Finding Aid of Hewitt A. Brown Cumberland and Harnett County Collection, PC.2042

[Identification of item] PC.2042, Hewitt A. Brown Cumberland and Harnett County Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, NC, USA.

Collection concerns some individuals and families (surnames include Johnson, McKethan, Kelly, Dickson, and Buie) who lived Cumberland County during the antebellum era; and some who lived in Harnett County (post-1855), after its formation from the northern portion of Cumberland. In contrast to the earlier era when farming the land was the chief occupation, the collection includes some material from the Gifford family, with members who had seen military service, from World War II on. Like many, they had strong connections, not only to family, but also to the U.S. Army installation of Fort Bragg, and eventually settled in the environs, in Harnett County. Papers include land grants; indentures; tax and other receipts; miscellaneous materials; and two slave bills of sale of a young boy named Gim, and a girl named Patsy. Apparently unrelated to these early families is a small quantity of additional material (photographs, negatives, certificates, etc.) concerning the Gifford family, whose members saw U.S. Army military service from World War II until circa 1980.

Unrelated to the Gifford family is a 1918 letter regarding enlistment in the U.S. Navy. Material concerning the Gifford family, reflects their life in the U.S. Army and about fifty small photos and negatives of the family and scenes reflecting military life.

By material type and chronologically therein.

Cumberland County, formed from Bladen in 1754, yielded much of its northern land (1855) to the new county of Harnett. Family surnames represented in this collection (during an approximate time span of 150 years) include Johnson, McKethan, Kelly, and Dickson, McCormick, Morrison, and Buie. During the antebellum era and latter 19th century farming was the chief occupation, with cotton a leading crop. Until the Civil War, 1861-1865, slavery was the overarching social and economic reality.By the latter part of the 20th century, a large number of families in Harnett County, represented in this collection by the Giffords, had seen military service and had strong connections to the U.S. Army installation of Fort Bragg. (Additionally, Mary Gifford was formerly Mary Hayes of Erwin, Harnett County N.C. Possibly she had long familial roots in the area.) In general, in contrast to the population of the previous two centuries, active military personnel and retirees in the post World War II era came to represent the area's fastest growing demographic.

1. Cumberland and Harnett County Deeds, Tax Receipts, Slave Bills of Sales

2. Gifford Family

Brown, Hewitt A.

Buie, Neil

Gifford, Kenneth S.

Gifford, Kenneth

Johnson, Angus

Johnson, Archibald

Johnson, Catherine

Kelly, D.M.

Kelly, Gim, Slave of Hugh Kelly

Kelly, Hugh

Kelly, Neil

Kelly, Patsy, Slave of Hugh Kelly

McCormick, Daniel

McCormick, Patsy, Slave of Daniel McCormick

Morrison, Gim, Slave of Maures Morrison

Morrison, Maures

Buie Family

Gifford Family

Johnson family

Kelly family

Johnson, Catherine

Neill D. Buie

Buie, D .M.

Estates--North Carolina

Land grants

Slave bills of sale--North Carolina--Cumberland County--Sources

World War, 1939 - 1945

Slave bills of sale

Cumberland County (N.C.)

Harnett County (N.C.)

Moore County (N.C.)

West Virginia

Cumberland County (N.C.)

Indentures

Photographs

Gift of Hewitt A. Brown, Coates, N.C., 2012.

Processed by Jennifer Davis; Fran Tracy-Walls.

Finding Aid by Fran Tracy-Walls.