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Collection Number: 04428

Collection Title: Joyner Family Papers, 1817-1881; 1967-1982

This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.


expand/collapse Expand/collapse Collection Overview

Size 1.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 590 items)
Abstract Correspondence and financial and legal papers, chiefly 1850-1865, documenting the daily lives and plantation and business interests of members of the Joyner family of Franklin County, N.C. Included are Civil War letters from soldiers serving in the 7th, 15th, 32nd, and 47th North Carolina regiments in eastern North Carolina and Virginia, referring to experiences in the Peninsula Campaign of 1862; the battles of Antietam, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg; the Wilderness Campaign; and the siege of Petersburg; and letters from a soldier in prison at Johnson's Island in Ohio. Also included are account books, deeds, wills, records of hiring and selling slaves, and other family business records, including records from the Civil War years, when Julia Joyner managed the plantation.
Creator Joyner (Family : Franklin County, N.C.)
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Information For Users

Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Researchers planning to publish an extensive part of these papers will please notify the donor (ask staff for address).
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 Joyner Family Papers #4428, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Mrs. Allen J. Parker of High Point, North Carolina, in October 1985.
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.
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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Processing Information

Processed by: Benjamin H. Trask, December 1985

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subject Headings

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.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Members of the Joyner family were planters and professionals from Franklin County, North Carolina. In 1835, William H. Joyner (1814-1863) married Julia Henderson Timberlake (1817-1874). At least seven of their children reached maturity. (See the chart below.) Sue W. S. Parker (Mrs. Allen J. Parker), donor of these papers, is a descendant of William H. and Julia Timberlake Joyner.

While William Joyner worked at the Department of the Treasury in Washington, D.C., during the late 1850s, his wife and family remained on the plantation in Franklin County. With the outbreak of the Civil War, Joyner left his position in Washington and joined the CSA Commissary Department in Goldsboro, North Carolina. In addition to William Joyner, nine members of the Joyner family actively supported the Confederate cause. Joyner's sons, Joseph (1842-1864) and Julius (1842-1891) enlisted in the 7th Regt. N. C. Troops, and his brothers, Algernon (1839-1864) and Julius (1839-1894), in the 32nd and 47th Regts. N. C. Troops, respectively. Julius Joyner, captured at Gettysburg, was imprisoned for twenty-two months on Johnson's Island near Sandusky, Ohio. While the men were in uniform, Julia Joyner directed affairs on the plantation.

The war affected the Joyner family profoundly. Julia Joyner lost her husband, two sons and two brothers-in-law. Nevertheless, the family stayed in Franklin County and the surviving children raised families of their own.

For more detailed information on the family history see folders 44-47.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

Approximately 250 items in this collection are letters sent or received by members of the Joyner family of Franklin County, North Carolina. About a dozen letters refer to Washington, D.C., social and political events just before the Civil War. The bulk of the correspondence is from members of the Joyner family serving in the Confederate army.

There are over thirty letters from members of the family working or stationed with military units in eastern North Carolina. Additionally, the collection includes about forty letters from Joyners who served in the Army of Northern Virginia, referring to experiences in the Peninsula Campaign of 1862; the battles of Antietam, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg; the Wilderness Campaign; and the Siege of Petersburg. Twenty-one letters are from a Confederate prisoner at Johnson's Island, Sandusky, Ohio, who described day-to-day life there.

The financial and legal papers consist of about 230 business notes, three daybooks, and an account book. These items document family business transactions from 1817 to 1881. The majority of these papers cover the period from 1855 to 1865 while the family lived in Franklin County. Especially noteworthy are the family plantation records from the war years when Julia Joyner managed the family estate. There are also records of hiring and selling slaves, as well as deeds, wills, and bank transactions.

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Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series Quick Links

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Correspondence, 1836-1881.

276 items

Arrangement: chronological.

Mainly correspondence among members of the Joyner family while living in Franklin County, North Carolina, and enlisted in Confederate service.

The series includes an exchange of letters, 1858-1860, between William H. Joyner and his wife, Julia Joyner. William Joyner lived in Washington, D. C., and worked at the Department of the Treasury. The letters between the Joyners discuss temperance, religion, family matters, medical problems, U. S. Congressman Lawrence O'Bryan Branch, Washington society, and national politics.

With the coming of the Civil War, a number of the Joyners joined the Confederate cause. They served in the 7th, 15th, 32nd and 47th Regts. N. C. Troops as well as in the Commissary Department. William Joyner corresponded regularly with his wife during his tenure with the Commissary Department in Raleigh and Goldsboro. The younger members of the family enlisted in the army. The Joyners participated in the major campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia such as Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness and the Siege of Petersburg.

During the Gettysburg campaign, Captain Julius S. Joyner was captured and sent to Johnson's Island near Sandusky, Ohio. Captain Joyner remained in Ohio until the close of the war, writing to his family of his needs and his surroundings in the prison.

Noteworthy items from the postwar era include letters from Lucy Timberlake, niece of Julia Joyner, mentioning life in Arkansas, and a few letters from a student discussing day-to-day affairs at Warrenton Female College, Warrenton, North Carolina.

