport Leader (Southport, N.C.) – 1895-1896

Tarboro

• Tarboro’ Mercury (Tarboro, N.C.) – 1859-1861
• The Tarborough Southerner (Tarboro, N.C.) – 1856-1858, 1869

Taylorsville

• The Taylorsville Index (Taylorsville, N.C.) – 1890-1891

Warrenton

• The Warrenton Courier (Warrenton, N.C.) – 1868
• The Living Present (Warrenton, N.C.) – 1869
• The Warrenton News (Warrenton, N.C.) – 1878-1882
• Home Journal (Warrenton, N.C.) – 1885
• Warrenton (North-Carolina) Reporter (Warrenton, N.C.) – 1824-1841

Washington

• The Republican (Washington, N.C.) – 1839
• Rough and Ready (Washington, N.C.) – 1848
• The Statesman, and Third Congressional District Advertiser (Washington, N.C.) – 1834-1835
• North Carolina Times (Washington, N.C.) – 1856-1860
• The Union Advance Picket (Washington, N.C.) – 1862
• The Eastern Intelligencer (Washington, N.C.) – 1869
• The Union (Washington, N.C.) – 1832
• What Next (Washington, N.C.) – 1876
• Washington Dispatch (Washington, N.C.) – 1857-1861
• Washington Herald (Washington, N.C.) – 1827
• Washington Index (Washington, N.C.) – 1867
• The Washington Gazette (Washington, N.C.) – 1884-1898

Williamston

• Democratic Banner (Williamston, N.C.) – 1856-1857
• Williamston Expositor (Williamston, N.C.) – 1866-1867
• Williamston Mercury (Williamston, N.C.) – 1859

Wilson

• The North Carolinian (Wilson, N.C.) – 1867-1868
• The Daily News (Wilson, N.C.) – 1900-1901
• The Wilson Ledger (Wilson, N.C.) – 1858-1861
• The Flag of the South (Wilson, N.C.) – 1861
• The Advertiser (Wilson, N.C.) – 1888
• The Advance (Wilson, N.C.) – 1874-1876
• The Wilson News (Wilson, N.C.) – 1899
• The Daily Topic (Wilson, N.C.) – 1873
• Southern Sentinel (Wilson, N.C.) – 1856
• The Little Jewel (Wilson, N.C.) – 1875

Winston

• The Piedmont Advertiser (Winston, N.C.) – 1890
• The Winston Leader (Winston, N.C.) – 1879-1885
• The Daily Pilot (Winston, N.C.) – 1883-1884

Winston-Salem

• The Twin-City Daily Sentinel (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1892-1914
• Elite (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1900
• The North Carolina Enterprise (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1885-1915
• The Enterprise (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1915

If you want to see all of the newspapers we have available on DigitalNC, you can find them here. Thanks to UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries for permission to and support for adding all of this content as well as the content to come. We also thank the North Caroliniana Society for providing funding to support staff working on this project.

This week we have another 60 titles up on DigitalNC! While these papers cover all of North Carolina, almost one third are from Statesville alone!

In the October 3^rd, 1902 issue of Elizabeth City’s Tar Heel, there is an interview with Reginald Aubrey Fessenden’s assistant, Professor Saint Marie. Fessenden was a pioneer in early radio, or “wireless telegraphy,” and was conducting experiments at Manteo on Roanoke Island. In the interview, Prof. Saint Marie seems somewhat pessimistic about the process and its possibilities, which might be due to Fessenden abruptly ending their contract with the Weather Bureau the previous month after conflict arose over ownership of the patent.

Tar Heel, October 3, 1902

However, less than two months later The News and Observer reported that Fessenden’s invention had greatly improved and could now send transmissions to Washington, D.C. On Christmas Eve, 1906, he conducted the first radio broadcast by reading a bible verse and then playing ‘O Holy Night’ on his violin for the ships off the coast of Massachusetts. By 1909, according the the Charlotte Evening Observer, he had perfected the process for which he laid the foundation on the Carolina coast.

