Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the William D. Valentine Diary, #2148, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Microfilm copy available.

Acquisitions Information

Purchase 1930

Additional Descriptive Resources

Original finding aid is filed in folder 1a.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

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.

• African Americans--North Carolina--Social conditions.
• Baptist State Convention of North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Bertie County (N.C.)--Politics and government.
• Bertie County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• County courts--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Diaries.
• Fisheries--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Gates County (N.C.)--Politics and government.
• Gates County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Hertford County (N.C.)--Politics and government.
• Hertford County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Justice, Administration of--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Lawyers--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Methodist Church--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• North Carolina--Politics and government--1775-1865.
• Northampton County (N.C.)--Politics and government.
• Northampton County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Practice of law--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Slavery--North Carolina.
• United States--Politics and government--1815-1861.
• Valentine, William D., b. 1806.
• Women--Education (Higher)--North Carolina--History--19th century.

William D. Valentine was born in Hertford County, N.C. in 1806. He contracted a debilitating disease at the age of 13 that left him permanently disabled. After a brief stint as a grammar-school teacher in 1837, he became a lawyer, practicing in the courts of Hertford, Bertie, Gates, and Northampton counties in northeastern North Carolina. Valentine never married, and he spent the greater part of his life living at Oaklawn, his father's plantation just outside the village of Bethel, N.C.

The collection is lawyer William D. Valentine's multi-volume diary with entries touching on on almost every aspect of public life in Hertford, Bertie, Gates, and Northampton counties, N.C., including his evaluations of the personalities and characters of his fellow attorneys and judges. Fascinated by politics, he wrote in much detail of events on both the local and state level. Other subjects include the activities of the local Baptist and Methodist churches, especially the establishment of female colleges in the area; slaves and free blacks; the local fishing industry; local opinions on national politics; farming practices; gossip and scandals