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Description |
William Martin Crenshaw (possibly the son of William and Sarah Crenshaw) was born in 1812 in Georgia and received an A.B. in 1833 and a A.M. in 1836 from the University of North Carolina. He also studied medicine at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. In 1838 Dr. Crenshaw was married in Edgecombe County to Miss Catherine Elizabeth Austin (b. ca. 1820), with whom he later had at least four children. He practiced as a physician in Wake Forest, Wake County, in Tarboro, Edgecombe County, and possibly in Louisburg, Franklin County. This small collection contains five letters, primarily to and from family (dates range from 1833-1848); and a pocket memorandum book, dated May 4, 1863, of his daughter, Mollie L. Crenshaw (b. ca. 1848), Louisburg, N.C, that contains stanzas of songs, hymns, poems, and five pages describing a trip from New York to Niagara Falls. Dr. Crenshaw was shown on the 1870 census as a retired physician residing in the Louisburg Township, Franklin County. He apparently died sometime during the decade of the 1870s. Biographical Sources: N.C. Marriage Collection, 1741 - ; U.S. Census records, 1850, 1860, 1870; Alumni History of the University of N.C., 1795-1924; and History of the University of North Carolina, Volume 1 by Kemp Plummer Battle. Inventory of Letter (5) and 1 Volume: 1. Granville S. Pattison, Philadelphia, Apr. 2, 1833, to Mr. Wm. Martin Crenshaw (Reading Law), University of Chapel Hill. (Letter relates to merits of Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia.) Note: Dr. Pattison was a professor at the Jefferson Medical School. 2. Mary A. T. Martin, Forest Hill, May 25, 1833, to "Cousin William" (William M. Crenshaw, Chapel Hill, N.C.). (Letter replies to his condolences on the death of her father. Speaks of plans of going west; she is looking for the arrival of her brother and his wife, and cousin Candace Taylor every day. Aunt Crenshaw received a letter from cousin Eliza Young. Burrell Jones's wife died last week. 3. WMC, 51 Lansom Street, Philadelphia, Nov. 28, 1834, to Daniel Sanford Crenshaw, Wake Forest, N.C. (Letter concerns WMC's life in Philadelphia and studies at Jefferson Medical College. Acknowledges letters received from Martin, Caroline, Papa, and Sanford.) 4. Wm. Martin Crenshaw, 144 South Eleventh Street, Philadelphia, Feb. 7, 1836, to Mrs. Sarah Brawdy Crenshaw, Wake Forest, N.C., "My Dear & Distant Mother". (Speaks of corre�spondence with sisters Frances, Mary Ann, Caroline (at Salem, N.C.), Martha, and Amelia C. Crenshaw, as well as brothers Sanford and George. Mentions cousin Louisa Warren's marriage, cousin Fanny's new son born the night she arrived in Tennessee (named William Nathaniel Willis), cousin Nat. G. Smith's new daughter (named Sarah Kimbrough Martin), and says Solomon High at New Orleans has purchased Uncle Fowler's plantation, etc. -- Piece missing. 5. J. M. Souter (?), Horseshoe Bend, Mississippi, Near Delta, May 21, 1848, to Dr. Wm. M. Crenshaw, Tarborough, N.C. "Cousin William". (Speaks of plantation operations, mentions his sister Mary and brother Joseph (who has joined the Know Nothing party). Speaks of having left Wake Forest in 1827.) *In letter to his mother, WMC mentions the fact that his 24th birthday will be on Friday, Feb. 12, 1836. Volume: Pocket memorandum book of Mollie L. Crenshaw, Louisburg, N.C., May 4th, 1863. Contains stanzas of songs and hymns, poems, and 5 pages describing a trip from New York to Niagara Falls, and notations of distances from Buffalo, N.Y. to Weldon, N.C. (Born ca. 1848, Miss Crenshaw was about the age of fifteen.) |
