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James Bryan Creech Collections | ||
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Biographical Sketch: James Bryan Creech (1925-1993) devoted much of his life to collecting information and items related to the history of Four Oaks and Ingrams Township, Johnston County, NC. He served in the U. S. Navy during World War II, taught high school in the 1950s, and also worked as a carpenter and builder. He was a charter member of the Johnston County Historical Society in 1955 and served as the organization's secretary-treasurer until his death. He was perhaps best known for a local history column he wrote for the Four Oaks News from 1977 to 1993. He was a great admirer of Henry David Thoreau. Most of his collection consists of items from his parents, Barham Bryan Creech (1897-1971) and Bertha Mae Langdon Creech (1900-1991), and his maternal grandparents James William Langdon (1866-1932) and Minnie Ellen Stanley Langdon. J. William "Billy" Langdon moved to Four Oaks in 1888 during the town's infancy and began making furniture and coffins. In 1890 he opened a photography studio where he photographed several generations of Johnston County people until about 1930.Collection Description: The collection includes artifacts, photographs, books, and papers from the Creech and Langdon families from about 1860 until the death of James Bryan Creech in 1993. Of particular interest are artifacts and photographs from the photography studio of James William Langdon in Four Oaks, NC, including a wicker chair, cameras, camera stand, head rests, darkroom bottles and utensils, touch-up table, and display case. A carpenter's tool chest includes many tools used by Langdon and his son-in-law B. B. Creech in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A red pennant worn by a member of the Bentonville White Supremacy Club in 1900 is among the items James Bryan Creech collected in his quest for local history of his town and its surrounding rural communities. |
| Container Contents: | ||
| PC 263.1 | Campbell University, Bertha Mae Langdon Creech , 1935 to 1989 | |
| PC 263.1 | Bertha Mae Langdon Creech, Church activities , 1928 to 1987 | |
| PC 263.1 | Bertha Mae Langdon Creech, Meredith College , 1919 to 1988 | |
| PC 263.1 | Bertha Mae Langdon Creech, Woman's Missionary Union information includes a 1955 letter from Elizabeth Taylor Watkins, a Baptist missionary in Matsuyama Shikoku, Japan who refers to communist organizers coming to her programs , 1931 to 1979 | |
| PC 263.4 | Artifacts | Inventory includes paper money, 1861-1865? - Bills from the State of North Carolina and Confederate States of America; Lapel ribbon, Bentonville Township White Supremacy Club, 1900 |
| PC 263.1 | Artifacts List | James William Langdon artifacts found in Artifact Collection # 2000.001 , Circa 1890s |
| PC 263.8 | Associational Letters | First Baptist Church of Four Oaks , 1923 to 1949 |
| PC 263.1 | Autograph Album | James William Langdon , 1889 |
| PC 263.5 | Blueprints | Fieldcrest Mills, Inc. Automatic Blanket Plant of Smithfield, North Carolina. December 12, 1973 , 1973 |
| PC 263.1 | Broadside | James William Langdon , Circa 1890s |
| PC 263.8 | Church Bulletins | First Baptist Church of Four Oaks , 1949 to 1982 |
| PC 263.1 | Class History | Benson High School Graduating Class-1918 , 1918 |
| PC 263.1 | Clippings | Bertha Mae Langdon Creech , Circa 1942 to 1984 |
| PC 263.8 | Clippings | First Baptist Church of Four Oaks , 1985 to 1991 |
| PC 263.5 | Clippings/Newspapers/Oversize |
Loose clippings and newspapers-- The Smithfield Herald, The Benson Review, The Raleigh Times, The News and Observer, The Oak Leaf, The Rocky Mount, Campbell College Today, Campbell College Prospect, Johnston Baptist Association Newsletter, Four Oaks News, Saturday Evening Post Oversize: Broadside--J. B. Creech & Sons; Last Will and Testament of Breton [Briten] Langdon--1876 [copy]; Coats Museum Honor Roll , 1923 to 1986 |
