Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#4172
DAVIS AND WALKER FAMILY.PAPERS
Summary
Davis and Walker family.
Papers, 1755-1962.
750 items (2.5 linear ft.).
Davis and Walker families of Wilmington, N.C. Prominent family members
included George Davis (1820-1896), lawyer, attorney-general of the
Confederacy, and well-known orator; and his son, Junius (1845-1916), who
practiced law with his father and shared his interests in local and family
history. Junius married Mary Orme Walker, daughter of Thomas Davis Walker
(1822-1865), president of the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad during the
Civil War, and Mary Vance (Dickinson) Walker (1821-1900). Also represented
is Platt Dickinson Walker, son of Thomas D. Walker and Mary V. D. Walker,
associate justice of the North Carolina supreme court, 1903- 1923.
The Davis family series consists primarily of scattered family
correspondence, 1864-1891; addresses and essays; and biographical,
genealogical, and local history material relating to the Lower Cape Fear
River region. Correspondence of George Davis includes three letters
written from federal captivity. In addition, there are a few documents
relating to his work with state-owned railroads and some political and
financial items. There are three Civil War letters from Junius Davis and
three copies of twentieth-century letters by him, one of which, 1916,
contains reminiscences about Civil War-era songs. The bulk of the
correspondence is letters to Junius from family and friends. Other items
of interest include a contemporary set of caricatures of locally prominent
Revolutionary War-era figures; and letters by Emily and Rebecca Evaline
Polk reflecting the social conditions in south-central Tennessee and
central Louisiana during Reconstruction. The Walker family series is
primarily family correspondence between Thomas Davis Walker and Mary Vance
(Dickinson) Walker and their family, July-December 1862 and December
1864-February 1865, while Mary was refugeeing in Raleigh, N.C., and her
husband was in federally-occupied Wilmington. Topics include the yellow
fever epidemic in 1862 and family and social life in Raleigh. Walker's
letters describe his efforts to manage the Wilmington and Manchester
Railroad under Union occupation. Among other family letters are several
from daughter Mary Orme Walker attending the Nash-Kollock School in
Hillsborough, N.C., and son Platt Dickinson Walker at James H. Horner's
school in Oxford, N.C., and at the University of North Carolina in Chapel
Hill. There is also a letter, 1862, written from one family slave to
another, and some Walker family slave lists.
Gift, 1979.
SEE ALSO: Platt Ketchum Dickinson Letters (#220): C.S.A. Department of
Justice, Opinions of the Attorney General (M-#1429) in the Southern
Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
ONLINE CATALOG TERMS:
Cape Fear River Region (N.C.)--History.
Davis family.
Davis, George, 1820-1896.
Davis, Junius, 1845-1916.
Davis, Mary Orme Walker.
North Carolina--History--Revolution, 1775-1783--Pictorial works.
Railroads--North Carolina--History--19th century.
Raleigh (N.C.)--Social conditions--Civil War, 1861-1865.
Reconstruction--Louisiana.
Reconstruction--Tennessee.
Slave records--North Carolina.
Slaves' writings, American--North Carolina.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Prisoners and prisons.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Songs and music.
University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Students--History--19th
century.
Walker, Mary Vance Dickinson, 1821-1900.
Walker, Platt Dickinson.
Walker, Thomas Davis.
Wilmington (N.C.)--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
Wilmington and Manchester Railroad Company.
COPYRIGHT: Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or
their descendants, as stipulated by United States
copyright law.