Creator: Lacy, Drury, 1802-1884.
Collection number: 3641
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Abstract: Drury Lacy of Prince Edward County, Va., studied at the Union Theological Seminary in Virginia; was minister at Presbyterian churches in New Bern, N.C., 1834-1837, and Raleigh, N.C., 1837-1855; served as president of Davidson College, 1855-1860; lived in Warrenton, N.C., 1861-1862; and served as chaplain at Confederate military hospitals at Raleigh and Wilson, N.C., 1862-1865. During 1866-1878, he taught at Peace Institute, where his wife was Lady Principal. He married first Williana Wilkinson (1806-1846), and second, in 1849, Mary Ritchie Rice, both of Virginia. Also represented in the collection is Lacy’s oldest daughter, Bessie (1832-1900). In 1853, she married Thomas Webber Dewey (1827-1875) and moved to Charlotte, N.C., where he was a banker. Chiefly of family and personal correspondence of Drury Lacy, Presbyterian minister, educator, and army chaplain; and of his daughter, Bessie Dewey, leader in social and cultural activities in Charlotte, N.C.; and of other members of the Lacy family and the Dewey family. Included are letters from relatives and friends in Prince Edward County, Va., Raleigh, N.C., New Bern, N.C., Charlotte, N.C., and other North Carolina towns; letters written at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia; Presbyterian General Assembly at Philadelphia, Pa., in 1839 and 1842; Edgeworth Female Seminary in Greensboro, N.C., 1845-1848, 1851; a boys’ school at Hillsborough, N.C., 1847-1848; and Davidson College. There are also Civil War letters from civilians in Raleigh, N.C., Warrenton, N.C., and Richmond, Va.; Confederate soldier letters from North Carolina and Virginia; and Confederate chaplains’ letters written at Richmond, Va., Petersburg, Va., and Wilson, N.C. Letters of the Reconstruction period are chiefly about life in Raleigh, N.C., and Wilmington, N.C. Also included are letters, 1872-1878, from Peace Institute in Raleigh, N.C. Letters of the 1880s and 1890s are mostly from Charlotte, N.C., Morganton, N.C., and Lincolnton, N.C., and include observations on the Presbyterian General Assembly in Charlotte, 1897. Correspondence, spanning nearly 80 years, concerns daily home life and social life; Presbyterian Church matters; education of children; and comments on reading, national issues, and local events. Papers of the 1950s and 1960s belonged to Elisabeth Chambers Holt and address Charlotte, N.C., banking history and her ownership of the Lacy and Dewey family papers. Also included are miscellaneous papers consisting of receipts, songs and poems, essays, orations, compositions, and obituary clippings. Volumes include sermons, notes, and lectures of Drury Lacy; records of literary organizations and musical organizations in Charlotte, N.C.; and teaching notes of Bessie Dewey.
Repository: Southern Historical Collection
Collection Highlights: Included is a letter from Drury Lacy which tells of “Negro parades” celebrating the victory of “Radicals” in 1868.