| PC 263.1 | Correspondence | Correspondence to Barham Bryan Creech , 1922 to 1942 |
| PC 263.1 | Correspondence | Correspondence to Bertha Mae Langdon Creech , 1917 to 1988 |
| PC 263.1 | Correspondence | Correspondence to James William Langdon , 1898 to 1929 |
| PC 263.4 | Correspondence | Three letters written in 1933 to Miss Eva Maynard by Mrs. Claudia McKee [McKea] detailing everyday activities and the effects of the Great Depression; letter with genealogical information about the family of Joshua Creech. , 1933 to 1981 |
| PC 263.4 | Correspondence | Letters from George Wilson Massengill to James Bryan Creech regarding the history of Four Oaks, 1902 - 1920 , 1977 to 1981 |
| PC 263.1 | Ephemera | Barham Bryan Creech , 1941 to 1960 |
| PC 263.1 | Ephemera | James William Langdon ephemera including ink blotters with advertisements of the time and furniture catalogs , 1903 to 1921 |
| PC 263.1 | Ephemera | Bertha Mae Langdon Creech Ephemera , 1924 to 1987 |
| PC 263.4 | Ephemera | Folders include bulletins from Bear Swamp Baptist Church and Cypress Chapel Baptist Church; road maps; Hastings House Ball memorabilia; hand fans with advertisements; a broadside of the auction of James Bryan Creech's personal property; Atlantic Coast Line Timetables for Oct. 30, 1960;U. S. Senate stationery; auction advertisements for the B. B. Adams' Home; early 20th Century advertisements for whiskey; prescription labels from D. H. Sanders Drug Co.; various business advertisements, including Johnston County Golden Buck Auctions, Four Oaks Lodge No. 478, Peoples Bank and Trust; guidebooks; 1939 baseball handbook and schedules; booklet of poems by Cynthia de Ford Adams; sheet music including state song of North Carolina with hand-written words; music booklets , 1905 to 1993 |
| PC 263.8 | Financial Records | First Baptist Church of Four Oaks , 1920 to 1965 |
| PC 263.4 | Financial Records and Receipts | , 1935 |
| PC 263.4 | History | Information used by James Bryan Creech to write his newspaper columns: Battle of Bentonville, March 19 - 21, 1865 , 1865 |
| PC 263.4 | History | Information used by James Bryan Creech to write his newspaper columns: Four Oaks businesses, 1876 - circa 1976 , 1876 to 1976 |
| PC 263.4 | History | Information used by James Bryan Creech to write his newspaper columns: Calendars, 1801 - 2340 |
| PC 263.4 | History | Information used by James Bryan Creech to write his newspaper columns: Churches, including The Four Oaks Church Herald Vol. 1, No. 2 which contains Four Oaks business advertisements , 1823 to 1988 |
| PC 263.4 | History | Information used by James Bryan Creech to write his newspaper columns: Citizens of Four Oaks , Circa 1845 to 1961 |
| PC 263.4 | History | Information used by James Bryan Creech to write his newspaper columns: Houses of Four Oaks , 1877 to 1980 |
| PC 263.6 | History | Information used by James Bryan Creech to write his newspaper columns: Cole Pottery, Seagrove, North Carolina , 1984 to 1985 |
| PC 263.6 | History | Information used by James Bryan Creech to write his newspaper columns: Telephone Directories , 1950 to 1951 |
| PC 263.6 | History | Information used by James Bryan Creech to write his newspaper columns: Correspondence and Oath of Allegiance , 1862 to 1865 |
| PC 263.6 | History | Manuscript for Publication, no date |
