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

                 SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION

                              #908
                NICHOLAS BRYAR MASSENBURG PAPERS
                            Inventory

Abstract:      Nicholas Bryar Massenburg, 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.
               Records, 1834-1846 (also typed transcriptions) and
           1847-1851 (also on microfilm), kept by Nicholas Bryar
           Massenburg concerning agricultural and family
           activities, slaves, and accounts for Woodleaf and
           Egypt, his Franklin County, N.C., plantations.  Also
           included is correspondence of Massenburg's daughter,
           Lucy C. Massenburg, including letters from her sister
           and mother and other relatives and friends.  In
           addition, there are a journal, 1903-1908, owner
           unknown, with brief entries relating to cutting and
           hauling lumber, and a scrapbook, chiefly containing
           clippings on agricultural and other topics.

Online Catalog Terms:
   Agriculture--North Carolina--History--19th century.
   Egypt Plantation (Franklin County, N.C.).
   Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs--19th century.
   Franklin County (N.C.)--History--19th century.
   Lumber trade.
   Massenburg family.
   Massenburg, Lucy C.
   Massenburg, Nicholas Bryar, 1806-ca. 1867.
   Plantations--North Carolina--Franklin County.
   Scrapbooks.
   Slave records--North Carolina.
   Women--North Carolina--Social life and customs--19th century.
   Woodleaf Plantation (Franklin County, N.C.).

Size:      About 95 items (1.0 linear feet).

Provenance:    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).

Access:        No restrictions.

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

Table of Contents:  
   Series Descriptions
       Series 1.  Correspondence
       Series 2.  Other Material
       Series 3.  Volumes
   Shelf List

                       SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

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
          2.    1868-1870
          3.    1871-1875
          4.    1877-1879, 1870s
          5.    1880-1884, 1895, and undated

Series 2.  Other Material
   1852, 1866-1867.  3 items.

   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.

  Folder  6.

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
         8.        Volume 2. 1840-1846
         9.        Volume 3. 1847-1851
        10.        Volume 4. 1903-1908
     11-12.        Volume S-5.  Scrapbook and enclosures,
                   1870s-1890s.