Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#3692
EDWARD JENNER WARREN PAPERS
Inventory
Abstract: Edward Jenner Warren (1826-1876), a native of
Vermont, moved to Washington, Beaufort County, N.C.,
where he was a lawyer; state legislator, 1862-1866 and
1870-1872; delegate to state conventions, 1861-1862
and 1865-1866; and Superior Court judge, 1865-1868.
Primarily correspondence of Warren's immediate
family and of his and his wife's relatives in Vermont,
Massachusetts, Alabama, and eastern North Carolina.
Included are letters from Warren in Raleigh, N.C.,
serving in the state legislature, attending
conventions, and presiding on the judicial circuit to
his wife, Deborah Virginia Bonner Warren (1829-1910);
letters from his daughter Lucy Wheelock Warren (1850-
1937) at Saint Mary's School in Raleigh, 1865-1867;
from his son Charles Frederick Warren (1852-1904) at
Washington College (later Washington and Lee
University), Lexington, Va., 1869-1873; and from
relatives serving in both the Union and Confederate
armies and held as prisoners of war. These include
letters from two of Warren's brothers in the
Confederate army: Fred, a prisoner of war in
Indianapolis, and Herbert C. (d. 1864), with the 6th
Alabama Volunteers. Also included are letters of
another brother, John W., who served with the
Wisconsin Cavalry and was taken prisoner at Columbia,
S.C. Correspondence during the late 1860s and early
1870s includes letters concerning judicial business
and court matters, as well as race relations and life
at several Virginia health resorts where Edward Jenner
Warren went to cure his rheumatism. Papers after 1876
are chiefly personal correspondence of daughter Lucy
Wheelock Warren Myers and biographical and family
history materials. Volumes include Charles
Warren's notes from classes at Washington College,
1871-1872; Deborah Virginia Bonner Warren's notebook
of cures and rules for health; and Edward Jenner
Warren's book of law forms.
Online Catalog Terms:
Beaufort County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
College students--Virginia--Social life and customs.
Confederate States of America--Social conditions.
Confederate States of America. Army. Alabama Volunteers, 6th.
Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
Family--Vermont--Social life and customs.
Traditional medicine--Formulae, receipts, prescriptions--
History--19th century.
Health resorts--Virginia--History--19th century.
Judges--North Carolina--History--19th century.
Lawyers--North Carolina--History--19th century.
Myers, Lucy Wheelock Warren, 1850-1937.
North Carolina--Politics and government--1861-1865.
North Carolina--Politics and government--1865-1950.
Virginia--Race relations--History--19th century.
Saint Mary's School (Raleigh, N.C.)--Students--History--19th
century.
Sectionalism (United States).
Soldiers--Confederate States of America--Correspondence.
Soldiers--United States--Correspondence.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Prisoners and
prisons.
Warren, Charles Frederick, 1852-1904.
Warren, Deborah Virginia Bonner, 1829-1910.
Warren, Edward Jenner, 1826-1876.
Warren family.
Washington (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
Washington and Lee University--Students--History--19th
century.
Women--Education--North Carolina--History--19th century.
Women--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
Size: About 800 items (1.5 linear feet).
Dates: 1826-1917, 2000
Provenance: Received from Lindsay C. Warren of Washington,
N.C., in 1964 and Lindsay C. Warren, Jr., in July
2000 (Acc. 98561).
Access: No restrictions.
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.
Related Collection: Alfred E. Willard Papers (#1142).
Items Separated: Items separated include photographs (P-3692/
Folder 1).
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or
their descendants, as stipulated by United States
copyright law.
INTRODUCTION
Biographical Note
Edward Jenner Warren (1826-1876) was born in Wardsboro, Vt.,
the third child of twelve of Dr. John Parker and Lucy Maynard
Wheelock Warren. Dr. Warren was a distinguished physician and
botanist. Lucy Wheelock Warren was related to Frederick Eleazar
Wheelock, a prominent New England educator and founder of
Dartmouth College, where Edward Jenner Warren studied until 1847
(he received his degree from Dartmouth sometime in the 1860s).
Within two years of leaving Dartmouth, Warren settled in
Washington, Beaufort County, N.C., where he taught school and
studied law.
Warren quickly made his reputation at the bar and among the
people of Beaufort County. He was elected to represent Beaufort
County at the Secession Convention of 1861 and then in the state
legislature, 1861-1862. In the 1871-1872 session, he served as
president of the state Senate. He also served as a Superior
Court judge from 1865 to 1868.
