Back to TopDescriptive Summary
- Repository
-
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
- Creator
-
Glenn, L. C. (Leonidas Chalmers), b. 1871.
- Title
- L. C. Glenn Papers, 1752-1927
- Call Number
- 3052
- Language of Materials
- Materials in
English
- Extent
-
- Items: About 475
- Linear Feet: 1.0
Abstract
Wilson (sometimes Willson), Glenn, and Torrence families lived in Crowders Creek, Gaston County, N.C. (previously Tryon County
and Lincoln County) and York County, S.C. The Wilson family of Cumberland County, Pa., included John Wilson (1742-1799) of
North Carolina; Samuel Wilson (1754-1799), Presbyterian minister of Cumberland County, Pa.; John's sons Robert G. Wilson (b.
1768), Presbyterian minister of Abbeville, S.C., who moved to Chillicothe, Ohio, because of his opposition to slavery, Samuel
Blain Wilson, a Presbyterian minister at Fredericksburg, Va., and later a professor at the Union Theological Seminary in Prince
Edward County, Va., and William Joseph Wilson (1777-1854), of Lincoln and Gaston counties, N.C., and his son Lawson Wilson
(1809-1876); and other relatives in Ohio. The Glenn family included William Davis Glenn (b. 1833) of Gaston County; his brother
Robert N. Glenn (d. 1864), a Confederate soldier; their father John F. Glenn of Gaston County and York County, S.C.; and William's
son L. C. (Leonidas Chalmers) Glenn, author and geology professor at Vanderbilt University. The Torrence family included Edwin
B. Torrence of Rutherford (later Cleveland) County, N.C., his children, Mary Ellen Torrence, Luther B. Torrence, and Thomas
O. Torrence (d. 1862), a Confederate soldier, and brother-in-law Nathan Mendenhall of Gaston County, N.C.; William Wilson
Torrence (1808-1875) and his son Leonidas Torrence (d. 1863), a Confederate soldier who died at Gettysburg; and other relatives
in Arkansas.
The collection consists of family correspondence, chiefly 1788-1871, of L. C. Glenn's ancestors, including three letters,
1766-1768, from William Tryon, then governor of North Carolina. Letters from relatives in North Carolina, South Carolina,
Virginia, Pope County, Ark., Green County, Tenn., Illinois, Ohio, and other locations discuss family news and social activities;
the Presbyterian Church; 19th-century politics and economic affairs; slavery; gold mines of Kings Mountain, N.C.; the Union
Theological Seminary at Hampden Sydney College in Virginia; the New Madrid earthquake of 1811; and life in Ohio. Civil War
materials include letters from Confederate soldiers describing camp life and hospitals in Virginia and eastern North Carolina
and to a lesser extent in Maryland and Pennsylvania, and battles at Seven Pines, Fredericksburg, Wilderness, and Gettysburg;
Leonidas Torrence's small diary, 4 June-4 July 1863, recording his march from Guinea Station to Gettysburg; and letters from
the homefront describing desertion problems in Gaston County, N.C. Later correspondence, 1901-1927, concerns family history.
William Davis Glenn's diary, 1864-1869, includes descriptions of trips through Mississippi and to Baltimore, New York, and
Philadelphia. His journal records expenses for the 1866 Mississippi trip. Glenn's volume of reminiscences, written in 1907,
describes social activities and business ventures in the Carolinas before, during, and after the Civil War. Also included
are a general merchandise store account book, 1794-1797, a mid 19th-century cipher book, and several photographs, circa 1880-1900,
of Glenn family members.
Back to TopAdministrative Information
- Restrictions to Access
- No restrictions.
- Alternate Form of Material
- Microfilm copy available: University Publications of America Series J. Part 13, reels 35-36.
- Alternate Form of Material
- Typed transcriptions of many early letters were provided by L. C. Glenn.
- Acquisitions Information
- Received from Mrs. L. C. Glenn of Nashville, Tenn., in July 1954.