| PC 263.6 | History | Information used by James Bryan Creech to write his newspaper columns: includes brief of court case before the North Carolina Supreme Court (Fall Term, 1938)-- Dr. J. B. Surles, Wade H. Stanley, Charlie Wodall, E. F. Strickland, J. H. Strickland, H. E. Upchurch et al. v. C. G. Grady, Mayor, D. H. Sanders Jr., H. M. Johnston and J. H. Austin, Commissioners for the Town of Four Oaks, and S. M. Boyette, Registrar; charter and ordinances of the Town of Four Oaks, 1909 , 1789 to 1964 |
| PC 263.6 | History | Information used by James Bryan Creech to write his newspaper columns: Municipal Government, Four Oaks , 1797 to 1990 |
| PC 263.6 | History | Information used by James Bryan Creech to write his newspaper columns: Post Office, Four Oaks , 1912 to 1966 |
| PC 263.6 | History | Information used by James Bryan Creech to write his newspaper columns: Railroads , Circa 1800 to 1989 |
| PC 263.6 | History | Information used by James Bryan Creech to write his newspaper columns: Schools, Four Oaks , 1926 to 1963 |
| PC 263.6 | History | Information used by James Bryan Creech to write his newspaper columns: Smithfield, North Carolina , Circa 1961 to 1986 |
| PC 263.6 | History | Information used by James Bryan Creech to write his newspaper columns: State of North Carolina , 1941 to 1976 |
| PC 263.8 | History | First Baptist Church of Four Oaks , 1935 to 1991 |
| PC 263.6 | House designs and construction | Certificates, clippings, and house design catalogs. Company manes include A. T. Griffin Manufacturing Co. of Goldsboro, Standard Homes of Raleigh, Guy C. Lee Manufacturing Company of Smithfield. , 1926 to 1966 |
| PC 263.1 | Inventories | J. B. Creech & Sons (general merchandise) , 1955 to 1956 |
| PC 263.5 | Land Records | Records of the lots of Ed. F. Boyett, K. L. Barbour, Reid Adams and William Lassiter , 1860 to 1937 |
| PC 263.8 | Land Records | First Baptist Church of Four Oaks , 1955 to 1956 |
| PC 263.1 | Land Records / Legal Documents | James William Langdon , 1876 to 1922 |
| PC 263.1 | Ledgers | James William Langdon operated a store in Spilona, North Carolina in the 1880s , 1888 to 1920 |
| PC 263.2 | Ledgers | Ledgers from store and cotton gin in Four Oaks (Robert I. Lassiter, Owner / John W. Sanders, Clerk) , 1889 to 1933 |
| PC 263.5 | Legal Records | Records of the lots of Ed. F. Boyett, K. L. Barbour, Reid Adams and William Lassiter , 1860 to 1937 |
| PC 263.8 | Memorials | First Baptist Church of Four Oaks , 1975 to 1985 |
| PC 263.8 | Memorials | First Baptist Church of Four Oaks, the bulk of the memorials are from 1922 to 1928 , 1912 to 1949 |
| PC 263.7 | Minutes | Minutes of the Annual Sessions of the Johnston Baptist Association [not consecutive] , 1923 to 1958 |
| PC 263.1 | Miscellaneous | Items from Minnie Ellen Stanley Langdon , 1916 to 1920 |
| PC 263.8 | Miscellaneous | First Baptist Church of Four Oaks , 1922 to 1986 |
| PC 263.1 | Notebooks | James William Langdon , 1910 to 1925 |
| PC 263.1 | Pamphlet | Barham Bryan Creech , 1958 |
| PC 263.1 | Photographs | James William Langdon photographs were transferred to PCH 37 |
| PC 263.1 | Publications | James William Langdon, includes a 1903 instruction book about photography by J. W. Langdon , 1891 to 1903 |
| PC 263.4 | Receipt | Receipt to Mrs. J. M. Keen from Sears, Roebuck and Co. |
| PC 263.1 | Receipts | Receipts of Bertha Mae Langdon Creech , 1938 to 1954 |
| PC 263.8 | Reports | First Baptist Church of Four Oaks , 1946 to 1949 |
| PC 263.4 | Travel Diary | Robert L. Weatherspoon, Jr., recorded details of a tour of Israel and Rome made with James Bryan Creech, Edward Bert Lassiter, and a group led by Dr. B. Elma Scoggin of Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest and Wallace Parham of Hayes Barton Baptist Church in Raleigh. , 1971 |
| PC 263.1 | Yearbook | North Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs, Inc. , 1975 |
| PC 263.1 | Yearbooks | Woman's Club of Four Oaks , 1946 to 1971 |
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