News and Observer, November 23, 1902

Evening Chronicle, April 14, 1909

Over the next year, we’ll be adding millions of newspaper images to DigitalNC. These images were originally digitized a number of years ago in a partnership with Newspapers.com. That project focused on scanning microfilmed papers published before 1923 held by the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Special Collections Library. While you can currently search all of those pre-1923 issues on Newspapers.com, over the next year we will also make them available in our newspaper database as well. This will allow you to search that content alongside the 2 million pages already on our site – all completely open access and free to use.

This week’s additions include:

Elizabeth City

• Tar Heel (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1901-1910

Moravian Falls

• The Yellow-Jacket (Moravian Falls, N.C.) – 1895-1928

North Wilkesboro

• The North Wilkesboro Hustler (North Wilkesboro, N.C.) – 1906-1926
• North Wilkesboro News (North Wilkesboro, N.C.) – 1893-1896

Oxford

• The Leisure Hour (Oxford, N.C.) – 1858-1861
• The News of Oxford (Oxford, N.C.) – 1889
• Oxford Banner (Oxford, N.C.) – 1911
• The Granville Whig (Oxford, N.C.) – 1850
• Granville County Reformer (Oxford, N.C.) – 1894
• The Oxford Mercury (Oxford, N.C.) – 1843
• The Oxford Mercury, and District Telegraph (Oxford, N.C.) – 1843-1844
• The Oxford Leader (Oxford, N.C.) – 1875

Pittsboro

• The Communicator (Pittsboro, N.C.) – 1847
• Central Reflector (Pittsboro, N.C.) – 1833
• The Home (Pittsboro, N.C.) – 1887-1889

Rutherfordton

• West-Carolina Record (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1873-1874
• The Rutherford Star and West-Carolina Record (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1874-1875

Salem

• The Farmers’ Reporter (Salem, N.C.) – 1832-1834
• The Farmers’ Reporter and Rural Repository (Salem, N.C.) – 1835-1836
• Carolina Gazette (Salem, N.C.) – 1841

Salisbury

• The Evening World (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1895-1898
• Weekly World (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1895-1896
• Salisbury News (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1878
• The Salisbury Press (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1888
• The Tribune (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1872
• The Daily Gazette (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1865
• The Rowan Whig and Western Advocate (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1852-1855
• The Salisbury Herald (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1855-1857
• The Weekly Jubilee (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1852
• The Prohibitionist (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1881
• Salisbury Weekly Sun (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1897-1904
• Salisbury Globe (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1904-1905
• The Salisbury Daily Index (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1899-1900
• Salisbury Daily Truth-Index (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1900-1901
• Daily Herald (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1891-1896
• North Carolina Herald (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1885-1898
• The Industrial Record (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1899

Selma

• The Johnstonian (Selma, N.C.) – 1926

Shelby

• The Mountain Eagle (Shelby, N.C.) – 1861
• Shelby Review (Shelby, N.C.) – 1892

Siler City

• The Siler City Grit (Siler City, N.C.) 1905-1920

Smithfield

• The Weekly Herald (Smithfield, N.C.) – 1883
• The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, N.C.) – 1885-1900

Statesville

• The Mascot (Statesville, N.C.) – 1897-1899
• The Statesville Mascot (Statesville, N.C.) – 1899-1901
• The Evening Mascot (Statesville, N.C.) – 1908-1909

Stonewall

• The Pamlico Enterprise (Stonewall, N.C.) – 1882-1884

Tarboro

• Tarboro’ Press (Tarboro, N.C.) – 1845-1847

Taylorsville

• The Mountain Scout (Taylorsville, N.C.) – 1913-1916

Wadesboro

• The Pee Dee Star (Wadesboro, N.C.) – 1854

Warrenton

• The Centennial (Warrenton, N.C.) – 1876
• The Semi-Weekly News (Warrenton, N.C.) – 1856-1857
• Warrenton News (Warrenton, N.C.) – 1850-1861

Washington

• The Weekly Express (Washington, N.C.) – 1873
• Washington Gazette, and Weekly Advertiser (Washington, N.C.) – 1807-1808
• Freeman’s Echo (Washington, N.C.) – 1829
• The New Era (Washington, N.C.) – 1862-1863
• The North State Press (Washington, N.C.) – 1878-1881

Wilson

• The Plaindealer (Wilson, N.C.) – 1869-1873

Windsor

• The Albemarle Press (Windsor, N.C.) – 1874-1876

If you want to see all of the newspapers we have available on DigitalNC, you can find them here. Thanks to UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries for permission to and support for adding all of this content as well as the content to come. We also thank the North Caroliniana Society for providing funding to support staff working on this project.

