Inventory of the Drury Lacy Papers, 1823-1965

Collection Number 3641

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Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Collection Information
block Descriptive Summary
block Administrative Information
block Online Catalog Headings
block Biographical Note
block Collection Overview
plus Detailed Description of the Collection
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/
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Descriptive Summary

Repository
Southern Historical Collection
Creator
Lacy, Drury, 1802-1884.
Title
Drury Lacy Papers, 1823-1965 (bulk 1823-1903)
Call Number
3641
Language of Materials
Materials in English
Extent
Items: About 1700
Linear Feet: 3.5
Abstract
Drury Lacy of Prince Edward County, Va., studied at the Union Theological Seminary in Virginia; was minister at Presbyterian churches in New Bern, N.C., 1834-1837, and Raleigh, N.C., 1837-1855; served as president of Davidson College, 1855-1860; lived in Warrenton, N.C., 1861-1862; and served as chaplain at Confederate military hospitals at Raleigh and Wilson, N.C., 1862-1865. During 1866-1878, he taught at Peace Institute, where his wife was Lady Principal. He married first Williana Wilkinson (1806-1846), and second, in 1849, Mary Ritchie Rice, both of Virginia. Also represented in the collection is Lacy's oldest daughter, Bessie (1832-1900). In 1853, she married Thomas Webber Dewey (1827-1875) and moved to Charlotte, N.C., where he was a banker.
The papers consist chiefly of family and personal correspondence of Drury Lacy, Presbyterian minister, educator, and army chaplain; and of his daughter, Bessie Dewey, leader in social and cultural activities in Charlotte, N.C.; and of other members of the Lacy family and the Dewey family. Included are letters from relatives and friends in Prince Edward County, Va., Raleigh, N.C., New Bern, N.C., Charlotte, N.C., and other North Carolina towns; letters written at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia; Presbyterian General Assembly at Philadelphia, Pa., in 1839 and 1842; Edgeworth Female Seminary in Greensboro, N.C., 1845-1848, 1851; a boys' school at Hillsborough, N.C., 1847-1848; and Davidson College. There are also Civil War letters from civilians in Raleigh, N.C., Warrenton, N.C., and Richmond, Va.; Confederate soldier letters from North Carolina and Virginia; and Confederate chaplains' letters written at Richmond, Va., Petersburg, Va., and Wilson, N.C. Letters of the Reconstruction period are chiefly about life in Raleigh, N.C., and Wilmington, N.C. Also included are letters, 1872-1878, from Peace Institute in Raleigh, N.C. Letters of the 1880s and 1890s are mostly from Charlotte, N.C., Morganton, N.C., and Lincolnton, N.C., and include observations on the Presbyterian General Assembly in Charlotte, 1897. Correspondence, spanning nearly 80 years, concerns daily home life and social life; Presbyterian Church matters; education of children; and comments on reading, national issues, and local events. Papers of the 1950s and 1960s belonged to Elisabeth Chambers Holt and address Charlotte, N.C., banking history and her ownership of the Lacy and Dewey family papers. Also included are miscellaneous papers consisting of receipts, songs and poems, essays, orations, compositions, and obituary clippings. Volumes include sermons, notes, and lectures of Drury Lacy; records of literary organizations and musical organizations in Charlotte, N.C.; and teaching notes of Bessie Dewey.

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Administrative Information

Restrictions to Access
No restrictions.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Elisabeth Lacy (Chambers) Holt of Charlotte, N.C., in June 1963, October 1963, and October 1964; received from Mrs. Lenoir Chambers in April 1971.
Processing Information
Processed by: Staff, 1992
Encoded by: Peter Hymas, February 2005
Funding from the State Library of North Carolina supported the encoding of this finding aid.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Drury Lacy Papers #3641, 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.
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Online Catalog Headings

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

Charlotte (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
Confederate States of America. Army--Chaplains.
Confederate States of America. Army. North Carolina Artillery Regiment, 1st. Company B.
Davidson College--History--19th century.
Dewey, Bessie Lacy, 1832-1910.
Dewey family.
Dewey, Thomas W., 1827-1875.
Edgeworth Female Seminary (Greensboro, N.C.).
Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
Lacy family.
Lacy, Drury, 1802-1884.
Lacy, Mary Rice.
Lacy, William Wilkinson, 1806-1846.
North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
Peace Institute (Raleigh, N.C.)--History--19th century.
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.--North Carolina--History--19th century.
Prince Edward County (Va.)--Social life and customs.
Union Theological Seminary in Virginia--Students--History--19th century.
Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
Women--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
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Biographical Note