- Processing Information
- Processed by: Brooke Allan, 1961, and Roslyn Holdzkom, 1992
- Encoded by: Nancy Kaiser, October 2007
- 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.
- Additional Descriptive Resources
- Original finding aid is filed in folder 1a.
- Preferred Citation
- [Identification of item], in the L. C. Glenn Papers #3052, Southern Historical Collection, The 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.
- Account books.
- Chillicothe (Ross County, Ohio)--Social life and customs.
- Confederate States of America--Social conditions.
- Confederate States of America. Army--Medical care.
- Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.
- Cumberland County (Pa.)--Social life and customs.
- Diaries.
- Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
- Family--Ohio--Social life and customs.
- Family--Pennsylvania--Social life and customs.
- Family--South Carolina--Social life and customs.
- Gaston County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
- Glenn family.
- Glenn, L. C. (Leonidas Chalmers), b. 1871.
- Gold mines and mining--North Carolina--History--19th century.
- Greene County (Tenn.)--Social life and customs.
- North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
- North Carolina--Politics and government--1775-1865.
- Pennsylvania--Social life and customs.
- Pope County (Ark.)--Social life and customs.
- Presbyterian Church--Southern States--History.
- Slavery--South Carolina.
- Soldiers--Confederate States of America--Correspondence.
- Soldiers--Confederate States of America--Diaries.
- Southern States--Description and travel.
- Torrence family.
- Travelers--Diaries--History--19th century.
- Tryon, William, 1729-1788.
- Union Theological Seminary in Virginia--History.
- United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narratives, Confederate.
- Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
- Wilson family.
- York County (S.C.)--Social life and customs.
Back to TopBiographical Note
L. C. (Leonidas Chalmers) Glenn, a professor of geology at Vanderbilt University, collected papers of extended Glenn, Torrence,
and Wilson (sometimes spelled Willson) families. His grandfather, John F. Glenn, of the Crowders Creek sections of North Carolina
and South Carolina, married Jeanette Scott. Their children included William Davis Glenn (b. 1833), who married Sarah Priscilla
Torrence (1851-1906) in 1870, and is the father of L. C. Glenn; and Robert N. Glenn (d. 1864), who served in the Confederate
Army.
L. C. Glenn's mother, Sarah Priscilla Torrence, was the daughter of William Wilson Torrence (1808-1875) and Sally Ann Wilson
Torrence (1813-1880). Her brother, Leonidas Torrence (d. 1863), served in the Confederate Army and was mortally wounded at
the battle of Gettysburg. The Torrence family, chiefly of the piedmont of North Carolina, intermarried with the Wilsons and
Glenns of Gaston County, N.C. (formerly Lincoln County, N.C.). Members of the Torrence family included Edwin B. Torrence (fl.
1840) of Rutherford County, N.C. (later Cleveland County, N.C.); his daughter, Mary Ellen Torrence (fl. 1850-1886); his sons,
Luther B. Torrence and Thomas O. Torrence (d. 1862), both of whom fought with the Confederate Army; and his sister Mary B.
Torrence (1799-1879) and her husband Nathan Mendenhall of Gaston County, N.C.
The patriarch of the Wilson family was John Wilson, who died in Pennsylvania in 1773. John Wilson had five sons: John Wilson
(1742-1799), who was married to Mary Wray (1737-1830) and migrated to North Carolina; Samuel Wilson (1754-1799), who was a
graduate of Princeton University, a pastor at Big Spring Presbyterian Church in Cumberland County, Pa., and married to Jane
Mahon (who later married John Heap); Hugh Wilson, who migrated to Georgia; James Wilson, who settled in Ohio; and William
Wilson (d. 1778), who died unmarried.
