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Collection Number: 02734

Collection Title: John W. Moore Papers, 1851-1908, 1961, and undated

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.


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Size 1.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 100 items)
Abstract John W. Moore (1833-1906), historian, author, lawyer, and Confederate officer was born at Mulberry Grove Plantation, Hertford County, N.C. An 1853 graduate of the University of North Carolina, he married Ann James Ward and practiced law in Murfreesboro, N.C. During the Civil War, Moore served with the 2d Regiment of North Carolina Cavalry and later commanded the 3d North Carolina Battalion. At war's end, he returned to Murfreesboro and later moved to Maple Lawn Plantation in lower Hertford County. In the 1870s and 1880s, Moore published several historical works, including a North Carolina history text, a roster of North Carolina troops in the Civil War (1882), and a series of historical sketches of Hertford County. He also published a novel, The Heirs of St. Kilda (1881); completed the manuscript of another; and wrote extensively on religion and politics. Papers comprise mostly Moore's writings, ca. 1850s-1906, and include drafts of speeches, essays, novels, and poems. Topics in the nonfiction writings are the founding of the University of North Carolina, the ad valorem tax on slaves, the coinage of silver, North Carolina Baptist church history, Christian philosophy, and the authorship of Shakespeare's plays. Among the speeches is an address Moore made to his graduating class at the University of North Carolina in 1853. Filed with the essays is a biographical sketch, written by T. E. Skinner, of North Carolina Baptist minister Charles Worth Skinner (1784-1870). An incomplete draft of a book of Hertford County historical sketches is also included. None of Moore's writings pertain to his published novel or to his roster of North Carolina troops, and none document his Civil War service. Moore's poems, sentimental in nature, treat romantic love, nature, death, battle, chivalry, and religious feeling. An unpublished novel , The Belle of Albemarle, concerns Edward Teach (Blackbeard). Also included are a few Moore family letters, 1851, 1876, 1892, 1908, and undated, that provide glimpses into social life in Murfreesboro and other coastal North Carolina towns. One letter, 1851, describes the activities of a mesmerist in Murfreesboro. There is also an account book/scrapbook belonging to Moore containing accounts, 1872-1874, for a Hertford County dry goods merchant and numerous poems, clippings, and recipes Moore later added and a 1961 photograph of the Mulberry Grove Plantation house.
Creator Moore, John W. (John Wheeler), 1833-1906.
Curatorial Unit Southern Historical Collection
Language English.
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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 John W. Moore Papers (02734), Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Provenance
Received from John Raynor Moore and Ola Moore through Nathan Wilson Walker in 1930.
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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This collection was processed with support, in part, from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.

Updated by: Laura Hart, March 2021

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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

John Wheeler Moore (1833-1906), historian, author, lawyer, and Confederate officer, was born at Mulberry Grove Plantation in Hertford County, N.C. The son of Dr. Godwin Cotton Moore and Julia M. Wheeler Moore, Moore graduated from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1853. That same year, he married Ann James Ward and opened a law practice in Murfreesboro, N.C. With the outbreak of the Civil War, Moore joined the Confederate Army as a staff officer in the 2d Regiment of North Carolina Cavalry. The following year, he assumed the rank of major and took command of the 3d North Carolina Battalion.

After the war, Moore returned to Murfreesboro, N.C., practicing law there until his home (Anniesdale), located just outside the city, burned. He then moved to Maple Lawn Plantation, his wife's family's estate in lower Hertford County. In the 1870s and 1880s, Moore, who had long been a writer, published several historical works, including School History of North Carolina (1876), History of North Carolina, from the Earliest Discoveries to the Present Time (1880), and Roster of North Carolina Troops in the War Between the States (1882). He also published a novel, The Heirs of St. Kilda (1881); completed the manuscript of another novel (unpublished), The Belle of Albemarle; and wrote a series of historical sketches of Hertford County, N.C. (some of them published), and other miscellaneous works on politics, religion, and literature.

John W. Moore and Ann James Ward Moore had twelve children: Arthur Cotton Moore; Elizabeth Jones Moore; Charles Godwin Moore; Julia Wheeler Moore; Helen Manly Moore; Philip St. John Moore; John W. Moore, Jr.; Annie Ward Moore; James Ward Moore; Godwin Cotton Moore; Rutland Ward Moore; and Isabella, who died in infancy.

