Finding Aid of the Jonathan Worth Papers, 1831 - 1889, PC.49

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Finding Aid of the Jonathan Worth Papers, 1831 - 1889, PC.49

Abstract

Governor Jonathan Worth was born in 1802 in Guilford County, son of Eunice Gardner and Dr. David Worth, a descendent of Nantucket Quakers. Worth served as governor of North Carolina from 1865-1868 and supported President Andrew Johnson's reconstruction policies.
The collection consists of copies of outgoing correspondence (13 letter press books) between 1850 and 1869, incoming correspondence from 1831 until after his death in 1869, and the printed inaugural address of Governor Worth upon his inauguration on December 22, 1866.

Descriptive Summary

Title
Jonathan Worth Papers
Call Number
PC.49
Creator
Worth, Jonathan, 1802-1869
Date
1831 - 1889
Extent
3.600 cubic feet
Language
English
Repository
State Archives of North Carolina

Restrictions on Access & Use

Access Restrictions

Available for research. However, several letter press books are in a delicate condition with shattered bindings and fragile paper. Readability runs the gamut from illegible, partly legible, to completely legible. Occasionally a letter can only be read by holding a mirror to the reverse side of the tissue.

Use Restrictions

Copyright is retained by the authors of these materials, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law (Title 17 US Code). Individual researchers are responsible for using these materials in conformance with copyright law as well as any donor restrictions accompanying the materials.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], PC.49, Jonathan Worth Papers, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, NC, USA.

Collection Overview

Correspondence of Worth, Quaker, lawyer, Whig legislator, state treasurer (1862-1865), and governor (1865-1868). Most of the letters refer to current events and personalities, with frequent references to Quakers and to politics and elections, including his own campaigns (1841-1868). Antebellum letters concern his business ventures (sawmills, turpentine, gold and copper mines, debt collection, a plank road); UNC lands; Trinity College; common schools in Randolph Co.; and management of the North Carolina Railroad by Charles Fisher. Wartime letters concern the Wilmington saltworks, conscriptions and exemptions, impressment of free Negroes and horses, deteriorating state finances, relations with the Confederate government, blockade-running profits, the Literary Fund, a peace petition by Worth, General Lee's letters on arming and freeing the slaves, and evacuation of the state archives to Greensboro. Postwar problems include state rosin and cotton in England and the West Indies; the war debt and repudiation; finances of the Literary Fund and UNC; Negro suffrage and education; equal justice; return of the archives; civil and military jurisdiction in courts under military Reconstruction; and sectional hatred. There were also comments on the Republican party in North Carolina, Union Leagues, "Red Strings"; German immigration and Quaker emigration; first North Carolian synagogue; the penitentiary and insane asylum; railroads; and relief for the destitute. Political views were traded with such men as Thomas Bragg, David F. Caldwell, John A. Gilmer, William A. Graham, Benjamin S. Hedrick, Walter F. Leak, A. S. Merrimon, R. M. Pearson, Thomas Ruffin, D. L. Swain, Josiah Turner, Z. B. Vance, and Patrick H. Winston. Correspondence after his death relates especially to Worth's son-in-law and private secretary, William Bagley. Many of the letters in this collection have been published in J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton (ed.), The Correspondence of Jonathan Worth, 2 vols. (Raleigh, 1909).
Additional collection description from the original finding aid: The correspondence contains political discussion and relates to Whigs, nominations, campaigns, elections, and conventions--national, state, and county. Other frequent topics are the administration of his daughter Roxana McNeill's plantations; business enterprises with his brothers and son; legal business with his sons-in-law; secession; salt works at Wilmington; state and personal finances; peace movement; William W. Holden; evacuation of archives; Reconstruction; military occupation; Generals Thomas H. Ruger, Daniel B. Sickles, and E. R. S. Canby; federal and state appointments; taxes; conflict of civil and military justice; pardons; railroad matters; literary board; swamp lands; freedmen; 14th amendment; radicals in Congress and in North Carolina; Albion W. Tourgee; the U. S. Supreme Court. Worth relied on the advice of Josiah Turner, Patrick H. Winston, John A. Gilmer, and Governors William A. Graham, David L. Swain, and Zebulon B. Vance. He also, sought opinions from Judges R. M. Pearson and A. S. Merrimon. Worth's formal political views are most fully set forth in letters to Andrew Johnson, David F. Caldwell of Greensboro (an ardent, honest, and eccentric man), and Quakers Cyrus and Nerus Mendenhall, Darius H. Starbuck, Allen M. Tomlinson, J. M. Coffin, Joseph Newlin, etc. His more informal political views are found in c. 85 letters to Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick, the state's unpaid, unofficial agent in Washington during Reconstruction, and to his many relatives including brother-in-law William Clark of Indiana, son David of Wilmington, brothers Milton of Asheboro, Barzillai of Wilmington and New York, Addison of Fayetteville (Clarkson died in the 1862 epidemic in Wilmington), and his sons-in-law S. S. Jackson of Asheboro and J. J. Jackson of Pittsboro.
An addition to the collection was donated in December 1994 and accessioned in January 1995, consisting of a seven-page pamphlet entitled, Inaugural Address of Jonathan Worth, Governor of North Carolina, Delivered at his Inauguration in Presence of Both Houses of the General Assembly, on the 22d of December 1866, printed by William E. Pell, state printer, in the year 1866.