John Wilson (1742-1799) and Mary Wray Wilson had ten or eleven children, including Robert G. Wilson (b. 1768), William Joseph
Wilson (1777-1854), and Samuel Blain Wilson (1783-1869). Robert G. Wilson was a Presbyterian pastor in Abbeville, S.C., until
he migrated to Chillicothe, Ohio, because of his opposition to the institution of slavery. He served as the third president
of the Ohio University, 1824-1839. William Joseph Wilson was married to Sarah Baird Wilson (1773-1851) in 1799. They lived
in Lincoln County, N.C., and Gaston County, N.C., and had ten children, including Lawson Wilson (1809-1876); Sally Ann Wilson
(1813-1880), who married William Wilson Torrence; and Mary Wilson ("Polly") (1811-1900), who married Ephraim Torrence. Samuel Blain Wilson was a Presbyterian pastor at Fredericksburg, Va., for about
35 years. In 1841, he became a professor at the Union Theological Seminary at Hampden-Sydney College in Prince Edward County,
Va. Among his six children was the Reverend Samuel Blair Owen Wilson (1809-1899), who served the presbyteries in South Carolina,
North Carolina, and Tennessee, and was a professor at Davidson College, 1841-1853. Samuel Blair Owen Wilson died at Woodville,
Tenn.
The region where the Wilson, Torrence, and Glenn families came together was in what is now Gaston County, N.C., and York County,
S.C. Their lands were chiefly on Crowders Creek, which originally was in Tryon County (later in Lincoln County until Gaston
County was formed) and always partly in South Carolina. From this neighborhood, they spread out into neighboring counties.
The Wilsons kept in touch with kin in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ohio, and the Torrences with their kin in Pope County, Ark.
(the families of one or more brothers of Edwin B. Torrence) and Illinois.
Back to TopCollection Overview
The collection consists of family correspondence, chiefly 1788-1871, of L. C. Glenn (Leonidas Chalmers Glenn)'s Wilson (Willson), Torrence, and Glenn ancestors, including three letters, 1766-1768, from William Tryon, then governor of North Carolina. Letters from relatives in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Pope County, Ark., Green County, Tenn., Illinois, Ohio, and other locations discuss family news and social activities; the Presbyterian Church; 19th century politics and economic affairs; slavery; gold mines of Kings Mountain, N.C.; the Union Theological Seminary in Hampden Sydney, Va.; the New Madrid earthquake of 1811; and life in Ohio. Civil War materials include letters from Confederate soldiers describing camp life and hospitals in Virginia and eastern North Carolina and to a lesser extent in Maryland and Pennsylvania, and battles at
Seven Pines, Fredericksburg, Wilderness, and Gettysburg; Leonidas Torrence's small diary, 4 June-4 July 1863, recording his march from Guinea Station to Gettysburg; and letters from the homefront describing desertion problems in Gaston County, N.C. Later correspondence, 1901-1927, concerns family history. William Davis Glenn's diary, 1864-1869, includes descriptions of trips through Mississippi and to Baltimore, New York, and Philadelphia. His journal records expenses for the 1866 Mississippi trip. Glenn's volume of reminiscences, written in 1907, describes
social activities and business ventures in the Carolinas before, during, and after the Civil War. Also included are a general merchandise store account book, 1794-1797, a mid 19th-century cipher book, and several photographs, circa 1880-1900, of Glenn family members.
Back to TopArrangement of Collection
1. Loose Papers
1.1. 1752-1860
1.2. 1861-1927
2. Volumes
3. Pictures
Back to TopItems Separated
Pictures (P-3052/1-6; SF-P-3052/7)
Detailed Description of the Collection
1. Loose Papers, 1752-1927.
About 450 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Back to Top
1.1. 1752-1860.
About 200 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Correspondence of Wilson (also spelled Willson) family members, discussing national and international politics, especially
the proposed constitution for the United States; economic affairs, chiefly in North Carolina and Ohio; taxes, banking, and
currency; news of family and friends; schools, including Union Theological Seminary and the University at Athens (the Ohio
University); health; crops and farming life; industrial development in Ohio; Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist church affairs
and the state of religion; cures for worms, pneumonia, and dysentary; slave labor, attitudes toward slavery, and abolitionist
activities; War of 1812 conditions; a gold mine at Kings Mountain; Revolutionary War veteran pension claim of Josiah Martin;
social activities, including parties, singings, courtship, and weddings; and the New Madrid earthquake of February 1812 and
the two large earthquakes that preceded it in December 1811 and January 1812. Included are three letters from William Tryon,
governor of North Carolina. A few of the earliest letters exist in typescript copy only.
