James Bryan Creech Collections

Collection Date(s):   1860  to 1993

Call Number(s):  PHC 37; 2000.001; PC 263

Physical Description:  13.5 cubic feet of artifacts, manuscripts, and photographs
 

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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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