Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#1494
CAPEHART FAMILY PAPERS
Inventory
Abstract: Correspondence, volumes, financial items, and
other materials, mostly 1811-1899, of the Capehart
family of Scotch Hall Plantation, Bertie County, N.C.,
plus some material of the related Martin family of
Philadelphia. Correspondents include Susan Bryan
Martin (b. 1815), who married George Washington
Capehart, and her father, Peter Boyd Martin (1777-
1838), who settled in Alexandria, La. Letters discuss
personal and family matters, including fears and
hardships endured by members of the family and their
friends in Virginia or in areas of North Carolina
occupied by the Union forces during the Civil War. Of
particular interest are the letters of William Rhodes
Capehart, son of George W. and Susan Martin Capehart,
describing his life as a surgeon and soldier in the
Confederate Army. Also included are volumes
containing slave records, 1840-1864; miscellaneous
accounts; genealogical information; and a recipe book
containing a list of names of former slaves who
remained at Scotch Hall after the war.
Online Catalog Terms:
Bertie County (N.C.)--History--19th century.
Capehart family.
Capehart, George Washington, 1810-1845.
Capehart, Susan Bryan Martin, b. 1815.
Capehart, William Rhodes, b. ca. 1838.
Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.
Confederate States of America. Army--Surgeons--Correspondence.
Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs--19th century.
Freedmen--North Carolina--Bertie County.
Martin family.
Martin, Peter Boyd, 1777-1835.
North Carolina--Genealogy.
North Carolina--Social conditions--Civil War, 1861-1865.
Plantation life--North Carolina.
Plantations--North Carolina--Bertie County.
Scotch Hall Plantation (Bertie County, N.C.).
Slave records--North Carolina--Bertie County.
Virginia--Social conditions--Civil War, 1861-1865.
Size: About 335 items (1.0 linear feet).
Provenance: Received from Mr. and Mrs. George W. Capehart,
Jr., of Windsor, N.C., in June 1983, and lent for
filming by Elizabeth Jacocks Capehart in 1948.
Access: No restrictions.
Related Collection: William Rhodes Capehart Papers (#2738).
Processing Note: This collection was processed with support
from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers,
or their descendants, as stipulated by United
States copyright law.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Biographical Note
Collection Overview
Series Descriptions
Series 1. Correspondence
Series 2. Financial, Legal, Printed and Related Material
Series 3. Volumes
Series 4. Microfilm
Series 5. Pictures
Shelf List
INTRODUCTION
Biographical Note
On 13 February 1812, Jannette Smith Bryan (1789-1818),
daughter of William and Elizabeth Gray Brown of Bertie County,
N.C., married Peter Boyd Martin (1777-1838) of Philadelphia, Pa.
After their mother's death, the Martins' three children, Robert
Campbell, Elizabeth Gray, and Susan Bryan, spent some time with
their father's family in Philadelphia, but apparently most of
their childhood was spent with the Bryans in Bertie County, while
their father operated a plantation in Alexandria, La. Susan
Bryan Martin (b. 1815) married George Washington Capehart (1810-
1885), the son of Cullen and Amelia Capehart of Bertie County, on
28 November 1833.
Scotch Hall, the Capehart family plantation overlooking the
Albemarle Sound in Bertie County, was begun in the early 1700s by
William Maule, a surveyor-general for colonial governor Charles
Eden. Cullen Capehart (1789-1866) bought the Scotch Hall
property from Jonathan Hill Jacocks in 1818. In 1838, George
Washington Capehart built the residence Scotch Hall near the
remains of a foundation, presumably of Maule's home. Scotch Hall
continued to be the residence of the Capehart family down to
Elizabeth Jacocks Capehart and her son George Washington
Capehart, Jr.
[For further information concerning Capehart family genealogy,
see folder 15, volume 8, and a letter dated 17 April 1952. For
further information about Scotch Hall, see the "Chronology of
`Scotch Hall' as recorded in deeds" in folder 15, a clipping in
folder 14, and photographs of Scotch Hall in series 5.]
Collection Overview
The bulk of these papers, about two hundred items, are
letters, about half of which date from the Civil War. Also
included are about sixty financial and legal items, 1782-1882;
about twenty printed items, chiefly clippings, 1861-1966;
miscellaneous material; nine volumes; and sixteen pictures of
Scotch Hall.
The collection is arranged as follows:
Series 1. Correspondence
Series 2. Financial, Legal, Printed, and Related Material
Series 3. Volumes
Series 4. Microfilm
Series 5. Pictures
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1. Correspondence
1811-1952. About 200 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Early correspondence includes an invitation, 1811, to Jannette
Bryan of Bertie County, N.C., to attend a ball; and 30 letters
from Susan Bryan Martin to her father, Peter Boyd Martin, in
Alexandria, La., concerning her school activities, friends in
Philadelphia, her sister Eliza, and individuals and events in
Bertie County, 1824-1833. After her marriage in 1833 until her
father's death in 1838, letters center on household affairs in
Bertie County, the births of her children, the death of her
daughter Eliza, and other family and neighborhood matters. A
very few letters from Peter Martin to Susan Capehart are
included. Other items include a letter from James Wilson to
Cullen and George W. Capehart, 1853, describing his 73-day
journey to Illinois, his success in farming, and the prices of
various commodities, and a letter from Robert C. Martin to George
W. Capehart, 1843, discussing and enclosing a map of property
from Peter Martin's estate in Philadelphia, Pa.
