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 Alford/Eckel Family Papers focus on different members of the Alford and Eckel families; there are also some items relating to the Ballance family (see biographical note). The collection offers a glimpse into the daily lives of several prominent Greensboro citizens from business transactions to family vacations. Included are documents such as receipts, correspondence, family histories, and an autograph book. Materials relating to Marianna Charlotte Pau (Mrs. Alexander E.B. Alford), who was born in France, are of particular interest, as they show a foreign woman interacting with American culture. Also included are family photos and printed materials, such as pamphlets and broadsides.

Arrangement: The Alford/Eckel Family Papers are arranged by document type and then alphabetically by subject. The series are: Documents, Artwork, Photos, and Printed.

Provenance: The collection was donated in several sections, their accession numbers representing when each section came in. The bulk of the collection was accessioned under 1971.97.1a, and some under 1942.2.3, 1962.112, and 1982.1000.9a & 10.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Alexander Perry Eckel (1821-1906) was born in Tennessee, moved to Georgetown, near Washington D.C., and then to Greensboro. In 1847 he married Mary E. Hill of Greensboro, daughter of Matilda Boyd and Wilson S. Hill. Alexander served as Greensboro’s mayor for several terms: 1859-1861, 1863, 1866-1868, 1881. The Eckels had two children: Charles Eugene and Matilda Hill. It was Matilda who married into the Alford family. At a wedding ceremony in January 1872 at the “Rose Villa” (the Eckels’ impressive house), Matilda and Dr. Henry M. Alford (1844-1893) were wed (see invitation in 1:18). From their union were born Alexander E.B. (1874- ) and Bessie Alford. Bessie eventually married Herbert E. Ballance, and it is through her that much of the material in this collection descended.

Biographical Sources: For an extensive biographical sketch of A.P. Eckel see Founders and Builders  (pp. 183-186). Brief sketches of Dr. Henry M. Alford and his son, A.E.B. Alford, are found in Robert L. Phillips, Medical Shoulders During the 19th Centuries …, p. 4. There are some genealogical materials in the collection (1:7, 1:21).

SCOPE & CONTENT NOTE

This collection focuses on Alexander Perry Eckel and his descendants. His daughter Matilda married into the Alford family in 1872, thus the Alford/Eckel related material. Matilda’s daughter, Bessie, married Herbert E. Ballance, which accounts for the Ballance related documents.

The series Documents (1:1-26) contains miscellaneous letters, financial and legal documents, including the wills of Charles Eugene and Peter Eckel, (1:15, 1:19) and land deeds (1:13). Among the more interesting items are a history of the Eckel family, the literary writings of Marianna Charlotte Pau (Mrs. Alex E.B. Alford) (1:2), and a humorous Southern Railway Co. invitation/letter written in “Southern” dialect (1:26).

The Photographs are mostly family-related, loose photos dating from 1907 to 1930s. Of local interest are nine photos of Greensboro scenes, including Irving Park. Researchers will also find several cabinet cards of well-known members of the Confederacy: Jefferson Davis and General G.C. Breckinridge (3:12). There is also one small family album (see folder listing).

The Printed Materials are sparse and contain two pamphlets, one for Trinity College and the other for Greensboro College, as well as several broadsides signed by Mayor A.P. Eckel in 1861 and 1881. There are also two postcards, which were moved to the postcard collection.

The Scrapbook series contains four scrapbooks, three of which were taken out several years ago, numbered (#7-9) and placed with the scrapbook collection. The fourth scrapbook remains in the manuscript collection. Scrapbooks #7-9 contain information pertaining to the Alford family and about the history of Greensboro. The fourth scrapbook contains poetry written by Charlotte Pau.

SERIES  DESCRIPTIONS

1.  Documents.  26 folders.  ca. 1844-1922.

This series includes all types of paper items, e.g. letters, an autograph book, bills & receipts, cards, clippings, etc. Of particular note is Bessie Alford’s (daughter of Matilda and Henry M. Alford) autograph book (1:5), signed by numerous 1880s Greensboro youth (names listed on contents page). There is significant material on Mrs. Alexander E.B. Alford (born Marianna Charlotte Pau, from France), including some of her literary writings, especially poetry; there are several letters written in French.

The A.P. Eckel documents include an 1865 agreement with William C. Porter for a “Porter & Eckel” drugstore (1:11); and bills and receipts relating to the construction of “Rose Villa” in the 1850s. Little is known about Samuel Eckel, but included is his card (1:20) as U.S. Consul at Talcahuana, Chile. The 1872 wedding invitation of Matilda Eckel to Dr. Henry Alford (1:18), held at “Rose Villa,” is particularly interesting.

