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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 FAQ section for more information.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 1.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 700 items) |
| Abstract | Papers collected or created by Annie Blackwell Thorne (born 1878) include correspondence, legal and financial materials, genealogical papers, and other items of the Alston, Harriss, Kearny, Thorne, and related families, chiefly of Warren and Halifax counties, N.C. Also included is Thorne family material largely from Saint Martin Parish, La. Correspondence pertains chiefly to personal matters, but also deals with business affairs. Included are two letters, 1831, from Thomas Whitmell Harriss (1810-1890) describing his religious conversion while he was a student at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill; a few letters relating to the Civil War in Virginia and Louisiana; and letters, 1890s, to Annie's sister, Tempe Williams Thorne (born 1874), from family members and friends. Financial items include slave bills of sale and materials concerning tobacco sales in the 1850s. Legal materials include items, 1866-1869, relating to cases handled by John Davis Thorne (1834-1900), justice of the peace in Saint Martin Parish, La. |
| Creator | Thorne, Annie Blackwell, b. 1878. |
| 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
Materials in this collection were collected by Annie Blackwell Thorne (born 1878), probably in cooperation with her sister Tempe Williams Thorne (born 1874). The intertwining of the families represented in these papers is well documented in the genealogical materials found in Series 4.
The activities of members of the Alston, Harriss, Kearny, Thorne, and related families largely took place in and around Warren and Halifax counties, N.C.
Three Thorne family members entered into family ventures in Saint Martin Parish, La., in the 1840s. Samuel Thomas Thorne (1827-1921) and his brother John Davis Thorne (1834-1900) owned property on Bayou Teche at Grand Pointe. Their older brother, William H. Thorne, had property further north on Bayou Portage. These ventures were abandoned shortly after the Civil War, and the brothers returned to Warren and Halifax counties.
Annie Blackwell Thorne and Tempe Williams Thorne lived most of their lives in Littleton, N.C. Their younger brother, Thomas Whitmell Thorne, attended N.C. State College of Agricultural and Mechanical Arts in Raleigh and then lived in New Orleans, La.
Except for legal materials relating to John Davis Thorne's position as justice of the peace in Saint Martins Parish, materials for all of these closely related families have been filed together according to type.
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Scope and Content
Papers collected or created by Annie Blackwell Thorne (born 1878) include correspondence, legal and financial materials, genealogical papers, and other items of the Alston, Harriss, Kearny, Thorne, and related families, chiefly of Warren and Halifax counties, N.C. Also included is Thorne family material largely from Saint Martin Parish, La. Correspondence pertains chiefly to personal matters, but also deals with business affairs. Included are two letters, 1831, from Thomas Whitmell Harriss (1810-1890) describing his religious conversion while he was a student at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill; a few letters relating to the Civil War in Virginia and Louisiana; and letters, 1890s, to Annie's sister, Tempe Williams Thorne (born 1874), from family members and friends. Financial items include slave bills of sale and materials concerning tobacco sales in the 1850s. Legal materials include items, 1866-1869, relating to cases handled by John Davis Thorne (1834-1900), justice of the peace in Saint Martin Parish, La.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Correspondence, 1810-1896.
Arrangement: chronological.
Letters to and from members of the Alston, Harriss, Kearny, and Thorne families. For the most part, there is little connection between the letters. There are a few letters from each person represented and a few from each year, but the exchange of letters is not apparent. The earliest letters include some transcripts and photocopies, the originals of which are not present.
Two letters, 1831, from Thomas Whitmell Harriss (1810-1890) to his sister, Martha Rosanna Williams Harriss, describe his religious conversion while he was a student at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Letters from the 1850s are primarily business letters to W. K. Kearny from N. M. Martin, Bro. & Co., of Petersburg, Va., concerning sales of tobacco and wheat.
Two letters, one from D. C. Clark and one from E. A. Thorne, both of whom were serving in the Confederate Army in Virginia, describe Confederate military life in 1862. Also included are a pass, dated 18 February 1865, by which Samuel Thomas Thorne was authorized by Governor Henry W. Allen to "introduce goods into our lines for the state of Louisiana"; a letter, dated 25 August 1865, in which L. L. Kearny discussed post-Civil War conditions; and a condolence letter from Octavia Williams Polk, niece of William K. Kearny, to "Aunt Maria" on the death of William K. Kearny.
Three letters, 1876, and one, 1878, are from M. A. Kearny to her daughter, Martha Helen Hardee Kearny Harriss. A letter dated 23 January 1882 from T. W. Harriss of Tennessee to his uncle, written in Salina, Utah, describes Harriss's impressions of the Mormons and the landscape in Utah. Also included are two letters, 26 January 1887 and 30 April 1889, to a Harriss family member from Adolphus Williamson Mangum (1834-1890), Methodist minister and professor at the University of North Carolina.
