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From: DC0339s (Finding Aid)
Transcript
D. College [1]
July 23 [2]
Dear Parents, [3]
As this is a very morning I will write you a few lines. Walter is well and I am tolerable well: we have been here a few days over three weeks and well a day since we got here though I have not been sick enough to go to back but once since we came. [4] There is a great deal of sickness in this country now.[5] There was a man that died here a day or two since
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the Dr advised me to go to some springs up a bove a few miles but I did not feel like I had the money to do that. [6] I am a fraid I made a bad step in coming down here, as regard[ing] money matters. I am a fraid it will cost me a little than if I had stayed at Lexington you will please forgive me this time I can be able to see further ahead next time: when started down have I though[t] that I could not help being pleased. [7] but when we got here every thing fell so low far
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below my expectations that I could not help not being pleased: if you were to go to the University and then come you would be far better pleased with the University it so far ahead of this place I believe I like the people here better than I do at the U; [8] I could get work to do here but I am afraid to go to work in the farm for fear of being sick: if had known it in time I could have got a school. [9]
Your son
Charlie [10]
Original
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Annotations
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Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina, known today as “the Princeton of the South.” The College was founded in 1837 by The Concord Presbytery after purchasing the college land from William Lee Davidson II, and remains affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The college is named for William’s father, William Lee Davidson, a local Revolutionary War hero and general, who died at the battle of Cowan’s Ford in 1781 (Timeline). By 1873, Davidson College had 113 students, 7 faculty, and an alumni network 1,247 strong (Statistics). Up until 1891, Davidson College was also the name of the current town Davidson (Beaty).
[2] There is no catalog for the 1873-1874 academic year, but the missing catalog was undoubtedly similar to that of 1874-1875 (Catalog). The academic year lasted from late September to late June; by July 23rd, the first entrance exams were a month past (see [5]) and the academic year would begin in two months. Incidentally, Walter Leverett, Charlie Leverett’s brother, entered Davidson College in the same year as future NC governor Robert Brodnax Glenn (class of 1875) and Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1873-74) (Timeline).
[3] Charlie Leverett’s parents were Captain Marshall Duncan Leverett (c.a.1815 – c.a.1900) and Eliza Ann Patterson (1826 — ), who both Lived in Leverett’s Chapel, Rusk County, Texas (Rodriguez). Their town was named for Eliza’s family, which settled 759 acres in the 1850s with “Georgia slaves, cattle, and equipment to begin what became an effective plantation system” (Rodriguez). According to the 1860 and 1880 Censuses, Cpt. Leverett owned thirteen slaves and had seven children including Charlie C. Leverett (b.c.a. 1853 –) (Rodriguez). Charlie lived in Davidson while his younger brother Walter Bennett Leverett (b.c.a. 1855 –) attended the college from June 30th of 1873 until the spring of 1874 (Rodriguez).
[4] Leverett likely consulted one of the three physicians operating on Main Street from 1869 onward (Explore).
[5] The “sickness in this country” he is referring to may be the cholera epidemic of 1873. This outbreak reached its peak on June 20th, killing 72 people in one day and claiming the lives of 259 people in New Orleans alone (Kohn). The publicity and paranoia surrounding this disease likely caused Walter Leverett to refer to his brother’s ailment as “coleramanbus” in a previous letter (Leverett July 8 1873).
[6] A common sense cure for various ailments, the springs were a popular vacation spot among Davidson students in the 1800s (Catawba). The Catawba Springs Hotel, for example, was located about twenty-four miles from Charlotte in Lincoln County, North Carolina. Founded in the 1790’s, this prosperous mineral springs resort was frequented by many Davidson students until it closed in the 1860s. The death Leverett mentions is difficult to verify, but his taking note of it appears related to his anxiety about the recent cholera epidemic (see [5]).
[7] “Lexington” refers to Lexington, Virginia, the town of Washington and Lee University, the institution that Charlie attended from 1872-1874, and his brother Walter attended from 1872-1873 (Card).
[8] “U” refers to Washington and Lee University, a private liberal arts school in Lexington, Virginia. The University was founded in 1749 by Scotch-Irish pioneers as a small classical school named Augusta Academy. In 1776, the trustees changed the name of the school to Liberty Hall. Six years later, it was chartered as Liberty Hall Academy by the Virginia legislature and empowered to grant degrees. In 1796, George Washington saved the struggling academy when he gave the school its first major endowment. The trustees changed the school name to Washington Academy as an expression of gratitude. In 1813 the name was changed to Washington College. General Robert E. Lee accepted the position of president of the College in 1865. After Lee’s death in 1870, the trustees changed the name to Washington and Lee University (Brief History). Charlie attended this institution from 1872-1874, and Walter from 1872-1873 (Card).