Arrangement Note

Divided into outgoing and incoming correspondence and arranged chronologically. A check in the upper right hand corner of the page indicates the letter has been published. The volumes for 1865-1869 have considerable overlapping of dates. Each letter press book has an index in the front.

Biographical Note

Jonathan Worth, born 1802, Guilford County, son of Eunice Gardner and Dr. David Worth, a descendent of Nantucket Quakers. Educated at Caldwell Institute, Greensboro; studied law with Archibald DeBow Murphey, whose niece Martitia Daniel he married in 1824, the year he began a law practice in Asheboro. State representative from Randolph County, 1830-1832, opposed to nullification; clerk and master in equity, Randolph County court; business partner with brothers John Milton, Joseph Addison, Barzillai Gardner, and Thomas Clarkson, and son David Gaston; legal partner with sons-in-law, the brothers Joseph John Jackson and Samuel Spencer Jackson; state senator, 1858-1862, opposed secession; state treasurer, 1862-1865; governor, 1865-1868, supported President Johnson's reconstruction policies; died, Raleigh, 1869. For further biographical information see Samuel A. Ashe (ed.), , III, 435-454. This biographical history also contains articles on his brothers Milton, Addison, Barzillai; his son David; and his daughter Elvira.

Contents of the Collection

1. Letter Press Books (Outgoing Correspondence),1850-1869

Scope and Content:

The letter press books contain c. 3,800 copies of letters written by Jonathan Worth. The earlier letter press books (1850-1862) cover Worth's Asheboro days and are concerned with his business, legal, and political interests.

The outgoing letters of his years as state treasurer (1862-1865) concern both private and public matters. [Related correspondence is in the Treasurer's and Comptroller's Papers (Correspondence #8 and #9).]

Letter press books kept during his years as governor (1865-1868) also have private and public correspondence; some of these letters are also in the Governor's Letter Books (GLB 53-54) of incoming and outgoing correspondence. [Related material is also in the Governor's Papers (GP 192-209).]

Outgoing Correspondence, letterpress copy book, 1850-1853

Scope and Content:

Fayetteville and Western Plank Road; saw mills; debts owed; debts collected for clients; national election; plans for mother, son, sister-in-law; financial problems of nephew (father of O. Henry); building of a jail. Letters to James T. Morehead, John H. Wheeler, Charles Manly, Braxton Craven, John D. Williams, and members of the Worth family.

