John D. Whitford (1825-1910) Papers, PC.89
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- John D. Whitford (1825-1910) Papers
- Call Number
- PC.89
- Creator
- Whitford, John D. (John Dalton), 1825-1910
- Date
- 1770-1910
- Extent
- 3.900 cubic feet
- Repository
- State Archives of North Carolina
Collection Overview
Papers of John D. Whitford, New Bern businessman and mayor (1853-1854), president of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad Company (1854-1867), delegate to state Conventions of 1861 and 1865, and Confederate ordnance and transportation officer. Personal let- ters from Francis L. Hawks (1855-1860), R. C. Pearson, M. E. Manly, Jonathan Worth (1866), Thomas Jarvis (1874-1888), and others con- cern national and state politics, North Carolina town rivalries, need for militia company and "school of science," plans for Edward Everett's speaking tour (1859), and Brazil in the 1880s. Correspon- dence about railroads with Thomas Bragg, Charles F. Fisher, and others relates to location of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad eastern terminus at Carolina City instead of Beaufort; construction, workers' pay, and cost; company directors; truck farming along the route (1885); and construction on the North Carolina Railroad and the Western North Carolina Railroad. Also included are the company's charter and bylaws; proceedings of stockholder's meetings (1854- 1889); minutes of Board of Directors (1855-1868); President's Reports (1881, 1885); map of Beaufort harbor with proposed rail lines (1854); "Communication to the General Assembly" (1856) about extension eastward; and replies from Whitford and John M. Morehead to in- terrogatories of Rufus Barringer, chairman of a legislative commis- sion investigating possible corruption (1860). Other records relate to the North Carolina, Richmond and Danville, Wilmington and Weldon, Western North Carolina, and Piedmont railroads (1855- 1866). Also railroad convention proceedings (1862) and "Manual of the Railroads of the United States for 1869-1870." Among Whifield's Civil War papers are 80 printed legislative bills of the 1861 Secession Convention; requests for arms and ammunition from C. S. S. Albemarle and other units; reports from Forts Macon, Hatteras, Ocracoke, and Caswell; accounts of state with Tredegar Iron Works; memorandum about organizing wives and daughters to make cartridges; 290 government requisitions for transportation of people and supplies (spring, 1862); and civilian request for corn. Correspondents include John W. Ellis, Henry T. Clark, Z. B. Vance, R. C. Gatlin, Stephen Mallory, H. A. Wise, and Jonathan Worth on subjects including seizure of Fayetteville Arsenal (1861), C. S. S. Albemarle's expedition to Beacon Island, destruction of property at Ft. Ocracoke by Northern troops, Burnside's attack on New Bern, poor train service in North Carolina (1863), lack of iron for shipbuild- ing, salt making, state-Confederacy relations, and desertions (1864). Also copy of Whitford's letter to Vance about Raleigh riots (1863), and Vance's letter to U. S. General Schofield (April 30, 1865) about trains accumulated near Greensboro. Confederate government cir- culars are included; also regulations posted in Whitford's house in Goldsboro by the Union army, Mar., 1865. Whitford's 351-page typescript "The Home Story of a Walking Stick-Early History of the Biblical Recorder and Baptist Church at New Bern . . ." (n.d.) includes some history of New Bern and Craven Co. There are also historical and genealogical notes by Whitford. Papers (1770-1853) of New Bern merchant Hardy Whitford, include business accounts (see also A. B. 85), apprentice papers, deeds, slave bills of sale, a few letters, and a roster of the New Bern Grays, 1835. Printed material includes pamphlets, one defending the Methodist Episcopal church (1827); the United States Sporting Magazine (1835); The African Repository and Colonial Journal (1846); Minutes... of Presbyterian Synod of North Carolina (1851); Report of the Intendant to the Commissioners of New-Berne (1854); and The Student and Schoolmate, a Monthly Reader (1856). Also included are items relating to the Episcopal church, the National Bank, and St. John's Lodge (1857-1866, 1873) at New Bern; and time book for Planters Manufacturing Company (textiles) (1854-1855).