Inventory of the Reid Family Papers, 1816-2000
Collection Number 5102
Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- 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/
- Processed by
- Matthew Turi
- Date Processed
- October 2002
- Encoded by
- Matthew Turi
- Date Encoded
- October 2002
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Descriptive Summary
- Repository
- Southern Historical Collection
- Creator
- Reid family.
- Title
- Reid Family Papers, 1816-2000
- Call Number
- 5102
- Extent
-
- About 500 items (1.5 linear feet)
- Abstract
- In the 19th century, the Reids of Warren County, N.C., and its environs were primarily small landholders and tenant farmers. Family members included Jesse Arthur Bynum (Binium) Reid (1828-1875) and his wife, Nancy Lilly Neal Reid (1837-1886). Among their children were Nancy Hellin Reid Kelly (1861-1937) and Eaton Willis Reid (Bud) (1863-1934). The collection includes financial and legal materials, personal letters, and other items of Reid family members. Most financial and legal items relate to expenditures for groceries, dry goods, taxes, medical bills, and agricultural supplies. Some materials document income, primarily from sales of cotton and tobacco through cotton factors in Petersburg and Norfolk, Va., and tobacco warehouses in Oxford or Rocky Mount, N.C. Included are items documenting Jesse Reid's Civil War service in the 12th North Carolina Infantry Regiment (photocopies) and the North Carolina Home Guard and materials relating to Thomas S. and Nancy Neal, Nancy Lilly Neal Reid's parents. Personal letters were primarily written by members of the extended Reid family to family members living in Warren County, N.C., or in other nearby communities. They document family life and local concerns, including the weather, crime, agricultural news, and venues for entertainment. Also included are letters, 1885-1896, from Nancy Hellin Reid Kelly and her husband Daniel in Davis and then Paris, Tex., about the virtues of their new home state; letters, 1886-1888, from David Lucas, M.D., and his attorney attempting to collect payment for medical services rendered during the illness of Nancy Lilly Neal Reid; and love letters, 1886-1895, that Eaton Willis Reid received from a number of young women. A social history of the Reid family (2000) and a genealogist's report (1981) are also included, as are a few poems, songs, and a short story.
Administrative Information
- Preferred Citation
- [Identification of item], in the Reid Family Papers #5102, 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.
Online Catalog Headings
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.
- Agriculture--North Carolina--History--19th century.
- Commission merchants--Virginia--History--19th century.
- Confederate States of America. Army. North Carolina Infantry Regiment, 12th.
- Cotton--North Carolina--History--19th century.
- Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
- Farmers--North Carolina.
- Genealogy.
- Kelly, Daniel, fl. 1885-1896.
- Kelly, Nancy Hellin Neal Reid, 1861-1937.
- Love-letters--North Carolina--History--19th century.
- Medicine--Practice--North Carolina--History--19th century.
- Neal, Nancy, fl. 1854-1890.
- Neal, Thomas S., fl. 1854-1890.
- North Carolina--Economic conditions--19th century.
- North Carolina. Home Guard.
- Reid, Eaton Willis, 1863-1934.
- Reid family.
- Reid, Jesse Arthur Bynum, 1828-1875.
- Reid, Nancy Lilly Neal, 1837-1886.
- Tenant farmers--North Carolina.
- Texas--Emigration and immigration--History--19th century.
- Tobacco--North Carolina--History--19th century.
- Warren County (N.C.)--History.
- Warren County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
Biographical Note
In the 19th century, members of the Reid family were primarily small landholders and tenant farmers in Warren County, N.C., and its environs. Family members included Jesse Arthur Bynum (Binium) Reid (1828-1875) and his wife, Nancy Lilly Neal Reid (1837-1886). Their children included John Perry Reid (1853-1936), Jesse Arthur Bynum Reid (1856-1933), James Henry Reid (1859-1938), Nancy Hellin Reid Kelly (1861-1937), Eaton Willis (Bud) Reid (1863-1934), Williamson Reid (1865-1922), Robert Lee Reid (1870-1933), Marsillous Montgomery Reid (1872-1945), and Mary A. Reid Cullifer (1873-1932). Nancy Lilly Neal Reid's parents were Thomas S. Neal and Nancy Neal.
Jesse Arthur Bynum Reid served in Company K of the 12th North Carolina Infantry Regiment as well as in the Home Guard during the Civil War. Beginning in the mid-1880s, some members of the family moved to Texas. This group came to include Nancy Hellin Reid Kelley and her husband Daniel Kelly, James Henry Reid, Marsillous Montgomery Reid, and Robert Lee Reid.
Back to TopCollection Overview
The collection includes financial and legal materials--merchant bills, demand letters, receipts, mortgage notes, IOUs, documents recording consignment sales of cotton and tobacco--and personal letters of the Reid family of Warren County, N.C., and its environs in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Most financial and legal items document simple expenditures for groceries, dry goods, taxes, medical bills, and agricultural supplies. A subset of materials addresses income sources, which were primarily sales of cotton and tobacco through cotton factors in Petersburg, Va., and Norfolk, Va., and tobacco warehouses in nearby Oxford, N.C., and Rocky Mount, N.C. There are also documents reflecting both formal and informal financial arrangements to extend credit or loan monies in return for payments in cash or in kind. Materials relating to Jesse Arthur Bynum Reid and his wife, Nancy Lilly Neal Reid, are the most extensive and comprehensive. They include photocopied items documenting Jesse Reid's Civil War service in Company K of the 12th North Carolina Infantry Regiment; a physician's note excusing Jesse Reid for 90 days from Home Guard service; a copy of the couple's marriage bond; and materials relating to Thomas S. Neal and Nancy Neal, Nancy Lilly Neal Reid's parents.
Personal letters were primarily written by members of the extended Reid family to family members living in Warren County, N.C., or in other nearby communities. Contents vary, but, in general, they reflect everyday family life--holiday visits, illnesses, and financial dealings--and broader local concerns, including the weather, crime, agricultural news, and venues for entertainment.
Among these letters are three distinct clusters. Between 1885 and 1896, Nancy Hellin Reid Kelly and her husband Daniel Kelly of Davis, Tex., and then Paris, Tex., wrote a series of letters back to their relatives in North Carolina praising the virtues of Texas. These letters offer a pointed critique of North Carolina from a "working man's" perspective. Between 1886 and 1888, David Lucas, M.D., and his attorney wrote a series of letters to the Reid family in an effort to collect payment for medical services that the doctor had performed while caring for Nancy Lilly Neal Reid, who died in the summer of 1886. Between 1886 and 1895, Eaton Willis Reid (Bud) received many love letters from a number of young women.
A social history of the Reid family (2000) and a genealogist's report (1981) are also included, as are a few poems, songs, and a short story.
Back to TopOrganization of Collection
-
1. Financial and Legal Materials
2. Letters and Other Papers
3. Family History Materials
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Detailed Description of the Collection
1. Financial and Legal Materials, 1816-1937.
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2. Letters and Other Papers, 1868-1903.
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3. Family History Materials, 1981-2000.
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