Collection of Documents Belonging to Luther Clegg of Chatham County, North Carolina

Chatham County, North Carolina: 1850s to 1860s. A collection of 38 documents belonging to Luther Clegg (1809-1894) of Chatham County, North Carolina. Clegg was a prominent local planter in the vicinity of "Moore's School House", near Pittsboro, Chatham County, North Carolina. He was active in the local Methodist Church and the local school, and was Superintendent of the Sunday School at Mt. Zion Methodist Church. These documents provide a record of Clegg's financial affairs in the 1850s and 1860s, as well as his involvement in the construction of a new meeting house, and in the operation of Moore's School House.

The collection includes 17 larger size (mainly quarto) documents, generally one or two pages, with a couple of three pagers as well. Many of these document Clegg's purchases--cloth, yarn, food, paper, tobacco, nails, pepper, candles, a spectacle case, etc, including a 3pp account for purchases from Isaac Clegg. There is also an account for settling the estate of Eliza Clegg, an account for labor done by Nathaniel Clegg, and two business letters from W.B. Thompson. In addition, there are five documents relating to the operation of Moore's School House--a “Catalogue of the names of scholars taught at Moores School House this session of five months 1853 for Mr. Luther Clegg. with the No. of days to each name"; a “Statement of accounts of persons who sent to school during the year beginning sept 5th and ending June 19th 1860”; a “Statement of cost of tuition for each pupil for the first year of the school. Commencing Sept 20, 1858 and ending July 8, 1859”; a document listing the salaries, board, number of days taught, and expenses per day of the teachers (who were mainly unmarried women), and a contract for the services of teacher A.P. Wilson, who “agrees to give instruction in the common rudiments of English Education to all the scholars…to superintend their moral deportment.” Four more documents, meanwhile, relate to the local church and meeting house--a list of "deficient articles" found by a committee appointed to examine the Parsonage of Pittsboro (i.e. a shovel and tons, small table, paper curtains, etc); a "Description of the Church Near Moore's Schoolhouse", outlining the construction of a church proposed by a building committee (“38 feet long & 28 feet wide”, “10,000 shingles”, etc); a 3 pp "Meeting House Account" listing expenses for the construction of the meeting house (lumber, flooring, weather boarding, etc); and a document listing individuals promising to fund the construction of the meeting house, and the amounts promised.

There are also 21 smaller documents, ranging from small slips of paper promising payments or requesting goods, to larger receipts, including one for tuition paid to "Miss Brook" by the Clegg children, and a receipt for a doctor's visit, listing quinine and medicine. Finally, there are eight partially printed documents, three from the Confederate era: a pair of Western Railroad receipts for freight sent by Luther Clegg (dated 1862 and 1863), an 1863 receipt for ordering the Fayetteville Observer, a reward of merit from Locust Hill Seminary, and three 1869 Chatham County tax receipts. Items in good to very good condition, with some creasing, foxing and soiling. Item #15771

Price: $450.00