In 1849, Warren married Deborah Virginia Bonner (1829-1910).
They had one daughter Lucy Wheelock (1850-1937), and one son
Charles Frederick (1852-1904). Lucy ("Lulie") Warren received
her formal education at Saint Mary's School in Raleigh and
married W. Rodman Myers in 1872. Charles Warren received his
degree from Washington College (later Washington and Lee
University) in Lexington, Va. He studied and practiced law in
Washington, N.C. He was also president of the North Carolina Bar
Association. In 1879, he married Elizabeth Mutter Blount.
Collection Overview
See abstract for an overview of the contents of this
collection.
The collection is arranged as follows:
Series 1. Loose Papers (about 800 items)
Series 2. Volumes (3 items)
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1. Loose Papers
1826-1917, 2000 and undated. About 800 items.
Chiefly business and personal letters of Edward Jenner Warren,
Deborah Virginia Bonner Warren, and their family of Washington,
N.C. Letters detail aspects of Warren's career as lawyer, judge,
and state representative during and immediately after the Civil
War; activities of family members, South and North, during the
Civil War; school-related information; and day-to-day news of
various members of the family. Interfiled are bills, receipts,
and legal materials. A small number of Edward Jenner Warren
biographical materials, newspaper clippings, and other items
appear at the end of the series.
1826-September 1843
116 items.
Bills of sale, deeds, receipts, accounts, extracts of wills,
and other legal and financial papers relating to the disputed
settlement of the estate of William Windley, Beaufort County,
N.C. Included are a settlement between William's widow Hannah
Windley and executor Matthew Shaw and receipts of Winifred Bell.
The connection between the Windleys and the Warrens is not
clear. An item dated 1876, however, mentions the property of a
Timothy Windley, and Joseph Bonner, who was probably one of
Deborah Virginia Bonner Warren's relatives, served as Hannah
Windley's attorney.
Folder 1 1826-1834
2 1835-1837
3 1838-September 1843
December 1843-1853
20 items.
The first item relating directly to Edward Jenner Warren item
is a letter, 19 December 1843, to him at Chesterfield, N.H., from
Moody B. Smith in Vermont about a possible position as a
schoolmaster. Also included are two letters, 1846, to Warren in
Greenville, N.C., from Moody B. Smith at Washington, N.C.,
concerning legal studies and adjustments to living in the South.
There are also miscellaneous invitations, 1848-1853, to Warren to
address members of Odd Fellows lodges and literary societies at
Washington, N.C., Greenville, Wake Forest, and other locations,
and copies of his orations; a letter, 1850, from Edward's sister
Mary E. Warren about Edward's baby and other family news; and
scattered bills and receipts. There are no items dated 1854-
1860.
Folder 4 December 1843-1849
5 1850-1853
1861-1862
25 items.
Chiefly letters of the Warren family relating to personal and
public responses to secession and the Civil War. Items include a
broadside, May 1861, entitled "To the Citizens of Beaufort
County," by Edward Jenner Warren, candidate to the secession
convention of May 1861 and several letters, December 1861-
December 1862, from Edward Jenner Warren's brother Herbert
Charles Warren (1842-1864), serving with Alabama troops in
Virginia, addressed to Mr. and Mrs. William B. Bell, Montgomery,
Ala. There is also a letter from Herbert to his brother Edward
in North Carolina while Herbert was on invalid furlough at the
Bells' house in Montgomery. In 1862, there is correspondence
between Edward Jenner Warren, chairman of the judiciary committee
of the state legislature in Raleigh, and his wife Deborah
Virginia Bonner Warren at Greenville, N.C., relating to the war
and the Confederacy's prospects; several letters to Edward Jenner
Warren from Thomas Sparrow about current affairs; letters in
November from members of the Warren family in Vermont and
Massachusetts concerning the health of family members and wishes
to continue exchanging news despite the disruption of the mails;
correspondence of several women of Greenville, Washington,
Tarboro, and other North Carolina locations about plans for
safety; and letters, July-August, relating to 1862 elections for
state legislature in the army camps.
Folder 6
1863
46 items.
