East Tennessee State University
Archives of Appalachia
Box 70295
Johnson City, TN 37614-0138
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Telephone: (423) 439-4338
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Title: |
FINLEY P. CURTIS, SR. PAPERS |
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Collection Number: |
Accession No. 81 |
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Physical Description: |
19 Volumes |
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Creator: |
Finley P. Curtis, Sr. |
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Repository: |
Archives of Appalachia, East Tennessee State University |
Provenance: The Finley P. Curtis, Sr. Papers were donated to the Archives of Appalachia on August 18, 1980 by Mrs. Finley P. Curtis, Jr.
Access: The papers are open for research.
Processing Information: Sarah Ottinger, Ed Speer, and Norma Myers completed processing, and the papers were opened for research in July 1987.
Finley Patterson Curtis, Sr. was born on May 21, 1841 in Wilkes or Caldwell County, North Carolina. While residing in Wilkes County, North Carolina, he enlisted in the 1st Regiment North Carolina Infantry at Raleigh on May 31, 1861. A private in Company B, he was wounded at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. After being captured at Burksville, (Virginia?) in April 1865, he was held as prisoner at Point Lookout, Maryland until released on June 24, 1865.
After the war, Curtis moved to Butler, Tennessee, a village in Johnson County, (presently covered by Watauga Lake), where he managed a store for Thomas and Columbus Coffee, North Carolina merchants. About 1876 Curtis and David J. Farthing purchased the store. In addition to operating the general store, Curtis and Farthing were involved in trading bark, a poultry business, and a saw mill operation.
Curtis and Farthing also constructed the Alabama House, a boarding house for students and faculty of Aenon Seminary. Established in the 1870s, the seminary became Holly Spring College in the mid-1880s. In 1902 the name of the college was changed to Holly Spring Institute, which eventually became Watauga Academy.
Curtis died on August 22, 1922. His remains are buried in Butler Memorial Cemetery, Butler, Tennessee.
Sources: Dan Crowe, Old Butler and Watauga Academy (Kingsport?, Tennessee, c. 1983); Jeffrey L. Carrier, Upon a Lonely Hill: The Cemeteries of Johnson County, Tennessee (privately published, c. 1985); Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of North Carolina, National Archives Microcopy 270 (Washington, 1960, roll 92).
The Finley P. Curtis, Sr. Papers contain daybooks and account books of Curtis and his partner, David J. Farthing for their business as farmers, merchants and traders. Loose work papers and receipts were also found within the ledgers. The books date from 1888 to 1902 and 1905 to 1921.
In addition to the ledgers for the general store, Curtis maintained special account books for an unnamed mining and sawmill enterprise, for workhands, bark trading, and a poultry business. The volumes contain information about wages paid to laborers; the cost of basic necessities; and the cost of poultry, grain and bark. There are also some scattered entries for amounts paid for boarding laborers.
Organization: The collection is divided into two series: Series I, General Store Records and Series II, Miscellaneous Business Records. Miscellaneous loose work sheets and receipts have been removed from the volumes and placed in a single file folder at the end of Series II. The items are identified as to the volume from which they were removed.
Butler (Tenn.)
Curtis, Finley P. (Finley Patterson), 1841-1922
Farthing, David J.
General stores--Tennessee--Butler
Mineral industries--Tennessee, East
Poultry industry--Tennessee, East
Sawmills--Tennessee, East
Series I contains an indexed ledger of accounts, 1899-1904 and day books recording daily transactions dating 1890-1902, 1905-1915 for Curtis' General Store. The books include information on the costs of food, household supplies, clothing and hardware. The ledger is placed at the beginning of the series followed by the day books which are arranged chronologically.
Series II contains miscellaneous ledgers, workbooks and daybooks recording transactions for a poultry business, sawmill, mining enterprise, and purchases of bark. The books include such information as amounts paid to laborers balanced against the cost of supplies purchased by workers from Curtis' General Store in the sawmill and mining volumes; costs of chickens, turkeys, coops and grain for the poultry business; and the amount paid to individuals for loads of bark. The volumes are arranged alphabetically by title. Miscellaneous loose working papers and receipts were removed from the bound volumes and placed in a single file folder at the end of this series.
Volume #1, Ledger-indexed, January 1899-December 1904.
Volume #2, Daybook, January 1890-June 1891.
Volume #3, Daybook, June 1891-June 1892.
Volume #4, Daybook, June 1892-January 1893.
Volume #5, Daybook, January 1893-March 1895.
Volume #6, Daybook, March 1895-November 1896.
Volume #7, Daybook, November 1896-December 1897.
Volume #8, Daybook, December 1897-June 1899.
Volume #9, Daybook, June 1899-December 1900.
Volume #10, Daybook, January 1901-December 1902.
Volume #11, Daybook, June 1905-January 1908.
Volume #12, Daybook, January 1908-January 1915.
Volume #13, Bark Workbook/Ledger, May 1907-January 1909.
Volume #14, Mine Accounts, December 1890-November 1892.
Volume #15, Mine Workbook/Ledger, November 1908-March 1909.
Volume #16, Poultry Ledger, January 1900-October 1900.
Volume #17, Sawmill-Workbook, May 1905-September 1920.
Volume #18, Workhands Accounts, April 1888-December 1890.
Volume #19, Workhands Accounts, September 1892-January 1898.
Folder #1, Miscellaneous Loose Papers, January 1, 1907-January 1921.
MTC 09/01