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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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Collection Overview
| Size | 1.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 500 items) |
| 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. |
| Creator | Reid (Family : Warren County, N.C.) |
| Curatorial Unit | Southern Historical Collection |
| Language | English. |
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Information For Users
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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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Biographical Information
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.
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Scope and Content
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.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Financial and Legal Materials, 1816-1937.
Chiefly itemized merchant bills, letters requesting payment, receipts for full or partial payment of both private and public debts, mortgage notes, informal IOUs scrawled on scraps of paper, business letters, and other documents of Reid family members operating as small landholders or tenant farmers in Warren County, N.C., and its environs in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The bulk of the materials relates to simple expenditures for groceries, dry goods, taxes, medical bills, and agricultural supplies. Some materials address income generated primarily from the sale of agricultural commodities like cotton and tobacco through cotton factors in Petersburg, Va., and Norfolk, Va., and nearby tobacco warehouses in 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.
Folder 1-3
Folder 1Folder 2Folder 3 |
Reid, Jesse Arthur Bynum (Binium) and Nancy Lilly Neal, 1846-1887 |
| Folder 4 |
Reid, Eaton Willis (Bud), 1886-1904, 1934 |
| Folder 5 |
Reid, James Henry, 1880-1889 |
| Folder 6 |
Reid, Jesse Arthur Bynum, Jr., 1879-1899 |
| Folder 7 |
Reid, John Perry, 1884-1937 |
| Folder 8 |
Neal, Thomas S. and Nancy, 1854-1890 |
| Folder 9 |
Tax receipts, 1816-1904 |
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Series 2. Letters and Other Papers, 1868-1903.
Arrangement: chronological.
Letters primarily written by members of the extended Reid family to other family members living in Warren County, N.C., or in other nearby communities. Contents vary, but, in general, letters reflect family matters, such as holiday visits, illnesses, and financial dealings, and broader local concerns, including the weather, crime, agricultural news, and venues for entertainment. Baseball games; town picnics; church socials; and fairs, such as the one held in Rocky Mount, N.C., are often mentioned.
Included are three distinct clusters of letters. Between 1885 and 1896, Daniel Kelly and his wife, Nancy Hellin Reid 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. The Kelly letters also mention attending the Texas Democratic convention that elected James S. Hogg governor and the Confederate Veterans Reunion in New Orleans, La. 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 rendered during the illness of 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. These letters are mentioned in several family letters that show concern for Bud's unmarried state.
Also included are a few poems, songs, and a short story.
| Folder 10 |
Letters, 1868-1886 |
| Folder 11 |
Letters, 1886 |
| Folder 12 |
Letters, 1886-1888 |
| Folder 13 |
Letters, 1888-1892 |
| Folder 14 |
Letters, 1892-1895 |
| Folder 15 |
Letters, 1895-1903 |
| Folder 16 |
Letters, undated |
| Folder 17 |
Poetry, songs, and a short story |
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Series 3. Family History Materials, 1981-2000.
A social history of the Reid family and a genealogist's report. The history includes typed transcriptions of many of the Series 2 letters.
Folder 18-21
Folder 18Folder 19Folder 20Folder 21 |
"The Reids of Warren County, North Carolina: A Brief Social History" by Marland Cornelius Reid and Eaton Gravely Reid, 2000 |
| Folder 22 |
Genealogist's report, 1981 |