Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Burton and Young Family Papers #111, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

All or part of this collection is available on microfilm from University Publications of America as part of Southern women and their families in the 19th century, Series A.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Burton H. Smith of Charlotte, N.C., 1938-1960.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Roslyn Holdzkom, December 1992

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, December 2009

This collection was rehoused under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Agriculture--Texas--History--19th century.
• Burton family.
• Cabarrus County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Cameron (Tex.)--Economic conditions.
• Cotton growing--Texas--History--19th century.
• Families--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Freedmen--Texas.
• Granville County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Lincoln County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Mecklenburg County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Milam County (Tex.)--Economic conditions.
• Smith family.
• Women plantation owners--North Carolina.
• Women plantation owners--Texas.
• Young family.
• Young, Sarah Virginia Burton, 1827-1912.

Alfred M. Burton (1747-1825), one of several sons of Robert (1747-1825) and Agatha Burton of Granville County, N.C., attended the University of North Carolina, 1802, was licensed to practice law in North Carolina, 1807, and in Tennessee, 1808, and settled in Lincoln County, N.C., in the first decade of the 19th century. His wife was Elizabeth (Betsy) Fullenwider(?). Their children were Robert S., Elizabeth W. (later Hoyle), Mary L., John W., Frances C., William B., and Sarah Virginia (later Young).

Sarah Virginia Burton was the second wife of Major Robert Simonton Young of Cabarrus County, N.C., who fought with the 7th North Carolina Regiment and was killed in the Civil War. Sarah Virginia's stepson, John Phifer Young (1845-1863), also with the 7th, was also killed in the war. Taking her four children with her, Sarah Virginia made the journey to Texas in 1864 to become familiar with her late husband's property there. For more than thirty years following her visit, the cotton plantation in Cameron, Milam County, Tex., were handled by agents for her and her family. She returned from Texas to settle in Concord, N.C. In later years, she lived in Charlotte, N.C.

The collection includes family correspondence among members of four generations of the Burton and Young families who lived in Granville, Lincoln, Cabarrus, and Mecklenburg counties, N.C. Included are letters, bills, and other items, 1866-1896, to Sarah Virginia Burton Young sent by agents managing the cotton plantation she inherited near Cameron, Milan County, Tex., on the death of her husband in 1864. Letters discuss cotton cultivation, price, and sale; crop conditions; conduct of farm workers, especially rioting by freedmen; and the unsettled nature of local politics as related to freedmen's votes. Also included are bills, accounts, receipts, estate papers, and other items of the related Smith family of Charlotte, N.C., about family members.

• Oversize papers (OP-111/1-15)