Back to TopDescriptive Summary
- Repository
-
Southern Historical Collection
- Creator
-
Ferebee family.
Gregory family.
McPherson Family.
- Title
- Ferebee, Gregory, and McPherson Family Papers, 1816-1913
- Call Number
- 3374
- Language of Materials
- Materials in
English
- Extent
-
- Items: About 185
- Linear Feet: 0.5
Abstract
Family members included Francis Roger Gregory, merchant in Petersburg, Va.; medical student at the University of Pennsylvania;
physician and planter in Mecklenburg County, Va., and Granville County, N.C. In the 1830s, he married Nancy Alexander, and
they had at least three children: William H.; Francis Roger, Jr., who a surgeon with the 12th North Carolina Infantry Regiment,
and Martha, who married Nelson McPherson Ferebee of Oxford, N.C., a physician in the U.S. Navy, serving aboard the U.S.S.
Indiana and the U.S. Flagship New York during the Spanish-American War.
The papers include family correspondence, business papers, and genealogical information of the Ferebee, Gregory, Howard, and
McPherson families of southside Virginia and Granville County, N.C. The early papers are those of Francis Roger Gregory of
Mecklenburg County, Va. Mingled with the Gregory papers is correspondence of the McPherson family of Camden County, N.C.,
including letters to Elizabeth McPherson Proctor during her school days in Brunswick County, Va., and at Georgetown, D.C.
Postwar papers include those of George Howard of Tarboro, N.C., especially concerning the collection of pre-war debts owed
by Northern creditors. The relationship of George Howard, a Tarboro lawyer, to the Gregory, McPherson, or Ferebee family is
unclear. From 1872 through 1892, there are scattered papers of Nelson McPherson Ferebee (1849-1917) and of his wife, Martha
Gregory Ferebee, including letters written from Hong Kong and Uruguay while Ferebee was ship's surgeon aboard the U.S.S. Indiana,
and copies of bulletins and log abstracts for several ships in the Caribbean during the War of 1898. Miscellaneous items include
scattered Civil War letters from women describing life on the Confederate home front; an account of a student rebellion, 1886,
at the University of North Carolina; letters relating to theater in eastern U.S. cities; letters relating to antebellum sexual
mores; and genealogical information.
Back to TopAdministrative Information
- Restrictions to Access
- No restrictions.
- Alternate Form of Material
- Microfilm copy available (University Publications of America, Series J.13.8).
- Acquisitions Information
- Gift of the Howard family of Tarboro, N.C., through Mary Howard, in August 1958.
- Processing Information
- Processed by: Jill Snider, August 1992
- Encoded by: Peter Hymas, October 2004
- This collection was rehoused under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation,
Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.
- Funding from the State Library of North Carolina supported the
encoding of this finding aid.
- Preferred Citation
- [Identification of item], in the Ferebee, Gregory, and McPherson Family Papers #3374, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson
Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
- Copyright Notice
- Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright
law.
Back to TopOnline Catalog Headings
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.
- Camden County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
- Caribbean Area--Description and travel.
- Confederate States of America--Social conditions.
- Confederate States of America. Army--Surgeons.
- Confederate States of America. Army. North Carolina Infantry Regiment, 12th.
- Ferebee, Nelson McPherson, 1849-1917.
- Ferebee family.
- Granville County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
- Gregory, Francis Roger.
- Gregory family.
- Hong Kong (China)--Description and travel.
- Howard, George.
- McPherson family.
- Mecklenburg County (Va.)--Social life and customs.
- Medical education--Pennsylvania--History--19th century.
- Migration, Internal--Southern States--History--19th century.
- North Carolina--Social conditions.
- Physicians--North Carolina--History--19th century.
- Physicians--Virginia--History--19th century.
- Riots--North Carolina--Chapel Hill--History--19th century.
- Sexual ethics--Southern States--History--19th century.
- Theater--United States--History--19th century.
- United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Claims.
- Spanish-American War, 1898--Naval aspects.
- United States. Navy--Officers--Correspondence--History--19th century.
- United States. Navy--Sea life--History--19th century.
- University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Students--Social life and customs.
- Uruguay--Description and travel.
- Women--Education--Southern States--History--19th century.