In general there is more information in the documents relating to the Eckels and Alfords families than about other citizens and events in Greensboro.

2.  Artwork. 1 folder (2 items). ca. 1930.

This series contains a small watercolor painting and a program from the Greensboro Art Center. The watercolor is a landscape scene, possibly of the Blue Ridge Mountains at dawn or dusk, and may have been painted by Mrs. Herbert Ballance. It shows rolling hills, a log cabin, pine trees, and the mountains as a backdrop, and the colors are earthy and muted. The program is from an exhibit of WPA artists at the Greensboro Art Center. Mrs. Herbert Ballance had one of her works displayed, possibly the watercolor in the same folder.

3.  Photographs.  10 folders (ca. 130 images).  ca. 1870-1930s.

Many of these photographs were part of an album at one time but have been removed, except for a page or two. There are some photographs identified as Greensboro during the 1930s (3:4), including scenes in Irving Park. Many of the photos show views of Georgia and Florida: Bainbridge, Georgia, being the location of the hospital established by A.E.B. Alford, and Florida vacation scenes. There are images of fishing at Morehead City, N.C., and views identified as the Alford Farm & Lake, and Lake Douglas (in Tennessee?). Included are many family members, both identified and unidentified. Individuals of note include: James W. Ballance Sr. and family (3:2), and Winder Hughes Jr. and Sr. (3:5). Folder 11 contains several photos of family members, such as Bertie Baxter as a student at Greensboro High School (1907), Mrs. James Madison Leach, and a “Cousin Florence” (3:11). Folder 12 contains 4 copy cabinet cards of prominent members of the Confederacy: Jefferson Davis and his wife, General G.C. Breckinridge, and General Polk (3:12).

NOTE: See Also: Family Photo Album (O’size, flat Box #101). Accn. No.  1981.63.172.

4.  Printed Material.  5 folders (5 items).  1861-1937.

Printed material includes broadsides signed by Mayor A.P. Eckel in 1861 and 1881 (on the reverse is a Pomona Hill Nurseries” ad), as well as an interesting program (4:5) for “The Brownies in Fairyland,” performed by local amateurs at Bogart’s Opera House on December 13, 1894, for a Y.M.C.A. benefit.

There are also two postcards, one of Hill House, and a split card showing cotton pickers and the Blue Ridge Mountains. They have been moved to the postcard collection, accession numbers 1971.97.1h (other) and 1971.97.1e (Greensboro).

5.  Scrapbooks.  1 folder (4 items).  ca. 1880-1941.

The scrapbooks contain an interesting group of clippings, photographs, cards, poems, and miscellaneous materials compiled by members of the Alford/Eckel family.

Scrapbook #7 has an interesting story discounted by modern historians about gold stolen from the Confederacy and possibly buried on the property of Rose Villa. Clippings include information about the Sloan, Tate, and Lindsay families as well as historical sketches.

Scrapbook #8 contains miscellaneous clippings about the Alfords and several articles on General Pau, possibly Charlotte Pau’s father. Two items of particular interest are an article on an African American composer from Greensboro and a receipt acknowledging the donation to the American Museum of Natural History. There is also a card titled “Non Silba Sed Anthar,” affirming one as a “native born, American citizen,” possibly from the Ku Klux Klan.

Scrapbook #9 contains various clippings on Methodism and religion, poems, hymns, and articles. Of particular interest is a program from a 1941 meeting of the Guilford Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, complete with a roster of members. There are also an engraving of Napoleon and stamps with the state birds.

Scrapbook #10 belonged to Charlotte Pau. It is a ledger book containing handwritten poems by Pau and a song called “Because” written for her by Charles Horwitz.

FOLDER LISTING

Index to the Alford/Eckel Family Papers (ca. 1844-1937)

Note: The numbers refer the researcher to a Series, and/or Series:Folder number where the item or subject will be found.