Financial papers include scattered bills and receipts relating to college expenses and the purchase of a slave from the Barber
estate. Legal materials include correspondence regarding settlement of the Witherspoon family estate, land grants, wills (typed
copies), and deeds for land and slaves for Lancaster County, Pa., Tryon County, N.C., Lincoln County, N.C. (later Gaston County,
N.C.), York County, S.C., and Camden District, S.C.
The papers roughly divide into four chronological groups: 1752-1770, chiefly land grants; 1782-1809, chiefly the papers of
brothers John Wilson (1742-1799) and Samuel Wilson (1754-1799) of Cumberland County, Pa., and Samuel's wife Jane Mahon Wilson
(later Heap); 1808-1858, chiefly the papers of Robert G. Wilson (b. 1768) in Chillicothe, Ohio, Samuel B. Wilson (1783-1869)
of Fredericksburg and Prince Edward County, Va., William J. Wilson (1777-1854) and William's son Lawson Wilson (1809-1876)
in Lincoln County, N.C. (later Gaston County, N.C.); and 1858-1860, chiefly the letters of Mary Ellen Torrence (fl. 1850-1886)
from her Torrence, Mendenhall, White, Falls, and Walker relatives.
Folder
1a
Original finding aid
Folder
1b
1752-1787
Folder
2
1788
Folder
3
1789-1792
Folder
4
1793-1798
Folder
5
1799-1809
Folder
6
1810-1815
Folder
7
1816-1820
Folder
8
1823-1829
Folder
9
1831-1832
Folder
10
1834
Folder
11
1835-1839
Folder
12
1840-1841
Folder
13
1842
Folder
14
1843-1844
Folder
15
1845-1847
Folder
16
1848-1851
Folder
17
1852-1858
Folder
18
1859-1860
Folder
19
Undated before 1861
Back to Top
1.2. 1861-1997.
About 250 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Civil War materials consist chiefly of correspondence, including letters to Mary Ellen Torrence of Cleveland County, N.C.,
from her brother Luther B. Torrence and from other Torrence, Mendenhall, and other kin; letters from Leonidas Torrence of
the 23rd North Carolina Troops Company H to his parents, William Wilson Torrence and Sarah Ann Wilson Torrence of Pleasant
Ridge, Gaston County, N.C., and to his sister Sarah Priscilla Torrence, and other members of the family; and letters from
Robert N. Glenn (d. 1864) to his parents, John F. Glenn and Jeanette Scott Glenn, and to his brother, William Davis Glenn
(b. 1833).
Soldiers' letters were written chiefly from camp, field, hospitals, and improvised nursing homes in Virginia, North Carolina,
and to a lesser extent in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Thomas O. Torrence (d. 1862), Leonidas Torrence (d. 1863), Robert N.
Glenn (d. 1864), and others described battles at Seven Pines, Fredericksburg, Wilderness, and Gettysburg; concerns of camp
life, especially disease (measles and typhoid), food, and clothes; and desertion among soldiers. There are some letters from
relatives at home in North Carolina and South Carolina, including a 25 December 1863 letter describing the depredations of
deserters, both individuals and in gangs, in Gaston County, N.C. Also included is a small diary, 4 June-4 July 1863, that
records Leonidas Torrence's march from Guinea Station to Gettysburg.
Correspondence, 1865-1886, reports on family news, the economic impact of the war, social conditions, sale of Kings Mountain
gold mine, and Union Theological Seminary. Correspondents include Mary Ellen Torrence, Samuel Blain Wilson, Edwin B. Torrence,
Nathan Mendenhall and Mary Torrence Mendenhall, and other Torrence relatives in Marion County, Ill., York District, S.C.,
Pope County, Ark., and Gaston County, N.C. Papers, 1891-1927, of L. C. Glenn include a University of South Carolina class
day program and correspondence regarding family history.