PC.49.1
Outgoing Correspondence, letterpress copy book, 1853-1856

Scope and Content:

Turpentine stills; gold and copper mines; family stores and businesses (Worth and Elliott, J. Worth and Sons, Worth and Utley, J. and B. G. Worth, Worth and Burgess, etc.); escheat lands for University of North Carolina; repair of plank road; Negro labor (hired and slave); financial status and problems; debt collections with J. J. Jackson in Randolph, Chatham, Moore, Montgomery, and Harnett counties for northern business firms and southern clients; common schools (Chairman in Randolph County). Letters to Charles Manly, Thomas Bragg, Algernon S. Porter, John H. Bryan, Richmond M. Pearson, Calvin H. Wiley, George McNeill, etc.

PC.49.2
Outgoing Correspondence, Letterpress copy book, 1857-1859

Scope and Content:

Tolls and repairs on plank road; turpentine and saw mills; business failure in Wilmington; banks; resignation as master of equity; election to state senate; controversy with Charles Fisher; Harper's Ferry; fugitive slave law; family deaths; poor dentistry; settlement of estates of John McNeill, Sr. and Jr. Letters to J. M. Clark, C. Manly, B. F. Moore, C. H. Wiley, John A. Gilmer, Thomas Ruffin, Jr., John W. Syme, Patrick H. Winston, William W. Holden, George C. Mendenhall, etc.

PC.49.3
Outgoing Correspondence, letterpress copy book, 1859-1860

Scope and Content:

Gold mine; turpentine business; plank road; steamboat company; Negro labor; collections; Reverend Daniel Worth, abolitionist; controversy with Charles Fisher; elections for General Assembly; Whig newspapers; union and disunion sediment; ad valorum tax; fugitive slave law; Harper's Ferry; daughter's plantations; surgical operations. Letters to Tod R. and David F. Caldwell, C. M. Wiley, J. M. A. Drake, Henry B. Elliott, J. M. Coffin, etc.

PC.49.4
Outgoing Correspondence, letterpress copy book, 1860-1861, 1864-1865

Scope and Content:

Part I, 1860-1861: Plank road, Trinity College, secession movement, plans for compromise. Letters to John A. Gilmer and northern business firms.

Part II, 1864-1865: Confederate debt to North Carolina; gubernatorial election; overseers; buying and selling land and corn; exemptions; blockade running and profits; peace movements; terrorization by deserters; food shortage; state and county tax on land; Confederate taxes on produce (agricultural) and stocks (boat and factory); Confederate money, state bonds, and treasury notes; cotton yarn and sheeting; fall of Fort Fisher; readiness for reconstruction with protection of property and general amnesty; price of Negroes rising; price of cotton falling; peace proposition in legislature; Sherman in Columbia; Lincoln's terms; expectation of immediate emancipation and sweeping confiscations; no spirit of resistance; daughter's plantations; state, property; state debt. Letters to J. J. Hamlin, S. S. and J. J. Jackson, Jesse H. Lindsay, C. P. and Delphina Mendenhall, George Makepeace, Spring, Oak and Company, James Russell, David L. Swain, Zebulon B. Vance, W. A. Graham, J. A. Gilmer, G. B. Mallett, James M. Parrott, Darius Starbuck, A. M. Tomlinson.

PC.49.5
Outgoing Correspondence, letterpress copy book, 1861-1864

Scope and Content:

William A. Graham's judgment; arguments against secession; Lincoln's course; beef and pork for the military; salt works at Wilmington (Commissioner Milton Worth); raising volunteers; bonuses; exemptions; Quakers; conscriptions; impressment of free Negroes (servants to military); searching for conscriptees and deserters; election as state treasurer; advice to family and friends (pay debts, buy land and cotton); transportation problems; praise for ; yellow fever at Wilmington and death of brother; McNeill estate; money (Confederate and North Carolina); conscriptions to age 45; profits of the ; General Whiting in Wilmington; Holden and the peace movement; money and food (plentiful); clothing (scarce); horses (impressed); need to plant crops (future shortages); tax (cotton and naval stores); tithe (agricultural produce); destruction of newspaper offices; buying and selling cotton; shortage of food and labor (1864); deteriorating state finances; relationship to Confederate government;, anticipation of sale of military stores and ships to Confederacy; Vance-Holden gubernatorial campaign; salt works at Wilmington (Commissioner David Worth); swamp lands; peace petition to newspapers (written by Jonathan Worth); suspension of habeas corpus; investments to get rid of money; peace under U. S. Constitution (no emancipation); agreement with Holden's views; faith in Vance's political ability; land speculation on Long Island, New York; marriage of daughter; suitor of another daughter. Letters to Robert Bingham, Braxton Craven, Ebenezer Emmons, William A. Graham, John A. Gilmer, W. W. Holden, Cyrus P. Mendenhall, C. B. and Peter Mallett, George Makepeace, George McNeill, Joseph Newlin, George W. Swepson, Z. B. Vance, Dr. Edward Warren, etc.