Folder 1

April 1836-15 October 1858, (17 items)

Folder 2

3 March 1859-29 October 1859, (14 items)

Folder 3

11 January 1860-8 December 1860, (16 items)

Folder 4

16 January 1861-2 April 1861, (13 items)

Folder 5

1 August 1861-21 December 1861, (11 items)

Folder 6

19 January 1862-21 March 1862, (17 items)

Folder 7

5 April 1862-21 June 1862, (13 items)

Folder 8

3 July 1862-23 August 1862, (12 items)

Folder 9

22 September 1862-29 December 1862, (13 items)

Folder 10

13 January 1863-29 March 1863, (14 items)

Folder 11

2 April 1863-14 May 1863, (13 items)

Folder 12

29 June 1863-25 August 1863, (13 items)

Folder 13

5 September 1863-22 October 1863, (12 items)

Folder 14

6 November 1863-18 December 1863, (9 items)

Folder 15

20 January 1864-24 April 1864, (13 items)

Folder 16

8 May 1864-25 July 1864, (12 items)

Folder 17

2 August 1864-25 September 1864, (11 items)

Folder 18

1 October 1864-22 November 1864, (9 items)

Folder 19

2 January 1865-6 May 1868, (15 items)

Folder 20

15 November 1870-24 November 1896, (17 items)

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Financial and Legal Papers, 1817-1881, and undated.

About 238 items

Arrangement: chronological.

Financial and legal papers of the Joyner family in Franklin County, North Carolina. The business items include ledger sheets, accounts for hiring and selling slaves, bank transactions, and receipts. The legal material, including land survey maps, deeds, and contracts from the war years, indicates that Julia T. Joyner grew wheat, oats, and corn, and raised hogs on the Joyner plantation while her husband was away.

Folder 21

2 March 1817-14 October 1842, (17 items)

Folder 22

25 January 1843-24 November 1844, (14 items)

Folder 23

January 1845-15 December 1845, (10 items)

Folder 24

6 January 1846-5 December 1846, (10 items)

Folder 25

16 February 1847-21 January 1848, (9 items)

Folder 26

23 February 1849-30 December 1852, (16 items)

Folder 27

March 1853-30 December 1854, (15 items)

Folder 28

27 January 1855-29 December 1855, (12 items)

Folder 29

10 March 1856-31 December 1856, (10 items)

Folder 30

1 January 1857-10 May 1857, (12 items)

Folder 31

15 September 1857-23 December 1857, (10 items)

Folder 32

14 January 1858-26 December 1859, (15 items)

Folder 33

2 January 1860-30 December 1861, (9 items)

Folder 34

3 January 1862-24 November 1862, (17 items)

Folder 35

27 January 1863-27 October 1863, (14 items)

Folder 36

1 January 1864-27 October 1864, (13 items)

Folder 37

23 January 1865-3 December 1865, (8 items)

Folder 38

18 January 1866-1 October 1881, (14 items)

Folder 39

Undated

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 3. Other Papers, 1841-1879; 1967-1982.

90 items

Arrangement: see below.

Miscellaneous items such as temperance material, broadsides, business cards, currency, and a photograph. In addition, the papers include photocopies of Joyner family genealogical data, 1552-1982, and correspondence with the National Archives concerning family members in the Confederate Army.

Folder 40

Temperance lodge correspondence and membership certificate, circa 1858-1859 (16 items)

Folder 41

Temperance lodge circulars, correspondence, a concert program, a party invitation, and report cards, 1858, 1863, 1870-1875 (11 items)

Folder 42

Broadside advertising merchandise of C. C. Blacknall, Franklinton, N.C.

Item missing as of November 2017.

Special Format Image SF-P-04428/1

Tintype of W. H. Joyner, Jr.

Folder 43

Miscellaneous items, 1841-1870 (13 items)

Includes Confederate (N.C.) and antebellum currency, business cards, religious tracts, and notes.

Folder 44

Photocopied information on the Joyner family (18 items)

Includes obituaries, photographs, a will, and including obituaries, photographs, a will, and genealogical data from the family Bible.

Folder 45

Notes on Joyner family genealogy and ancestral family chart, produced circa 1982, for the period 1552-1982 (7 items)

Folder 46

Photocopies of records supporting application for admission to the United Daughters of the Confederacy, circa 1915, 1968, 1982 (8 items)

Folder 47

Correspondence, December 1967-February 1968 (16 items)

From the National Archives and Record Service concerning CSA records of five members of the Joyner family.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 4. Volumes, circa 1843-1865.

4 items
Folder 48

Planter's account book, circa 1843-1862

Account book of William H. Joyner of Franklin County, N.C., 54 pp, covering the hiring and sale of slaves (1855) and other actions taken as administrator of the estate of Thomas Y. Richards. Notations such as expenses, receipts, credits, and other sales are also included.

Folder 49

Smith and Cook (Baltimore, Maryland) Catalogue and daybook, circa 1857-1858

Probably of Julia H. Joyner, of Franklin County, N.C., 27 total pp. The catalogue contains a listing of fashion accessories and trimmings, without prices. The blank pages in the back of the catalogue were used as a daybook and include expenses for personal and household items.

Folder 50

Tutor's record and daybook, circa July 1858-December 1862

16 pp. The book lists the names of the students, attendance records, and classes taught at an unnamed school, as well as personal financial accounts.

Folder 51

Daybook of William H. Joyner, circa 1858-1865

65 pp, part of which was written in Washington, D.C. The daybook covers expenses, items purchased, and other personal financial records.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 5. Oversize Papers

Extra Oversize Paper Folder XOPF-4428/1

Extra-oversize papers

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Items Separated

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