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February 27, 1857 [1]
Dear Brother,
I have set in at Davidson once more. I got in sophomore class half advanced without examination. One session farther back than I was last commencement.[2] I got a room without any trouble with a good [illegible] fellow from Gilford County his name is Hatrick.[[3] I expect he is a very clevor fellow. I did not know him before I came back.
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I sent that school buisness back with Bill M[illegible] I want you to draw what is due the districk if you can, & after taking your due out of it. send the rest of the money up as soon as you can have it registered & send it by male if you can not draw it send me word and I will go down to charlotte same day and draw it.[4] I have to study very hard on Greek & Latin.[5] I had forgotten
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almost every thing I did know a bout them. They are very hard to lern and very easy forgotten.
March the 1st
I received a letter from Jane the other day, she is well & geting a long very well. I have been very well since I came up here. I have got evry thing to work & expect to get down to it. I am boarding at the hall but do not expect to remain there long.[6] I want you to write as soon as possible and let me know all about the affairs about home. There has been one that had the measle[7] 7 here, but no one has taken them from him yet, it is very helthy here and a good [d]eal colder to day than it has been. Write soon
Your brother
J.P. Mc[8]
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Original
[1] The 1856-1857 Davidson College Catalogue lists James McCombs as as a sophomore in 1857. McCombs wrote this letter at the beginning of his second semester which would run from the fourth week of February to the third week of July (Davidson College Catalogue 1856-57, p 19).
[2] As mentioned in the faculty minutes from February of 1857, students were required to take a public examination on all studies of the previous session. McCombs did poorly and therefore, he had to repeat an earlier class. This is suggested by the fact that his scores were left off the faculty record that term (Faculty Minutes, 142).
[3] Pinck Warton Hatrick (1837-1863) graduated Valedictorian of the Class of 1860. He was a member of Davidson College’s Philanthropic Society. A native of McLeansville, North Carolina, Hatrick joined the Confederate Army and was killed in the Battle of Gettysburg (Alumni Catalogue, p 75).
[4] This rule implies that it may have been difficult for McCombs to take a day to go to Charlotte as he suggests.
[5] Davidson College sophomores were required to take both Greek and Latin. Similar to the class of 1857 catalogue, the 1859 catalogue states that students, specifically sophomores, studied Latin scholars such as Horace, EpOdes, Ides, Cicero, and De Amicitia. They also studied Greek works such as Homer’s Iliad, Xenophon’s Memorabilia, and Arnold’s Greek Prose and Composition (Davidson College Catalogue, p 11).
For more information about boarding houses and Davidson students, see: Steward’s Hall and Dining at Davidson encyclopedia entries.
[7]Before the advent of advanced medicine, sickness was a major concern to carriers and non-carriers alike, especially at Davidson College. As Mary Beaty describes in her book, A History of Davidson College, sicknesses such as Smallpox took the lives of at least fifteen students before 1850 as well as John Williamson ’52, the son of then-Davidson president Samuel Williamson, in October, 1850. (Beaty, p 44, footnote 37). Similarly measles, a highly contagious viral disease, would have been a great concern to students living in close quarters during this time period.
[8] Born in 1836 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, James McCombs started attending Davidson College in 1854, and was a member of the Philanthropic Society. The 1924 alumni catalogue indicates that McCombs left Davidson before getting a degree, opting to study medicine in New York (he graduated from that program in 1858). He was soon appointed Assistant Surgeon in the 11th Regiment of the North Carolina Troops. After serving in the regiment, McCombs returned to Charlotte as a practicing physician. He passed away in 1902 (Clipping, McCombs Alumni File, Alumni Catalogue).
Bibliography
Alumni Catalogue of Davidson College 1837-1924. Charlotte, NC: Presbyterian Standard Publishing Company, 1924.
Beaty, Mary. A History of Davidson College. Davidson, NC: Briarpatch Press, 1988.
Clipping, James McCombs Alumni File. RG 5/8.1. Alumni Relations. Davidson College, Davidson, NC.
Davidson College Catalog 1856. Davidson College Archives, Davidson, NC, 1856.
Davidson College Catalog 1859. Davidson College Archives, Davidson, NC, 1859.
Dining at Davidson. Davidson College Encyclopedia. Accessed at https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/encyclopedia/dining-at-davidson.
Faculty Minutes. RG 2/3.2. Faculty Minutes. Davidson College Archives, Davidson, NC.
Steward’s Hall. Davidson College Encyclopedia. Accessed at https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/encyclopedia/stewards-hall.
Transcription and annotation author: Matt Jordan
Date: March 2013
From: DC0117s (Finding Aid)
Cite as: Jordan, Matt, annotator. 27 February 1857 James McCombs Letter. DC0117s. <https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/digital-collections/james-p-mccombs-letter-27-feb-1857>.
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