Antedating of "Tarheel" Meaning North Carolinian

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Sat, Apr 11, 2009 at 09:13:23PM -0400, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
>
> The OED's first use for _Tarheel_ is dated 1864.
>
> Just to make sure Jesse has this for the OED, the earliest known usage of _Tarheel_ meaning specifically a North Carolinian is apparently in a Feb. 6, 1863 entry in the diary of William B. A. Lowrance:
>
> http://ncrec.dcr.state.nc.us/Cat/CatServer.asp?WCI=MainEp&WCE=CatV1&WCU=509.16
>
> This web page, which also describes other early _Tarheel_ usages, has an image of the diary, but I'm not sure where there is an OED-citable printed version of the diary entry.
>

We could cite from a non-printed diary if necessary, though it
would be preferable if the diary were housed in a research
library.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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