Undated materials consist chiefly of genealogical notes and clippings about the activities of family and friends.
Folder
20
1861
Folder
21
1862
Folder
22
1863-1864
Folder
23
1865-1867
Folder
24
1868-1869
Folder
25
1870-1871
Folder
26
1872-1877
Folder
27
1879-1886
Folder
28
1891-1897
Folder
29
1901-1927
Folder
30
Undated after 1860
Family history materials for Glenn, Torrence, and Wilson families, including Martha Hanna Wilson, Robert G. Wilson, Mary Wilson
Torrence ("Polly"), and Samuel B. Wilson
Back to Top
5 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Folder
31
Volume 1: Account book, 1794-1797, 10 pages
Store accounts for general merchandise. Names mentioned are Samuel Lowrie, Robert Alexander, and others. Owner unknown.
Folder
32
Volume 2: Cipher book, undated (before 1861), 92 pages
Owner unknown.
Folder
33
Volume 3: Diary, 1864-1869, 45 pages
Diary of William Davis Glenn of Dallas, Gaston County, N.C., containing irregular entries about trips and other events. Included
are discussions about weather, social life, preachings attended, the general store at Pleasant Ridge, N.C., employment in
the clerk's office, visits to relatives, troops stationed in the vicinity in 1865, trips in North Carolina in 1865, trips
to Mississippi and to Baltimore in 1866, a trip to New York and Philadelphia in 1867, and working in a country store in the
summer of 1867.
Folder
34
Volume 4: Journal, January 1866, 9 pages
Journal of William Davis Glenn's trip to Mississippi.
Folder
35
Volume 5: 1907, 66 pages
"Reflections of a Long Life," by William Davis Glenn, a chronological record of his life, family events, and reminiscences. Among many topics, he wrote
about farming in North Carolina, business and trade, recreation, Old Bethel Church and its history. Highlights include:
1846: geography school at Union Church
1849: Columbia, S.C., public school in winter, farming in the summer
1853: trip to Charleston, driving cattle to Mecklenburg County, N.C.
1854: beginning of rheumatism
1857: winter in York County, S.C., first experiences in storekeeping, social life
1858: visits with relatives, picture business
1859-1860: Taylor's store, located on Hunter's place near Laurel Springs
1861: outbreak of war in South Carolina, duties as clerk of county court at Dallas, Gaston County, N.C.
1862: duties as county salt commissioner, life on home front
1866: 2,100-mile trip to Mississippi with J. H. Craig to collect cotton left there by W. Ferguson during the war, also travel
through Alabama, Tennessee, and Virginia
1866-1869: activities in Crowders Creek
1869-1870: activities in Pleasant Ridge, N.C., marriage on 10 November 1870 to Sarah Priscilla Torrence, building of home
on Yorkville Road
1873-1874: duties as clerk in store in Charlotte
1874-1875: move to Gaffney, S.C., to sell groceries
1875-1891: business and farming activities
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3. Pictures, circa 1875-1900.
7 items.
Processing note
The special format photograph is numbered in the regular run of photographs.
Image
P-3052/1-2
Carte-de-visite of John F. Glenn, circa 1885
Photographer: H. Baumgarten, Charlotte, N.C.
Image
P-3052/3
Carte-de-visite of James A. Glenn, circa 1875
Image
P-3052/4
Photograph of John Howard Glenn, circa 1900
Photographer: Wharton, Raleigh, N.C.
Image
P-3052/5
Carte-de-visite of unidentified baby, circa 1880
Unidentified woman and children.
Photographer: J. W. Lancaster, Rome, Ga.
Image
P-3052/6
Photograph of unidentified boy, circa 1880
Special Format Image
SF-P-3052/7
Tintype of F. N. C. Glenn, circa 1885
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