PC.49.6
Outgoing Correspondence, letterpress copy book, July 1865-July 1866

Scope and Content:

Provisional treasurer; state finances (pre-war debt - 12 million: war debt - 19 million; Confederate debt to state - 8 million); repudiation; collections; property; business with New York and Philadelphia; property in England and West Indies. (Vance, White, Flanner); General Roger; common schools; finances of University of North Carolina; Benjamin S. Hedrick, agent in Washington; resignation as state treasurer; Holden's gubernatorial campaign; acceptance of resignation; Freedman's Bureau; Wiley and Holden; sale of cotton to Swepson and Mendenhall; Literary Fund; constitutional convention; cotton trading; land on Long Island; provisional treasurer (Sloan) and sale of cotton; condition of banks; Presidential pardons; appointment recommendations to West Point; radical congress; Negro suffrage, testimony, and inferiority; railroad directors; artificial limbs for veterans; relief for destitute. Letters to James A. Bryan, David L. Swain, Robert Bingham, C. B. Dibble, J. M. Coffin, William A. Graham, P. H. Winston, W. W. Holden, Benjamin S. Hedrick, Thomas M. Holt, Lewis Hanes, Z. B. Vance, George Swepson, Darius Starbuck, Andrew Johnson.

PC.49.7
Outgoing Correspondence, letterpress copy book, December 1865-April 1866

Scope and Content:

Horses; lack of magistrates; military and civil jurisdiction of courts; tax assessors; artificial limbs; weights and measures missing; return of archives; pardons; Freedman's Bureau; marauders; papers of Ebenezer Emmons; court martial of Major Gee; taxation; Swain, Battle, and Graham to Washington. Letters to Louis Hanes, E. J. Hale, B. S. Hedrick, R. J. Powell, Hugh McCullock, John H. Wheeler, Gen. Thomas H. Ruger, Sion H. Rogers, William P. Sloan, David L. Swain, W. S. Mason.

PC.49.8
Outgoing Correspondence, letterpress copy book, January 1866

Scope and Content:

Tax collectors; agents in Washington; courts; Negro testimony and education; state debt. Letter to William A. Graham.

PC.49.9
Outgoing Correspondence, letterpress copy book, April 1866-July 1867

Scope and Content:

Appointments (tax collectors, railroad directors, attorney general); pardons (Dortch, Turner, Graham, Vance, etc.); Freedman's Bureau, swamp lands and minerals; internal improvements; destitution in western counties; test oath; missions to Washington; justice in civil courts; Howard amendment (14th); benevolent societies; Negro suffrage; state credit; state convention; state legislature; military reconstruction; General Sickles; Congress; Supreme Court; reconstruction acts; organization of Republican Party; Colonel Bomford; mail delivery; search for registrars; financial problems of son-in-law druggist; desire for German immigrants; need to sell swamp lands for common school support; Long Island land; penitentiary bill; tutor for grandchildren; railroad finances; Cedar Falls Company. Letters to J. A. Gilmer, Nathaniel Boyden, Drury Lacy, J. W. Alspaugh, Asa Biggs, William H. Bryan, R. R. Bridgers, David F. Ca ldwell, Moses Ashley Curtis, Henry T. Clark, Clinton A. Cilley, J. A. Englehard, B. S. Hedrick, W. A. Graham, J. R. Mendenhall, H. H. Helper, P. S. Benbow, Andrew Johnson, J. T. Morehead, James L. Orr, Z. B. Vance, William J. Yates, J. H. Wheeler, C. H. Wiley, Mrs. George Badger, Miss Mary A. Buie.