Chiefly letters and correspondence of members of the Warren
family. Items include correspondence of Edward Jenner Warren and
his wife Deborah Virginia Bonner Warren while he was in Raleigh
attending to legislative business or in Wilson, N.C., and while
she lived either in Wilson or in Greenville; correspondence of
daughter Lucy Warren with her parents, while she visited
relatives in Smithfield during the summer and attended school in
Hillsboro in the fall; several letters from relatives in Prince
George's County, Md., and Washington, Fort Fisher, and Pactolus,
N.C.; several letters received by Fred Warren while a prisoner at
Indianapolis from relatives in Vermont and Massachusetts; a
letter, March 13, from Richard Spaight Donnell of Raleigh to
Edward Jenner Warren concerning business matters; and several
letters from Herbert C. Warren with the 6th Alabama Volunteers to
the Bell family of Montgomery, Ala., while he served at Richmond,
near Fredericksburg, at Wilson, near Chattanooga, and while on
furlough in Montgomery.
Folder 7 January 1863-June 1863
8 July 1863-December 1863
1864
19 items.
Chiefly letters exchanged by members of the immediate Warren
family and their close friends. Included are several letters
written to Deborah Virginia Bonner Warren by friends and family
members, including Elizabeth Gregory, Washington, N.C., and other
female relatives of Portsmouth, Tarboro, Wilson, and Pactolus
relating to family matters and conditions caused by the war;
brief notes written by Edward Jenner Warren to his wife while he
was in Raleigh; and a letter from Lt. John W. Warren of the
Wisconsin Cavalry to his brother Edward Jenner Warren giving news
of the northern branch of the Warren family. Also included is a
broadside tribute to Herbert C. Warren, who died 23 October 1864.
Folder 9
1865
28 items.
Chiefly letters of close friends and relatives of Warren
family. War-related letters include several from Fred Warren in
Montgomery, Ala.; John W. Warren in prison at Columbia, S.C., on
his way home via Raleigh; "Macon" at Fort Anderson; and Elizabeth
Gregory of Wilson. Other items include papers, September 1865,
concerning the appointment of Edward Jenner Warren as a judge of
the state circuit court; correspondence, beginning in October
1865 and continuing through November 1867 (see Folders 10-16),
between Lucy Warren at Saint Mary's School in Raleigh and her
mother at Washington, N.C., about general news of family and
friends; and letters of Edward Jenner Warren while he attended to
legislative and state convention business in Raleigh.
Folder 10
1866
47 items.
Chiefly letters to or from Edward Jenner Warren, Deborah
Virginia Bonner Warren, and family members. Included are
Warren's commission, 1 January, as judge of the superior court of
North Carolina; his subsequent resignation, 6 January, from the
state senate; several letters from him to his wife while he was
on the circuit in eastern North Carolina; and correspondence
between Deborah Virginia Bonner Warren and daughter Lucy at Saint
Mary's School in Raleigh. Other items include letters from
relatives in North Carolina relating to family concerns and
interests with comments about the war; several letters to Lucy
Warren from a school friend, Adele Hillyer of Pass Christian,
Miss.; and a letter, 15 December, from Fred Warren of Montgomery,
Ala., to his North Carolina relatives concerning business
prospects in his home state and property matters in Vermont.
Folder 11 January 1866-July 1866
Folder 12 August 1866-December 1866
1867
99 items.
Mostly papers of Edward Jenner and Deborah Virginia Bonner
Warren. Items include extensive correspondence between the two.
Deborah Virginia Bonner Warren's letters are long and document
events in and around Washington, N.C., including references to
race relations. There are also several letters to Deborah
Virginia Bonner Warren from her daughter Lucy at school and from
relatives at Wilson, N.C. Edward Jenner Warren's papers include
letters from North Carolina Governor Worth's office about
judicial business and communications from Military Occupation
headquarters at Raleigh about the conduct of the courts and about
specific cases.
Folder 13 January 1867-March 1867
14 April 1867
15 May 1867-September 1867
16 October 1867-December 1867
1868
16 items.
Chiefly letters and papers of Edward Jenner Warren, including
commissions to Judge Warren and communications from Governor
Worth's office about court matters and concerns about specific
cases; brief, but frequent, notes from Warren to his wife while
he was on circuit; letters from northern relatives; and papers
relating to a request for pardon for one James Mitchell.
Folder 17
1869
32 items.
Chiefly letters to or from Edward Jenner Warren and Deborah
Virginia Bonner Warren. Items include several letters from
northern relatives including Warren's sister Fanny, who was
teaching in New York; a series of letters, July-August, from
Warren to his wife while he was treating his rheumatism in Hot
Springs, Va.; and correspondence, October-December, between son
Charles Warren at Washington College, Lexington, Va., and his
mother, including monthly reports and a college composition.
Folder 18
1870
88 items.