About half of the letters were written during the Civil War
and discuss the fears and hardships experienced by various
members of the Capehart family and their friends. In particular,
William Rhodes Capehart wrote about fifteen letters to his
mother, Susan Martin Capehart, and other family members while
serving as a surgeon in Poague's Battalion, Williams' Battery,
Ca. C, Tenth N.C.T. (First Artillery). These letters describe
the life of a soldier in the Confederate army as his unit marched
and fought near Columbia, Tenn., and later between Richmond and
Petersburg, Va. Also included are letters from other members of
the Capehart family and their friends, most of whom were in
Virginia and in areas of northeastern North Carolina occupied by
federal troops. Among them were Lucy H. Bryan, James B. Martin,
and Mollie Outlaw. There letters describe food shortages, war-
time parties, farming and fishing activities, prices and
shortages of clothing, farm animals and equipment taken by
"impressment agents," fear and disgust of Yankees, and
discussions of possible peace. Also of interest is the letter
from A. Smith, an overseer, addressed to George W. Capehart in
Franklin County, N.C., November 1864, describing events at Scotch
Hall while Bertie County was occupied by Federal troops.
Post-Civil War letters include several referring to conditions
during Reconstruction at plantations in Bertie County. There are
also a few letters from Kate (Mary Carey Capehart?) to her father
(Cullen Capehart?), ca. February 1866, indicating that some
former slaves wished to remain on plantations or with members of
their former owners' families, and five letters written by Sophia
Capehart in Norfolk, Va., in May 1868. There is also a letter,
1952, from Homer E. Capehart to Mr. and Mrs. George W. Capehart
concerning the genealogy of the Capehart family, with a brief
genealogical chart enclosed.
Folder 1 1811-1835
2 1836-1860
3 1861-1864
1865
4 January-February
5 March
6 April
7 May
8 June-December
9 1866
10 1868
11 1884-1952 and undated
Series 2. Financial, Legal, Printed and Related Material
1782-1966. About 80 items.
Among the financial and legal material are contracts,
agreements, wills, deeds, and bills and receipts of members of
the Capehart family. Included is a will of Jonathan Jacocks,
1782; an account of claims on the estate of Peter Boyd Martin,
1836-1839; an account of money received by Susan Bryan Martin
Capehart and her husband from Peter Martin's estate, 1838-1847;
and a loan agreement, 1882.
Most of the printed items are newspaper clippings from the
Richmond Dispatch, the North Carolina Standard, and other papers
concerning the Civil War. These chiefly describe battles and
local events in Virginia and North Carolina. There is also an
article from the Raleigh News and Observer, 1966, which gives a
brief history and description of Scotch Hall and its furnishings
and includes photographs of Elizabeth Jacocks Capehart and Scotch
Hall.
Among the miscellaneous material is a genealogical chart of
the Capehart family and a "Chronology of `Scotch Hall'."
Financial and Legal Material
Folder 12 1782-1847
13 1848-1882 and undated
14 Printed Material, 1861-1966
15 Miscellaneous Material
Series 3. Volumes
1840-1899. 9 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Chiefly genealogical material relating to the Martin and
Capehart families, slave records, and account books of a Capehart
business that apparently operated out of Norfolk, Va. Volume 9
is a recipe book that also includes the ages and birth dates of
the freed slaves who, presumably, remained on the Capehart estate
after the Civil War. Volume 4 includes a diary entry, dated 3
January 1867, concerning a violent storm.
Folder 16 Volume 1: 1840-1864, 46 pp. Slave records with
birth dates, lists of clothing, and a few recipes.
Folder 17 Volume 2: 1843-1866, 200 pp. Accounts of C.
Capehart.
Folder 18 Volume 3: 1855-1857, 42 pp. Sick list,
presumably of slaves.
Folder 19 Volume 4: 1866-1867, 80 pp. Scrapbook of Sue M.
Capehart.
Folder 20 Volume S-5: ca. 1867, 70 pp. Accounts of
merchandise and sundries from Norfolk, Va., with
pages missing.
Folder 21 Volume S-6: ca. 1867-1899, 300 pp. Accounts of
Cheek, Capehart, and Co., Norfolk, Va.
Folder 22 Volume 7: 1877-1879, 24 pp. Account book of
Susan Bryan Capehart.
Folder 23 Volume 8: 1882, 150 pp. "Family Record of
Marriages, Births, and Deaths" belonging to Sue
Martin Capehart Nicholls.
Folder 24 Volume 9: undated, 150 pp. Recipe book to which
was added a list of names, birth dates, and ages
of former slaves who remained at Scotch Hall after
the Civil War.
Series 4. Microfilm
1811-1923. 1 reel of microfilm.
M-1494/1 Approximately 220 items, mainly letters, of the
Capehart family with originals among the
correspondence in Series 1, except for the
following: 13 April 1849, 16 June 1858, 12
February 1865, ca. 1865 (beginning "A column of
Sherman's army..."), 9 January 1866, and 23
February 1890 (from Bill Arp), and two undated
letters beginning "Please return my basket..." and
"I don't want you... ." Other items that are not
included among originals in the printed material
include an obituary, an account of slaves, and a
1767 map of lands owned by William Rhodes
Capehart.
Series 5. Pictures
1890-1983. 16 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Photographs of Scotch Hall, the Capehart residence.
P-1494/1 Photograph of Scotch Hall in Bertie County, N.C.,
ca. 1890.
P-1494/2-16 Color slides of Scotch Hall and grounds, 1983.
SHELF LIST
Box 1 Series 1. Correspondence (folders 1-11)
Series 2. Financial, Legal, Printed
and Related Material (folders 12-15)
Series 3. Volumes (folder 16)
Box 2 Series 3. Volumes (folders 17-24)
Items separated:
V-1494/S-5
V-1494/S-5
M-1494/1
P-1494/1-16