Back to TopBiographical Note
Francis Roger Gregory (fl. 1824-1850) was originally a merchant in Petersburg, Va. He left Petersburg to study medicine at
the University of Pennsylvania in 1827. After graduating in 1828, he settled in his native Mecklenburg County, Va., where
he was a physician and tobacco planter until 1840. He moved in that year to Granville County, N.C., where he continued to
practice medicine and plant tobacco throughout the 1840s-1850s. Gregory had at least three brothers, William O., James H.,
and Herbert, and a sister, Martha. William O. was a tobacco planter in Mecklenburg County and a partner in W. O. & R. H. Gregory,
a general merchandising concern in Waterloo, N.C. R. H. Gregory was the ward of Francis Roger Gregory. James Gregory studied
medicine with a private doctor in 1824 and, later, with his brother in Philadelphia in 1827. Herbert was a grocery merchant
in Petersburg around 1831. Martha married James E. Bacon in 1825 and lived in Nottoway County, Va.
Francis Roger Gregory married Nancy Alexander in late 1831 or early 1832. They had at least three children: William H., Francis
Roger, Jr., and Martha. Francis Roger, Jr., was a surgeon in the 12th, 23d, and 38th North Carolina regiments during the Civil
War. In 1872, Martha married Nelson McPherson Ferebee (1849-1917), a physician in the U.S. Navy, who made his home in Oxford,
N.C. Ferebee, the son of Dennis Dozier Ferebee and Sarah R. McPherson of Camden County, served aboard the U.S.S. Indiana and
the U.S. Flagship New York during the Spanish American War. His mother was possibly the sister of Elizabeth McPherson and
James N. McPherson of Camden County. The relationship of George Howard, a Tarboro lawyer, to the Gregory, McPherson, or Ferebee
family is unclear.Elizabeth married Albert G. Proctor of Norfolk.
Back to TopCollection Overview
The collection is primarily family correspondence and business papers, 1824-1865, of the Gregory family, most relating to Francis Roger Gregory, Sr., with scattered antebellum papers, 1835-1844, of the McPherson family; Civil War letters from an army surgeon and unidentified women on the Confederate home front; postwar papers for George Howard, 1866-1870, concerning the collection of prewar debts owed to northern creditors; and late 19th century naval, personal,
and business papers, 1872-1913, of Nelson Ferebee (1849-1917) and Martha G. Ferebee. The papers document family and social affairs; courtship; boarding school life in Brunswick, Va., and Georgetown, D.C.; medical studies; North Carolina and national politics; and business and personal finances. Information also appears on theater in eastern United States cities, especially Philadelphia, Pa.; antebellum sexual mores; women's activities during the Civil War; and naval service in Hong Kong and Uruguay and in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Letters to Francis Roger Gregory from schoolmates and friends in the 1820s contain unusually frank discussions of sex and venereal disease. Business papers include correspondence, accounts, deeds, receipts, legal agreements, and loan notes. Miscellaneous items
include bulletins and logs for several ships during the Spanish-American War; a diary of a Granville County, N.C., tobacco planter, 1856; an account of a student rebellion, 1886, at the University of North Carolina; and genealogical materials on the Ferebee, Dauge, and Moore families.
Back to TopArrangement of Collection
1. Loose Papers
1.1. 1816-1822
1.2. 1824-1831
1.3. 1832-1859 and Antebellum Undated
1.4. 1862-1865
1.5. 1866-1870
1.6. 1872-1913 and Postbellum Undated
2. Tobacco Planter Diary
Back to TopDetailed Description of the Collection
1. Loose Papers, 1816-1913.
About 185 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Antebellum correspondence and business papers of the Gregory family of Mecklenburg County, Va., and Granville County, N.C.,
mostly relating to Francis R. Gregory, Sr., and of the McPherson family of Camden County, N.C., and postwar business papers
of George Howard of Tarboro, N.C., and naval, personal, and business papers of Navy surgeon Nelson McPherson Ferebee and his
wife Martha.
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1.1. 1816-1822.
3 items.
Two letters exchanged by Willie McPherson of Camden County, N.C., and his son Joshua at school in Edenton, N.C., concerning
Joshua's unhappiness with his teacher and boarding situation, and a carriage tax receipt, dated 21 January 1816, for a Herbert
Gregory of Dinwiddie County, Va.
Folder
1
1816-1822
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1.2. 1824-1831.
About 45 items.
