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 Penney Family Papers #5072, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Microfilm copy available.

• Reel 1: entire collection

Acquisitions Information

Received from Carl Penney of Walkertown, N.C., in July 2001 (Acc. 99011).

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: Linda Sellars, January 2002

Encoded by: Linda Sellars, January 2002

Funding from the Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc., supported the microfilming of this collection.

Revisions: Finding aid updated in June 2005 by Nancy Kaiser.

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.

• Barber, G. W. (George W.), -1863; Penney, J. J. (Joseph James), approximately 1843-
• Confederate States of America--Social conditions.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Officers--Correspondence.
• Confederate States of America. Army. North Carolina Infantry Regiment, 31st.
• Confederate States of America. Army. North Carolina Infantry Regiment, 50th.
• Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Johnston County (N.C.)--History.
• North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Penney, J. J. (Joseph James), b. ca. 1843.
• Penney, Penelope Barber.
• Real property--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Wake County (N.C.)--History.
• Women--Confederate States of America.

J. J. (Joseph James) Penney, b. ca. 1843:

George W. Barber, d. 1863.

Civil War correspondence of J. J. Penney (Joseph James Penney), Penelope Barber Penney, G. W. Barber, and others, a few legal papers, receipts, report cards, genealogical materials, a photograph, and other items of members of the Penney family of North Carolina. The majority of the letters are from J. J. Penney in Company D, 50th North Carolina Regiment, Confederate States of America, to Penelope Barber in Wake County, N.C. There are also numerous letters from Penelope Barber to Penney. Barber and Penney were married in May or June 1863. Also included are letters from G. W. Barber, Penelope's brother, serving in the 31st North Carolina Regiment, Confederate Army, and a few letters to or from other family members and friends.

J. J. Penney's letters describe military life in Virginia in 1862 and in eastern North Carolina in 1863 and 1864. His letters to Penelope Barber discuss his affection for her and tell of his feelings about fighting and army life, as well as describing the weather, his health, living quarters, food, and clothing. They also relay news of other battles and speculations on the length of the war. Penney's letter, 23 July 1862, to G. W. Barber describes the Seven Days' Battles. Penney's letters in the latter part of 1864 describe attacks from Union gunboats in the Roanoke River.

The earliest material in the collection consists chiefly of deeds and indentures relating to ownership of land in Wake County, N.C. Post-Civil War material comprises scattered financial papers of various family members; report cards, 1886-1887, of Lena Rarely of Durham, N.C.; one letter, 1913, to Lena Penney, Raleigh, N.C., from George, on stationery of the Seashore Hotel and Steel Pier, Wrightsville Beach, N.C.; and a small amount of genealogical material. The photograph pictures a young man in a suit and is inscribed "To Mother Dec. 1914."

• Photograph (P-5072/1)