This week we have another 61 titles up on DigitalNC, including our first additions from Charleston, Culler, Red Springs, Rutherfordton, and Sanford! Included in this batch, on the front page of the February 28, 1872 issue of Raleigh’s Weekly Sentinel, is an article detailing the final heist of Robeson County folk hero Henry Berry Lowry.

Portrait thought to be of Henry Berry Lowry. Via the State Archives of North Carolina

Henry Berry Lowry, a Lumbee Native American, was the head of the mostly Native outlaw group known as the Lowry Gang. In addition to typical outlaw activities, the Lowry Gang also helped other Native Americans avoid Confederate work conscription and fought alongside Union soldiers who had escaped Confederate prison camps. While Lowry did often resort to murder to settle personal feuds, he was also considered a sort of Robeson “Robin Hood.” When they committed robberies, they would often share the spoils with the community and would return items such as horses as soon as they were no longer needed. They were known to be “respectful” robbers and would let you off the hook if you could show you didn’t have much.

The Weekly Sentinel, February 28, 1872

In 1869, governor William Holden put a $12,000 bounty on Lowry’s head, which resulted in bloody conflict over the next few years. After successfully evading capture, Lowry planned his final heist in February of 1872. The gang stole a safe from a local carriage manufacturer and were bold enough to take another from the sheriff’s office, walking away with $22,000 (about $520,000 today) and then he disappeared. The bounty was never collected and he was never heard from again. Some locals claim they saw him at a friend’s funeral years later, but we will likely never know what happened to Henry Berry Lowry.

Over the next year, we’ll be adding millions of newspaper images to DigitalNC. These images were originally digitized a number of years ago in a partnership with Newspapers.com. That project focused on scanning microfilmed papers published before 1923 held by the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Special Collections Library. While you can currently search all of those pre-1923 issues on Newspapers.com, over the next year we will also make them available in our newspaper database as well. This will allow you to search that content alongside the 2 million pages already on our site – all completely open access and free to use.

This week’s additions include:

Asheboro

• Southern Citizen, & Man of Business (Asheboro, N.C.) – 1836-1837
• Southern Citizen (Asheboro, N.C.) – 1837-1844

Charleston

• Swain County Herald (Charleston, N.C.) – 1889-1890

Charlotte

• The People’s Paper (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1896-1903

Culler

• Pinnacle Era (Culler, N.C.) – 1893
• North Carolina Voice (Culler, N.C.) – 1894

Elizabeth City

• The Old North State, and Nag’s Head Advocate (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1841
• The Old North State (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1849-1854

Goldsboro

• Republican and Patriot (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1853
• North Carolina Republican (Goldsboro, N.C.) – 1854

Greensboro

• The Daily Evening Patriot (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1888
• Weekly Message (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1851-1867
• The Message (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1867-1870
• The Olive Branch (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1870-1871
• The Greensboro Times (Greensboro, N.C.) – 1868

Halifax

• Roanoke Advocate (Halifax, N.C.) – 1830-1833
• Roanoke Advocate and State Rights Banner (Halifax, N.C.) – 1840-1842
• Roanoke Republican (Halifax, N.C.) – 1843-1855

Hertford

• Perquiman’s Record (Hertford, N.C.) – 1890-1894

North Wilkesboro

• The Hustler (North Wilkesboro, N.C.) – 1899-1905

Oxford

• The Oxford Free Lance (Oxford, N.C.) – 1878
• Oxford Examiner (Oxford, N.C.) – 1830-1838
• Oxford Mercury, and Citizen of Granville (Oxford, N.C.) – 1841

Plymouth

• The Plymouth Banner (Plymouth, N.C.) – 1856
• The Old Flag (Plymouth, N.C.) – 1865
• The Plymouth News (Plymouth, N.C.) – 1849-1850