Chiefly letters to or from Deborah Virginia Bonner Warren.
including her continued correspondence with her son Charles at
Washington College; letters, May 1870, to her daughter Lucy
visiting a cousin at Sycamore Hill near Wilmington, N.C.; and
several letters from her husband, Edward Jenner Warren, while he
was at Hot Springs, Va., in August-September, New York and
Vermont in October, and in Raleigh as president of the state
senate, November-December. Also included are several invitations
from W. Rodman Myers to Lucy Warren to attend dances, church, and
other events.
Folder 19 January 18770-March 1870
20 April 1870-May 1870
21 June 1870-September 1870
22 October 1870-December 1870
1871
57 items.
Chiefly letters to Deborah Virginia Bonner Warren or her
daughter Lucy Warren, including several letters from Edward
Jenner Warren in which he discussed state politics, the
impeachment trial of W. W. Holden, his friend Colonel Carter, and
personal business; from Fannie at Sycamore Hill; from Mary E.
Havens; and from the northern Warrens concerning health and news
of family members. Items also include correspondence, November-
December, between Lucy Warren and W. Rodman Myers while she was
with her father in Raleigh.
Folder 23 January 1871-September 1871
24 October 1871-December 1871
1872-1876
27 items.
Chiefly letters to Lucy Warren, who married W. Rodman Myers on
21 February 1872. Items include invitations to Lucy Warren at
Raleigh during the legislative session; letters to Lucy Warren
from her cousin M. E. Reade and her husband Edwin Godwin Reade; a
few brief notes from Edward Jenner Warren to his wife while he
was at Raleigh; and three letters and two reports of Charles
Warren at Washington College. In December 1876, there are
papers relating to the death of Edward Jenner Warren.
Folder 25
1877-1917
61 items.
Chiefly letters to Deborah Virginia Bonner Warren or her
children, but also to other members of the family, South and
North, including letters of condolence on the death of Edward
Jenner Warren; letters from Charles Warren's friend J. J. White
of Lexington, Va.; letters, 1879-1880, from lawyers in
Brattleboro, Vt., concerning Warren family property there; and a
letter, December 1879, from Fred H. Warren of Montgomery about
Charles' approaching marriage.
In the 1880s and 1890s, there are scattered family letters and
a report card, November 1887, for Edward Myers at Washington
Academy.
Items, 1903-1917, include several letters, 1903-1904, to Lucy
Warren Myers about erecting a tombstone for her deceased
daughter; telegrams and notes, 1904, on the death of Charles F.
Warren; and letters, 1905, from Mrs. Fred H. Warren of Alabama to
her relatives concerning a Civil War monument recognizing
Frederick and Herbert Warren.
Folder 26 1877-1889
27 1890-1917
Undated letters and fragments
58 items.
Mostly letters and letter fragments written to or by Edward
Jenner Warren or members of his immediate family.
Folder 28
Undated other papers
18 items.
Items include a speech, memoranda, compositions, a poem, a
drawing, and a statement relating to the State of North Carolina
v. James Mitchell.
Folder 29
Biographical and family history materials
About 20 items.
Items compiled mostly by Lucy Warren Myers about her father,
including a piece she wrote in 1904 concerning the Carrowan
trial, which her father prosecuted in 1853. Also included are
items collected by Lindsay C. Warren, Jr., in 1999 and 2000 about
Edward Jenner Warren's parents and their ancestors.
Folder 30 Biography and genealogy (Lucy Warren Myers)
31 Warren family history (Lindsay C. Warren, Jr.)
P-3692/1 Unidentified family pictures, color
photographs of Warren houses in Wardsboro and
Brattleboro, Vt.
Clippings
21 items.
Newspaper clippings about the death of Edward Jenner Warren in
1876; the Carrowan trial in Beaufort County in 1853; the life of
Charles F. Warren; and other subjects.
Folder 32
Series 2. Volumes
1871-1903 and undated. 3 items.
Folder 33 Volume 1: 1871-1872, 32 pp. Notebook of Charles
F. Warren containing his handwritten lecture notes
taken while he was a student at Washington
College, Lexington, Va. Subjects include
elocution, race, French verbs, and grammar. At
least some of the lectures were given by William
Preston Johnson.
Folder 34 Volume 2: 1903 and undated, 85 pp. Deborah
Virginia Bonner Warren's notebook of cures and
rules for good health, including newspaper
clippings and handwritten entries on a variety of
different ailments and suggestions for maintaining
good health.
Folder 35 Volume 3: undated, 86 pp. Edward Jenner Warren's
"Practical Forms," containing forms relating to
his legal practice, including deeds of sale,
trust, mortgage, and other legal papers.