Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

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 David A. Ray Papers, #623-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Microfilm copy of diary available.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Mrs. S. W. Tillinghast of Fayetteville, N.C. March 1928.

Location of Originals

Originals in private hands in 1970.

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1.

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: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, January 2009

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

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.

• Cattle trade--Texas--History--19th century.
• Confederate States of America--Social conditions.
• Diaries.
• Estates (Law)--Southern States.
• Fayetteville (N.C.)--Commerce--History--19th century.
• Fayetteville (N.C.)--History--19th century.
• Fayetteville (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Industries--Texas--Karnes County--History--19th century.
• Merchants--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Ray, David A., fl. 1848-1863.
• Ray, Malinda B., fl. 1860-1861.
• Women--Education--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Women--North Carolina--Diaries.

David A. Ray (fl. 1848-1863) was a Fayetteville, N.C., merchant who was an executor of the affairs of Thompson S. Tyson, Mississippi; W. L. Mansfield, Lumpkin, Ga.; Isabella Campbell, Fayetteville, N.C.; J. D. Campbell, Texas; and others. He was also the father of Malinda B. Ray who was a student at a seminary in Fayetteville, 1860-1861, that was run by William Hooper and John DeBerniere Hooper.

The collection includes legal papers and business correspondence (in part, photocopies) of a David A. Ray of Fayetteville, N.C., including a letter describing a Karnes County, Tex., cattle ranch business, 1860. Also included are photocopies of a diary, 1860-1861, of David Ray's daughter, Malinda B. Ray, concerning school life and early events of the Civil War in Fayetteville. The diary mentions the departure of Malinda's brother David for the Yorktown, Va., area with what was then the 1st North Carolina (Bethel) Regiment and also records news of other local soldiers.