PC.49.10
Outgoing Correspondence, letterpress copy book, July 1866-November 1867

Scope and Content:

Voting apathy; postal routes; economic problems; drought; taxes; gubernatorial pardons (prisoners); trials of military commissions; relief work (northerners, Freedmen's Bureau, ministers); literary board, swamp lands and immigrants; newspapers; death of daughter Mary; Holden's political vacillation; debts owed and held; criticism and defense of appointments; civil courts; monument to General Lee's daughter; anxiety over son; boat stock; 14th amendment; Quakers and politics; test oath; bonds in England; Philadelphia convention (radical); repudiation; investigations of reports of civil injustice in western courts; missions to Washington; secret organizations; penitentiary; financial problems of brother Addison in Fayetteville, daughter Roxana in Cumberland and Harnett counties, and son-in-law W. C. Roberts in Salisbury; high price of whiskey; replacement of civil government; Supreme Court intervention (hope for); lawlessness in Lenoir and Jones counties; need for people to speak; corporal punishment and penitentiary; Negro suffrage, education, and equality; Cedar Falls Company; registrars, Presidential pardons; plans for future. Letters to General James V. Bomford, Bedford Brown, David F. Caldwell, B. S. Hedrick, , J. T. Leak, C. P. Mendenhall, General Nelson A. Miles, , Reverend Robert Newmann, A. G. Rhoades, William C. Roberts, William H. Seward, Hugh McCullock, Z. B. Vance.

PC.49.11
Outgoing Correspondence, letterpress copy book, July 1867-October 15, 1868

Scope and Content:

Resignation of Merrimon; request for military intervention; artificial limbs; weights and measures; poor dentistry; Cedar Falls Company; swamp land; immigration society; financial problems of brother Addison, daughter Roxana, and son-in-law Roberts; prisoners (punishment, pardon, work); Long Island land; invitations to agricultural fair and consecration of synagogue (Wilmington); order for boots from Chapel Hill and a hat from Philadelphia; fear of confiscation; rights of property owners; jury composition; taxes vs. freehold; General Canby; military trials (especially McRae, Tolar et al); convention of 1868; 14th amendment; test oath; Negro suffrage and ignorance; sectional hatred; desire to emigrate; request for military guard for prisoners; gubernatorial nominations; Supreme Court; Colonel Bomford; impeachment of Andrew Johnson; new state constitution; Holden's record; appeal to moderate Congressmen (Fessenden, etc.); elections under military surveillance; Presidential election; future plans; gold in Hoover mine; Addison Worth solvent. Letters to Samuel S. Ashley, John Baxter, W. P. Bynum, Paris S. Benbow, Nathaniel Boyden, Henry T. Clark, E. R. S. Canby, H. C. Cowles, A. D. Cooke, Addison Coffin, , , Calvin Graves, W. A. Graham, D. R. and H. H. Goodies, B. S. Hedrick, E. J. Hale, W. W. Holden, Nathaniel Jacobi, Andrew Johnson, A. Jobe, J. T. Morehead, William G. Moore, C. B. Mallett, J. S. Orr, J. M. Parrott, Benjamin Robinson, J. G. Ramsay, General Daniel E. Sickles, G. W. Swepson, D. L. Swain, C. Seymour, Josiah Turner, John White, C. H. Wiley, W. J. Yates.