Most of the letters in the 1890s are addressed to Tempe from cousins and friends in Washington, Littleton, and Oakland, N.C., as well as other places. Two letters are from S. O. Thorne at Trinity College in Durham, N.C., to his parents.
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Series 2. Financial Materials, 1769-1882.
Arrangement: chronological.
Chiefly bills of sale, ledger sheets, and tax and bond receipts. Early materials relate to the Kearny and Alston families in Warren County, N.C., including some documenting transactions having to do with the buying and selling of slaves. A volume, 1829, lists slaves by family, with the names and ages of the children. Also included are accounts, 1820s, of William K. Kearny as guardian of Littleton and Joseph Maclin. Material from the 1850s chiefly relates to the sale of tobacco and other commodities by William K. Kearny. Material in the 1860s includes Confederate States of America tax and bond receipts belonging to the Louisiana branch of the Thorne family.
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Series 3. Legal Materials
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Subseries 3.1. Saint Martin Parish, 1864-1870 and undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
Materials relating to cases handled by John Davis Thorne (1834-1900), justice of the peace in Saint Martin Parish, La. These are chiefly documents ordering constables Godfrey Dupre and Alexandre Patin to collect certain sums from individuals against whom small claims judgments were made. Also included are several sheets detailing testimony by witnesses to a shooting, a poisoning, and other serious crimes. Financial material that appears to relate to some of the cases tried before Thorne is filed in folder 22. Much of this material is in French.
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Subseries 3.2. Other Legal Papers, 1784-1959 and undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
Indentures, deeds, wills, and other legal papers of various families. Those dated 1811 through 1835 are chiefly wills and indentures relating to the Alston, Williams, and Kearny families in Warren County, N.C.; later papers relate chiefly to the Thorne, Harriss, and Clarke families in Beaufort and Warren County, N.C.
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Series 4. Genealogy, 1826-1965 and undated.
Letters, notes, printed materials, and other items relating to the Alston, Harriss, Kearny, Whitmell, Williams, and Thorne families. Included are a large family tree that traces five generations beginning with Samuel Thorne (1767-1838), correspondence about the Thorne coat of arms, and several applications for membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution.
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Series 5. Other Items, 1866-1909 and undated.
Certificates include William R. Kearny's pardon for having served the Confederacy and his acknowledgement of receipt and acceptance of the pardon and Thomas W. Harriss's Dental Surgeon Certificate of Registration, dated 15 February 1890.
Writings include an essay dated 28 February 1890 by Tempie Thorne on "The Pleasures of the Imagination"; an address by Thomas Whitmell Harriss (1810-1890) on the future of the South; and essay titled "Woman in Mission Work" and several poems, one of which was written by T. W. Harriss in 1878.
School material includes the 1902 class schedule for Nena Thorne at Randolph-Macon Woman's College; grade reports, 1904-1905, for T. Whitmell Thorne from Littleton High School, Littleton, N.C.; and grade reports, 1908 and 1909, for T. W. Thorne from the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, West Raleigh.
Printed items include a funeral sermon, 1861, on the death of James W. Harriss of Halifax County, N.C., by Reverend A. W. Mangum; a program for Children's Day, A Missionary Festival, on Sunday, 2 June 1889; an invitation to "A Poverty Soshul" to be held at the residence of E. S. Hoyt, 19 April 1894; a newspaper clipping, 1888, of the charge to the jury in James Harriss's suit against the Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railroad Company for false arrest; and "Our Boys and Girls," volume 1, no. 1, Littleton, N.C., September 1901, published monthly by S. T. Thorne Junior, editor and publisher.
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Series 6. Pictures
| Image P-4521/1 |
Photograph of unidentified young man, 1 August 1863. #04521, Series: "6. Pictures" P-4521/1 |
| Image P-4521/2 |
Photograph, verso reading: "Mrs. [Thomas?] Harriss at Kell Vault, taken 24 years ago, Doc was buried at bottom on the left," [1916?]. #04521, Series: "6. Pictures" P-4521/2 |
| Image P-4521/3 |
Photograph of "Grandpa J. J. W.'s picture." Negative on file. #04521, Series: "6. Pictures" P-4521/3 |
| Image P-4521/4 |
Photograph, verso reading: "William Williams Thorne," undated. #04521, Series: "6. Pictures" P-4521/4 |
| Special Format Image SF-P-4521/5 |
Tintype of two unidentified girls #04521, Series: "6. Pictures" SF-P-4521/5A figure, apparently male, seated between them has been cut out of the picture. |
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Items Separated
Processed by: Roslyn Holdzkom, October 1988; Linda Sellars, June 1999
Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008
Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, November 2009
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