Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

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 Simon Lindley Cipher Book #5256-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchased from Joseph Rubinfine in February 2006 (Acc. 100319).

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.

Processed by: Sarah Peterson, September 2007

Encoded by: Sarah Peterson, September 2007

Updated by: Anne Wells, November 2021

Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

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.

• Account books--South Carolina.
• Christian County (Ky.)--History.
• Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Lindley family.
• Lindley, Simon, 1769-1827.
• Mathematics--Problems, exercises, etc.--History--19th century.
• Orange County (N.C.)--History.
• Reedy River (S.C.)--Economic conditions.
• Surveying--History.

Simon Lindley, first son of John Lindley and Sarah Pyle, was born 20 January 1769 in Orange County, N.C. He married Anna Stanley in South Carolina on 14 July 1789. They made their home in Orange County, N.C., before moving to Christian County, Ky., sometime in the mid-1790s. Lindley was a farmer, Predestinarian Baptist minister, and surveyor. In 1807, he moved his family to Illinois, and around 1820, Lindley and his family moved to Sangamon County, Ill., where he and Anna helped organize the Liberty Baptist Church on Lick Creek. He died 30 August 1827.

The collection contains a cipher book created by Simon Lindley, a white farmer, Predestinarian Baptist minister, and surveyor of Orange County, N.C. and Christian County, Ky., between 1786 and 1795. The book consists of instructions on mathematical principles, including arithmetic, geometry, fractions, square roots, and financial calculations, as well as tables of weights and measures. The instructions are followed by exercises and answers. Another section details methods of surveying. At the back of the book is a ledger for Reedy River, S.C., that lists names and dates for trades and sales that took place from 1787 to 1788. The connection to Lindley is unknown. The last page contains genealogical information for Lindley's family, listing the birth dates and locations for his parents and siblings.