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 Gregorie and Elliott Family Papers #870, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Microfilm copy (filmed 2005-2006) available.

• Reel 1: Entire collection

Acquisitions Information

Deposited by William W. Elliott of Beaufort, S.C. in July 1944. Additions received from Mr. and Mrs. Charles C. Gregorie, Jr., of Macon, Ga., in April 1970 and March 1974.

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: Brooke Allan, 1960; Carolyn Wallace, 1971; Laura O'Keefe, 1983

Encoded by: Nancy Kaiser, July 2005

Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, November 2009

Updated by: Laura Hart, March 2021

Funding from the Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc., supported the encoding of this finding aid and microfilming of this collection.

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.

• Beaufort County (S.C.)--History.
• Charleston (S.C.)--Commerce.
• Colcock, John.
• Commission merchants--South Carolina--History--19th century.
• Confederate States of America--Economic conditions.
• Cotton trade--South Carolina--History--19th century.
• De Treville family.
• Elliott family.
• Elliott, Elizabeth Gregorie, 1829-1920.
• Elliott, William Waight, 1831-1884.
• Estates (Law)--Southern States--History--19th century.
• Families--South Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Gregorie family.
• Gregorie, Alexander Frazier, d. 1849.
• Gregorie, James, 1798-1874.
• McPherson family.
• Plantations--Mississippi.
• Plantations--South Carolina.
• Real property--Georgia--History--19th century.
• Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)--South Carolina.
• Rice trade--South Carolina--History--19th century.
• Slave bills of sale.
• Slavery--Mississippi.
• Slavery--South Carolina.
• South Carolina--Economic conditions.
• South Carolina--Genealogy.
• South Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Woodward family.

The Gregorie family of Beaufort County, S.C., descended from James Gregorie (1740-1807) who came to America in 1750 and married Ann Ross. Their son, Alexander Frazier Gregorie (d. 1849), married Esther Hutson in 1798 and then Sarah McCarthy in 1813. James Gregorie (1798-1874), a son of Alexander Frazier Gregorie, was a rice and cotton planter. He married Martha McPherson in 1823. Their daughter Elizabeth (b. 1829) married William Waight Elliott (1831-1884) of Port Royal, S.C., in 1854.

The collection consists chiefly of business papers relating to the Gregorie and Elliott families of Beaufort County, S.C., which merged in 1854 with the marriage of Elizabeth M. Gregorie and William Waight Elliott. Throughout the collection, there are letters, deeds, bonds, accounts, and other business papers. There is also some personal correspondence, and many of the business letters are somewhat personal as the writers were ususally relatives or personal friends.

Papers, 1742-1799, are chiefly deeds and land grants relating to Gregorie and Graves family properties in Georgia and South Carolina. Included is a copy of Joshua McPherson's 1774 will.

Papers, 1800-1837, concern Alexander Frazier Gregorie (1768-1849) of Beaufort, S.C. Correspondence and other papers relate to education and property, but the bulk of materials pertain to the complicated estate settlement of William Graves (or Greaves). Other correspondents interested in this case include Nathaniel Russell, a Mrs. Harabrowski, Seaborn Jones, Reuben Wilkinson, David McCredie, Richard Habersham, James Palmer, Judge R. R. Read, Crawford & Cumming, James Nicholson, William C. Micou, and Eben Starnes. Also included is an account book, 1820s-1840s, documenting financial accounts of Charles Gregorie, Alexander Frazier Gregorie, and Thomas Hutson Gregorie.

Papers, 1844-1874, relate chiefly to the financial and legal concerns of James Gregorie (1798-1874) of Pocotagligo, S.C. and Yemassee, S.C. Included are materials relating to the estates of Charles Gregorie and Alexander Frazier Gregorie, miscellaneous bonds, contribution receipts from the Stoney Creek Independent Prebyterian Church, the wills and estate settlements of James McPherson and Elizabeth McPherson, and the marriage settlement of James's daughter Elizabeth. There are a few slave records, including bills of sale of slaves from the 1850s and 1860s, and a letter reporting on the condition of Gregorie's slaves and plantation affairs in Mississippi and South Carolina. Beginning in the late 1850s and continuing into the late 1860s, there are letters from John Colcock, a factor and commission merchant in Charleston, S.C., concerning Gregorie's cotton and rice accounts and other business matters. In the postwar period, the letters follow the family's business interests--planting, selling, and storing cotton; taxes; purchasing; comments on profit and loss; pests; and weather. In addition to giving advice and reporting on transactions, Colcock, a cousin, also mentioned family and personal events and gave news of himself and friends. Included are some copies of Gregorie's letters to Colcock. When John Colcock died, Thomas H. Colcock carried on the business, later renaming it from JohnColcock Co. to Colcock & Heyward.

Other correspondence during the late 1860s describes the uncertainties and economic and political troubles of Reconstruction. William Heyward of Charleston, S.C., gave gloomy, detailed accounts of the situation of the ex-slaves, labor problems, northern speculators, broken bridges, cotton crops, taxes, and politics. There is also correspondence between Gregorie and Charles M. Rose of New York, who advanced capital for Gregorie's plantation and had a lien on the crops until 1874. Other financial papers include hardware bills and accounts with Saml. H. Wilson & Bro., a Charleston grocer.

Papers, 1874-1918, relate to William Waight Elliott and Elizabeth Gregorie Elliott. Included are real estate titles, bonds, mortgages, and other papers chiefly concerning family history and genealogy of the Gregorie, McPherson, Woodward, De Treville, and Elliott families. Other materials include pamphlets, genealogical charts, and newspaper clippings. In addition, there are four notebooks with family history data collected by Elizabeth M. Elliott.

• Microfilm (M-870/1)
• Oversize papers (OP-870/1-2)
• Photographs (P-870/1-15)
• Rolled items (R-870/1)
• Special format photograph (SF-P-870/1)