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Collection Number: 00111

Collection Title: Burton and Young Family Papers, 1807-1911

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 under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.

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Size 0.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 350 items)
Abstract Alfred M. Burton was one of several sons of Robert and Agatha Burton of Granville County, N.C. He was licensed to practice law in North Carolina, 1807, and in Tennessee, 1808, and settled in Lincoln County, N.C., in the first decade of the 19th century. His seventh child, Sarah Virginia, married Robert Simonton Young of Cabarrus County, N.C., who was killed in the Civil War, leaving her with four children and property in North Carolina and in Milan County, Tex. The collection includes family correspondence among members of four generations of the Burton and Young families who lived in Granville, Lincoln, Cabarrus, and Mecklenburg counties, N.C. Included are letters, bills, and other items, 1866-1896, to Sarah Virginia Burton Young sent by agents managing the cotton plantation she inherited near Cameron, Milan County, Tex., on the death of her husband in 1864. Letters discuss cotton cultivation, price, and sale; crop conditions; conduct of farm workers, especially rioting by freedmen; and the unsettled nature of local politics as related to freedmen's votes. Also included are bills, accounts, receipts, estate papers, and other items of the related Smith family of Charlotte, N.C., about family members.
Creator Burton (Family : Lincoln County, N.C.)



Young (Family : Cabarrus County, N.C.)

Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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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 Burton and Young Family Papers #111, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Alternate Form of Material
All or part of this collection is available on microfilm from University Publications of America as part of Southern women and their families in the 19th century, Series A.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Burton H. Smith of Charlotte, N.C., 1938-1960.
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.
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Processed by: Roslyn Holdzkom, December 1992

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, December 2009

This collection was rehoused under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.

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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.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Alfred M. Burton (1747-1825), one of several sons of Robert (1747-1825) and Agatha Burton of Granville County, N.C., attended the University of North Carolina, 1802, was licensed to practice law in North Carolina, 1807, and in Tennessee, 1808, and settled in Lincoln County, N.C., in the first decade of the 19th century. His wife was Elizabeth (Betsy) Fullenwider(?). Their children were Robert S., Elizabeth W. (later Hoyle), Mary L., John W., Frances C., William B., and Sarah Virginia (later Young).

Sarah Virginia Burton was the second wife of Major Robert Simonton Young of Cabarrus County, N.C., who fought with the 7th North Carolina Regiment and was killed in the Civil War. Sarah Virginia's stepson, John Phifer Young (1845-1863), also with the 7th, was also killed in the war. Taking her four children with her, Sarah Virginia made the journey to Texas in 1864 to become familiar with her late husband's property there. For more than thirty years following her visit, the cotton plantation in Cameron, Milam County, Tex., were handled by agents for her and her family. She returned from Texas to settle in Concord, N.C. In later years, she lived in Charlotte, N.C.

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The collection includes family correspondence among members of four generations of the Burton and Young families who lived in Granville, Lincoln, Cabarrus, and Mecklenburg counties, N.C. Included are letters, bills, and other items, 1866-1896, to Sarah Virginia Burton Young sent by agents managing the cotton plantation she inherited near Cameron, Milan County, Tex., on the death of her husband in 1864. Letters discuss cotton cultivation, price, and sale; crop conditions; conduct of farm workers, especially rioting by freedmen; and the unsettled nature of local politics as related to freedmen's votes. Also included are bills, accounts, receipts, estate papers, and other items of the related Smith family of Charlotte, N.C., about family members.

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Contents list

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Correspondence and Financial and Legal Papers, 1807-1911.

345 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

Included are the following:

1807-1818: Alfred M. Burton's 1807 and 1808 law licenses; indentures; wills; deeds; letters relating to legal proceedings in North Carolina and in Tennessee. Letter from Hutchins G. Burton, a lawyer in Charlotte, N.C., about settling accounts. Letters among various Burton family members about family news.

1824-1829: Letters from Alfred M. Burton to his mother about family news and domestic affairs.

1829: Letters among various Burton family members about family news.

1830-1838: Indentures; family letters; legal documents, some of which relate to slaves bequeathed to various family members.

1839: Letter from Elizabeth H. Burton to her father.

1840-1849: Indentures; plats; law license of John W. Burton; family letters discussing the poor economic outlook, with money scarce, the price of cotton low, and business dull.

1850-1859: Family letters; contracts and other legal documents.

1861: Letter from Alfred E. Hoyle at Manassas Junction to his mother Elizabeth W. Burton Hoyle, detailing the hardships of camp life, troop movements, etc.

1862: Letter announcing the death of Alfred E. Hoyle.

1863: Letters of sympathy to Elizabeth W. Burton Hoyle on the death of her son.

1864: Letters praising the recently fallen Major Robert Simonton Young; pass signed by Zebulon Vance allowing Sarah Virginia Young and her children to travel to Texas.

1866-1899: Letters, bills, receipts, and other documents of Sarah Virginia Young, relating to her Texas plantation. Letters discuss cotton cultivation, price, and sale; crop conditions; conduct of farm workers, especially rioting by freedmen; and the unsettled nature of local politics as related to freedmen's votes. Other papers include legal papers, claim settlements, and land evaluations.

1880s-1911: Documents relating to Smith family relatives.

Miscellaneous papers include family history materials, two posters supporting the erection of the Washington Monument, and a ribbon with the words and music to the "Star-Spangled Banner" woven in.

Folder 1

1807-1818

Folder 2

1821-1829

Folder 3

1830-1839

Folder 4

1842-1849

Folder 5

1850-1859

Folder 6

1860-1866

Folder 7

1867-1869

Folder 8

1870-1872

Folder 9

1873-1879

Folder 10

1880-1886

Folder 11

1893-1911

Folder 12

Undated

Folder 13

Miscellaneous

Oversize Paper OP-111/1

North Carolina law license, 16 December 1807

Oversize Paper OP-111/2-7

OP-111/2

OP-111/3

OP-111/4

OP-111/5

OP-111/6

OP-111/7

Miscellaneous land grants and deeds, 1826-1838

Oversize Paper OP-111/8

John W. Burton law license, 30 December 1845

Oversize Paper OP-111/9-13

OP-111/9

OP-111/10

OP-111/11

OP-111/12

OP-111/13

Miscellaneous land grants and deeds, 1842-1850

Oversize Paper OP-111/14

Muster roll, 8 May 1861

Oversize Paper OP-111/15

Poster showing the design of the Washington Monument, "To be erected in the city of Washington"

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Volumes, 1835-1875.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Items Separated

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