PC.49.12
Outgoing Correspondence, letterpress copy book, December 1867-September 1869

Scope and Content:

Swamp Lands; Long Island; estate of Roxana McNeill; personal finances and health; politics; Cedar Falls Company; George W. Swepson; rent for governor's mansion; care of former slaves; plans for future; military arrests and trials; actions of military commanders; Quaker views; Supreme Court; asks advice of Graham, Turner, Pearson; appointments of judges and county officials; Wiley and expense account; Congress; convention of 1868; Tourgee; nominations for governor; trip north and west; national elections; immigrants; [reference to] 30-page letter to President on military usurpation's (later sent to newspapers in state). Letters to John Baxter, E. R. S. Canby, D. F. Caldwell, C. A. Cilley, H. T., Charles C. and William Clark, William Eaton, B. S. Hedrick, D. Heaton, James P. Hodges, T. S., Lewis, and R. R. Lutterloh, Roxana C. McNeill, John M. Morehead, Mack (former slave), G. B. Poulson, D. L. Swain, George W. Swepson, Josiah Turner, Sion H. Rogers, A. M. Tomlinson, Z. B. Vance, C. H. Wiley, John D. Williams.

PC.49.13

2. Incoming Correspondence,1831-1889

Scope and Content:

Approximately 1,500 original letters to Worth.

1831-1865: 288 letters: There are only 25 letters before 1862, including an occasional item in Worth's handwriting. The 1831-1853 period contains family letters, with one from his father (1831) and another from a cousin in the Iowa Territory (1841). Other correspondence relates to Worth's unsuccessful bid for Congress in 1841 against Abraham Rencher. The 1856-1861 period contains a fragment by Worth referring to Thomas Clingman's election to the U. S. Senate and the manipulation of an originally pro-Union legislature by secessionist leaders. An additional item by Worth in January, 1861, indicates he regards as unconstitutional and revolutionary the bid for a convention on national affairs. However, in a later letter to his constituents, he urges them to unite in defense of the South, pointing out that Lincoln and Congress failed to execute the law and protect public property when seven states asserted the doctrine of secession, set up a new government, and took possession of most of the federal forts. The letter further denounces Lincoln's later action in sending ships to Charleston Harbor to precipitate the war. Letters in 1862 refer to the salt works and General William H. C. Whiting at Wilmington; farms in Chatham and Cumberland counties; death of brother Clarkson; clothing for soldiers; exemptions; volunteers; state treasurer; chief clerk (Philip Wiley); and the move from Asheboro to Raleigh. The 1863 letters pertain to the Cape Fear Steam Boat Company and the Cedar Falls (yarn and cotton sheeting) Company; exemptions; health of daughter Mary, planting crops; cloth for suit from the "Advance"; unionist Bryan Tyson; money due state for clothing troops and for per diem on cavalry horses; tithe on produce; assets of literary fund. The 1864 letters concern the birth of a grandson, the Cedar Falls Company, problems of the Salt Works at Wilmington. Those of 1865 refer to the salt works and General Whiting, Cedar Falls Company, Negroes hired out for corn, plan to organize "better class of deserters" to drive out looting deserters; General Lee's letter on arming and freeing slaves; destruction of brother Barzillai's property in Fayetteville; cavalry and wagon trains in Asheboro enroute to Raleigh (March 16); refugees; Worth and party with archives in Greensboro (March 25); Stoneman's direction; Raleigh capture expected; hope for evacuation of goods; plans to farm in Cumberland County. There are no further letters until July, 1865, with provisional treasurer Worth receiving letters concerning state property (cotton and rosin), including state property abroad (agents: White, Flanner, Morris, Collie and Sons of London); army mules and horses; gubernatorial election; acceptance of resignation as provisional treasurer; business in Philadelphia and New York; commission agents in New York (Swepson and Mendenhall; Dibble and Worth); Calvin Wiley and the common schools.

1866: 487 letters: Cotton on New York market; rosin; horses; agents Hedrick and Powell; Quakers; appointments (railroad directors, custom officer, tax collectors, West Point); pardons; Freedman's Bureau; Negro suffrage and testimony, river boat "Governor Worth"; N. C. bonds; proclamation on justice for Negroes (not issued); justice in western counties; military and civil courts; W. W. Holden: Calvin Wiley; Zebulon Vance; Morehead City; graduation ball incident; plan of some northern conservatives; literary board and swamp land; elections; internal improvements; Howard amendment (14th); German immigration; John Pool; Worth to Washington; the "Red Strings"; Worth-Dockery campaign; speculation in state's cotton; Philadelphia conventions; Albion Tourgee; Union Leagues; death of daughter Mary.

