Letters of William and Eliza Steele and from John Steele's days as a young merchant. Correspondence begins soon after the marriage of William (died 1773) and Elizabeth Maxwell Steele (died 1790). Letters from this period reveal little about the relationship between William and Elizabeth however. Instead they represent two separate streams of correspondence. Letters before 1773 relate chiefly to business matters of William. Letters after 1773 are chiefly from Elizabeth to her brother Ephraim in Charlestown. (Note that many of Elizabeth's letters included in this collection are photocopies of original material in the Steele Papers at the North Carolina Department of Archives and History.)

These letters document a family connection with Samuel McCorkle, Elizabeth's son-in-law, who helped manage family business after William's death. In addition to family news and her closeness to her brother, Elizabeth expressed her opinions about the Revolutionary War, as did McCorkle, who wrote to Ephraim on 30 July 1778, about the success of American forces: "Our Tories tremble, about a dozen are in Salisbury." Elizabeth generally supported the American cause, but hoped "the war will not long continue." She recorded events of the war along the coast from Charleston to Florida, but her letters contain scant information about local conditions in wartime Salisbury.

After 1785, John Steele became a significant recipient of correspondence. In a letter dated 18 March 1786, Sam McCorkle described him to Ephraim as "a husband--parent--and merchant." John married Mary Nessfield, daughter-in-law of Robert Cochran, a wealthy merchant of Fayetteville, N.C., and business partner of John Steele, in February 1783. After Cochran's death in 1786, Steele "conducted the business alone with tolerable success," according to a letter dated 24 April 1787. John Steele's correspondence from this early period mainly concerns his mercantile interests.

Correspondence related to John's government service. Beginning in 1789, copies of letters he wrote as a state commissioner document his treaty negotiations with the Creeks and Cherokees. Steele received several long letters from William Blount, who offered advice based on his own experience negotiating with the Indians. Correspondence also documents his election to the first Congress as a member of the House of Representatives in 1789. Few letters relate to his tenure, 1794-1796, as a member of the North Carolina House of Commons. His appointment as Comptroller of the Currency in the United States Treasury Department, however, produced much family correspondence.

Copies of Steele's letters to prominent North Carolina politicos express his concerns about the powers Congress was giving George Washington and the implications of other congressional action for North Carolina. Political letters from this period also contain significant information about an emerging national foreign policy (e.g., Steele's letter to Alexander Hamilton of 30 April 1793 in which he discussed his uneasiness about political connections with France, commerce with Great Britain, and the Genet mission).

The service as Comptroller is well documented during this period. John's letters to his wife from New York, 1790-1791; Philadelphia, 1791-1793 and 1796-1799; and from Washington, 1800-1802, are typically long and substantive, full of his feelings toward his family, his reliance on Mary's management skills, detailed instructions about plantation work, and race horse matters. In addition, he often wrote about his own work routines and the expense of living in Philadelphia. Many of his letters contain interesting comments about women's fashion in the city and his concern that his family should compare favorably when they visited him.

Also, from about 1792 through 1801, while John was absorbed with his government duties, the Steele's were building a new house in Salisbury--a project which Mary was obliged to superintend, but in which John took a great interest. His letters document his particular vision not only for the house, but for overall development of the grounds. A Salisbury neighbor assured John in a letter dated 17 March 1801 that "Mrs. Steele is indefatigable in carrying on the improvements." There are few letters from Mary to her husband. John Steele resigned as Comptroller in 1802, and returned to Salisbury, where he would remain until his death in 1815.

Of particular interest during this period are the letters of John Steele's daughter, Ann Nessfield Steele, who wrote several letters from boarding school in Bethlehem, Pa. When she accompanied her father to Washington, 1801-1802, they boarded in Georgetown, and she wrote long letters home about social life in the city. There is also scattered correspondence from the Steele's extended family, especially the Cochrans and Mary's sister Ann Nessfield in Fayetteville.

Although he was back in Salisbury and ostensibly retired from public office, Steele received much correspondence during this period about state and national politics. Many long and substantive letters from John Haywood, Nathaniel Macon, and William R. Davie discuss a wide variety of state and national issues, and show that Steele bridged the political gap between Federalist and Anti-Federalist. These letters record impressions and experiences related to many of the major political events during this period--tensions between Britain and the United States leading up to the War of 1812, the death of Alexander Hamilton, the election of James Madison, and many issues concerning political leaders in North Carolina.