Drury Lacy, son of Drury and Anne (Smith) Lacy, Prince Edward County, Va., studied at the Union Theological Seminary in Virginia; was pastor of the Presbyterian Church at New Bern, N.C., 1834-1837, and of the Raleigh Presbyterian Church, 1837-1855; served as president of Davidson College, 1855-1860; as home missionary, Orange Presbytery, living at Warrenton, Va., 1861-1862; and as chaplain at Confederate military hospitals at Raleigh, N.C., and Wilson, N.C., 1862-1865. Three sons served in the Confederate army. During 1866-1878, Drury Lacy served as supply pastor for churches in Orange Presbytery and taught at Peace Institute, where his wife was Lady Principal. He married first Williana Wilkinson (1806-1846), and, in 1849, Mary Ritchie Rice, both of Virginia.

Drury Lacy's oldest daughter Bessie (1832-1900) attended Miss Taylor's school in Raleigh and Edgeworth Female Seminary in Greensboro, N.C., and continued her education in the home of her cousin, Dr. Moses Drury Hoge, in Richmond, Va. In 1853, she married Thomas Webber Dewey (1827-1875) and went to Charlotte, N.C., where he was a banker. She was organist at the First Presbyterian Church, taught classes, was librarian of the Public Library of the Charlotte Library Association from its inception in 1891, and was the inspiration for the Saturday Morning Literary Club.

Drucy Lacy's other children included James Horace Lacy (1835-1852); Drury Lacy, Jr. (1839-1869); William Sterling Lacy (1842-1899); Presbyterian minister Singleton Wilson Lacy (1845-1862); and, with his second wife, Agnes Lacy (b. 1852); Benjamin Rice Lacy (b. 1854); and John Holt Lacy (b. 1856).

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Collection Overview

The papers consist chiefly of family and personal correspondence of Drury Lacy, Presbyterian minister, educator, and army chaplain; and of his daughter, Bessie Dewey, leader in social and cultural activities in Charlotte, N.C.; and of other members of the Lacy family and the Dewey family. Included are letters from relatives and friends in Prince Edward County, Va., Raleigh, N.C., New Bern, N.C., Charlotte, N.C., and other North Carolina towns; letters written at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia; Presbyterian General Assembly at Philadelphia, Pa., in 1839 and 1842; Edgeworth Female Seminary in Greensboro, N.C., 1845-1848, 1851; a boys' school at Hillsborough, N.C., 1847-1848; and Davidson College. There are also Civil War letters from civilians in Raleigh, N.C., Warrenton, N.C., and Richmond, Va.; Confederate soldier letters from North Carolina and Virginia; and Confederate chaplains' letters written at Richmond, Va., Petersburg, Va., and Wilson, N.C. Letters of the Reconstruction period are chiefly about life in Raleigh, N.C., and Wilmington, N.C. Also included are letters, 1872-1878, from Peace Institute in Raleigh, N.C. Letters of the 1880s and 1890s are mostly from Charlotte, N.C., Morganton, N.C., and Lincolnton, N.C., and include observations on the Presbyterian General Assembly in Charlotte, 1897. Correspondence, spanning nearly 80 years, concerns daily home life and social life; Presbyterian Church matters; education of children; and comments on reading, national issues, and local events. Papers of the 1950s and 1960s belonged to Elisabeth Chambers Holt and address Charlotte, N.C., banking history and her ownership of the Lacy and Dewey family papers. Also included are miscellaneous papers consisting of receipts, songs and poems, essays, orations, compositions, and obituary clippings. Volumes include sermons, notes, and lectures of Drury Lacy; records of literary organizations and musical organizations in Charlotte, N.C.; and teaching notes of Bessie Dewey.

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Arrangement of Collection

1. Correspondence
2. Miscellaneous Papers
3. Volumes
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Detailed Description of the Collection

1. Correspondence, 1823-1965 and undated.

About 1600 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Folder 1
1823
Folder 2
1834
Folder 3
1835
Folder 4
1836
Folder 5
1837-1838
Folder 6
1839-1844
Folder 7
1845
Folder 8
1846
Folder 9
1847
Folder 10
1848
Folder 11
1849-1852

Digital version: Letter from J. Horace Lacy to Aunt Kate, 11 September 1852
Folder 12A-12C
181853
Folder 13A-13D
1854
Folder 14
1855-1859
Folder 15A-15B
1860-1863
Folder 16-17
1864-1865
Folder 18A-18D
1866
Folder 18E
1867
Folder 19
1868-1869
Folder 20A
1870-1871
Folder 20B
1872-1873
Folder 21
1874
Folder 22
1875
Folder 23
1876-1878
Folder 24A
1879-1884
Folder 24B
1885-1890
Folder 24C
1891-1903
Folder 24D
1918, 1952, 1963-1965
Folder 25-27F
Undated

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2. Miscellaneous Papers, 1840s-1909 and undated.

