NOTE: The numbers cited in parentheses throughout the inventory, e.g. 1:5, refer the researcher to the Series#:Folder# in which that name/topic will be found.
INTRODUCTION
The focus of this collection is John W. Milloway, a tobacco farmer from Rockingham County, North Carolina, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Researchers will find it rich in materials pertaining to tobacco sales in the piedmont region of North Carolina and Virginia during this period.
Arrangement: This collection is arranged alphabetically into the following five series: Correspondence, ca. 1912; Financial, 1872-1933; Legal, 1881-1912; Photographs, n.d.; and Printed, 1881-1921.
Provenance: The John W. Milloway Papers were donated to the museum by relatives of the principal subject of the collection and assigned accession numbers 1970.272.1 and 1973.205.1. Although the bulk of the materials were not given an accession number, it is believed that they were donated at the same time as the items associated with the aforementioned numbers. The Museum’s object collection also contains a number of items associated with the Milloway family, most notably a Civil War-era drum. A 1916 Model T Ford was transferred to the Museum and Archives of Rockingham County in 2018.
Processing: This collection was organized and the finding aid prepared by Francis D. Pitts III in May 1999.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
John W. Milloway (1853-1940), son of George and Rhoda Chilcutt Milloway, was born near Brown’s Summit, North Carolina. He married the former Mary Catherine Warren (1854-1933), who was born near Monroeton in Rockingham County, North Carolina. Their marriage produced ten children.
According to family tradition, in the closing days of the Civil War, John Milloway, at the age twelve, became acquainted with members of a New York regiment camping near his home. One of the soldiers, it is said, befriended the young boy, giving him a drum as a souvenir. The drum descended in the family and was eventually donated to the Greensboro Historical Museum. As an adult, Milloway appears to have been a tobacco farmer for many years. Lifelong members of the Methodist church, both Milloway and his wife are buried in the cemetery at Fair Grove Methodist Church near Brown’s Summit, North Carolina.
Biographical Sources: The chief source of biographical information on the Milloway family is a sketch in The Heritage of Rockingham County, North Carolina (1983) written by a relative, Vivian Coleman Martindale. Primary materials in the collection were essential in helping to determine John Milloway’s occupation.
SCOPE & CONTENT NOTE
Types of materials in this collection include correspondence, legal documents, a photograph, printed matter, receipts, and a tax list.
The bulk of the materials in the collection pertain to the activities of John W. Milloway of Rockingham County, North Carolina, from the early 1870s through approximately the first quarter of the twentieth century, especially as they relate to his efforts in the growing and selling of tobacco. Researchers will find it particularly rich in receipts from tobacco warehouses of the piedmont region of North Carolina and Virginia during this period (2:1,3-5,9,15-16,18,20). Other items, such as the chattel mortgages (3:1) and the newspaper clipping identifying him as the winner of the “best dark mahogany wrapper” at a fair (5:3), will also illuminate aspects of his life as a tobacco farmer.
Other noteworthy items relating to John W. Milloway are the receipts from Greensboro businesses (2:5-11); a 1916 tax list form (2:21); and a pledge card for War Savings Stamps (2:22).
The collection also contains other materials in the Printed series that may be of interest to researchers. They include a display label for a 1916 Model T Ford (5:2) and a Withdrawal Card from an organization called the C. Kegs Alliance (5:4).
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
1. Correspondence. 1 folder (1 item). ca. 1912.
The correspondence in this series pertains to a cancelled deed of trust. See folder 3:2 for what is believed to be a copy of the deed in question.
2. Financial. 22 folders (ca. 135 items). 1872-1933.
The materials in this series compose the bulk of the collection. Most of the items consist of receipts from various businesses in North Carolina and Virginia, mainly from tobacco warehouses or markets during approximately a fifty-year period. In particular, folders 2:1,3-5,9,15-16,18,20 reveal important information about the activities of the tobacco market in the piedmont region of the aforementioned states during this period.
Other noteworthy items include a folder of miscellaneous receipts (2:12); receipts relating to telephone connections (2:13); a tax list for 1916 (2:21) and a taxpayer’s receipt for 1933 from Rockingham County; and a pledge card for War Savings Stamps (2:22).
3. Legal. 2 folders (4 items). 1881-1912.
Folder 3:1 contains three chattel mortgages filed by John W. Milloway; each one relates to his efforts in growing crops of tobacco. The other item in the series is a deed of trust between John W. Milloway and his wife, Mary, and A.R. Troxler.
4. Photographs. 1 folder (1 item). n.d.
This series contains a copy of a photograph whose subject is identified as George W. Milloway.
5. Printed. 4 folders (4 items). 1888-1921.
The printed series contains a calling card of a resident from Brown’s Summit (5:1); a display label for a 1916 Model T Ford (5:2); a 1921 newspaper clipping listing the winners of prizes at a tobacco fair (5:3); and a Withdrawal Card from an organization called the C. Kegs Alliance (5:4).