[9] His fear of becoming sick is likely tied to the cholera outbreak mentioned earlier (see [5]).
[10] Charles Clinton Leverett (also known as Charlie) was born on March 14th, 1853, in Leverett’s Chapel, Rusk County, Texas. His parents were Captain Marshall Duncan Leverett ( c.a. 1815 – c.a.1900) and Eliza Ann Patterson (1826 — ), and their town, Leverett’s Chapel, was named for Eliza’s family; the family had settled their 759 acres in the 1850s with “Georgia slaves, cattle, and equipment to begin what became an effective plantation system” (Rodriguez). According to the 1860 and 1880 Censuses, Cpt. Leverett owned thirteen slaves and had seven children including Charlie C. Leverett (c.a. 1853 – c.a. 1897) (Rodriguez, Munger). Charlie lived in Davidson with his younger brother Walter Bennett Leverett (b.c.a. 1855 – 1937) from June 30th of 1873 until spring of 1874 (Rodriguez, Munger). They also attended Washington and Lee University together from 1872-1873 (Card). Charlie stayed for part of the 1873-1874 academic year, but Walter transferred to Davidson College (Rodriguez). At length, Charlie resided in Overton, Rusk County, Texas (Munger). He died in April of 1897 in Overton (Munger).
Works cited
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“A Brief History.” Washington and Lee University. Washington and Lee University, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. Available at: http://www.wlu.edu/about-wandl/history-and-traditions/a-brief-history.
Beaty, Mary. Davidson: a History of the Town from 1835 until 1937. Davidson, N.C.: Briarpatch Press, 1979. Print.
Blythe Jr., John C. Blythe Family Farm (Under Lake Norman). 29 December 2012. Davidson College Archives, Davidson, NC. Available at: https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/community/under-lkn/blythe-family-farm.
“Catawba Springs.” 1838-1949. DC0232s. Catawba Springs, Hotel Collection. Davidson College Archives, Davidson College, NC. Available at: https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/catalogs/combined-search.
College History Timeline. Davidson College Archives, Davidson College, NC. Available at: http://www.wlu.edu/about-wandl/history-and-traditions/a-brief-history.
Davidson College Catalog, 1874-1875. Davidson: Davidson College Office of Communications. [1874]. Available at: http://davidson.lyrasistechnology.org/islandora/object/davidson:40375#page/1/mode/1up.
“Davidson History | Explore Davidson, NC.” Explore Davidson NC. Town of Davidson, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. http://www.exploredavidsonnc.com/things-to-do/history/.
Kohn, George Childs. “U.S. cholera epidemic, 1873.” Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence, Third Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE53&iPin=ENPP678&SingleRecord=True.
Leverett, Charlie. Alumni Card. Washington and Lee University Archives. Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA.
Leverett, Walter. Alumni Card. Washington and Lee University Archives. Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA.
MeasuringWorth. Purchasing Power Calculator. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/.
Munger, Greta. “Subject: Re: info on your replies.” Message to Campbell, Shireen. 25 Apr. 2014. E-mail.
Philanthropic Hall. Minute Book of Philanthropic Society: 1872 & 1873. 4 Oct. 1873. 265.
Phillips, Charles C. Report: On the Scholarship, Punctuality and Deportment of Mr. Walter B. Leverett. Davidson College, NC. 22 Dec. 1873.
Rodriguez, Donna McCreary. “Gone to Texas! Pioneer Trails of McCreary, Buck, Bayliss, Leverett, Rice, Estes, Timberlake, Graham, Hughes, Wheeler, & Allied Families: Captain Marshall Duncan Leverett and Eliza Ann Patterson.” 26 Mar. 2011. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. http://gonetotexasgtt.com/f2102.htm#f234.
Thornton, Tamara Plakins. Handwriting in America: A Cultural History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996. 59-112.
Zhao, Yuyi, annotator. 8 July 1873 Walter B. Leverett Letter. DC0339s. https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/digital-collections/walter-b-lever…3-8-april-1873?.
Transcription and annotation author: Taylor Harris.
Date: May 2014.
Cite as: Harris, Taylor, annotator. 23 July 1873 Charles C. Leverett Letter to Parents. DC0339s.
Available: https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/digital-collections/charles-c-leverett-letter-23-jul-1873.
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