Lenoir County, NC, Letters, James B. Whitfield 1839========================================================= USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non- commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be repro- duced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. Copyright 1999 by Carol Pridgen Martoccia. This copy contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives. by Carol Pridgen Martoccia psmartoc@eastnet.ecu.edu ========================================================= Copy found at Heritage Place, Lenoir County Community College, Kinston, North Carolina - Vertical File Whitfield 2359-18. We thank the staff at LCC for their permission to copy selected documents from their files to place on the internet. It is requested that researchers give appropriate credit when using these documents. Permission to combine said documents together in printed form is not given. This letter was loaned to LCC by Charles Bell, Jr. for copying purposes. On board Steam boat E.D. McNair Waynesboro 23rd Feb. 1839 My Dear Brother, Before leaving this place, I drop you a few lines to let you know that my health is restored and that I have solved the problem of successful steamboat navigation on Neuse river. The River is in its volume low water stage and we found some difficulty with the logs, sand ___, bridges, but we overcame all them and made the trip from Newbern to this place in about 40 hours running. We were unable to get under the ______ bridge and have to take it down the ___ We reachedthis place at a propitious time for yesterday they celebrated the arrival of the Railroad cars. I have no doubt that it was on eof the grandest celebration that was ever witnessed in NC. Our arrival was greeted with the greatest enthusiasm and is considered the greatest wonder of the time. I suppose that there must have been no less that 2500 visitors on the boat in the course of yesterday. That this boat will succeed on this river, I have no doubt and I am sanguine in this hope that at ordinary winter stages of the River, she will make the trips from Newbern to Waynesboro and back in a week that 3 trips will pay for the boat. We will start the boat this morning for Rockford when I depart to have her machinery overhauled and every thing ready by the time it rains and raises the River. On my way up I stopped 2 days at home and left my family tolerably well. I think that my wife's health improves. Our friends below are as well as usual. Our brother has not recovered from pluerisy. We know that he has been quite sick. But his health was improving at the last date. We hear through him that Sister Winifred has another son. It has been some time since I received a letter from you and I hope to find one when I reach home. There is so much confusion here this morning that I must conclude this with a promise to write you again soon. You will get a more private account of the celebration from the newspapers than I can give. Give my love to your family and believe me . Your affectionate brothers James B. Whitfield Attached to this letter was a clipping from the Mount Olive Tribune, Vol. 91, Number 39, Friday, August 12, 1994. This article was by Claude Moore in a column called Our Heritage. The title of the article is: James B. Whitfield "The Neuse River was used by the Indians for small craft and rafts and then during the entire colonial period the river was the chief means for transporting goods down to New Bern. Rafts for transporting naval stores and logs were widely used. Lands adjoining the Neuse River were the first to be settled. Several steamship companies were chartered in North Carolina from 1815-1825. In 1818 the Neuse Navigation Company was chartered and operated a steamer from New Bern to Elizabeth City for several years. The upper Neuse river was shallow and had logs and other debris in it. It is believed that James Bryan Whitfield (1809-1841) was the first to make the trip from New Bern to Waynesboro with a steamboat. This James B. Whitfield was the son of Captain Bryan Whitfield, an officer of the American Revolution, who owned an extensive plantation a few miles east of Seven Springs on the Neuse River called Rockford. His family cemetery may still be seen on the left after one crosses the river at Rockford. He and his father operated a store on the river. Captain Whitfield was a state senator from Wayne and a trustee of the University of North Carolina, 1805-1808. " Moore goes on to say that he was given a copy of the letter (transcribed above by CPM) that was written by James Brayan Whitfield in 1839 to his brother, Nathan Bryan Whitfield of "Gaineswood",Demopolis, Alabama.