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Collection Number: 01783-z

Collection Title: Jane Gurley Papers, 1830-1841

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.


This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.

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Size 25 items
Abstract Jane Gurley (Active 1830-1841), a white woman living in Windsor, Bertie County, N.C., received letters from Matilda Gurley (later Matilda Turner), an enslaved person formerly of Windsor but living at that time in Brownsville, Haywood County, Tenn., and from Nancy C. Walton in La Grange, Tenn., and Rebecca Haywood in Louisburg, N.C., both of whom were white cousins of Gurley. The letters of Matilda Gurley (later Matilda Turner) contain news of and seek information about her community of enslaved family and friends both in Brownsville and Windsor. Letters from Walton, Haywood, and others concern family and friends, church, and community affairs.
Creator Gurley, Jane, Active 1830-1841.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Jane Gurley Papers #1783-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Mrs. W. H. Darden of Windsor, N.C., in October 1950.
Sensitive Materials Statement
Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.
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Processed by: Suzanne Ruffing, February 1996

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, December 2009

This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.

Conscious Editing Work by: Nancy Kaiser, July 2020. Updated abstract, subject headings, biographical note, scope and content note, and container list.

Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

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The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

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Jane Gurley (Active 1830-1841) was a white woman living in Windsor, Bertie County, N.C. She had a son named William Peterson, and cousins Ann (Nancy) C. Walton in La Grange, Tenn., and Rebecca Haywood in Louisburg, N.C., all of whom were white.

Matilda Gurley (later Matilda Turner) was an enslaved woman who lived first in Windsor, Bertie County, N.C., and later in Brownsville, Haywood County, N.C. In 1830, she wrote that she and the family were living with Doctor Jones. In 1836, she wrote "I fall to that part of Mr. Turner's estate," which likely accounts for her name change.

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Jane Gurley (Active 1830-1841), a white woman living in Windsor, Bertie County, N.C., received letters from Matilda Gurley (later Matilda Turner), an enslaved person formerly of Windsor but living at that time in Brownsville, Haywood County, Tenn., and from Nancy C. Walton in La Grange, Tenn., and Rebecca Haywood in Louisburg, N.C., both of whom were white cousins of Gurley. The letters of Matilda Gurley (later Matilda Turner) contain news of and seek information about her community of enslaved family and friends both in Brownsville and Windsor. Letters from Walton, Haywood, and others concern family and friends, church, and community affairs.

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Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Papers, 1830-1841.

About 25 items.
Folder 1

1830-1838

Letters of Matilda Gurley (later Matilda Turner) are dated 9 September 1830 and 9 September 1836.

Folder 2

1839-1841 and undated

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