1867: 316 letters: Quaker emigrations; German immigration; transportation; Congressional activities; Negro suffrage; reconstruction plans; commission to Washington; advice of Thomas Ruffin and Patrick H. Winston; Benjamin Hedrick, constitutionality of reconstruction acts; carpetbaggers; military trials; registers, test oath; lawlessness; Mary Ann Buie and proposed school for female orphans of veterans; views of Swain, Turner, Leak, and Bragg; threat of war crimes trial in Tennessee; script for land grant college; George T. Winston; insane asylum; President Johnson's visit to Raleigh and Chapel Hill; Union Leagues; fishing trip; investigation of University; Wiley in New York with Gwynn and Kerr; John White to Liverpool; consecration of first synagogue in state (Wilmington); anti-Holden publication (W. H. Bagley and J. J. Jackson).

1868: 268 letters: Reconstruction convention, applications for state librarian, justice of military courts; rent on governor's mansion; Tourgee as judge; Worth's removal as governor; land on Long Island, Worth's will (March 8, 1868); elections; "The Holden Record", publication by H. H. Helper and W. H. Bagley; Supreme Court; Hedrick's summation of political situation; poor health; radicals; state supreme court; judges; Johnson's impeachment; Holden-ites in Washington; General Canby; Quakers; W. A. Graham; penitentiary; National Democratic Convention; Holden - governor; Worth visits Connecticut and Indiana; Presidential campaign; banking; building and repairing activities.

1869: 146 letters: Business investments and politics; state cotton; sister Ruth Porter; mansion rent; fishing; Alum Spring, Virginia. Letters after Worth's death (September 5, 1869) are relevant to members of his family, especially his son-in-law and private secretary, William W. Bagley.

Incoming Correspondence, 1831-1853
PC.49.14
Incoming Correspondence, 1856-1861
PC.49.14
Incoming Correspondence, 1862
PC.49.14
Incoming Correspondence, 1863
PC.49.14
Incoming Correspondence, 1864
PC.49.14
Incoming Correspondence, 1865
PC.49.14
Incoming Correspondence, January 1866
PC.49.15
Incoming Correspondence, February-March 1866
PC.49.15
Incoming Correspondence, April 1866
PC.49.15
Incoming Correspondence, May 1866
PC.49.16
Incoming Correspondence, June 1866
PC.49.16
Incoming Correspondence, July 1866
PC.49.16
Incoming Correspondence, August 1866
PC.49.17
Incoming Correspondence, September-October 1866
PC.49.17
Incoming Correspondence, November-December 1866
PC.49.17
Incoming Correspondence, January 1867
PC.49.18
Incoming Correspondence, February - March 1867
PC.49.18
Incoming Correspondence, April-May 1867
PC.49.18
Incoming Correspondence, June-July 1867
PC.49.19
Incoming Correspondence, August-September 1867
PC.49.19
Incoming Correspondence, October-December 1867
PC.49.19
Incoming Correspondence, January 1868
PC.49.20
Incoming Correspondence, February-March 1868
PC.49.20
Incoming Correspondence, May-June 1868
PC.49.21
Incoming Correspondence, July-August 1868
PC.49.21
Incoming Correspondence, September-October 1868
PC.49.21
Incoming Correspondence, November-December 1868
PC.49.21
Incoming Correspondence, 1869
PC.49.22
Incoming Correspondence, 1870-1889
PC.49.22
Incoming Correspondence, undated
PC.49.22

