Lemuel Bingham Wetmore of Lincolnton,N.C., son of Episcopal rector William Robards and Mary Bingham Wetmore, practicedlaw in Lincoln County, N.C., from the late 1880s until his death in 1918. The collection chiefly consists of papers relating to Wetmore's legal practice:court-related documents, such as motions, briefs, and appeals; documents used inevidence, such as deeds and contracts; letters; papers pertaining to Wetmore's legalstrategies, such as notes and texts of instructions to juries; memo pads; and anaccount book listing legal services performed and fees charged. Types of caseshandled include debt collection, contract disputes, divorce, slander, personalinjury, a stock transfer dispute, and a missing baggage claim against a railroad.Other papers of Wetmore include law office administrative papers, petitions andpolitical endorsements, letters concerning political attacks on Wetmore, lettersfrom North Carolina politicians, notes and an outline written by Wetmore for anarticle on lynching, and a photograph of a 1904 train wreck. Also included in thecollection are antebellum letters from William Robards Wetmore writing from SumterCounty, Ala., to Lemuel's grandmother, primarily about family life and the EpiscopalChurch, a letter from Episcopal Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire discussing WilliamRobards Wetmore, and a set of humorous Civil War poems about wine and ammunitionproduction.
