Inventory of the Lea Family Papers, 1797-1934

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Biographical Note

William Lea (1777?-1873), merchant at Leasburg, N.C., was the son of Gabriel Lea (1756-1834). Gabriel also had a brother William who was a merchant.

William Lea (1777?-1873) had three sons: Willis M., who became a physician and settled in Mississippi; Lorenzo, Methodist minister and teacher in Tennessee and Mississippi; and Solomon (1807-1897), Methodist minister and schoolmaster at Boydton, Greensboro, and Leasburg. Solomon was president of Greensboro Female College, 1846-1847, and operated the Somerville Female Institute at Leasburg from its founding in 1848 until 1892. William Lea, Jr., was a merchant at Petersburg, Va.; Addison was also a Methodist teacher and preacher, mostly in Tennessee; William's daughter Anness was the wife of Yancey Wiley of Oxford, Miss.

Solomon's six daughters, including Wilhelmina (1843-1936). The other daughters were: Anness Sophia, who married Leon Richmond; Henrietta, who married M. C. Thomas; Adeline, who married B. L. Arnold); Lilianne, who married T. C. Neal; and Eugenia, who married Calvin G. Lea. One son died in infancy and one son never married. Three of Eugenia and Calvin G. Lea's daughters married Dunlaps.

Collection Overview

The Lea family papers includes letters, 1812-1820s, consisting of family correspondence of William Lea (1777?-1873) and his brothers, Vincent Lea and James Lea, all merchants, writing from Leasburg, N.C., Petersburg, Va., Norfolk, Va., and New York, N.Y., chiefly about business matters, prices, economic conditions, debts, current news, and other topics. Letters, 1820s-1850s, are chiefly between William Lea and his children and among the children. Willis M. Lea wrote from Philadelphia, where he was studying medicine, and later from Holly Springs, Miss. Solomon Lea was a student at the University of North Carolina and later lived at Boydton, N.C., Farmville, N.C., and Greensboro, N.C. Letters from 1861 onwards are chiefly correspondence of the daughters of Solomon Lea, most written by teacher Wilhelmina Lea from the various places where she taught school, including Louisburg, Olin, and other places in North Carolina and Murfreesboro, Tenn., and at the Marshall Institute in Mississippi. Volumes are ledgers, 1797-1803, of William Lea (1751-1806), merchant of Leasburg and uncle of William (1777?-1873); school accounts, 1853-1862, Solomon Lea, who who taught at Somerville Seminary and founded Somerville Female Institute in Leasburg and was president of Greensboro College, 1846-1857; and reminiscences and a 19-volume diary, 1872-1934, of Wilhelmina Lea.

Detailed Description of the Collection

Letters, 1812-1820s, are family correspondence of William Lea (1777?-1873) and his brothers Vincent and James, all in the merchandizing business. William was at Leasburg in Caswell County, N.C., and his brothers wrote from Petersburg, Norfold, and New York, chiefly about business matters, prices, economic conditions, debts, current news, and other topics. Letters, 1820s-1850s, are chiefly correspondence of William Lea with his children and correspondence among the children. There are letters from Willis M. Lea studying medicine at Philadelphia in 1826, and practicing medicine at Holly Springs, Miss., in the 1840s; letters from Solomon Lea as a student at the University of North Carolina, 1829 and 1832, and later letters from Boydton, Farmville, and Greensboro; letters from Addison Lea at college in Boydton, 1836; and letters written at Jackson, Tenn., and Aberdeen, Miss. There is a letter from Peter Doub in Greensboro, 17 March 1848, and one from E. F. Rockwell in Statesville, N.C., 19 April 1847. Letters from 1861 onwards are chiefly correspondence of the daughters of Solomon Lea, most written by Wilhelmena ("Miss Willie") at the various places where she taught school, usually for only a few months at a time: Louisburg, N.C., 1866-1867; Olin, N.C., 1868; home, 1870 and 1880; Soule Female College in Murfreesboro, Tenn., 1871; Marshall Institute in Mississippi, 1871.

Ledger and other accounts of the Somerville Seminary at Leasburg, accounts at Greensboro, accounts of purchases of books and other supplies at Philadelphia, and other accounts, probably of Solomon Lea (1807-1897), who taught school at Leasburg, was president of Greensboro College, 1846-1847, and founded Somerville Female Institute at Leasburg.