Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#4447
ODUM FAMILY PAPERS
Initial Description
Abstract: Odum family of Robeson County, N.C., including
Malcolm E. Odum (1884-1954), who raised tobacco,
cotton, and corn as cash crops, and his daughters, who
rented out shares to tenants after their father's
death. The family sold their farm in 1986.
Correspondence, financial and legal items, notes,
and other material relating to the fifty acre farm of
the Odum family. Records are arranged by fiscal year;
this arrangement scheme was established by Estelle
Odum Bullock, who managed the farm accounts from 1955
through 1982. Annual statements provide detailed
documentation of the farm's income and expenses for
the year. Check register volumes include detailed
descriptive information indicating why each check was
written. Other noteworthy items include a drawing of
the farm and scattered correspondence and debentures
reflecting the Odums' stock in the Farmers Cooperative
Exchange, Inc., Raleigh, N.C.
Online Catalog Terms:
Agriculture--North Carolina--History--20th century.
Bullock, Estelle Odum, 1920-1982.
Cooperative societies--North Carolina--History--20th century.
Farmers--North Carolina--Economic conditions--20th century.
Farmers Cooperative Exchange, Inc.
Odum family.
Odum, Malcolm Ernest, 1884-1954.
Robeson County (N.C.)--Economic conditions--20th century.
Size: About 500 items (1.0 linear foot).
Provenance: Received from Marshall Bullock of Chapel Hill, North
Carolina, in May 1986.
Access: No restrictions.
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
Description
Shelf List
HISTORICAL NOTE
(by Marshall Bullock, May 1986)
1827
William ("Billy") Bullock Odum/Odom was born in Marion County,
South Carolina, to Archibald Odum (1792-1839) and his wife,
Martha Bullock (1792-1872).
Archibald Odum was a member of a large family that had moved
from Edgecombe County, North Carolina, in the 1740s to the
western section of Bladen County that was partitioned off to form
Robeson County in 1787. The Odum family was one of the large
landholders and small slaveowners engaged in farming and in the
naval stores industry. Martha Bullock was the daughter of
Charles Bullock (d. 1827), a native of Sussex County, Virginia,
who by 1770 had moved to Bladen (now Robeson) County where he
became a prosperous planter.
Because of the frequency with which he bought and sold land in
Bladen and Robeson counties and in Marion and Horry counties in
South Carolina, it is thought that Archibald was involved in the
naval stores industry, buying timberland, harvesting it, and then
selling it. His Marion County, S. C., plantation appears in the
1825 atlas of South Carolina by Robert Mills. Shortly after his
son William's birth, Archibald purchased a tract of land near St.
Paul's Presbyterian Church in northern Robeson County where he
was living at the time of his death in 1839 (according to family
tradition, he was killed during a deer drive). A number of
Archibald and Martha Odum's descendants still live in St. Pauls,
a small town that developed in the twentieth century on the
former Odum farm.
1849
William Odum married Susannah Prevatte (1827-1879), daughter
of James Prevatte (d. 1862), a prominent farmer in the Raft Swamp
community about six miles northwest of the county seat of
Lumberton. Also in 1849, William purchased 126 acres of his
father-in-law's farm for $100 to establish as his own homesite.
1850
A. S. McKay of Richmond County sold to William B. Odum for
$80, 80 acres on east side of Holly Swamp....adjoined property of
Odum and James Prevatte.
1854
James Prevatte deeded 4 acres of land for the site of the
community school and for the Raft Swamp Baptist Church, of which
he and his daughter Susannah Odum were founding members. Today,
the church remains the "family" church and is the site of the
Odum Annual Reunion each October. The church cemetery contains
the graves of William and Susannah, and those of many of their
descendants.
1861
Ernest Malcolm Odum born to William and Susannah.
1877
Charity E. Prevatte sold to William B. Odum for $60 her
interest in 1/3 of 120 acres claimed by Thomas Prevatte adjoining
land of William B. Odum (Thomas was Odum's brother-in-law; it is
not clear whether Charity was Thomas's sister or mother).
1881
Thomas J. Jarves, Governor of North Carolina, sold to W. B.
Odum for 12 1/2 cents per acre, 50 acres on the west side of Raft
and B? swamps.
1883
Against the wishes of his father, Ernest married Olive Jane
Lowe (d. 1929), daughter of the station master at Lowe, a small
railroad station near the Raft Swamp community. Because of this
marriage, William disinherited Ernest.
1885
Jacob C. Baxley and wife Sarah sold to William B. Odum for
$130, 43 acres on southwest side of White Oak Branch adjoining
Odum's land.
1896
William Odum died. Ernest began to purchase from his brothers
and sisters their various shares of his father's farm, and
acquired most of it by 1900. In the meantime, Ernest and Olive
Jane became the parents of Mary Susan, Malcom Ernest (1884-1954),
Cornelius, Berry, John David, Archie, Alexander, Lawrence,
Howard, and Bernice.
