| Scope and content |
The bulk of the collection focuses on the business activities and family of S. R. Fowle II. Correspondence, timber deeds, invoice books, and ledgers concern general merchandise, timber, and the lumber trade. Records also represent the Fowle's shipping enterprise and include Lake Drummond Canal (Dismal Swamp) shipping statistics. Land records concern the Beaufort County farmland the Fowles rented to tenants. Financial records, farm ledgers, and correspondence detail the production of cotton and tobacco. Other records reflect the marketing and distribution of petroleum products in eastern North Carolina. James L. Fowle's correspondence from Davidson College concerns the Glee Club, Kappa Alpha Fraternity, the YMCA, the Student Friendship War Fund, and race relations in the South. Other letters concern his time at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond and pastoral duties. The papers of Mary Payne Fowle reflect the lifestyle and activities of an affluent woman in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and include a journal, correspondence, and speeches, which discuss her travels in western North Carolina, a cruise to the Holy Land, and her activities in the Washington community. Genealogical information concerns the Paine-Payne family of Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia, and the Fowle family. |
| Access restriction | No access restrictions. |
| Cite as |
S. R. Fowle & Son Company Records (#460), 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 Mr. S. R. Fowle and Mrs. Elizabeth Fowle Carter. |
| Acquisitions source |
Joyner- Gift of Phillips, Robert L., M.D. |
| Biographical note | Samuel Richardson Fowle moved to Washington, N.C., with his wife Martha in 1815. The Fowle family operated a general store, later becoming involved in naval stores, timber, and shipping in Beaufort County, N.C. S. R. Fowle II (b. 1856), grandson of the company founder, married Mary Payne of Norfolk, Va., in 1881. He took over the family business and expanded it, operating a fleet of sailing ships in commerce to the West Indies. |