Raleigh

• The Weekly Sentinel (Raleigh, N.C.) – 1872-1876

Red Springs

• Red Springs Comet (Red Springs, N.C.) – 1892
• The Comet (Red Springs, N.C.) – 1893

Reidsville

• The Reidsville Times (Reidsville, N.C.) – 1876-1889

Rockingham

• Spirit of the South (Rockingham, N.C.) – 1873-1892
• The Pee Dee Courier (Rockingham, N.C.) – 1876
• The Pee Dee Bee (Rockingham, N.C.) – 1879
• The Bee (Rockingham, N.C.) – 1880-1881

Rutherfordton

• The New Regime (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1876
• Carolina Gazette (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1836-1837
• Western Star of Liberty (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1840
• Rutherfordton Intelligencer (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1841-1843
• North Carolina Spectator and Western Advertiser (Rutherfordton, N.C.) – 1830-1835

Salisbury

• Republican Banner (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1854-1857
• The Salisbury Banner (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1858-1867
• Yadkin Valley Herald (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1917-1919
• The Daily Union Banner (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1865-1866

Sanford

• The Sanford Express (Sanford, N.C.) – 1902-1917

Shelby

• Cleaveland Banner (Shelby, N.C.) – 1872-1874
• Shelby Banner (Shelby, N.C.) – 1875-1876
• New Era (Shelby, N.C.) – 1887-1889
• Shelby Aurora (Shelby, N.C.) – 1875-1906

Tarboro

• The Carolina Banner (Tarboro, N.C.) – 1889-1891
• The Farmers’ Advocate (Tarboro, N.C.) – 1891-1892
• The Tarborough Southerner (Tarboro, N.C.) – 1883-1885

Taylorsville

• The Alexander County Journal (Taylorsville, N.C.) – 1889-1890

Wadesboro

• The Pee Dee Herald (Wadesboro, N.C.) – 1871-1880

Warrenton

• The Record (Warrenton, N.C.) – 1913-1916
• The Warren Record (Warrenton, N.C.) – 1917-1922

Washington

• Washington Progress (Washington, N.C.) – 1914-1922
• The Whig (Washington, N.C.) – 1835-1838
• Washington Whig (Washington, N.C.) – 1839
• Washington Whig and Republican Gazette (Washington, N.C.) – 1839-1842
• North State Whig (Washington, N.C.) – 1842-1854

Winston-Salem

• The Business Guide (Winston-Salem, N.C.) – 1906-1907

If you want to see all of the newspapers we have available on DigitalNC, you can find them here. Thanks to UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries for permission to and support for adding all of this content as well as the content to come. We also thank the North Caroliniana Society for providing funding to support staff working on this project.

This week we have another 38 newspaper titles up on DigitalNC! In this batch, we have issues spanning 33 years from Oxford, N.C. paper Oxford Public Ledger. In addition to being the county seat for Granville County, Oxford is also home to the first female parachutist and inventor of the ripcord: Georgia “Tiny” Broadwick.

Georgia was born April 8, 1893 and weighed only three pounds at birth, earning her the nickname “Tiny.” She was married at age 12, had a child at 13, and was widowed before she was 15. In 1907, her life changed forever when she saw The Broadwicks and their Famous French Aeronauts perform aerial stunts at the North Carolina State Fair. She left home, joined the Broadwicks travelling show, and was legally adopted by the show owner, Charles Broadwick, making her “Tiny” Broadwick.

Georgia ‘Tiny’ Broadwick, 1911. Via Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

In an exhibition in Chicago the week of September 16, 1912, Broadwick became the first woman to parachute from a plane. In 1914, jumped into Lake Michigan, making her the first woman to parachute into a body of water. Also in 1914, she debuted the ripcord in a parachuting demonstration for the U.S. Army, performing the first planned free-fall jump from an airplane. By the end of her career she is said to have performed over 1,100 jumps.

Wilmington Star, January 10, 1914

Over the next year, we’ll be adding millions of newspaper images to DigitalNC. These images were originally digitized a number of years ago in a partnership with Newspapers.com. That project focused on scanning microfilmed papers published before 1923 held by the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Special Collections Library. While you can currently search all of those pre-1923 issues on Newspapers.com, over the next year we will also make them available in our newspaper database as well. This will allow you to search that content alongside the 2 million pages already on our site – all completely open access and free to use.