Letters received by Francis Roger Gregory before his marriage and scattered business items. Gregory received letters in Petersburg
and Dinwiddie and Brunswick counties, Va., during the early 1820s, in Philadelphia between 1827-1828, and in Mecklenburg County
between 1828-1831. These include several from his brothers, William O. in Mecklenburg County, Herbert in Mecklenburg County
and Petersburg, and James H. Other family letters are from Gregory's uncle and guardian Thomas Thweatt of Petersburg; his
brother in law James E. Bacon of Nottoway County, Va.; and his cousins Maria E. Meade and Archibald Thweatt of Brunswick.
A number of friends wrote Gregory from Petersburg, Norfolk, and Philadelphia, and one wrote while traveling with a theater
company touring eastern U.S. cities. Family letters discuss mostly social and family life; boarding school (see letters of
Archibald Thweatt and Herbert Gregory); the study and practice of medicine; general merchandising and tobacco sales in Petersburg;
and the sale of thoroughbred horses (see letters of Thomas Thweatt). Thomas Thweatt's letters also discuss financial arrangements
for the Gregory brothers. Letters from friends discuss mostly travel, courtship, venereal disease, a paternity suit (see 7
September 1827), theater (see letters of Walter Puckett and Charles Barton), and mutual acquaintances. Of note is a letter
of 4 July 1828 in which J. E. N. Bacon gave Francis rather graphic advice on how to choose a wife.
Business items for Gregory include a dry goods account, 1824; a receipt for goods, 1828; a loan note, 1828; a deed, 29 March
1826, for land in Mecklenburg County sold by Thomas and Mary Goode to David H. Abernathy; and an account settlement, 1831,
for Nancy Alexander with Charles Baskervill.
Folder
2
1824-1825
Folder
3
1826
Folder
4
1827
Folder
5
1828-1831
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1.3. 1832-1859 and Antebellum Undated.
About 80 items.
Mostly business papers and correspondence of Francis Roger Gregory after his marriage, with a number of letters received by
Elizabeth McPherson (later Proctor) and her brother James McPherson of Camden County, and scattered business items for Gregory
and McPherson family members. Correspondence, much of it undated, also appears for Gregory's wife Nancy.
Business papers are principally blacksmith, postal, grocery, dry goods, and hardware accounts; letters received by Gregory
from Petersburg commission merchants concerning tobacco sales and from others concerning the purchase of lands and finances;
and deeds and receipts. Several items pertain to debts owed by Gregory's ward, Richard H. Gregory. One letter, dated 10 January
1838, from W. O. & R. H. Gregory Company, general merchants of Waterloo, N.C., to E. James & Company of Petersburg, promises
to pay overdue charges for goods purchased.
Gregory's most frequent personal correspondent was Amos B. Little of Washington, D.C., a former tutor for Gregory's children,
who wrote between 1845 and 1850 from Newport, N.H., and Washington, D.C., discussing national politics, including Democratic
party affairs; Abolitionism; the Texas question; the Wilmot Proviso; and his hopes to study law. Letters from Herbert and
William O. Gregory and Thomas Thweatt pertain mostly to financial arrangements. Of note is a letter from Herbert, dated 9
February 1832, mentioning going to New Orleans to look for a position. Letters on occasion discuss family, local politics
(see 10 February 1832), and the sale of slaves (see 3 February and 2 March 1837). Scattered letters from friends discuss politics
and the milling business (see May 1850). Of note is a letter of 1 April 1840 from Nathaniel Alexander, stating his views on
a national bank and the Van Buren administration. Two letters in 1855 and 1857, discussing mostly school and mutual friends,
appear for Francis Roger Gregory's sons, William (Billy) and Francis Roger, Jr. (Roger).
McPherson family letters appear between 1835 and 1844. Letters to Elizabeth McPherson before her marriage are addressed to
her at school in Brunswick County and Georgetown, D.C., between 1835 and 1837, at home in Camden in 1839, and, after her marriage,
in Norfolk and Elizabeth City, N.C. Her father W. McPherson, brother James N., and sisters Courtney, Sarah, and Sallie wrote
her from home and other locations discussing schoolwork, courtships, weddings, and family news. Letters to James N. in Camden
appear from his father in Raleigh in 1835 and describe the North Carolina Convention and giving farm instructions, and from
Samuel T. Sawyer on 5 August 1837 discussing his campaign for Congress. One business item, a deed registered 9 May 1854, appears
for Camden County land sold by Edward McPherson to Dennis D. Ferebee.
