Dictionary of North Carolina Biography
Dictionary of North Carolina Biography

Author: William S. Powell

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press

Published: 2000-11-09

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 0807867136

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The most comprehensive state project of its kind, the Dictionary provides information on some 4,000 notable North Carolinians whose accomplishments and occasional misdeeds span four centuries. Much of the bibliographic information found in the six volumes has been compiled for the first time. All of the persons included are deceased. They are native North Carolinians, no matter where they made the contributions for which they are noted, or non-natives whose contributions were made in North Carolina.

Nature's Champion
Nature's Champion

Author: James R. Troyer

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2014-02-01

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 146961121X

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Through the pioneering efforts of ecologist B. W. Wells (1884-1978), thousands of North Carolinians learned to appreciate and protect the state's diverse plant life long before ecology and conservation became popular causes. A keen observer of the natural landscape, Wells provided the first scientific descriptions in modern terms of the forces that shaped coastal communities, bogs and savannahs, the Carolina bays, pine forests, old fields, and mountain grassy balds. But the broader impact of his life lay in his championship and popularization of nature. Outside academic circles, he shared his knowledge through public lectures, articles, and lobbying efforts, and by teaching anyone who would listen. In 1932 he produced for his Tar Heel audience a revolutionary work on the plant ecology of the state, The Natural Gardens of North Carolina. Organized by habitat, this volume is still entertaining and instructive. Wells received his Ph.D. in botany from the University of Chicago in 1917 and served as chair of the North Carolina State College botany department for thirty years. He was a memorable teacher and a significant force in the development of his academic institution.

Miss Mary's Money
Miss Mary's Money

Author: H.G. Jones

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2015-01-05

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 0786496622

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"Miss Smith, the wealthy old lady who died recently near Chapel Hill, and who bequeathed a large sum of money to the State University, did not fail to remember her old slaves, of whom six are now living," read the New York Times, December 6, 1885. But the Times got it wrong: land, not money, was left to the University of North Carolina and five of Mary Ruffin Smith's former slaves. Four were also her nieces--sired by her two bachelor brothers--and all had the same mother, the Smiths' maid Harriet. A spinster, Mary raised the girls, baptized them into the Episcopal Church, married them to respectable biracial men and left each 100 acres in her will. The result of eight years of research, this book tells the story of the Smith family and the fortune that survived the profligacy of Mary's father before being willed to the university and the North Carolina Episcopal diocese. Every "legitimate" member of the family lies in a small cemetery near the former estate. Harriet was buried an unmarked grave somewhere in Orange County. The hundreds of descendants of her daughters have been virtually ignored--this book is for them.