Subject Headings

  • Gilmer, John A. (John Adams), 1805-1868
  • Caldwell, David F.
  • Canby, Edward Richard Sprigg, 1817-1873
  • Graham, William A. (William Alexander), 1804-1875
  • Hedrick, Benjamin Sherwood, 1827-1886
  • Holden, W. W. (William Woods), 1818-1892
  • Johnson, Andrew, 1808-1875
  • McNeill, Roxana
  • Mendenhall, C. P. (Cyrus P.)
  • Mendenhall, Nereus, 1810-1893
  • Merrimon, Augustus Summerfield
  • Newlin, Joseph
  • Pearson, Richmond Mumford, 1805-1878
  • Ruger, Thomas Howard, 1833-1907
  • Sickles, Daniel Edgar, 1819-1914
  • Starbuck, Darius H.
  • Swain, David L. (David Lowry), 1801-1868
  • Tomlinson, Allen M.
  • Tourgee, Albion Winegar, 1838-1905
  • Turner, Josiah, 1821-1901
  • Vance, Zebulon Baird, 1830-1894
  • Worth, Jonathan, 1802-1869
  • Fisher, Charles
  • Bragg, Thomas
  • Hedrick, Benjamin S.
  • Walter F. Leak
  • Pearson, R. M.
  • Ruffin, Thomas
  • Turner, Josiah
  • Vance, Zebulon Baird, 1830-1894
  • Winston, Patrick H.
  • Bagley, William
  • Hamilton, J. G. de Roulhac
  • Whig Party (U.S.)
  • Trinity College
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • North Carolina Railroad
  • Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )
  • Union League
  • Red String League
  • Governors--North Carolina
  • Lawyers--North Carolina
  • North Carolina--Politics and government--1775-1865
  • North Carolina--Politics and government--1861-1865
  • North Carolina--Politics and government--1865-1950
  • Peace movements--United States--History--19th century
  • Plantations--North Carolina--History--19th century
  • Quakers--North Carolina
  • Railroads--North Carolina
  • Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)--North Carolina
  • Salt industry and trade--North Carolina--Wilmington
  • Secession--Southern States
  • United States--Constitution--14th Amendment
  • Quakers
  • Political Parties
  • Salt mines and mining
  • Turpentine Distillation
  • Sawmills
  • Lawyers
  • Legislators
  • Land
  • Poor
  • Poverty
  • Gold mines and mining
  • Mines
  • Copper Mines and Mining
  • Blockades
  • Finance
  • Synagogues
  • Prisons
  • Psychiatric hospitals
  • Politics
  • War, Cost of
  • Gums and Resins
  • Slavery
  • Liberty
  • Cotton trade
  • African Americans
  • Suffrage
  • Peace
  • Education
  • Equality Before the Law
  • Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)
  • Courts
  • Military
  • Justice, Administration of
  • Politicians
  • Finance, Public
  • Emigration and Immigration
  • Germans
  • Governors
  • United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Correspondence
  • United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Economic aspects
  • Wilmington (N.C.)
  • Correspondence
  • Acquisitions Information

    Letters of Jonathan Worth "secured and placed among the collections" by the North Carolina Historical Commission and reported in its second biennial report, 1906-1908. Additionally, letters and private letter press books of Jonathan Worth (1,307 items) presented by Mrs. Adelaide Worth Bagley and Mrs. Elvira Worth Moffitt, daughters of Governor Worth; 1916-1918, papers (1862-1865) of John Milton Worth, brother of Jonathan and state salt commissioner during the Civil War, presented by Charles W. Worth of Wilmington; 1930-1932, letters to and from Jonathan Worth, also presented by Charles W. Worth. Transferred from State Treasurer's Papers, April 4, 1961 - 13 items; and from Governor's Letter Books, January 26, 1967, 5 letter press books which were part of the above collection presented by Worth's two daughters. At some earlier date two other letter press books transferred back to private collections. On 19 December, 1994, Harold M. Hyman, Houston, Tex. donated an addition to the papers consisting of a seven-page pamphlet entitled, Inaugural Address of Jonathan Worth, Governor of North Carolina, Delivered at his Inauguration in Presence of Both Houses of the General Assembly, on the 22d of December 1866, printed by William E. Pell, state printer, in the year 1866.

    Processing Information

    Processed by Betty H. Carter, June, 1967. Encoded by Lee Todd, February, 2008. Updated and edited by Fran Tracy-Walls, November 2019, for publication in Discover Online Catalog (DOC).

    Collection re-boxed and refoldered by John Horan and Doug Brown October 2, 2023. Folder and box labels retain existing numbering.