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 Lewis Neale Whittle Papers, #777, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Gifts 1939-1955

Additional Descriptive Resources

A more complete finding aid for this collection is available at the Southern Historical Collection.

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.

• Clergy--Southern States--History--19th century.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Finance.
• Elliott, Stephen, 1806-1866.
• Episcopal Church--Southern States--Clergy--History--19th century.
• Family--Georgia--Social life and customs.
• Family--Ireland--Social life and customs.
• Family--Virginia--Social life and customs.
• Gregg, Alexander, 1819-1893.
• Griffin family.
• Griffin, Daniel, 1807-1866.
• Irish Americans--Georgia--History--19th century.
• Migration, Internal--Southern States--History--19th century.
• Potter, Richard.
• Powers family.
• Railroads--Georgia--History--19th century.
• Soldiers--Confederate States of America--Correspondence.
• United States. Navy--Officers--Correspondence.
• Whittle family.
• Whittle, Francis McNeece, 1823-1902.
• Whittle, Lewis Neale, fl. 1820-1880.
• Women--Confederate States of America--Social conditions.

Lewis Neale Whittle (fl. 1820-1880) was a native of Mecklenburg County, Va., who settled in Georgia in 1836 and eventually lived in Macon. Whittle started out as an engineer connected with railroad building, but turned to the practice of law; he served as a Confederate Army officer.

The collection contains family and business letters, mainly 1834- 1872, of Lewis Neale Whittle and his wife, Sarah (Powers) Whittle, and of Sarah's sister, Mary (Powers) Griffin, and her husband, Daniel Griffin (1807-1866), of Columbus, Ga. Griffin was associated with railroad building and other enterprises. Letters to the Whittles were written by family in Virginia and Georgia. Family members included planters, naval officers, and Episcopal clergy, especially Stephen Elliott (1806-1866), Alexander Gregg (1819-1893), and Bishop Francis M. Whittle (1823-1902), and these activities are reflected in the correspondence. Griffin family materials include letters, 1858-1859, to Richard Potter of Macon, Ga., whose connection is unclear. Potter was an Irish immigrant and the letters to him are from his family in Ireland. There are also letters from Daniel Griffin describing a steamboat trip, 1849, and while on an extended business trip to New York and the upper Midwest, 1857. Civil War materials include letters to Whittle concerning organizing and financing a Confederate regiment. Other family members served in the Confederate Army and wrote from various places in Virginia, Kentucky, and Georgia, and many letters were exchanged among the women of the family. Postwar letters are scattered in date and content.