1911
Malcolm Ernest (known to family and friends as "Macom")
married Mary Eliza Stokes (1891-1926) of McColl, South Carolina.
Ernest gave Malcolm, his oldest son, a farm of slightly less than
50 acres taken from the original 1849 tract of 180 acres. The
farm was divided by the old Red Springs Road (now N. C. state
road 1521), and was bounded on the west by Holly or Holy Swamp, a
small tributary of the Raft Swamp. William Odum's antebellum
dwelling still stood on this 50-acre tract, but was used as a
tobacco barn. Malcolm and Eliza built a rambling farmhouse with
a wrap-around porch across from William's house, but their house
burned ca. 1930 and was replaced by the present two-story,
bungalow-style dwelling.
Malcolm and Eliza were the parents of six daughters and one
son, of whom four lived to adulthood:
Lillian Belle (b. 1912), married Dr. Frank B. McGrath;
lives in Lumberton.
Eunice Catherine (b. 1914), married Wilton Smith; lives
in Lumberton.
Marie Judson (b. 1918), married Wallace Wishart; lives in
Lumberton.
Mary Estelle (1920-1982), married James F. Bullock; lived
in Fuquay Varina, N. C. James was the great-great-
great grandson of Charles Bullock, his great-great-
grandfather Richard Bullock being the brother of
Martha Bullock Odum, the wife of Archibald and mother
of William.
1954
Malcolm Odum died from the results of a gun accident. For
forty-four years he had raised tobacco, cotton, and corn as cash
crops in addition to other garden crops to sustain a
self-sufficient farm. He was aided in the farmwork by a black
tenant family that lived in a small house near his, by his four
daughters, and, during the summer months, by his numerous nephews
who lived in the community and in St. Pauls and in Raeford.
The farm was inherited in equal shares by Malcolm's daughters
who rented it on shares to Hilda and Wilby Tyner; Hilda was the
daughter of Malcolm's brother Berry. After the Tyners left the
farm, it was rented to Mr. Carson Paul, a Lumbee Indian, who
proved to be an excellent tenant. After his retirement, the farm
was rented to Otto Recher, who was less than satisfactory as a
tenant. The sisters then rented the farmland to their first
cousin Donald Odum, son of Malcolm's brother Lawrence who lived
on the adjoining farm. The farmhouse and the tenant house were
rented to various tenants, usually black or Indian families. For
most of the period from 1955 to 1982, the farm accounts were
managed by Estelle Bullock; after her death in 1982, the books
were taken over by her sister Lilliam McGrath.
1986
The surviving sisters, Lillian, Marie, and Eunice, and the
children of Estelle (Marshall, Mark, and Mike Bullock), sold the
farm out of the family. By this time, most of the crop
allotments had been sold to the Farm Bank with the exception of
the soybean and corn allotments, and a tobacco allotment of less
than three acres.
Some recurring names in the accounts:
Tyner, Wilby and Hilda--First tenants of the farm.
Odum, L. P.--Lawrence Prevatte, brother of Malcolm.
Wife, Lucy. Children, Donald and Janet. Lived
on the farm adjoining Malcolm.
Odum, Howard or H. M.--Youngest brother of Malcolm.
Lived in the Ernest Odum homeplace adjoining farm
of Lawrence. Wife, Annie.
Odum, Berry or B. E.--Brother of Malcolm. Father of
Hilda Tyner. Wife, Annie.
Tyner Oil Co., Red Springs--Owned by Ted Tyner (his grand-
mother was a Odum) whose wife Marcella, was a daughter
of Archie Odum, brother of Malcolm.
Biggs, K. M. Co.--Hardware and farm supply store, corporate
farmer in Lumberton. Once possessed the largest
tobacco allotment (1,000 + acres) in North Carolina.
DESCRIPTION
Correspondence, bills, receipts, accounts, notes, insurance
forms, a drawing of the farm, check registers (volumes 1-4), and
other material, documenting the operation of the Odum family's
fifty acre farm. Arrangement is by fiscal year from December
through November; this arrangement was developed by Estelle Odum
Bullock, who managed the farm accounts from 1955 to 1982 after M.
E. Odum's death. Most folders have an annual yearly statement,
providing detailed documentation of the farm's income and
expenses for the year. The check register volumes include
detailed descriptive information indicating why each check was
written. Other items worthy of note are a drawing of the farm
(folder 7), and scattered throughout is correspondence and
debentures reflecting the Odum's stock in the Farmers Cooperative
Exchange, Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina.
A folder list follows.
Folder 1 1955
2 1956
3 1957
4 1959
5 1960
6 1965
7 1966
8 1967
9 1968
10 1969
11 1970
12 1971
13 1972
14 1973
15 1974
16 1975
17 1976
18 1977
Volumes
1955-1957, 1964-1971
Volume 1 Jan. 1955-Nov. 1957
2 June 1967-Oct. 1967
3 Oct. 1967-Oct. 1969
4 Oct. 1969-Nov. 1971
SHELF LIST
Box 1 (only).