Letters show that John Steele reestablished his business connections to the Cochran family of Fayetteville. From 1807 to 1811, correspondence, including scattered copies of letters by John Steele, documents his tenure as agent of the Bank of Cape Fear in Salisbury. Also documented is Steele's involvement in settling a boundary dispute between North and South Carolina. His correspondence with Wade Hampton and others contains much information about his avid interest in horse racing. Correspondence indicates that John Steele owned plantations in Rowan County near Salisbury and sold cotton to Petersburg commission merchants.

Steele's business interests were diverse. He was not a large slaveholder, and his correspondence contains only limited information about family slaves or plantation operations.

Of particular interest during this period are letters of John Steele's daughters. Ann received scattered letters from friends in Washington describing social life in the new capitol. For example, in a letter dated 20 February 1803, one friend discussed visits to Congress by ladies. Letters Ann wrote to her family document her marriage to Jesse Pearson. In September 1804, Ann wrote to her Aunt Ann Nessfield that she had "been confined to my bed." Two months later she was dead. Occasional letters from Jesse Pearson, including those from Washington while he was a congressman, 1810-1812, show that he maintained a relationship with the Steele family after his wife's death and earnestly sought the counsel of his politically experienced father-in-law.

In 1807, Margaret Steele visited the Brown family of Bladen County, near Wilmington, N.C., and wrote diary-like letters describing her activities. Mary Brown and Margaret Steele continued to correspond after this visit. Eliza Steele wrote a few letters as a schoolgirl, but much correspondence relates to her marriage to South Carolina merchant Robert Macnamara. She moved with her new husband and accompanied by her sister Margaret to Columbia, S.C., in 1814. The sisters wrote substantive letters to their parents about setting up housekeeping and social life in that town. They became increasingly disenchanted with the place and, within a year, they were making plans to return to Salisbury. In September 1815, Mary Steele informed the Petersburg cotton factors that the "sudden death of my husband [has] left me sole manager of his Estate."

Letters of Mary Steele and her daughters. In a series of letters with commission merchants in Petersburg, Va., Mary Steele made it clear that she was managing business in her husband's stead. In November 1815, she wrote, "I hope soon to receive an account of sales, and have no doubt, you have taken advantage, of the high price of cotton, about the time of its arrival in your market." Previously, she made known her concerns that a load of cotton had not been accurately weighed and that too much had been deducted for damage. Correspondence documents more business activity than personal family information, since Mary's daughters had moved back to Salisbury about the time of John Steele's death. Occasional separations, such as a trip to the Catawba Springs in 1818 produced scattered family correspondence during this period.

The first correspondence relating to the Ferrand family appears in 1819, soon after the marriage of Stephen Lee Ferrand to Margaret Steele. The Ferrands had two daughters before both parents died in 1830.

Correspondence of Mary Steele and Ann Nessfield Steele Ferrand, granddaughters of Mary Steele. The girls wrote their grandmother from various schools in Hillsboro, Pittsboro, and Raleigh, N.C. Their letters are often accompanied by grade reports and contain information about the subjects they studied and their relationships with other students. In 1835, the girls were separated when Mary travelled to Philadelphia and Washington with the Polk family, while Ann stayed at school in Salisbury. Mary's letters home contain much information about her activities, such as her description, dated 20 December 1835, of a fire on Wall Street, which is "more particular than you will get from the papers." During this period Robert Cochran assisted Mary Steele in business matters.

By 1837, Mary Steele Ferrand was a chief recipient of correspondence, receiving letters from her friend Zelda Polk in Tennessee, the Cochrans and the Nessfields of Fayetteville, her uncle William P. Ferrand at Swansboro, N.C., and friends in South Carolina. Correspondence documents Ann Ferrand's marriage to John B. Lord in 1838. Mary subsequently moved to Columbia, S.C., to help her sister set up housekeeping. Before returning to Salisbury in 1839, Mary visited her uncle, William P. Ferrand. He wrote to her grandmother on 25 May 1839 to inform her that she had raised the girls to his "entire satisfaction and further to add my pleasant reflections at giving the children to you as I am well satisfied you have brought them up better than I could have done." By August, Mary Ferrand was engaged to Archibald Henderson, whom she eventually married. There is little documentation of the Henderson marriage.

Also among the correspondents are Eliza Steele Macnamara and her children, who lived at Poplar Grove near Salisbury. In 1836, Eliza died, and her daughters Mary and Eliza wrote their grandmother. There are several letters about their school work at Salem Academy and their feelings about their mother's death. Scattered letters throughout the period offer a glimpse of this Macnamara branch of the Steele family.

Two letters contain interesting information about family slaves. On 2 September 1835, Mary Steele was informed that Cressa, a slave hired to a man in Yorkville, S.C., was being returned because of her "misconduct" with the agent who hired her. On 17 November 1835, there is a letter written to Mary Steele by a family slave, Alfred Steele, containing his request to "live in Raleigh so that I can be clost [sic] to my wife."

