Joseph Hewes (1730-1779) Papers, PC.591
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Joseph Hewes (1730-1779) Papers
- Call Number
- PC.591
- Creator
- Unknown
- Date
- 1736-1936
- Repository
- State Archives of North Carolina
Collection Overview
Papers of Hewes, member of General Assembly for Edenton, delegate to Continental Congress (1774-1776), and signer of Declaration of Independence. Included are Alexander Pope's translation of Homer's Iliad, Book VI (London, 4th edition, 1736); assembly certificate for travel expenses (1768); and letter (May 26, 1776) from Hewes at Philadelphia to Samuel Johnston about prisoners arriving from North Carolina with Colonel Haynes, medicines sent, British shipload of arms captured, and events in town. Photograph of draft letter from John Paul Jones to Hewes (Oct., 1776) concerns problems of infant navy, with discussion of expedition to Canadian waters, privateers, and need for a department to regulate the navy. Also legislative settlement of accounts with Col. Nicholas Long, deputy quartermaster general (1779). Later material (1919-1936) about Hewes concerns his burial place; Pennsylvania Supreme Court case involving him in 1762; remains of his shipyard near Edenton (1936); and a statue of him. Collection also contains copy of Murphy Bible records, listing deaths, 1797-1866, with eulogies on Cornelius and Margaret Murphy of Moores Creek, New Hanover Co. (d. 1836, 1866).