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 James Spencer Worth papers #4325, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Frances McBryde Worth, Greensboro, N.C., in September 1982; with three additions, also from Worth, one in October 1982, one in March 1983, and one in September and October 1986.

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.

• Africa, Central--Description and travel.
• Africans--Photographs.
• Families--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Love, Spencie, 1949-
• Missionaries--Africa, Central--History--20th century.
• Spencer, Cornelia Phillips, 1825-1908.
• Wilmington (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Women missionaries--Africa, Central--History--20th century.
• Worth, Frances McBryde.
• Worth, James Spencer, 1869-1900.
• Worth, Josephine McBryde.

• Jonathan Worth Papers (#802), grandfather of James Spencer Worth.
• Cornelia Phillips Spencer Papers (#683), friend of James Spencer Worth.

James Spencer Worth, son of David Gaston and Julia Stickney Worth and grandson of North Carolina governor Jonathan Worth, was born on 6 December 1869, in Wilmington, North Carolina. He was named for his father's friend and UNC classmate, then deceased, James M. Spencer. He attended Bingham School, a military academy in Mebane, North Carolina and, later, the University of North Carolina. Returning to Wilmington, Worth became involved in banking and insurance sales, and shortly thereafter, he and Frank H. Stedman, a local businessman, formed the insurance firm of Stedman and Worth. In December 1893, Worth married Josephine McBryde, of Little River Academy, Cumberland County, North Carolina. To them were born three children--David Gaston Worth, II, Frances McBryde Worth, and Katharine Worth. From 1895 to 1898, JSW served as deputy collector of customs in Wilmington; he then became a large shareholder in the Worth Company, a mercantile firm owned by the family. He also was actively involved in other public and private businesses, notably the Wilmington Seacoast Railroad where he served as director. James Spencer Worth died on 13 May 1900, at the age of 30.

Correspondence, printed material, and photographs of James Spencer Worth. Most items are letters, 1893-1899, from Worth to his wife, Josephine McBryde Worth, concerning family matters. Also included are letters about personal matters from family friends Cornelia Phillips Spencer and June Spencer Love, and correspondence, 1920s, from Frances McBryde Worth, about her missionary activities in Africa. Photographs include pictures, 1920s, of Frances Worth and Africans in the Congo region.

• Images (P-4325/1-11, 14-49)
• Tintypes (SF-P-4325/12-13)