Alford, Alexander Eckel B.: 1:1, 1:5
Alford, Mrs. Alexander E. B.: 1:2-4
Alford, Bessie: 1:5
Alford, Henry M.: 1:6
Alford Family: farm & lake (photos), 3:1
Alston, Mrs. Zilpah E.: obituary (1864), 1:22

Baint, S.A.: 1:5
Ballance, Mrs. Herbert E.: 1:9, 2:1
Ballance, James W., Sr.: 3:2
Ballance, Lizzie: 1:5
Blosser, Clarence: 1:5
Blue Ridge Mountains: 2:1
Bogarts Opera House: 4:5 (1894)
Breckinridge, General G.C.: 3:12
Broadsides: Greensboro Mayor (1887), 4:2; Pomona Hill Nurseries (1881), 4:2; Taxes (1861), 4:1

Confederate States of America: photos of govt. members, 3:12

Davis, Jefferson: 3:12
Dick, Mary E.: 1:10

Eckel, Alexander Perry: 1:11-13; 1861 broadside, 4:1; 1881 broadside, 4:2
Eckel, Charles Eugene: 1:14; trade card, 1:14; will, 1:15
Eckel, Mary Ann: 1:16
Eckel, Matilda: 1:16
Eckel, Peter: will (1844), 1:19
Eckel, Samuel: business card, U.S. Consul, Chile, 1:20
Eckel Family: history, 1:21

Fishblate, Lizzie: 1:5
Fishing: 3:1, 3:3, 3:8
Florida: photos (1920s-30s), 3:3

Georgia: Bainbridge Hospital (photos), 3:3; photos, 1920s-30s, 3:3
Greensboro, N.C.: photos (1930s), 3:4
Greensboro Art Center: (1920) 2:1
Greensboro College: 1937 Bulletin, 4:4

Hill House: 3:4
Hill, Wilson S., Sr.: obituary, 1:22
Hill, Mrs. Wilson S.: 1:23
Horwitz, Charles: 5:1
Houses: Rose Villa, 1:12, 1:18
Hughes, Winder, Jr. & Sr.: (photos), 3:5

Lake Douglas (Tennessee?): (photos) 3:6
Leach, L.L.: 1:9
Louisiana: 1926 floods, (photo), 1:7

Mebane, Claude: 1:5
Mebane, Harry: 1:5
Morehead City, N.C.: 1906 fishing photos, 3:8

Pau, Marianna Charlotte: 1:25, 5:1
Peyton, L.A.: 1:5
Polk, General: 3:12
Pomona Hill Nurseries: 1881 broadside, 4:2
Porter, William C.: 1865 drug store agreement with A.P. Eckel, 1:11
Programs & Playbills: Bogart’s Opera House (1894): 4:5

Rose Villa (Eckel House): building materials, 1:12; wedding invitation to (1872), 1:18

Schenck, J.S.: 1:5
Schenck, Michael: 1:5
Small, Alice: 1:5
Small, Lillie: 1:5
Southern Railway Co.: 1:26

Tate, H.H.: 1:5
Tate, Robert: 1:5
Theatricals: “The Brownies in Fairyland” (1894), 4:5
Trinity College (Randolph County): Alumni Association: constitution & bylaws, 4:3

Weatherly, Elsie: 1:5

Y.M.C.A.: 1894 benefit, 4:5

BRIEF INVENTORY

Title: E.B. Adamson Papers

Dates: 1930 – 1981

Quantity: 1 box (ca. 500 items)

Types of Material: correspondence, legal documents, photographs, newspaper clippings, printed material

Accession Number: 1991.23.1

Brief Description: E.B. Adamson owned and managed a Cadillac-Oldsmobile dealership in Greensboro for over three decades. He sold the franchise to William H. Black II in 1955 and leased the associated properties to Black until 1966, when Black built his dealership. Adamson and his wife continued to be active in the renamed Adamson Company until its dissolution in 1980. This collection contains both personal papers and items relating to Adamson’s business interests.

Materials involving to the Cadillac-Oldsmobile dealership include: inventories, blueprints and maps of Adamson Cadillac-Olds Company, newspaper clippings about Black taking over the dealership, ledger and sales agreement to sell inventory and parts to Black upon lease, and minutes of the Adamson Corporation (1930-1980). Related legal materials include: correspondence, signed lease contracts, deeds of sale for the land off of Market Street and sale of the company, and other legal documents related to the Adamson Cadillac Company (certificate of incorporation, charter, etc.).

Items in Adamson’s personal papers include: correspondence regarding legislative issues with U.S. Congressional and NC Assembly representatives, wills and related correspondence, passports, newspaper clippings, and other printed materials such as travel brochures and membership club cards. Photographs include childhood pictures, portraits of E.B. Adamson and his wife, images of the couple with friends and family, a girls’ class photograph (unidentified, possibly early 20th century, maybe Mrs. Adamson), a portrait of a naval officer (unidentified), and a photo of a billboard for Black Cadillac-Olds.

