Chesley Calhoun Bellamy

Posted on by Carol Ann McCormick

(4 September 1887 – 31 October 1957)

The University of north Carolina at Chapel Hill Herbarium (NCU) has cataloged a dozen fungal specimens collected by Chesley Calhoun Bellamy.  He consistently signed his herbarium labels as “C.C. Bellamy”.  As we continue to catalog our collections it is possible that more specimens collected by Bellamy will be found.

Bellamy collected fungi in 1908 and 1909 from various locations around the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  It is likely that he collected them for a class, as Dr. William Chambers Coker did the identifications.  Coker began teaching “Lower Fungi” in 1904, and “Higher Fungi” in 1905.7

Chesley Calhoun Bellamy was the youngest of eight children born to Harriet Susan Harllee Belamy (1846-1924) and Marsden Bellamy (1843-1909). Marsden Bellamy was a lawyer in Wilmington, North Carolina.  Marsden Bellamy’s childhood home, Bellamy Mansion, is in the Wilmington Historic District and is a stewardship property of Preservation North Carolina, a private organization dedicated to the protection of historic sites throughout North Carolina.1,2

Chesley Calhoun Bellamy’s siblings were Amelia Cannon Bellamy McDonald (1868-1953), John Dillard Bellamy (1870-1932), Ellen Douglas Bellamy DeRosset (1874-19..), Harriet Harllee Bellamy Johnson (1876-1965), Marsden Bellamy (1878-1968), Robert Harllee Bellamy (1880-1958), and Louise Bellamy Wood (1883-1971). 2 

Chesley Calhoun Bellamy graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1909. The fungal specimens he collected in 1908-1909 are curated by NCU.

Bellamy attended Horner’s Military School in Oxford, North Carolina, then graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1909 with a Bachelor of Arts.3 He earned Bachelor of Laws in 1911, also from UNC-Chapel Hill. “Returning at once to Wilmington, he engaged in the practice of his calling, and not long thereafter was appointed assistant city attorney… His practice has been general in its character, Mr. Bellamy being equally at home in all branches of the vocation… His fraternal connections include membership in the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and in the Improved Order of Red Men.”4

On 12 August, 1912 Bellamy married Caroline Louise Mallett (1891-1978) of Etowah, Henderson County, North Carolina and together they had two children, Caroline Bellamy Varnau (? – before 2012) and Robert Harllee Bellamy (1915-2012).2, 4, 6 In the 1930’s Caroline and Chesley Bellamy built Bellamy Cottage at Bryn Avon, a village founded by Welsh immigrants in the 1880’s. Caroline Bellamy operated “Glen Carol,” a Girl Scout camp on the property.5

Chesley Calhoun Bellamy is buried in Oakdale Cemetery in Hendersonville, Henderson County, North Carolina.2

  1. Wikipedia contributors. “Bellamy Mansion.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 16 Feb. 2021. Web. 10 May. 2022.
  2. “Chesley Calhoun Bellamy”  Find A Grave.  Accessed on 21 October 2015.  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/115160358/chesley-calhoun-bellamy
  3.  Pers. comm.:  Nicole Wallace, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Alumni Records Office, to McCormick
  4. “Chesley Calhoun Bellamy.” 1919. History of North Carolina, Vol. IV. Chicago and New York: The Lewis Publishing Company. Page 226.
  5. Ruscin, Terry. 2013. Hidden History of Henderson County, North Carolina. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press. Pages 43 – 48.
  6. “Robert Harllee Bellamy, 97”. Tuesday, November 13, 2012. Obituary. BlueRidgeNow.com accessed on 21 October 2015.
  7. Burk, William R. in prep.  History of the Department of Botany at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Chapter 15.