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Papers comprise mostly the writings, ca. 1850s-1906, of John W. Moore, including speeches, essays, poems, and novels. Other items are six letters, written between 1851-1908, by various Moore family members; a merchant's account book/scrapbook belonging to Moore; and a photograph of Mulberry Grove Plantation.

Moore's addresses and essays discuss the founding of the University of North Carolina, the ad valorem tax on enslaved people, William Jennings Bryan and the coinage of silver, North Carolina Baptist church history, Christian philosophy, and the authorship of Shakespeare's plays. Among the speeches is the address Moore made to his graduating class at the University of North Carolina in 1853. Filed with the essays is a biographical sketch, written by T. E. Skinner, of North Carolina Baptist minister Charles Worth Skinner (1784-1870).

A draft novel and a fragment of another are both in the genre of romantic fiction. One takes as its topic Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard. Poems, in two bound volumes and loose, ca. 1850s-1906, are narrative style verse and are sentimental in nature, touching on romantic love, nature, battle, chivalry, death, and religious feeling. One nonfiction manuscript is an incomplete draft of a book of historical sketches Moore wrote about Hertford County, N.C. None of Moore's writings in this collection pertain to his published novel or to his Roster of North Carolina Troops in the War Between the States, and none document his Civil War service.

Moore family letters describe social life in coastal North Carolina, especially Murfreesboro, N.C. Of note is an 1851 letter commenting on the activities of a mesmerist there. An undated letter defends John W. Moore's roster of North Carolina troops against a detractor.

Also included are an account book/scrapbook containing accounts, 1872-1874, for a Hertford County, N.C., dry goods merchant, in addition to numerous poems, clippings, and recipes later added to the volume by Moore, and a black-and-white photograph taken in 1961 of the house at Mulberry Grove Plantation where Moore was born.

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Contents list

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Moore Family Papers, 1851, 1876, 1908, 1961, and undated.

7 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

Six letters, 1851, 1876, 1892, 1908, and undated, of Moore family members and a black-and-white photograph, 1961, of the Mulberry Grove Plantation house, the Moore family home in Hertford County, N.C.

Nineteenth-century letters include one, 1851, from James W. Moore at Mulberry Grove to Thomas Neale, describing a trip by rail to Murfreesboro, N.C. Moore noted the activities of a mesmerist in Murfreesboro, who taught him to "magnatise" people, and commented on his school plans and on young women in the town. An unsigned 1876 letter, written from Maple Lawn Plantation, most likely belonged to one of John W. Moore's daughters. Addressed to "My Dear Roommates," it chides her former companions at the Chowan Baptist Female Institute for not writing to her. Another letter, dated 19 October 1892, by an unidentified woman visiting friends along the North Carolina coast, is to her daughter at home in Powellsville, N.C. It describes the health of family and friends visited and mentions the suicide of a Col. Cannady.

Twentieth-century letters include a 1 February 1908 notice from the Board of Road Supervisors to the Road Overseers of Harrellsville Township ordering them to improve their maintenance of the public roads, and three drafts (typescript) of a letter to the editor (author unknown) defending John W. Moore's Roster of North Carolina Troops in the War Between the States against a detractor.

Image Folder PF-2734/1

Photograph of Mulberry Grove Plantation, 1961

Folder 1

1851, 1876, 1892, 1908, and undated

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Writings of John W. Moore, 1853, 1860, 1873, 1901, and undated.

About 90 items.

Arrangement: chronological by type.

Drafts of public addresses, essays, poems, novels, stories, and historical writings by John W. Moore between the 1850s and 1901, and two volumes of Moore's poetry, ca. 1850s-1906. The addresses and essays discuss the founding of the University of North Carolina, a proposed ad valorem tax on enslaved people, the coinage of silver, North Carolina Baptist church history, Christian philosophy, and the authorship of Shakespeare's plays. A draft novel and a fragment of another are both in the genre of romantic fiction. One nonfiction piece is an incomplete draft of a book of historical sketches Moore wrote about Hertford County, N.C.

The public addresses include a commencement speech (incomplete), Moore gave to his class at the University of North Carolina in 1853, and a 19-p. (first 10 p. missing) address he made at the University, ca. 1880s-1890s, concerning the institution's founding. Written on the back side of the latter is a 10-p. speech, 1896, entitled "Gold and Silver," supporting William Jennings Bryan and the coinage of silver. Other items are a fragment (first 12 p. missing) of a political address, ca. 1850s, opposing an ad valorem tax on enslaved people; a 1901 speech (10-p.) commemorating the 169th birthday of George Washington; an incomplete (4 p. surviving) address, ca. 1890s, to "Comrades and fellow soldiers of the Union," urging unity between veterans of the North and South; three drafts of an undated address entitled "Christian Manners"; and an undated address entitled "Lay Sermons from the Woods."

