Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

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 Thomas Crawford Papers, #1990-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Mrs. David W. Anderson of Spartanburg, S.C., March 1952.

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1.

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: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, March 2009

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

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.

• Crawford, Thomas, 1785-1844.
• Creek War, 1813-1814.
• North Carolina. Militia--History--19th century.

Thomas Crawford (1785-1844), lawyer and officer of a North Carolina militia unit, was the son of John Crawford and Eleaner Crawford. In 1814 he left home to fight in the Creek War in Alabama. He served as first lieutenant then captain of his militia company and was later appointed by General Andrew Jackson to command Fort Hull. After the war he returned to North Carolina and in 1816 he married Mary Davidson, daughter of John Davidson and Margaret Wilson Davidson, of Mecklenburg County, N.C.

In 1819 Crawford moved with his wife, two children, his mother, and his sister Anne to Bibb County, Ala. He was elected by the Alabama legislature as the first judge of the county court of Bibb County and served for twelve years. He also served two terms in the state Senate and during this time was a trustee of the University of Alabama. He was a founder of the town of Centerville, Ala., and resided there for a number of years. In the 1840s he moved to Tuscaloosa, Ala., where he practiced law.

Crawford's first wife, Mary Davidson Crawford, died in 1831. Her children were Eleanor Mary Ann (1817-1848), John Davidson (1819-1821), James Wilson (1822-1883), Thomas Price (1824-1858), and M. M. (1825-1850). He married a widow, Mrs. Barnett, several years after his first wife's death. Their only child was Jane (1835-1911).

The collection includes four letters, 1814, from Thomas Crawford written from camps as Crawford's North Carolina militia unit moved through South Carolina and Georgia and from Alabama where the unit expected to fight Creek Indians. The letters are about camp life, military plans, and prospects for fighting. Also included are a muster roll of Crawford's company and miscellaneous other items.

Oversize papers (OPF-1990/1).