John L. Clifton Drew a Map of His Neighborhood in Sampson County, North Carolina

This hand-drawn map was found in the John L. Clifton Papers at the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Duke University. It appears that John L. Clifton drew the map as he described one corner of his land as "mine & Kings corner" and another as "My corner & Dardens."

On the second map, his labels are numbered. The numbered labels are transcribed below. Please contact me if you are able to identify the illegible words or if you find errors in my transcriptions.

1. Wilmington

2. James D[illegible]

3. Faison's Depot

4. Duplin

5. [illegible]

6. Saml R. Irelands part of the Whitfield Land

7. Jas D[illegible] corner

8. Henry Stevens

9. The pine woods part of the Whitfields land 1092 acres

10. Panther Branch

11. East

12. Bear Pond

13. Henry Oats & others    

14. Hicks    

15. Whitfield Corner

16. the alfred Bick Land

17. Jas Lewis

18. This is only a rough statement of the Bick Land

19. Joseph Dardens Pine woods

20. my corner & Dardens

21. Bicks old corner

22. J. L. Cliftons land flat pine woods & pond

23. 505 acres

24. mine & Kings corner

25. Edmond King

26. Edmond Kings Pine woods

27. The Whitfield corner & Kings

28. Kings &Clifton corner of this [illegible] Land

29. the new corner

30. No [North]

31. The Road from Waynesboro to Clinton

32. So [South]

33. Hood Swamp

34. Alex Chestnuts

35. West

36. J. L. Clifton

37. Head of Six Runs

38. Kings Branch

39. Joseph Dardens

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

.

Diana

© 2023 

Map of John L. Clifton's Land, Clifton, John L., Papers, 1784-1916 (bulk 1830-1889), manuscript collection, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University, accessed 2017 and 2018.

Friday's Photo: Receipts and Other Items Signed by George L. Giddens of Sampson and Duplin Counties in North Carolina

J.O. Clifton was the son of John L. Clifton. The document was signed by
John W. Giddens and George L. Giddens, who owned the Steam Mill and were brothers to J. O. Clifton's second wife, Patricia Giddens. 

I don't have a photo of my 2nd great-grandfather, George Lullen Giddens. I'm sure there must have been photos taken. At age 21, he was found on the 1860 census as a "dauguerman," which sounds as if his occupation at that time had something to do with photography. 

Although not photos of George, photos of these items tell a little more of his story, and I thought this would be a good way to share with those who are interested. 

George was born in Wayne County, NC, but spent most of his adult life living in Sampson and Duplin Counties. He was a merchant, often a postmaster, and also did some farming. For more about George, read my 2020 post, George Lullen Giddens, a Merchant from North Carolina.

These items came from a huge collection of papers amassed by John L. Clifton found at the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Duke University. John L. Clifton, a clergyman, businessman/merchant, and possibly attorney, carefully saved and named almost every receipt and document. Receipts and small items like these were found in large boxes, one for each decade.  

I had been at the library for most of the morning looking at larger items in the collection and was dismayed when I opened that first box full of tiny pieces of paper. Little did I know what treasures I would find.

From the Files of Marguerite Cook Clark: Belle Hanley Cameron (AKA Belle Latta)

I thought this was going to be a quick and easy post but as I was enlarging the photo, I realized Belle was also the unidentified girl in the Biggs family photo I posted in October.  It has been said Belle was the adopted or foster daughter of Hollon Span Bryan and her husband, James "Lon" Alonzo Latta (See Terrell Bryan's obituary at this link).  She was pictured with the family of Hollon's sister, Terrell "Bunch" Biggs, in the photo below. 

I searched through my notes and the more I found, the more I wanted to know. I now needed the whole story before I could finish this post. 

From the Files of Marguerite Cook Clark: A Young Crowd in Bienville Parish

This photo, found in the Marguerite Cook Clark Collection, shows a group of young people in the late 1800s or very early 1900s. The location is not written, but the names lead us to Bienville Parish. For some of these young people, more can be found in Marguerite Cook Clarks file's and I will post that information in the next week or so. 

I've enlarged the faces (to the best of my ability) and they are posted below. 

Jessie Huckaby and John Wimberly

Hugh Lawson and Josie Allums

Henry Wimberly

Allen Woodard

Mary Huckaby

Belle Stevens (Lawson)

Matt Allums

? Allums

Will Huckaby

Ida Stevens (Lawson)

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2018

Source
Family photographs and documents from the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark. Accessed April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. Used with permission.