About 80 items.
Folder 28
Miscellaneous papers, undated
Includes receipts, prescriptions, drafts of letters to newspaper editors, a sermon by a ten-year-old child (William Sterling Lacy), a few club papers and teaching notes of Bessie Dewey, and the floor-plan of Thomas W. Dewey's residence in Charlotte, N.C.
Folder 29
Songs and poems, undated
Includes manuscripts, broadsides, and clippings.
Folder 30
Essays and orations: Thomas W. Dewey, 1840s and undated
Folder 31
Correspondence: Thomas W. Dewey, 1851-1852 and undated
Includes correspondence with women prior to his engagement to Bessie Lacy.
Folder 32
Compositions: James Horace Lacy, 1851-1852 and undated

Digital version: Class Composition of J. Horace Lacy, [January 1851]: "Prejudice Against Composition Writing"
Folder 33
Miscellaneous writings: Drury Lacy, undated
Includes "Random Thoughts," pages 187-228, consisting of Christian meditations, notes on lectures and sermons, part of his "Life of My Son Horace," and reminiscences of experiences of giving public toasts.
Folder 34
Clippings: obituary and memorial tributes, 1875, 1890s-1909, and undated
Miscellaneous clippings of the Chambers family, 1890s-1909; letters of the 1780s-1790s of Drury Lacy (1758-1815), published and clipped from Presbyterian Watchman (undated); and a sermon of Drury Lacy, 1801, reprinted 1875.

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3. Volumes, 1826-1896 and undated.

18 items.
Arrangement: roughly chronological.
Folder 35
Volume 1, undated
Manuscript music with lyrics; also poems without music, probably the book of Williana Wilkinson (1806-1846) when she was a young girl.
Folder 36
Volume 2, 1826 and undated
Commonplace book containing mostly poems, probably belonging to Williana Wilkinson.
Folder 37
Volume 3, 1840
Pocket-sized volume containing mounted newspaper clippings of William Henry Harrison songs and poems published during the presidential campaign of 1840.
Folder 38
Volume 4, undated
A portfolio containing about 70 manuscripts of sermons and lectures of the Reverend Drury Lacy.
Folder 39
Volume 5, 1844-1845
Album of Bessie Lacy in which her family and friends have written poems and messages for her.
Folder 40
Volume 6, [1845-1848?]
Notes and writings, probably of Bessie Lacy, concerning the time she was enrolled at the Edgeworth Female Seminary in Greensboro, N.C.
Folder 41
Volume 7, 1852, 1855-1870
Commonplace book of Bessie Lacy, containing mostly poems but also prose paragraphs and miscellany. Other members of the family may also have written in it.
Folder 42
Volume 8, 1858-1859, 1861-1862
Constitution and minutes of Charlotte Presbyterian Ladies Tract and secretary and treasurer's records of Soldiers Aid Society.
Folder 43
Volume 9, October 1864-March 1865
Minutes of the Social Reading Club, Charlotte, N.C., kept by Bessie Dewey, secretary. The reading club was a group of young men and women who met several times a month to read together.
Folder 44
Volume 10, December 1878-June 1881
Minutes of the Gounod Musical Club, of which Bessie Dewey was secretary. The group produced The Pirates of Penzance in 1881.
Folder 45
Volume 11, February 1881-April 1881
Bessie Dewey's record of anthems, hymns, and sermon texts of all the weekly services at the Presbyterian Church, Sundays and Wednesdays.
Folder 46
Volume 12, January 1872-March 1873
Detailed minutes of the Rip Van Winkle Reading Club, Charlotte, N.C., of which Bessie Dewey was secretary.
Folder 47
Volume 13, November 1893-June 1897
Minutes of the Mecklenburg Historical Society, Charlotte, N.C., 37 pages.
Folder 48
Volume 14, 1891-1896 and undated
Teaching notes and poems from various sources.
Folder 49
Volume 15, 1895-1896 and undated
Approximately 65 pages of teaching notes and quotations.
Folder 50
Volume 16, [1890s?]
Teaching materials of Bessie Dewey: Questions in English literature and history, and Greek and Latin mythology (pages 1-64); curriculum in music at the Charlotte Institute for young ladies and some notes and questions for teaching (pages 266-282)
Folder 51
Volume 17, [1890s?]
Teaching material of Bessie Dewey: questions on Hamlet.
Folder 52
Volume 18, [1890s?]
Teaching notes of Bessie Dewey.

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