| Scope and content |
Roach family correspondence is chiefly about land and financial matters. Antebellum letters include descriptions of Macon and Fort Hawkins, Ga., frontier life in Indiana, Creek Indians, crops, and preparations for emigration to California. Civil War era correspondence includes a letter from lawyer William B. Rodman that contains comments on North Carolina and Confederate enlistment regulations and the opinion that certain men of Craven County were not obligated to serve in the ranks. A letter from a North Carolina soldier in Virginia mentions skirmishes between Union and Confederate troops in Virginia, as well as the dislike between Virginia and North Carolina troops. Post-Civil War correspondence describes the effects of war on a North Carolina family, with topics including a Union raid on Swift Creek, smallpox epidemic in New Bern, and plantation life without slaves. Also includes personal wills, slave lists, and estate records for the Roach family, John Summers, and John Fornes. Land records concern the acquisition of property near Swift Creek, New Bern, and the gold region of Rappahannock, Va. Legal papers include articles of agreement to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic; road repair in Craven County; a deposition concerning Henry Tison's service in the North Carolina Continental Line; and a certification that Charles Roach was unfit for military duty. Also includes Craven County slave records and receipts for newspaper subscriptions, tuition, medicines, agricultural supplies, and taxes. |
| Access restriction | No access restrictions. |
| Cite as |
Roach Family Papers (#346), Special Collections Department, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA. |
| Terms of use | Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law. |
| Acquisitions source |
Joyner- Gift of Mrs. Janis Witherington Cannon. |
| Biographical note | The Roach family was prominent in Craven County, N.C., during the 18th and 19th centuries. Members of the family emigrated to Georgia and Indiana in the 1820s. Charles Roach, Sr., his wife Polly, and their sons Charles, Jr., James, and David constitute the central focus of the collection. Administrative records exist for the Fornes, Summers, and Vincent families, for whom the Roaches served as estates administrators. |