Major Names/Subjects: Adamson, Eugene Boyd (d. 1980)
Adamson, Inez Billings (d. 1987)
Adamson Cadillac Company
Automobiles—1930-1980
Automobile dealers—North Carolina—Greensboro
Black II, William Harman (d. 2003)
Black Cadillac-Olds Company

Date Surveyed: 2/15/2012

NOTE: The numbers cited in parentheses, e.g. 1:5, refer the researcher to the Series #: Folder# in which that name or topic will be found.

INTRODUCTION

The bulk of the Charles R. Abbott Papers focus on Abbott’s tour of duty during the Spanish-American War; he was Acting Hospital Steward for the 3rd Calvary in the U.S. Army. Dating from 1898-1904, the collection contains correspondence, military records, photos, and personal accounts not only of his military involvement, but also local Greensboro events. Though small in size, the collection gives researchers a glimpse of popular culture around the turn of the 20th century. Of particular interest is Abbott’s diary (3:1), which illustrates American perceptions of foreign cultures as well as his duties as hospital steward. During his stay in Japan, he writes, “I thought at Kobe the Japanese was an ugly person, but no, they are now in my estimation a bewitching and charming class of people” (pp. 19-20). His military records include a one-page portion of Schedule 1, Census of Military and Naval Population from 1900 and a list of requirements for enlisting recruits into the hospital corps (4:1). The correspondence consists primarily of letters from local singer and childhood sweetheart, Grace Clary (2:1-2:7), and female friends, who wrote to him while in the service. The letters tell of daily life in Greensboro and show support for Abbott. Another letter serves as a reference to “testify to his attentiveness to business” (2:9). The photographs are mostly portraits of Abbott in uniform as well as several unidentified women (1948.359.1-10).

Arrangement: The Charles R. Abbott Papers are organized into five series by document type. Within each series, items are organized alphabetically and chronologically. The series are: Advertisements, Correspondence, Diary & Fragments, Military Papers, and Photographs. The photos are part of the general photograph collection.

Provenance: This collection was presented to the Museum in 1948 by Miss Rosa Abbott. Also included in the Museum’s collections is Abbott’s uniform (1948.358).

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Little detail is known about Abbott or the Abbott family. Charles was born in 1877. His father, Jesse T. Abbott — a machinist at Sergeant Manuf. Co. (d. 1909) — was from Virginia and his mother from Alabama. The Abbott’s lived at 319 E. Lindsay St., just down the street from First Presbyterian Church, where Jesse served as a deacon. Charles worked at the Southern Railway Co. in 1898 (2:9) before going into the Army, and is listed as a “clerk” in 1903 and as a   “drug clerk” in the 1905 city directory. There were numerous Abbott children, including his sister Rosa, who became a prominent educator in turn of the century Greensboro.

Abbott enlisted in the Army in early 1898 and became an Assistant or Acting Hospital Steward for the 3rd Calvary, and was first stationed in Cuba; he eventually went to the Philippine Islands in July 1899, after the outbreak of the Spanish-American War (April 1898). The love-letters written to him by Grace Clary — apparently his child-hood sweetheart and noted local singer, who grew up next door at 323 E. Lindsay — suggest that Abbott (who, as seen above, worked as a drug clerk) had an alcohol problem. Upon returning from Cuba, Clary gave him a choice: drinking or her. He answered by re-joining the military in 1899. During his second stint, his drinking became worse and he did not adjust well to civilian life when he was discharged from the Army. He died in his home on October 21, 1905, from an overdose of laudanum or opium he took for lingering pain after a dental visit. Clary eventually married a local manufacturer and lived on Cypress St before moving to Irving Park. She died at home in 1956.

Biographical Sources: Schlosser, Jim. “War Letters: Soldier’s Story is of Love and Loss.” Greensboro News & Record. July 4, 1998. See also: Muster roll, Hosp. Corps. (4:1); History of First Presbyterian Church, p. 324; city directories, as mentioned.

SCOPE & CONTENT NOTE

This collection documents a part of the Spanish-American War military experience of Charles R. Abbott of Greensboro. The 1901 diary (Series 3), and diary fragments, offer the most detail on his service as a hospital steward for the 3rd Calvary in the Philippine Islands, including a visit to Japan.

