Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#163
COLE AND TAYLOR FAMILY PAPERS
Inventory
Abstract: Prominent family members include James C. Cole (d.
1864) and his wife, Mary Catharine Cole (1799-1862),
of New Bern, N.C., who were the parents of four
daughters and two sons. Three of the daughters--Mary
Catherine (d. 1909), Harriot G. (ca. 1826-1921), and
Sarah A. (d. 1900), wife of Alexander Taylor--lived
together in Chapel Hill after about 1862 while running
a boarding house. James Cole Taylor (b. 1855),
surveyor, chemist, metallurgist, railroad
superintendent, and banker, was the son of Sarah A.
Cole Taylor.
Business, legal, and personal papers of
several generations of the Cole and Taylor families of
New Bern and Chapel Hill, N.C. Most of the antebellum
papers are deeds for land in Craven and Jones
counties, N.C. Scattered business and personal
correspondence begins to appear around 1812, and
includes letters written from New Bern, Raleigh, and
other North Carolina towns. Later letters were
written from Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, and
New York City. Also included are letters, 1830-1860,
addressed to relatives on an Alabama plantation, and
overseer's letters from Tennessee plantations. Among
the volumes are three account books of James Carney
for general merchandise sold at New Bern, 1858-1860;
guard reports, 1861-1862, of the 53rd New York
Regiment; seven volumes of daily weather records at
Chapel Hill, 1890-1909, kept by Mary C. Cole; an 1870
diary of James Cole Taylor; a notebook labelled
"General Orders," probably dating from the Civil War;
short drafts of letters written by Sarah Taylor; and a
record book relating to the Coles' tenants in Chapel
Hill and to marriages and births.
Online Catalog Terms:
Alabama--Social life and customs.
Carney, James.
Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Climate--Observations.
Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
Cole family.
Cole, Harriot G., ca. 1826-1921.
Cole, James C., d. 1864.
Cole, Mary Catharine, 1799-1862.
Cole, Sarah A., d. 1900.
Craven County (N.C.)—-History.
Diaries--North Carolina--History.
Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
Jones County (N.C.)-—History.
Merchants--North Carolina--History--19th century.
New Bern (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
New York (N.Y.)--Social life and customs.
North Carolina--Commerce--History--19th century.
North Carolina--Social life and customs.
Plantations--Management.
Plantations--Tennessee.
Raleigh (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
Real property--North Carolina--History.
South Carolina--Social life and customs.
Taylor family.
Taylor, James Cole, b. 1855.
Tennessee--Social life and customs.
United States. Army. New York Infantry Regiment, 53rd (1861-
1865).
North Carolina--Climate.
Size: About 2,000 items (2.5 linear feet).
Date Span: 1707-1914, 1995.
Provenance: Received from Mrs. James Vernon of Morganton,
N.C., before 1940; Frederick R. Boyd of New Bern,
N.C. in 1962; and Marianne Hayworth of High Point,
N.C., in 1995 (Acc. 95142).
Access: No restrictions.
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or
their descendants, as stipulated by United States
copyright law.
INTRODUCTION
Biographical Note
James C. Cole and his wife, Mary Catharine Cole (1799-1862),
of New Bern, N.C., were the parents of four daughters and two
sons. Three of the daughters--Mary Catherine (d. 1909), Harriot
G. (ca. 1826-1921), and Sarah A. (d. 1900), wife of Alexander
Taylor--lived together in Chapel Hill after about 1862 while
running a boarding house. The fourth daughter was Lavinia, who
married Frederick C. Roberts of New Bern, N.C. The sons were
Hugh Laing Cole (1838-1898), a lawyer in New York, who married
Helen Ellis in 1879, and James R. Cole, who died before 1893,
leaving a widow, Mary C., daughter Mary C. Gardner, son James G.
R. Cole , and daughter Sarah H. James R. Cole’s family lived in
California, except Sarah H., who lived in New York.
James Cole Taylor (b. 1855), surveyor, chemist, metallurgist,
railroad superintendent, and banker, was the son of Sarah A. Cole
Taylor and Alexander Taylor. Isaac Montrose Taylor (1857-1921),
also a son of Sarah A. Cole Taylor and Alexander Taylor, was a
physician and founder of Broadoaks Sanatorium. He was born in
New Bern and lived in Morganton.
Collection Overview
This collection contains business, legal, and personal papers
of several generations of the Cole and Taylor families of New
Bern and Chapel Hill, N.C.