Essays include an undated, 55-p. (first 4 p. missing) discourse on the authorship of Shakespeare's plays and several undated short pieces on social, religious, and historical topics. Titles for complete essays include "The Effects of Public Opinion upon Individuals,""Force of Character," and "American Baptist's Bible Work." Several fragments discuss the agriculture and natural resources of North Carolina, Biblical history, and North Carolina Baptist church history. Filed with the essays is an undated, 8-p. biographical sketch of North Carolina Baptist minister Charles Worth Skinner (1784-1870), written by T. E. Skinner, which was most likely solicited by Moore for use as background to a history he was preparing of the Baptist church.

Poems appear in two bound volumes and loose in several folders. Most poems are undated. The earliest dated poem is 1853, the latest dated 1873. Undated poems may span from the 1850s until Moore's death in 1906. Of the bound poems, Volume 1 is dated 1860, and Volume 2 is undated. Narrative style verse, many of the poems are sentimental in nature, taking romantic love, nature, battle, death, chivalry, and religious feeling as their topics. Similar poems can be found in Series 3 in an account book/scrapbook (Volume 3).

One short piece of romantic fiction, incomplete and undated, describes the love of an Indian woman and a chief. Book-length manuscripts include three undated drafts of an unpublished novel bearing the title, The Belle of Albermarle, or a Romance of Olden Times; or the Tragedy of Hatteras, being a Legend of Black Beard the Pirate and his Strange Intimacy with Gov. Charles Eden, and a draft compilation (incomplete) of historical sketches of Hertford County, N.C., some of which were published as a series in the Murfreesboro Enquirer, 1877-1878.

Folder 2-3

Folder 2

Folder 3

Addresses and speeches

Folder 4

Essay on Shakespeare's authorship

Folder 5

Essays on miscellaneous topics

Folder 6-11

Folder 6

Folder 7

Folder 8

Folder 9

Folder 10

Folder 11

Poems: ca. 1850s-1906

Folder 12

Volume 1: Compilation of poems by John W. Moore, 254-p., 1860

Folder 13

Volume 2: Compilation of poems by John W. Moore, 267-p., undated

Folder 14

Untitled story: Incomplete draft, undated

Folder 15

The Belle of Albemarle: Incomplete draft, chapters 1-17, undated

Folder 16

The Belle of Albemarle: Draft, chapters 1-8, undated

Folder 17

The Belle of Albemarle: Draft, chapters 9-16, undated

Folder 18

The Belle of Albemarle: Draft, chapters 17-25, undated

Folder 19

The Belle of Albemarle: Final draft, chapters 1-4, undated

Folder 20

The Belle of Albemarle: Final draft, chapters 5-7, undated

Folder 21

The Belle of Albemarle: Final draft, chapters 8-11, undated

Folder 22

The Belle of Albemarle: Final draft, chapters 12-15, undated

Folder 23

The Belle of Albemarle: Final draft, chapters 16-20, undated

Folder 24

The Belle of Albemarle: Final draft, chapters 21-25, undated

Folder 25

Hertford County Historical Sketches: Draft, introduction and chapters 1-9, undated

Folder 26

Hertford County Historical Sketches: Draft, chapters 10-20, undated

Folder 27

Hertford County Historical Sketches: Draft, chapters 21-33, undated

Folder 28

Hertford County Historical Sketches: Draft, chapters 34-51, undated

Folder 29

Hertford County Historical Sketches: Draft, chapters 52-65, undated

Folder 30

Hertford County Historical Sketches: Draft, chapters 66-82, undated

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 3. Account Book/Scrapbook, ca. 1872-1874 and undated.

1 item.

One volume, 157 p., containing accounts, 1872-1874, for a Hertford County, N.C., dry goods merchant (including an account with John W. Moore on p. 6). Moore wrote numerous poems on the pages left blank by the book's original owner and pasted clippings of recipes and farm and household hints he gleaned from newspapers over some of the accounts.

Folder 31

Volume 3: Account book, Hertford County, N.C., used as scrapbook by John W. Moore, 157 p., 1872-1874 and undated

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Image folder (PF-2734/1)

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