This week’s additions include:

• Toisnot Transcript (Toisnot, N.C.) – 1876
• Rocky Mount Progress (Rocky Mount, N.C.) – 1880
• The Warsaw Brief Mention (Warsaw, N.C.) – 1880
• The Albemarle Observer (Edenton, N.C.) – 1914-1915
• The Messenger (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1887-1888
• The Times-Herald (Littleton, N.C.) – 1906-1909
• The Maxton Union (Maxton, N.C.) – 1889-1891
• Waynesville Courier (Waynesville, N.C.) – 1888-1911
• The Waynesville News (Waynesville, N.C.) – 1888
• Siler City Leader (Siler City, N.C.) – 1892
• The Troy Times (Troy, N.C.) – 1888
• The Daily News (Waynesville, N.C.) – 1886
• The Farmer’s Friend (Morganton, N.C.) – 1898
• The Norlina Headlight (Norlina, N.C.) – 1914-1924
• The Public Ledger (Oxford, N.C.) – 1889-1901
• Oxford Public Ledger (Oxford, N.C.) – 1901-1911
• Public Ledger and Oxford Banner (Oxford, N.C.) – 1912-1913
• Public Ledger (Oxford, N.C.) – 1913-1919
• Oxford Public Ledger (Oxford, N.C.) – 1919-1922
• The Tri-Weekly Examiner (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1869-1872
• The Weekly Examiner (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1871-1872
• The Salisbury Examiner (Salisbury, N.C.) – 1881-1883
• The Great Sunny South (Snow Hill, N.C.) – 1898
• The Stovall Courier (Stovall, N.C.) – 1898
• The People’s Paper (Warren Plains, N.C.) – 1895-1896
• Washington Weekly Progress (Washington, N.C.) – 1887-1888
• Washington Progress (Washington, N.C.) – 1888-1891
• The Roxboro Herald (Roxboro, N.C.) – 1881
• The Person County News (Roxboro, N.C.) – 1882-1883
• Person County Courier (Roxboro, N.C.) – 1893-1896
• The Courier (Roxboro, N.C.) – 1896-1910
• The Roxboro Courier (Roxboro, N.C.) – 1911-1917
• The Argonaut (Rocky Mount, N.C.) – 1894
• The Selma News (Selma, N.C.) – 1887
• The Messenger (Siler City, N.C.) – 1898-1900
• The Woman’s Right (Wadesboro, N.C.) – 1874
• The Sunny Home (Toisnot, N.C.) – 1881-1883
• The People’s Press (Salem, N.C.) – 1851-1892

If you want to see all of the newspapers we have available on DigitalNC, you can find them here. Thanks to UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries for permission to and support for adding all of this content as well as the content to come. We also thank the North Caroliniana Society for providing funding to support staff working on this project.

This week we have another 60 titles from all over the state up on DigitalNC, including a little piece of North Carolina railroad history!

On the second page of the January 15^th, 1833 issue of the Fayetteville Observer, you’ll find a list of all the legislation enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly during the 1832-1833 session. One of these acts is the incorporation of the company that built North Carolina’s first functional railroad: The Experimental Rail Road Company of Raleigh.

Fayetteville Observer, January 15, 1833

The one and one-quarter mile rail line extended from the Capitol Building, which had burned in 1831, to a quarry just east of Raleigh. When the horse-drawn rail carts weren’t transporting the stone used to rebuild the Capitol, people could ride the line in “pleasure cars” for a 25 cent fare. The line cost $2,700 to construct, which would be roughly $91,000 in 2022.

Over the next year, we’ll be adding millions of newspaper images to DigitalNC. These images were originally digitized a number of years ago in a partnership with Newspapers.com. That project focused on scanning microfilmed papers published before 1923 held by the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Special Collections Library. While you can currently search all of those pre-1923 issues on Newspapers.com, over the next year we will also make them available in our newspaper database as well. This will allow you to search that content alongside the 2 million pages already on our site – all completely open access and free to use.