There are three letters (2:1) written home by Abbott, telling of his early training, but the majority of letters are those written from women friends, with comments on their sense of patriotism for Abbott’s service in the war. The letters from Grace Clary (2:3-7) of Greensboro are of particular note: although primarily love letters, there is information concerning Greensboro and her music training (she became a noted local singer), and insight into Abbott’s life and alcohol problem (see 1902 letter from Clary). The 1900 letter from Lucy Coffin (2:8) is a particularly newsy one concerning happenings in Greensboro, and mentions Grace Clary and Rosa Abbott’s (sister of Charles, and later a local educational leader) educational attainments.

SERIES  DESCRIPTIONS

1.   Advertisements.  1 folder (1 item).  1904.

The back page of this 1904 Foley’s Family Almanac includes an ad for Foley’s Honey and Tar, sold at J.D. Helms’ Drug Store at 310 S. Elm St. in Greensboro.

2.   Correspondence.  11 folders (ca. 35 items).  1898-1902.

Three letters from Charles R. Abbott to his family in Greensboro (April-June 1898) document his military training in Chickamauga, Georgia, and aboard the transport ship Berkshire in Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, as they prepared to sail for South America.

Except for two letters of reference from his former supervisor at Southern Railway (W.E. Coffin), the remaining letters are from girl or women friends of Abbott. A young girl from Evansville, Minnesota, Minnie E. Anderson, writes a patriotic letter to Abbott, apparently at his request after he passed through her town on a troop train headed to the west coast, in August 1899.

The letters from Lucy Coffin and Nellye Fowler of Greensboro are in response to letters from Abbott, and they offer news of friends and happenings back home. The Coffin letter is particularly interesting, with mentions of work on the city hall for the new Grand Opera House, a new jail, and comments on Grace Clary and other happenings in town. The letters from Grace Clary are the most extensive and, although primarily love letters, they offer some information and insights into family life and life in Greensboro, courtship and male-female relationships, and Abbott’s apparent alcohol problem.

3.   Diary.  1 vol. (1901, 22pp.) & Fragments (1899, ca. 14pp.)

The 1901 diary is a bound volume (spine is loose) — “Char R. Abbott/Hosp. Corps. U.S.A.,” during his time aboard the “Hancock” in 1901, May 3 to June 9. It is basically an on-board record of events, with on-shore comments when he left the ship, with observations of the Philippine Islands, and from Manila to Nagasaki, Japan. The diary fragments include several pages of “Notes of my experience & trials since leaving U.S. for Manila, P.I.,” from July to Aug., 1899. There are also several pages detailing some of his duties as Steward.

4.   Military Papers.  1 folder (5 items).  1898-1900.

This miscellaneous group includes orders, reports, a letter from his mother inquiring of Abbott’s health/whereabouts, a map of the Alaska/Yukon area where their ship fueled in route to the Philippines, and a Hospital Corps muster roll from Luzon, which lists Abbott and related statistics.

5.   Photographs.  1 folder (10 items).  ca. 1900.  Filed with photo collection:  1948.359.1-10

A miscellaneous group of family photographs, including 2-3 images of Abbott in uniform, and unidentified portraits (probably Abbott’s sisters (including Rosa?), and possibly images taken on Lindsay Street, one (48.359.10) is identified as “Sallie and Grace.”

FOLDER  LISTING

Index to the Charles R. Abbott Papers (ca. 1898-1904)

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.

Abbott, Rosa: 2:8
Abbott, Mrs. Jesse T.: 4:1
Alaska: map, 4
Alcoholism: 2:7
Andersen, Minnie E.: 2:2

Business: J.D. Helms’ Drug Store advertisement (1904), 1

Chickamauga, Georgia: military camp (1898), 2
Clary, Grace: 2:3-7, 2:8, 5
Coffin, Lucy: 2:8
Coffin, William E.: 2:9

Dating & courtship: 1898-1902, 2:3-7

Foley’s Family Almanac  (1904): 1
Fowler, Nellye: 2:10

Greensboro:  Fall fair (1900), 2:8;
Grand Opera House (1900), 2:8;
New city jail (1900), 2:8;
Observations on (c. 1900), 2:3-7, 2:8, 2:10

J.D. Helms’ Drug Store (311 S. Elm): 1
Japan: diary observations (1901), 3

Philippine Islands: diary observations (1899; 1901), 3

Southern Railway Co. (Greensboro): 2:9
Spanish-American War: training, 2:1; transportation, 2:1, 3; Manila, 3; Philippine Islands, 3

USS Berkshire (1898): 2
USS Hancock (1901): 3