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 Henry Hawkins Letter Book #5165-z, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Carmen Valentino of Philadelphia, Pa., in June 2004 (Acc. 99827).

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: Jesse Brown, September 2004

Encoded by: Jesse Brown, September 2004

Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, March 2021

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.

• Anderson, Joseph, 1757-1837.
• Bayard, James A., 1767-1815.
• Collins, Josiah, 1768-1839.
• Estates (Law)--Georgia.
• Estates (Law)--Tennessee.
• Evans, John B., d. 1805.
• Hawkins, George, fl. 1815-1824.
• Hawkins, Henry, d. 1815.
• Hughes, Samuel.
• Iron mines and mining--Tennessee.
• Lead mines and mining--Tennessee.
• Outlaw, Alexander.
• Plantations--Georgia.
• Plantations--Tennessee.
• Porter, Charles H.
• Real property--Georgia--History--19th century.
• Real property--Tennessee--History--19th century.
• Whiteside, Jenkin, 1772-1822.
• Winchester, James, 1752-1826.

Henry Hawkins was a Philadelphia merchant who, upon the death in 1805 of his son-in-law, John B. Evans, was appointed administrator of the Evans estate by Henry Hawkins's daughter, Ann Hawkins Evans. The Evans estate was comprised of extensive land holdings, plantations, and lead and iron mines in Tennessee, as well as land holdings in Georgia. After Henry Hawkins's death in 1815, Ann Hawkins Evans appointed Henry's son, George Hawkins, to succeed his father as the estate's administrator.

The collection is a letter book containing handwritten copies of letters sent 1807-1815 by Henry Hawkins, merchant of Philadelphia, Pa.. There are also letters, 1816-1824, by Hawkins's son George Hawkins, also of Philadelphia and an index of correspondents. Letters are to persons in Tennessee, Georgia, and elsewhere concerning the estate of John B. Evans (d. 1805). The estate was comprised of extensive land holdings, plantations, lead mines, and iron mines in Tennessee, as well as land holdings in Georgia. Most of Henry Hawkins's early letters are to attorneys and intermediaries inquiring as to the progress of collecting debts owed to the estate. Other letters deal with payment of taxes on the estate's land holdings, the sale of farm equipment and King's notes owned by the estate, and attempts to prevent settlers from inhabiting the estate's land. Throughout, Henry Hawkins expressed a desire to bring the settlement of the estate to a close. George Hawkins's letters are similar in subject, although more focused on debt collecting. In some letters, George Hawkins expressed suspicions that some intermediaries entrusted with the sale of estate properties had used the profits for their own personal use. Correspondents include attorneys Charles H. Porter, marshal of the United States for the Eastern district of Tennessee, and John McCampbell, both entrusted with the administration of the estate's properties in Tennessee. Other correspondents from Tennessee include attorneys Jenkin Whiteside and Joseph Anderson, both of whom later became United States Senators. Correspondents from other areas include James A. Bayard (1767-1815), United States Senator from Delaware; Samuel Hughes of Hagerstown, Md.; Josiah Collins of Edenton, N.C.; James Murren of Augusta, Ga.; and Joseph Anthony of New Orleans, La. Intermediaries and others mentioned in the letters include General James Winchester, Samuel Jackson, and Colonel Alexander Outlaw.