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 John Thomas Wheat Papers, #1832, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Jane Carolina Henderson Boyden (Mrs. Burton) Craige of Winston-Salem, N.C., 1943.

Additional materials received from Mrst. Stuart R. Bradley of New Orleans, La., May 1948 and November 1957.

Additional Descriptive Resources

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

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, October 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.

• Christ Church Pentecostal (Nashville, Tenn.)--History--19th century.
• Church records and registers--Tennessee--History--19th century.
• Clergy--Southern States--History--19th century.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Officers--Correspondence.
• Diaries.
• Episcopal Church--Tennessee--History--19th century.
• Families--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Families--Tennessee--Social life and customs.
• Law--Study and teaching--Virginia--History--19th century.
• Lawyers--Louisiana--History--19th century.
• Memphis (Tenn.)--History.
• Music--Instruction and study--Europe--History--19th century.
• Nashville (Tenn.)--History.
• North Carolina--Politics and government--1861-1865.
• Rowan County (N.C.)--Commerce.
• Rowan County (N.C.)--History.
• Saint Lazarus Church (Memphis, Tenn.)--History--19th century.
• Seay, Selina Wheat.
• Sermons, American.
• Shober, Francis E. (Francis Edwin), 1831-1896.
• Shober, Josephine May Wheat.
• Soldiers of fortune--History--19th century.
• Soldiers--Confederate States of America--Correspondence.
• Teachers--Southern States--History--19th century.
• United States--Politics and government--1869-1877.
• Wheat family.
• Wheat, C. R. (Chatham Roberdeau), 1826-1862.
• Wheat, John Thomas, 1801-1888.
• Wheat, John Thomas, 1830-1862.
• Wheat, Leonidas Polk, 1841-1915.

John Thomas Wheat (1801-1888), a native of Washington, D.C., was educated at Asbury College, Baltimore, Md.; directed a private school in Washington, D.C., and then in Alexandria, Va. In 1825 he married Selina Blair Patten and soon after was ordained priest in the Episcopal Church. He worked variously as a minister, teacher, and professor in Maryland, Louisiana, West Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee.

John Thomas and Selina Patten Wheat has six children that grew to maturity: Chatham Roberdau, John Thomas Junior, Leonidas Polk, Dexter, Selina, Josephine May, and Mary.

Chatham Roberdau Wheat (1825-1862) was studying law in Memphis, Tenn., when the Mexican War broke out, whereupon he volunteered immediately and served under General Winfield Scott. He was admitted to the bar in Louisiana and was also a state legislator briefly. He joined the Lopez expedition to free Cuba, and later served with General William Walker in Nicaragua and Garibaldi in Italy. He was a major in the Confederate Army (Louisiana Tigers) and died near Richmond, Va.

John Thomas Wheat Junior (1830-1862) was a practicing lawyer in New Orleans, La., when the Civil War broke out. He was Secretary of the Secession Convention of Louisiana and later a Confederate officer with Company A, 1st Louisiana Regiment. He was killed at the Battle of Shiloh.

Leonidas Polk Wheat (1841-1915) was a musician and studied for several years in Europe. He is reputed to have married an heiress.

Selina Wheat married Dr. John Seay of Louisiana.

Josephine May Wheat, usually called May, married Francis E. Shober of Salisbury, N.C. Her husband was a lawyer and businessman. He was a member of the North Carolina State Legislature and also served in the United States House of Representatives.

Mary Wheat lived in California and was married to a Mr. Morgan. Neither Mary Wheat nor Dexter Wheat are mentioned in the biographical clippings on John Thomas Wheat, however their correspondence suggests that they are also children of John Thomas and Selina Patten Wheat.

The papers, chiefly 1850-1880, include family correspondence, sermons, reminiscences (in verse), commonplace books, diary, 1837, and record books of Christ Church and school, Nashville, Tenn., 1840-1846, and St. Lazarus's Church, Memphis, Tenn., 1867-1868. Letters are mainly those of John Thomas and Selina Patten Wheat and their immediate family with a few to and from friends and other family members. For the most part these letters are personal and comment on family news. There are also a very large number letters that Francis E. (Frank) Shober wrote to Josephine May Wheat Shober as well as many of Frank's business and legal records and papers.

During the Civil War and immediately preceding and following it, there is notable comment, particularly in Selina Patten Wheat's letters, on the war and the political climate of the South. Also, since the family became widely dispersed soon after the beginning of the bulk of the collection, but continued to write and visit, there is often some information on traveling and on the various states in which they found themselves, contained in the letters as well.

There are also poems, diaries, speeches, reminiscences, dramas, and other writings chiefly by John Thomas Wheat with contributions from other family members. Also included are albums, estate accounts, general merchandise accounts, 1814-1815, and accounts for day labor and blacksmith and carpentry work, in Rowan County, 1851-1858.

• Special format photograph (SF-P-1832/1)
• Photographs (P-1832/1-12)
• Oversize volume (SV-1832/16)