This week’s additions include:

• The North Carolina Prohibitionist (Bush Hill, N.C.) – 1886-1888
• The Progress (Enfield, N.C.) – 1908-1922
• The North-Carolina Journal (Halifax, N.C.) – 1792-1810
• The News Reporter (Littleton, N.C.) – 1897-1923
• The Franklin Courier (Louisburg, N.C.) – 1872-1874
• The Madison Enterprise (Madison, N.C.) – 1873-1874
• The Monroe Journal (Monroe, N.C.) – 1923
• The Iredell Gazette (Mooresville, N.C.) – 1880
• The Morganton Herald (Morganton, N.C.) – 1891-1901
• Surry Visitor (Mount Airy, N.C.) – 1874-1876
• Cherokee Herald (Murphy, N.C.) – 1874-1876
• Person County Courier (Roxboro, N.C.) – 1890-1892
• North Carolina Argus (Wadesboro, N.C.) – 1848-1876
• Mecklenburg Times (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1889-1897
• The North Carolina Whig (Charlotte, N.C.) – 1863
• King’s Dollar Daily (Greenville, N.C.) – 1904
• King’s Weekly (Greenville, N.C.) – 1894-1909
• McDowell Democrat (Marion, N.C.) – 1905-1909
• Marion Progress (Marion, N.C.) – 1909-1922
• The Stanly Banner (Albemarle, N.C.) – 1876
• The Stanly Observer (Albemarle, N.C.) – 1884
• The Stanly News (Albemarle, N.C.) – 1892-1893
• The Caldwell Messenger (Lenoir, N.C.) – 1875-1876
• The Semi-Weekly News (Lenoir, N.C.) – 1900
• The Weekly News (Lenoir, N.C.) – 1900-1902
• The Magnolia Monitor (Magnolia, N.C.) – 1873-1876
• The Duplin Record (Magnolia, N.C.) – 1874-1875
• The Weekly Record (Magnolia, N.C.) – 1876-1877
• The Central (Lexington, N.C.) – 1876
• Lexington and Yadkin Flag (Lexington, N.C.) – 1855-1856
• The Lexington Herald (Lexington, N.C.) – 1915-1917
• The North State (Lexington, N.C.) – 1904-1908
• Murfreesboro Enquirer (Murfreesboro, N.C.) – 1876-1878
• The Albemarle Enquirer (Murfreesboro, N.C.) – 1878-1881
• The Hornets’ Nest (Murfreesboro, N.C.) – 1812-1813
• Carolina Chronicle (Murfreesboro, N.C.) – 1827
• Milton Intelligencer (Milton, N.C.) – 1819
• Milton Spectator (Milton, N.C.) – 1832-1839
• The Milton Chronicle (Milton, N.C.) – 1841-1888
• Milton Gazette & Roanoke Advertiser (Milton, N.C.) – 1824-1831
• The Milton Spectator (Milton, N.C.) – 1854
• The Lincoln Democrat (Lincolnton, N.C.) – 1895-1896
• The Lincoln Journal (Lincolnton, N.C.) – 1898-1901
• The Lincoln Courier (Lincolnton, N.C.) – 1891
• Lincoln Transcript (Lincolnton, N.C.) – 1836
• The Western Whig Banner (Lincolnton, N.C.) – 1840
• Lincoln Progress (Lincolnton, N.C.) – 1873-1882
• Economist (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1903
• The Weekly Economist (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1903-1905
• Daily Economist (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1905-1907
• North Carolina Advocate (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1833
• The Intelligencer, and Nag’s Head Advocate (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1840-1841
• The Elizabeth-City Gazette, and Public Advertiser (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1808
• Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1833
• The Public Spirit (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1876
• The News (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1865
• The Fayetteville Daily News (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1865
• The Weekly Courier (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1860
• Fayetteville Examiner (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1880-1883
• Daily Telegraph (Fayetteville, N.C.) – 1865

If you want to see all of the newspapers we have available on DigitalNC, you can find them here. Thanks to UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries for permission to and support for adding all of this content as well as the content to come. We also thank the North Caroliniana Society for providing funding to support staff working on this project.