Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick (1827-1886) was born in Davidson County NC. He was very highly educated at Harvard College and the University of North Carolina. In 1854, he accepted a position as Professor and Chair of the Department of Analytical and Agricultual Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1856, he left UNC (it is largely believed he was driven out because of his political views as he was a Republican and was publicly anti-slavery) and went North to New York City where he obtained unsatisfactory work. He made his way to Washington DC in 1861 and obtained a position at the US Patent Office where he remained for the rest of his life achieving the position as Chief Examiner of the Chemical Department. In 1852, he married Mary Ellen Thompson also from a North Carolina family. Both the Hedrick and the Thompson families were large and were divided as most family members remained in North Carolina and supported the Confederacy. That is a short summary. A very detailed article titled "Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick: The Man behind the Covers" was written by the late Maurice Bursey who was a noted North Carolina Postal Historian and a Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina. His article was published in the Summer 2008 issue of the North Carolina Postal History Society Postal Historian journal. Professor Bursey had access to all the Hedrick papers archived at UNC and other manuscripts at Duke University. The article can be accessed, read, and printed out at Hedrick Correspondence (opens in a new window).
NC920	USA #65 with a target cancel and the double ring Old Point Comfort, VA CDS to the left 3 AUG (1863 noted on the reverse). Overall gray University of North Carolina Advertising College Cover (CC NC-14a). Addressed to Prof B. S. Hedrick, Patent Office, Washington City, District of Columbiua, United States. Professor Bursey has identifed the handwriting on this cover as that of Mrs. Eliza Thompson, the step-mother of Professor Hedrick's wife, Mary Ellen (Thompson) Hedrick. Eliza Thompson lived in Chapel Hill NC which would be the origin of the cover. This is the inside envelope of a Civilian Through-the-Lines cover exchanged through Old Point Comfort, Virginia, with the Union postage already affixed. The use of "United States" in the address indicates wartime use. The outer envelope containing the CSA postage from Chapel Hill NC to the transfer point would have been discarded at the transfer point. This cover was used by Professor Bursey as an illustration in his research article on the Hedrick Correspondence. Very Fine.	$900.00 SOLD

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