Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#748
THOMAS GEORGE WALTON PAPERS
Inventory
Abstract: Family correspondence, 1830s to 1890s, deeds,
indentures, and other papers of Thomas George Walton,
his wife, Eliza Murphy Walton, and other members of
the Walton and Murphy families, all of Morganton,
Burke County, N.C., Included are letters from John H.
Murphy, student at the University of North Carolina,
1843-1847; correspondence between Thomas George Walton
and Eliza Murphy Walton while he was serving with the
Confederate Army in Virginia and Tennessee; earlier
land grants, deeds, and family letters; postwar
correspondence of Walton concerning law and politics;
and a typed transcription of his historical sketch of
Burke County, N.C., containing biographies of early
pioneers. Correspondents include Tod R. Caldwell,
Kemp P. Battle, and Bishop Theodore B. Lyman.
Online Catalog Terms:
Battle, Kemp P. (Kemp Plummer), 1831-1919.
Burke County (N.C.)--Biography.
Burke County (N.C.)--Social life and customs--19th century.
Caldwell, Tod Robinson, 1818-1874.
Confederate States of America. Army--Officers--Correspondence.
Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs--19th century.
Lyman, Theodore Benedict, 1815-1893.
Morganton (N.C.)--Social life and customs--19th century.
Murphy family.
North Carolina--Politics and government--1865-1950.
Tennessee--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal
narratives, Confederate.
Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
Walton, Eliza Murphy, 1820-1886.
Walton family.
Walton, Thomas George, 1815-1905.
Size: About 500 items (1.0 linear feet).
Provenance: Received from William C. Ervin before 1940.
Access: No restrictions.
Related Collections: Eliza M. Walton Papers (#2686-z);
John M. Walton Diary (#2695-z).
Processing Note: This collection was rehoused under the
sponsorship of a grant from the National
Endowment for the Humanities, Office of
Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or
their descendants, as stipulated by United States
copyright law.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Thomas George Walton (1815-1905) was the son of Thomas Walton,
a Morganton, N.C., merchant. He married Eliza Murphy (1820-
1886), daughter of John Hugh Murphy and Margaret Avery Murphy of
Willow Hill Plantation, Burke County, N.C. For several years, he
also served as the guardian of his wife's younger siblings, the
grandchildren of Captain James Murphy.
Thomas George Walton was appointed president of the board of
directors of the Morganton Branch of the Bank of North Carolina
in 1859. During the Civil War, he served in the Confederate Army
in Virginia and Tennessee. Hw was appointed vice president of
the North Carolina Agricultural Society in 1871, director for the
Eastern Division of the Western North Carolina Rail Road in 1873,
and trustee of the State Hospital for the Insane in 1897.
Lucy Walton, daughter of Thomas George and Eliza Murphy
Walton, married Rev. Neilson Falls.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1. Murphy Family and Thomas George Walton
1779-1860. About 240 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Deeds, indentures, and family letters of Thomas George Walton
of Morganton, N.C., his wife Eliza Murphy Walton, and other
members of the Murphy and Walton families. Early papers, 1779-
1833, consist of deeds, records of land surveyed, land grants
from the state of North Carolina, and other papers concerning
property in Burke County. Most of these papers pertain to
Captain James Murphy, grandfather of Eliza Murphy Walton.
Letters consist of those written to Eliza Murphy while a
student in Pittsboro, N.C., mostly from her mother, Margaret S.
Collett, and stepfather, John Collett; correspondence between
Eliza Murphy and her sister Lauretta, who married Alexander F.
Gaston; letters, 1843-1847, from John H. Murphy at the University
of North Carolina; correspondence among Eliza Murphy Walton,
Thomas George Walton, and his sister Harriet, mostly concerning
family news, the health of family members, and local events; and
a few letters about state politics, 1859, to Thomas George Walton
from Tod R. Caldwell, then serving in the state legislature.
Folder 1 1779-1797
2 1798-1805
3 1806-1814
4 1815-1818
5 1820-1824
6 1825-1833
7 1834-1835
8a 1836-1840
8b 1841-1843
9 1844-1847
10 1848-1853
11 1854-1858
12 1859-1860
Series 2. Walton Family
1861-1897 and undated. About 260 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Postwar papers of Thomas George Walton and his children.
Correspondence consists mostly of business letters of Walton, his
sons John M. "Jock", George, and E. S., and his son-in-law
Neilson Falls, the husband of Walton's daughter Lucy. There are
a few family letters from Walton's sons to their father and to
each other; routine letters from Kemp P. Battle, concerning the
preparation of a biographical sketch of Governor Tod R. Caldwell;
many business letters addressed to Thomas George Walton from
various merchants; and letters to Neilson Falls from Theodore B.
Lyman, Episcopal Bishop of North Carolina.
Other papers include certificates appointing Thomas George
Walton vice president of the North Carolina Agricultural Society,
1871; director for the Eastern Division of the Western North
Carolina Rail Road, 1873; and trustee of the State Hospital for
the Insane, 1897.
Volumes are an account book, 1868-1869, of Thomas George
Walton, and a typed copy of "Sketches of the Pioneers in Burke
County History," Walton's reminiscences, prepared in 1893 for the
Morganton Herald.
Folder 13 1861
14 1862
15 1863-1867
16 1868-1872
17 1873-1876
18 1877-1880
19 1881-1883
20 1884-1891
21 1892-1897
22-23 Undated
24 Volume 1: Thomas George Walton account book.
25 Volume 2: "Sketches of the Pioneers in Burke
County History"
Shelf List
Box 1 Series 1. Murphy Family and
Thomas George Walton (folders 1-13)
Box 2 Series 2. Walton Family (folders 14-25)