Undated items are mostly letters to Nancy A. Gregory from her sisters, sisters in law, and a friend named L., and discuss
family illnesses, local weddings, births, courtships, and lands for sale. Her sister Lucy F. wrote mentioning making clothes
for the "town negroes". One letter to Francis Roger Gregory is from his cousin Elvira Meade and discusses weddings and family. Undated business
items are a dry goods account for Gregory and a legal agreement between William O. Gregory and Richard H. Hamme for work on
a mill on Mile's Creek owned by William's ward, Sally W. Gregory.
Folder
6
1832-1836
Folder
7
1837-1840
Folder
8
1841-1847
Folder
9
1848-1850, 1854-1855, 1857, 1859
Folder
10
Antebellum undated
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1.4. 1862-1865.
8 items.
Mostly letters from women on the Confederate home front and two letters from army surgeon Francis Roger Gregory, Jr.
Four letters, 1864-1865, are from an unidentified woman in Oxford, N.C., to her sister in Camden County. They discuss high
prices, attempts to obtain cloth and groceries, the difficulties of living with the enemy nearby, sewing activities, children,
and news of family and relatives in the war. An additional item is a letter of 16 May 1864 from Laura in Camden, N.C., to
her cousin Martha, Francis Roger Gregory's daughter, concerning her teaching and boarding situation in Camden, Martha's schoolwork,
and news of relatives in the war.
Two letters appear in 1862 from Francis Roger Gregory, surgeon with the 12th, 23d, and 38th North Carolina regiments. He wrote
to his brother on 29 March from Sewell's Point, Va., describing preparations for a sea battle between the Union ironclad Monitor
and the Confederate ironclad Merrimac, and from camp near Fredericksburg on 9 December discussing his brother's broken leg,
his hopes for promotion, and camp conditions.
Folder
11
1862-1865
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1.5. 1866-1870.
14 items.
Correspondence, bills, and business papers of George Howard, lawyer of Tarboro, N.C., including papers related to the collection
of prewar debts by northern creditors, and Howard's claim against the U.S. Post Office on behalf of the estate of George Howard,
late postmaster of Tarboro. One item, dated 15 February 1868, addresses Howard as "Judge Howard". An item of particular note is a handwritten copy of "The Legend of Chapel Hill", dated 1866, which relates the story of a group of students placing dynamite beneath the lectern of Professor Hilliard Smith
of the University of North Carolina.
Folder
12
1866-1870
 |
Digital version: "Legend of Chapel Hill, 1866" |
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1.6. 1872-1913 and Postbellum Undated.
26 items.
Personal correspondence and military and business papers of Navy physician Nelson McPherson Ferebee, including several letters
to his wife Martha G. Ferebee in Oxford, N.C., and genealogical materials.
Correspondence is dated 1885 1912, and includes letters he wrote Martha from Hong Kong, 1885; Uruguay, 1891; Atlanta, 1892;
aboard the U.S.S. Indiana, 1897; and Key West, 1898; and a few letters he received from fellow officers, friends, and relatives.
Letters to Martha describe his recreation, hunting, and social life, and give advice about family, home, money, and children.
Of note in the letters to Ferebee is one of 28 March 1887 from F. N. Mullen in South Mills, N.C., concerning his management
of Ferebee's "Culpeper" farm. Naval papers are mostly for 1898, when Ferebee served aboard the U.S.S. Indiana and U.S. Flagship New York in Santiago
de Cuba from May to August. Papers include commendations, squadron bulletins, a printed abstract of the ship's log of the
Cristobal Colon, a Spanish ship, between April July 1898, and an undated ship's log, probably for the New York. Miscellaneous
items for Ferebee include a deed, dated 25 March 1881, for mining properties in Alaksa, and a will, dated 21 April 1884, for
his father, Dennis D. Ferebee of Camden County.
Besides letters from her husband, items of interests addressed to Martha Ferebee are a letter from her aunt in South Mills
in 1872 and one from Ella A. Gregory in Stovall, N.C., in 1899, discussing family, church affairs, and neighborhood news.
Materials 1912 1913 and undated items include correspondence and family history materials.
Folder
13
1872-1897
Folder
14
1898
Folder
15
1899-1913 and postbellum undated
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2. Tobacco Planter Diary, 1856.
1 item.
A line a day diary kept by an unidentified tobacco planter in Granville County, N.C., between 20 January and 19 August 1856.
The diary, probably kept by a Gregory family relative, mentions family visits, the weather, trips to nearby towns, and work
done on the farm.
Folder
16
Tobacco planter diary
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