| Scope and content |
Early correspondence is addressed to Hoyle J. Windley from the Post Office Department in Washington, D.C., and concerns Windley's position as postmaster at Bath, N.C. The bulk of the correspondence was written by Samuel C. Windley of New Bern, N.C., to his brother B. B. (Barzillia Barrow) Windley. Letters include descriptions of post-Civil War conditions of New Bern and Washington, N.C.; entertainment and social life in New Bern, as well as a major fire in the city; and two violent incidents in the post-Civil War South, including a murder in Georgia and an African American hanged in New Bern for highway robbery and murder. Comments regarding the economic conditions during the late nineteenth century mention salaries for store clerks, hired hands, and farm overseers; bank shortages due to bank investments in cotton; and shingle production and business in Hyde County, Deep Gulley, and Bay River, N.C. Other materials include slave bills of sale; financial records, such as promissory notes, receipts, and store accounts; and genealogical information on the Windley family. |
| Access restriction | No access restrictions. |
| Cite as |
Windley Family Papers (#328), Special Collections Department, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA. |
| Terms of use | Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law. |
| Acquisitions source |
Joyner- Gift of Mrs. Nell Windley Lewis. |
| Biographical note | Hoyle J. Windley and his wife Huldah lived in the vicinity of Bath, N.C., in the first half of the 19th century. Mr. Windley was a teacher, postmaster, and lieutenant in the North Carolina militia. The couple had three children: Barzillia Barrow Windley (B. B.), Samuel C. Windley, and Macy Windley. After the Civil War, Samuel worked as a grocery store clerk in New Bern, N.C. and B. B. worked as a painter and farmer in Fairfield and at Pungo Creek, N.C. |
