This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
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.
Size | 64 items |
Abstract | Bedford Brown (1795 – 1870), was a white United States senator and state legislator from Caswell County, North Carolina; whose son, Livingston Brown, married Ann E. Clark. Papers include a letter, dated 12 May 1860, written by an enslaved individual to his Uncle Ned on a neighboring plantation and a bill of sale for Lucy, an enslaved woman. Also included are family letters dated 1836; political correspondence of Bedford Brown in 1860; and of Livingston Brown, 1866 – 1876; and Caswell County deeds and miscellaneous papers. |
Creator | Brown, Bedford, 1795-1870. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: SHC Staff
Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007
Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, May 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.
Conscious Editing Work by: Rebecca Stubbs, July 2020. Updated abstract, subject headings, biographical note, and scope and content note.
Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.
Back to TopThe 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.
Bedford Brown (1795-1870), son of Jethro Brown of Caswell County, N.C., was involved in politics most of his life, serving in the state legislature and in the United States Senate, 1829-1840. He moved to Missouri in 1843, renouncing politics temporarily, but moved soon again to Virginia, and shortly thereafter returned to Caswell County. His wife was Mary Brown with whom he had four sons William, Bedford Junior (1825-1897), Livingston, and Thomas J. Livingston Brown married Ann E. Clark, daughter of John Bullock Clark (1802-1885) of Fayette, Mo., state legislator, United States congressman, and member of the Confederate Congress. Livingston Brown and his wife moved to Albermarle County, Va., in 1847. After his wife's 1848 death, Livingston remarried and resettled in Caswell County, N.C., and became involved in North Carolina politics.
Back to TopThe collection includes scattered papers of the family of Bedford Brown and of his son, Livingston Brown. Papers include a letter, dated 12 May 1860, written by an enslaved individual to his Uncle Ned on a neighboring plantation and a bill of sale for Lucy, an enslaved woman. Brown and Clark family letters, beginning in 1836; political correspondence of Bedford Brown only in 1860, and of Livingston Brown, 1866-1876; and Caswell County deeds and other legal documents; undated speeches; and other miscellaneous items. Among other persons represented in the papers are William Brown, Thomas J. Brown, John H. Turner, Ann E. Clark, Mary S. Brown, John Bullock Clark, Elenor Clark, Bedford Brown Junior, Milo A. Holcomb, J. W. Alspaugh, John Cunningham, W. F. Leak, R. Weakley Brown, John Thomas Harris, Josiah Turner Junior, Matt W. Ransom, Harvey Spalding, and R. B. Glenn.
Back to TopFolder 1 |
Papers, 1779, 1800-1846Folder includes original finding aid. |
Oversize Paper Folder OPF-92/1 |
Deed, 1783 |
Folder 2 |
Papers, 1847-1859 |
Folder 3 |
Papers, 1860-1866Includes a 12 May 1860 letter from an enslaved man in Arkansas (name unknown) to his Uncle Ned on another plantation. There is also a bill of sale dated 31 August 1863 for an enslaved woman named Lucy. |
Folder 4 |
Papers, 1867-1906 |
Folder 5 |
Undated speeches and articles |