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Collection Number: 00908

Collection Title: Nicholas Bryar Massenburg Papers, 1823-1908

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.

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Size 1.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 300 items)
Abstract The collection of white planter of North Carolina, Nicholas Bryar Massenburg (1806-1867), contains antebellum records chiefly related to operations of his two Franklin County, N.C., plantations, Woodleaf and Egypt, and the enslaved people and their forced labor on these plantations. Family papers in the collection include letters received by Massenburg's daughter, Lucy C. Massenburg from her sister and mother and other relatives and friends. Other items are a journal with brief daily entries about cutting and hauling lumber between 1903 and 1908 and a scrapbook, chiefly containing clippings on agriculture and other topics.
Creator Massenburg, Nicholas Bryar, -1867.
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 Nicholas Bryar Massenburg Papers #908, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Alternate Form of Material
Typed transcripts of plantation records, 1834-1846, is available.
All or part of this collection is available on microfilm from University Publications of America as part of the Records of ante-bellum southern plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War, Series J.
Acquisitions Information
Volume 1 was given by Mrs. J. Boyd Massenburg of Warrenton, N.C., on behalf of her son W. B. Massenburg, Springfield, Mass., in September 1944. Volume 2 was given by Nicholas M. Perry of Louisburg, N.C., in February 1945. Volume 3 was lent for filming by Mrs. Will Norwood James of Norwood, N.C., in January 1950. Other papers were given by George P. Hammerly of Leesburg, Va., in October 1973 and by Johnsye Massenburg Elliott and Ruby M. Hinson in April 1986. The original of volume 3 and volumes 4 and 5 were given by Mrs. Sam Arrington in October 1991 (Acc. 91149). Additions received in July 2008 (Acc. 100981) and February 2016 (Acc. 102515).
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: Rebecca McCoy, June 1984; Connie Cartledge, May 1986; Roslyn Holdzkom, June 1992

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, December 2009

Updated with additions: April 2019

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subject Headings

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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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Nicholas Bryar Massenburg (1806-1867), planter of Franklin County, N.C., who owned Woodleaf and Egypt plantations. Massenburg married Lucy Henry Davis in December 1831 and they had nine children who lived to maturity, among them, Lucy Cargill Massenburg.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

The collection contains antebellum records chiefly related to operations of Nicholas Bryar Massenburg's two Franklin County, N.C., plantations, Woodleaf and Egypt, and the enslaved people and their forced labor on these plantations. Family papers in the collection include letters received by Massenburg's daughter, Lucy C. Massenburg from her sister and mother and other relatives and friends. Other items are a journal with brief daily entries about cutting and hauling lumber between 1903 and 1908 and a scrapbook, chiefly containing clippings on agriculture and other topics.

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Contents list

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Correspondence, 1823-1895.

76 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

There are only four items dated earlier than 1866; these are family letters written 1823, 1854, 1861, and 1863. The letter of 12 January 1863 was written by Archibald Cargill Massenburg to his sister Mollie, while he was stationed at Richmond, Va. In it, he told of having been ordered to Hanover Junction and other places, his material needs, the high prices in Richmond, and getting supplies for his regiment.

The 30 items dated 1866-1884 are family and personal letters mainly to Lucy C. Massenburg, Louisburg, N.C. Others are addressed to her mother Mrs. Lucy Massenburg, who seems to have been spending part of the time with daughter Lucy and other times with daughter Mariam S. Massenburg Norwood. There are also a few letters addressed to other members of the family.

Most letters are concerned with routine family matters: illnesses; visits; news of neighbors; marriages; births; farm work, crops, and weather; church attendance and visiting preachers; and other such events. The letters were written by Mariam S. Massenburg Norwood and the Norwood children in Warrenton, N.C.; Mrs. Lucy Massenburg; Miss Lucy's brother, W. P. Massenburg at Macon Depot; and her cousins, Nannie and Lucy, and other cousins and friends at Enfield and several other places in North Carolina. The letters mention many relatives by their first names only, making their identity unclear. The first letter to Miss Lucy C. Massenburg is dated 1866; the latest letter addressed to Mrs. Lucy Massenburg is dated 1881. The 1895 letter is form a niece Lucy to "dear precious Aunt."

Folder 1

1823, 1854, 1861, 1863, 1866-1867

Folder 2

1868-1870

Folder 3

1871-1875

Folder 4

1877-1879, 1870s

Folder 5

1880-1884, 1895, and undated

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Other Material, circa 1852-1895.

About 200 items.

Folder 6

Other material

Other material includes A. C. Massenburg's religious composition for Professor Stuart, an invitation for a tournament and coronation party, and a fragment from a diary.

Box 3

Papers, circa 1870s-1890s

Acquisitions Information: Accession 100981 (Addition of July 2008)

Includes correspondence and receipts.
Box 3

Papers of Lucy Massenburg, circa 1857-1895

Acquisitions Information: Accession 102515 (Addition of February 2016)

The papers pertain chiefly to Lucy Massenburg's farming operations and include receipts for cotton ginned and tobacco sold in Louisburg. Also includes a few letters, receipts for purchases, and two lists of household property.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 3. Volumes, 1834-1851.

5 manuscript volumes, enclosures, and 1 reel of microfilm.

The volumes include detailed daily records of family and agricultural activities, slave lists, plantation accounts, and miscellaneous notes. Typed copies of the first two volumes are available. The third volume is available on microfilm. Volume 4 is a journal, owner unknown, with entries, 1903-1908, mostly having to do with cutting and hauling lumber. Volume 5 is a scrapbook containing a few accounts and many clippings, 1870s-1890s, on agriculture and other topics.

Folder 7

Volume 1. 1834-1839

Transcription Volume TV-908/1

Transcription Volume 1. 1834-1839

Folder 8

Volume 2. 1840-1846

Transcription Volume TV-908/2

Transcription Volume 2. 1840-1843

Folder 9

Volume 3. 1847-1851

Transcription Volume TV-908/3

Transcription Volume 3. 1843-1846

Folder 10

Volume 4 and enclosures, 1903-1908

Folder 11

Folder number not used

Oversize Volume SV-908/5

Volume 5: Scrapbook, 1870s-1890s

Folder 12

Volume S-5 enclosures

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