Also of note are two travel letters. A long, journal-like letter, dated 29 March 1837, from a friend describes her steamboat trip down the Congaree River from Columbia to Charleston. The woman "saw alligators on the banks of the river" and her first rice plantation, which she found "quite a curiosity." A-29 November 1837 letter from a woman who had settled nine miles from Columbus, Miss., describes her month long trip from North Carolina to Mississippi.

Bills, receipts, work agreements, tax lists, deeds, and a variety of other papers documenting Steele family business interests, household expenses, and production.

Papers relating to William and Elizabeth Steele and others. The earliest papers relate to land in Johnston, Granville, and Rowan counties, N.C., accumulated chiefly by Robert Gillespie, first husband of Elizabeth Maxwell Gillespie Steele. Papers relating to William Steele document his property holdings, business interests, and leadership role in Salisbury and include deeds, indentures, rent receipts, slave bills of sale, store accounts, tax receipts, and receipts for household expenses. Papers show that Elizabeth Steele managed her husband's estate after his death in 1773.

Chiefly papers related to John Steele's mercantile interests. Accounts show that John Steele bought a town lot in Fayetteville after his marriage to Mary Nessfield and established a business relationship with her former father-in-law Robert Cochran. Estate papers, circa 1786, of Robert Cochran include a series of store inventories that are especially informative. Bills of sale show that Steele invested some of his store earnings in race horses--a life long interest well-documented in the following subseries. Sometime around 1788, John Steele redirected his professional energies. Drafts of an Indian Affairs Treaty and accounts documenting the expenses of the negotiating team led by John Steele in 1788 signal this shift toward an extended involvement in politics at a state and national level.

Papers documenting John Steele's political career and government service. Accounts relate primarily to Steele's personal expenses while living in New York and Philadelphia, first as a congressman and later as Comptroller of the Treasury. Included are bills and receipts for boarding, groceries, tailoring, washing, and luxury items such as a saddle "with scarlet cloth" and "plated nails," 10 February 1791.

Papers for this period also show that Steele continued to develop business interests in Salisbury. In January 1791, he bought 213 acres on the Yadkin River in Rowan County. Although accounts show that he bought and sold land and slaves, there is little documentation of large scale plantation agriculture. In fact, several leases show that Steele rented out much of his property in Rowan County, including his plantation house and distillery, while he was Comptroller of the Treasury. Papers also show that horse breeding became a significant business interest during this period, and that John Steele was actively developing racing stock of his own.

Of particular interest are many bills, work agreements, specifications, and detailed memoranda relating to the construction of John Steele's house in Salisbury. In March 1800, Steele concluded an agreement with a Philadelphia "house carpenter," "to do the inside work [in his new frame house] in a genteel and decent manner." While living in Philadelphia, Steele also took the opportunity to buy furniture for his new home.

Also included are tuition bills and expenses of Ann Steele, who attended school in Bethlehem, Pa., 1799-1800. In 1802, John Steele resigned as Comptroller and moved back to Salisbury.

Papers during this period document some plantation production and development and, in addition, suggest that Steele engaged in a legal practice after his retirement from government service. Lists of taxable property in 1806 and 1814 provide particularly informative summaries of Steele's wealth, which consisted of town lots in Fayetteville, Charlotte, and Salisbury, several plantations, and at least 16 slaves. The 1814 tax list includes descriptions of his property detailing buildings and other improvements and lists slaves by age and gender. Receipts show that Steele was selling cotton to Petersburg merchants in 1813. Steele displayed an avid interest in horse racing throughout this period.

Between 1807 and 1811, John Steele served as an agent in Salisbury for the Bank of Cape Fear. His weekly reports of bank transactions comprise the bulk of financial and legal materials for those years. Also of interest are documents related to Steele's work to resolve a boundary dispute between North and South Carolina. An August 1815 bill for making his coffin documents the death of John Steele.

Financial and legal papers show that Mary Steele managed the plantation, with the help of an overseer, after her husband's death. Receipts with cotton factors in Petersburg document farm production. Bills for goods like groceries, farm implements, jewelry, and services of doctors, carpenters, and painters provide much information about household expenses. Scattered papers after 1820 relate to the Ferrand family.

Undated financial and legal papers of John Steele and others.

Daybooks, ledgers, bank books, and miscellaneous other volumes documenting mercantile interests of William Steele and various business interests of his son John. These volumes contain the clearest evidence of John Steele's legal practice in various county courts of Piedmont North Carolina.