Inventory of the Nancy Avaline Jarrett Papers, 1852-1878, 1966-1997

Collection Number 5050

Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Contact Information:

Manuscripts Department

CB#3926, Wilson Library

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890

Phone: 919/962-1345

Fax: 919/962-3594

Email: mss@email.unc.edu

URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/

Descriptive Summary

Repository

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.

Creator

Jarrett, Nancy Avaline, 1808-1880.

Title

Nancy Avaline Jarrett Papers, 1852-1878, 1966-1997

Call Number

5050

Language of Materials

Materials in English

Extent

Items: About 70

Linear Feet: 0.5

Administrative Information

Restrictions to Access

No restrictions.

Alternate Form of Material

Microfilm copy (filmed 2007) available.

Reel 1: Entire collection

Alternate Form of Material

Typed transcripts of letters are available.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Mary Jane Walburg of Seymour, Tenn., in March 2001 (Acc. 98883).

Processing Information

Processed by: Laura Capell, March 2002

Encoded by: Laura Capell, March 2002

Revisions: Finding aid updated in June 2005 by Nancy Kaiser.

Funding from the Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc., supported the microfilming of this collection.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Nancy Avaline Jarrett Papers #5050, 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.

Online Catalog Headings

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

Jarrett, Nancy Avaline, 1808-1880.

Women--North Carolina--Social life and customs.

Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.

North Carolina--History--19th century.

North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.

Jarrett, Nimrod Simpson, 1799-1871.

McKee, James L., b. 1822.

Lowry, Hannah Brandon, b. 1788.

Buncombe County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.

Yanceyville (N.C.)--History.

Confederate States of America--Economic conditions.

Confederate States of America--Social conditions.

Jarrett family.

McKee family.

Murder--North Carolina.

Biographical Note

Nancy Avaline Jarrett (1808-1880), the daughter of Hannah Brandon McKee (later Lowry) and James L. McKee, grew up in western North Carolina. She married Colonel Nimrod Simpson Jarrett (1799-1871) of Buncombe County, N.C., on 14 December 1826, and they had thirteen children. Nimrod Simpson Jarrett purchased a farm in Haywood County, N.C., in 1830, and later purchased land in Franklin, Swain, and Macon counties. He became one of the largest landowners in western North Carolina, owning thousands of acres over the course of his lifetime. In addition to speculating in land, Jarrett farmed, traded ginseng, and owned mica and talc mines. He owned between six and twelve slaves. He also served in the Macon County militia, rising to the rank of colonel. Jarrett and his family resided in Aquone, Macon County, until their house caught fire in 1855; the youngest daughter perished in the flames. The family then moved to Appletree Farm in the Nantahala Valley. Nimrod Simpson Jarrett was murdered on 15 September 1871 while on his way from Apple Tree Farm to Franklin to conduct business. Balias Henderson was apprehended and found guilty of the crime.

Hannah Brandon Lowry (b. 1788) was the daughter of Colonel John Patton (1765-1834) and Ann Mallory Patton (1760-1855). On 23 August 1804, she married James L. McKee (1780-1849), the son of William McKee and Mary McHenry McKee. Hannah and James McKee resided in western North Carolina and reared ten children, including Nancy Avaline McKee and James L. McKee. Following her husband's death in 1849, Hannah married James Lowry and resided in Sandy Mush in Buncombe County, N.C.

James L. McKee (b. 1822) was the younger brother of Nancy Avaline Jarrett. He married a woman named Fannie. They resided in Yanceyville, N.C., and reared several children. McKee worked as a farmer and then as a businessman, and he owned at least one slave. He did not fight in the Civil War, but remained at home to tend his business, which was adversely affected by the war. In 1878, McKee and his family moved to Swannanoa in Buncombe County, following the ruin of his business in Yanceyville.

Collection Overview

Chiefly letters written to Nancy Avaline Jarrett by her mother, Hannah Brandon Lowry, and her brother, James L. McKee, 1852-1878. Lowry's letters discuss the lives of women and family life in nineteenth-century North Carolina, including household routines, health, church matters, weather, and visiting family and friends. The letters of James L. McKee discuss family affairs; his business in Yanceyville, N.C.; the town's preparations for the Civil War; and the economic effects of the war. Also included are a few letters written to Nancy Avaline by various aunts and cousins. A small number of letters written by J. L. Robinson to Nimrod Simpson Jarrett discuss North Carolina politics in the early 1870s.

Also included are several items concerning family history, including a small family tree of the McKee and Jarrett families and a paper entitled "The Historical Background of Apple Tree Campground." Several newspaper clippings and an excerpt from Dead and Gone: The Stories Behind Ten Famous Murders relate to the murder of Nimrod Simpson Jarrett.

The collection also contains pictures of Nimrod Simpson Jarrett, Nancy Avaline Jarrett, and their daughter, Harriet Iowa Jarrett.

Many of the letters have transcripts that were produced in 1997.

Items Separated

Pictures (P-5050/1)

Detailed Description of the Collection