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

                 SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION

                              #4541
              JOHN W. MARKHAM DRUG COMPANY RECORDS
                            Inventory

Abstract:      Letters, 1913-1916; an account book, 1912-1917;
           and bills and receipts, 1916-1917; all relating to the
           John Markham Drug Company of Carrboro, North Carolina,
           and to Sallie Thelma Markham Hemphill and Clyde Hoke
           Hemphill, the daughter and son-in-law of the drugstore
           owner John W. Markham.  The letters discuss the
           unhappiness of Hemphill, a physician, and his wife. 
           The account book and bills and receipts show purchases
           and expenditures of the drugstore and its clientele.

Online Catalog Terms:
   Accounting--Books of account.
   Carrboro (N.C.)--Commerce--History--20th century.
   Carrboro (N.C.)--Social life and customs--20th century.
   Drugstores--Accounting.
   Drugstores--North Carolina--History--20th century.
   Hemphill, Clyde Hoke, 1891-1959.
   Hemphill, Sallie Thelma Markham.
   John W. Markham Drug Company (Carrboro, N.C.).
   Physicians--North Carolina--History--20th century.

Size:      About 110 items (0.5 linear feet).

Provenance:    Received from Henry Lister of Chapel Hill, N.C.,
               in December 1989.

Access:        No restrictions.

Processing Note:   Many items, particularly the 1916 bills and
                   receipts, are in poor physical condition and
                   require extremely careful handling.

Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or 
           their descendants, as stipulated by United States
           copyright law.

Table of Contents:
   Historical Note
   Series Descriptions
     Series 1. Correspondence
     Series 2. Financial materials
     Series 3. Other papers
   Shelf List

                         HISTORICAL NOTE

   The John W. Markham Drug Store was located in Carrboro, North
Carolina.  Materials in this collection show that the drugstore
flourished in the middle and late 1910s.  A few pieces of blank
stationery, dating from the 1890s, identify John W. Markham as a
"General Commission Merchant and Wholesale and Retail Dealer in
Heavy and Fancy Groceries" in Durham, North Carolina; these
papers offer little other information about John W. Markham
outside of his ownership of the drugstore, or about his wife,
author of most of the letters in this collection.

   A bit more information is available about the Markham's
daughter, Sallie Thelma Markham Hemphill.  She married Clyde Hoke
Hemphill (1891-1959) on 2 September 1915.  An undated letter in
this collection hints that the marriage was not altogether happy.

Hemphill, originally from Marion, North Carolina, was a 1911
graduate of the University of North Carolina.  He attended
medical school at the University of Maryland, graduating in 1913.

Hemphill was a general practitioner in Chapel Hill for 14 years,
perhaps starting around 1917.  During World War II, he served as
medical supervisor in charge of first aid stations at the atomic
bomb facility in Hanford, Washington.  At some point, he married
Helen Chubbuck, a nurse from Idaho who had received her training
in Salt Lake City.  Hemphill and his second wife established a
practice in Black Mountain, North Carolina.  They apparently
spent the months of May through October each year ministering to
the holiday crowds in the resort town of Highlands, North
Carolina.  Hemphill retired in Black Mountain in 1958 and died
there in 1959.  There is no record of what became of the first
Mrs. Hemphill.

(Sources for this note include items in the Newspaper Clipping
File in the North Carolina Collection, University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill.)

                       SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Series 1.  Correspondence
   1913-1916 and undated.  6 items.

       Letter of 15 November 1913 is from a friend in Baltimore,
Maryland, to Clyde Hoke Hemphill about Hemphill's unhappiness
with his situation.  It is not clear whether Hemphill's
professional or personal life is under discussion.  Letters of 9
and 18 April 1916, 3 May 1916, and a letter fragment are to
Sallie Thelma Markham Hemphill in Forest City, North Carolina(?),
from her mother in Carrboro.  These letters discuss the
Hemphill's planned return to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area.  An
undated letter is from Sallie to her father.  In it, Sallie
lamented her husband's unhappiness, possible financial
difficulties, and apparent mistrust of his wife.

   Folder 1

Series 2.  Financial materials
   1912-1917.  ca. 100 items.

       Account book containing records of the accounts of patrons
of the John W. Markham Drug Company (ca. 120 pages).  Bills and
receipts for goods purchased by the John W. Markham Drug Company
from the Durham Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company, the National Biscuit
Company, and other manufacturers and distributors of candy, soft
drinks, and drugs.  Also included are a few deposit receipts from
the drugstore's account with the Bank of Chapel Hill.

   Folder 2        Account book, 1912-1917
                   Bills and receipts
          3-4              1916
          5-6              1917

Series 3.  Other papers
   1890s.  1 item.

       Blank stationery, dating from the 1890s, identifying John
W. Markham as a "General Commission Merchant and Wholesale and
Retail Dealer in Heavy and Fancy Groceries" in Durham, North
Carolina.

   Folder 7

                           SHELF LIST

   Box 1 (only)