FOLDER LISTING
| Series | Folder | Contents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Correspondence | -- McMichael (ca. 1912) |
| 2 | 1 | Financial | -- Receipts -- Burlington --Tobacco (1924) |
| 2 | -- Receipts -- Danville -- Miscellaneous (1885) | ||
| 3 | -- Receipts -- Danville -- Tobacco, A-H (1876-1928) | ||
| 4 | -- Receipts -- Danville -- Tobacco, I-P (1872-1927) | ||
| 5 | Financial | -- Receipts -- Greensboro -- Farmers' Market (1889) | |
| 6 | -- Receipts -- Greensboro -- Greensboro News Company (1918) | ||
| 7 | -- Receipts -- Greensboro -- Greensboro Patriot (1890) | ||
| 8 | -- Receipts -- Greensboro -- Love, William (1896) | ||
| 9 | Financial | -- Receipts -- Greensboro -- New Guilford Warehouse, The (1921-1922) | |
| 10 | -- Receipts -- Greensboro -- J. W. Scott & Co. (1889) | ||
| 11 | -- Receipts -- Greensboro -- Steele & Denny (1875) | ||
| 12 | -- Receipts -- Miscellaneous (1872-1908) | ||
| 13 | Financial | -- Receipts -- Miscellaneous -- Telephone connection (1918) | |
| 14 | -- Receipts -- Reidsville -- Miscellaneous (1885-1923) | ||
| 15 | -- Receipts -- Reidsville -- Tobacco, A-H (1874-1929) | ||
| 16 | -- Receipts -- Reidsville -- Tobacco, I-U (1875-1924) | ||
| 17 | Financial | -- Receipts -- Richmond -- Miscellaneous (1880) | |
| 18 | -- Receipts -- Richmond -- Tobacco (1892) | ||
| 19 | -- Receipts -- Rockingham County -- Taxes (1933) | ||
| 20 | -- Receipts -- Winston-Salem -- Tobacco (1923) | ||
| 21 | Financial | -- Tax list (1916) | |
| 22 | -- War Savings Stamps pledge card (n.d.) | ||
| 3 | 1 | Legal | -- Chattel mortgage (1881-1895) |
| 2 | -- Deed (1893-1912) | ||
| 4 | 1 | Photograph | -- Milloway, George W. (n.d.) |
| 5 | 1 | Printed | -- Calling card -- Rankin, A. Martin (n.d.) |
| 2 | -- Display label --1916 Model T Ford (n.d.) | ||
| 3 | -- Newspaper clipping -- Tobacco (1921) | ||
| 4 | -- Withdrawal Card -- C. Kegs Alliance (1888) | ||
Index to the John W. Milloway Papers (1872-1933)
NOTE: The numbers following the name/subject entry — e.g. 1:1 — indicate in which Series#:Folder# (or, if no “:”, Series only) that name/topic can be found. Dates of the items are given in parentheses for an individual Series/Folder or, if at the end, for the entire subject/name entry. The abbreviation GSO indicates a Greensboro association.
Automobiles: 5:2 (1916)
Brown’s Summit (NC): 5:1 (n.d.)
Burlington (NC): tobacco, 2:1 (1924)
Danville (VA): 2:2-4 (1872-1928)
Farmers’ Market (GSO): 2:5 (1889)
Ford: display label for 1916 Model T, 5:2 (n.d.)
Greensboro (NC): 2:5-11 (1875-1922)
Greensboro News Co.: 2:6 (1918)
Greensboro Patriot: 2:7 (1890)
C. Kegs Alliance: withdrawal card, 5:4 (1888)
Love, William (GSO): 2:8 (1896)
McMichael: 1:1 (ca. 1912)
Milloway, George W.: 2:4 (1876); 4:1 (n.d.)
Milloway, John W.: 1-3 (1872-1929)
Milloway, Mrs. J. W. (Mary C.): 2:13 (1918); 3:2 (1893-1912)
Modern Woodmen of America: 2:12 (1908)
New Guilford Warehouse, The (GSO): 2:9 (1921-1922)
North Carolina: tobacco industry, 2 (1872-1929)
Rankin, A. Martin: 5:1 (n.d.)
Reidsville (NC): 2:14-16 (1874-1929); 3:1 (1895)
Richmond (VA): 2:17-18 (1880-92)
Rockingham County (NC): 2:14-16,19,21 (1874-1933); 3:1-2 (1880-1912)
J.W. Scott & Co. (GSO): 2:10 (1889)
H.M. Smith & Co. (Richmond, VA): Mitchell wagon, 2:17 (1880)
Steele & Denny (GSO): 2:11 (1875)
Tobacco: 2:1,2-5,9,15-16,18,20 (1872-1929); 3:1 (1881-1895); 5:3 (1921)
Troxler, A.R.: 3:2 (1893-1912)
U.S. Treasury: War Savings Stamps, 2:22 (n.d.)
Virginia: tobacco industry, 2 (1872-1929)
Weekly Review, The: 2:12 (1890)
Winston-Salem (NC): 2:20 (1923)