The collection is arranged as follows:
Series 1. Correspondence and Legal Papers
Series 2. Other Papers
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1. Correspondence and Legal Papers
1707-1914. About 1200 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Most of the antebellum papers are deeds for land in Craven and
Jones counties, N.C. Scattered business and personal
correspondence begins to appear around 1812, and includes letters
written from New Bern, Raleigh, and other North Carolina towns.
Later letters were written from Alabama, South Carolina,
Tennessee, and New York City. Also included are letters, 1830-
1860, addressed to relatives on an Alabama plantation, and
overseer's letters from Tennessee plantations. Beginning in
1846, there are mostly letters.
Folder 1 1707-1779
2 1780-1789
3 1790-1799
4 1800-1804
5 1805-1810
6 1812-1815
7 1816-1819
8 1820-1821
9 1823-1824
10 1825-1826
11 1827-1829
12 1830-1831
13 1832-1834
14 1835-1839
15 1840-1845
16 1846-1849
17 1850-1855
18 1856-1859
19 1860-1863
20 1864-1865
21 1866-1867
22 1868-1869
23 1870-1872
24 1873-1874
25 1875-1877
26 1878-1879
27 1880
28 1881
29 1882
30 1883
31-32 1884
33-34 1885
35 1886
36 1887-1888
37 1889
38 1890-1891
39 1892-1893
40 1894-1895
41 1896-1897
42 1898-1899
43-44 1900
45 1910-1914
46-50 Undated
Series 2. Other Papers
1813-1904, 1995. About 400 items.
Arrangement: by type, then chronological.
Bills and receipts, invitations, writings, newspaper
clippings, and volumes. Among the volumes are three account
books of James Carney for general merchandise sold at New Bern,
1858-1860; guard reports, 1861-1862, of the 53rd New York
Regiment; seven volumes of daily weather records at Chapel Hill,
1890-1909, kept by Mary C. Cole; an 1870 diary of James Cole
Taylor; a notebook labelled "General Orders," probably dating
from the Civil War; short drafts of letters written by Sarah
Taylor; and a record book relating to the Coles' tenants in
Chapel Hill and to marriages and births. Also included are a
volume of genealogical research by Hugh Laing Cole and Sarah Cole
Taylor and a volume of Cole family genealogy and memoirs by
Marianne Hayworth.
Bills and Receipts
Folder 51 1813-1829
52 1830-1839
53 1840-1849
54 1850-1859
55 1860-1869
56 1870-1878
57 1880-1892
58 Undated
59 Invitations
60 Writings
61-63 Newspaper clippings
Volumes
64 1. 1810. Record book, Capt. Good’s Co., New
Bern, N.C.
65 2. 1836. General account book with travel
expenditures.
66 3. 1849. Diary and almanac with no entries
except pressed flowers, 1874, H. L. Cole.
67 4. 1858-1859. Accounts: James B. Carny
with Thomas Williams.
68 5. 1859-1860. Accounts: James B. Carny
with Zaccheus Brown.
69 6. 1860. Accounts. James B. Carny with
Zaccheus Brown.
70 7. N.d., Civil War record fragment.
71 8. 1863-1865. Private accounts, F. C.
Roberts, household, travel, farm, et.
72 9. 1871. Diary of J. C. Taylor, school boy,
New Brunswick, N.J.
73 10. 1899. Sarah A. Taylor’s tablet: Cole
genealogy and copies of letters.
74 11. 1862. Post guard reports, N.Y.S.
Volunteers, 53rd; also scrap book.
Notebooks of Mary Catharine Cole,
containing her record, day by day, of the
weather for Chapel Hill. She
occasionally inserted brief notations
about local deaths, marriages, visits,
births, illnesses, etc.
75 12. I. 1890-1892
76 13. II. 1893-1894
77 14. III. 1895-1896
78 15. IV. 1897, 1898, part of 1899
79 16. V. 1899-1900
80 17. VI. 1901-1902
81 18. VII. 1903-1904
82 19. VIII.
1890-1899. Accounts and miscellaneous memoranda of
Mary Catharine Cole, including record of
receipts from her brother Hugh each
month and from rent; expenditures for
board, church, taxes; and money given,
lent, and spent. Lists of books,
periodicals, plants, etc. Dates of
family births, marriages, etc., on
pages 126-129. 140 p.
83 20 Genealogy.
Journal of the genealogical research
of Sarah Cole Taylor and Hugh Cole.
Typed transcription of this volume
included in volume 21 (Acc. 95142).
84 21. Genealogy.
Hayworth, Marianne, “Cole Family
Genelaogical Data and Lavinia Ellis
Cole Memoirs.” Included are typed
transcription of volume 20 and other
family history writings and pictures.
(Acc. 95142)