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Size | 4.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 2000 items) |
Abstract | The Howerton family of Halifax County, Va., included Philip Howerton (1793-1879), tobacco planter and sheriff; his son-in-law Rufus H. Owen (fl. 1870-1890), tobacco planter and merchant of South Boston, Va.; and Howerton's children, Susannah Catharine (1824-1870); William Matthew (1826-1874); Judith Anne Purkins (1828-1874); Eliza Jane Owen (1830-1917); and Louisa Dresser (1833-1882). The collection includes business and family correspondence, financial and legal papers, and other materials relating to the Howerton family. Business correspondence, 1822-1901, includes letters relating to Philip Howerton's position as sheriff of Halifax County, Va.; slaves; accounts, many having to do with the tobacco industry; and other topics. Family correspondence includes letters relating to education, travel, and news of the Howerton, Purkins, Owen, Cabaniss, and other related families. There are also letters, 1844-1851, that Sally J. Brodnax in North Carolina wrote to Eliza J. Howerton. Financial and legal materials are both loose papers and volumes. Loose papers, 1817-1869, pertain chiefly to Philip Howerton and document his sheriff activities. Many items relate to slaves. Loose papers, 1870-1896, relate primarily to family members and to tobacco merchants in South Boston, Va. Volumes, 1819-1881, are account, cash, and other books, many relating to tobacco. Among the other papers are writings by family members, including an 1859 diary; an 1859 songbook; a notebook dated 1882-1884; recipes; printed circulars and advertisements; and clippings. |
Creator | Howerton (Family : Halifax County, Va.) |
Curatorial Unit | Southern Historical Collection |
Language | English. |
This collection was re-housed under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.
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.
The Howerton family of Halifax County, Va., included Philip Howerton 1793-1879), who was born to William Howerton and Caty Edmonson Howerton of Essex County, Va. In 1817, Philip moved to Halifax County, Va., where he became a tobacco planter and served as the sheriff. On 14 November 1822, he married Elizabeth Cunningham Cabiness (1806-1850), daughter of William Matthew Cabaniss and Susannah Carter Cabaniss, daughter of Theodorick and Judith Carter.
Philip and Elizabeth Howerton lived two miles from the town of Halifax on 3,000-4,000 acres in a house named Oakland. They had five children: Susannah Catharine (1824-1870); William Matthew (1826-1874); Judith Anne (1828-1874); Eliza Jane (1830-1917); and Louisa Dresser (1833-1882).
William Matthew married Adrianna Tucker of Raleigh, N.C., in 1848. They had two children: William Philip (1849-1886) and Harriet Eliza (1853-1927?). Judith Anne married Judge George W. Purkins in 1847. They separated in 1854 and were divorced in 1860. They had one daughter, Eliza Anne "Lizzie" (1853-1913), who married William Watson Kasey in 1882. In 1853, Eliza Jane married Rufus H. Owen, tobacco planter of South Boston, Halifax County, Va.
Back to TopBusiness and family correspondence, financial and legal papers, and other materials relating to the Howerton family of Halifax County, Va.
Business correspondence, 1822-1901, includes letters relating to Philip Howerton's position as sheriff of Halifax County, Va.; slaves; accounts, many having to do with the tobacco industry; and other topics. Family correspondence includes letters relating to education, travel, and news of the Howerton, Purkins, Owen, Cabaniss, and other related families. There are also letters, 1844-1851, that Sally J. Brodnax in North Carolina wrote to Eliza J. Howerton.
Financial and legal materials are both loose papers and volumes. Loose papers, 1817-1869, pertain chiefly to Philip Howerton and document his sheriff activities. Many items relate to slaves. Loose papers, 1870-1896, relate primarily to family members and to tobacco merchants in South Boston, Va. Volumes, 1819-1881, are account, cash, and other books, many relating to tobacco.
Among the other papers are writings by family members, including an 1859 diary; an 1859 songbook; a notebook dated 1882-1884; recipes; printed circulars and advertisements; and clippings.
Back to TopArrangement: chronological.
Business and family letters of the Howerton family of Halifax County, Va. Business letters relate chiefly to Philip Howerton's position as sheriff of Halifax County; to slaves; and to merchant and tobacco plantation accounts. Materials relating to slaves include correspondence about the boarding and health of a woman and child; a lengthy account by William H. Lanier on the death of one of his slaves; letters about Howerton's hiring of a smith named Israel and his trip across the Blue Ridge Mountains with "my lot of negroes"; and letters from John Thompson, who claimed that a runaway slave in the Halifax County jail belong to him. Family letters are largely of Philip Howerton's children and relatives.
Early correspondence, 1822-1839, consists primarily Philip Howerton's business letters with a few personal letters from his wife Eliza and one to her about his journey across the Blue Ridge mountains. Correspondence, 1840-1859, includes the letters of Philip Howerton, but there is a growing emphasis on his children's letters, especially those of Susannah and William Matthew, and on letters of other family members. 1841 letters include several from William H. Clark at the Virginia House of Delegates in Richmond.
Several letters relate to education, including a letter from G. W. Purkins to his son at college, extolling the advantages of a hard-won education for young men and women; Margaret B. Carter, a relative, asking Philip Howerton to see to the schooling of her daughter; a list of students and teachers at Howard High School near Alexandria, Va.; a list of students, including teachers and servants, at Judy Howerton's school; descriptive letters from Eliza Howerton at St. Mary's School in Raleigh, N.C.; and letters and grade reports of William Matthew Howerton at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Of note are the letters that Sally J. Brodnax in North Carolina wrote to Eliza J. Howerton, some of which have been published in That Sally Brodnax, As Told in her Letters, 1846-1851. Letters of Eliza Jane Howerton Owen and Lousia Howerton, 1850-1882, include a few about the Civil War.
See also Series 2 for letters directly relating to financial and legal matters.
Arrangement: chronological.
Financial, legal, and related papers of the Howerton family of Halifax County, Va. Papers, 1817-1869, pertain chiefly to Philip Howerton, planter and sheriff. These early papers document Howerton's official activities, and consist primarily of receipts and tax lists, including property tax lists, tax receipts, a tax list of "ordinaries and private entertainments," and tax lists of merchants, including peddlers. In addition, there is material relating to the imprisonment of insolvent debtors, including lists of property sold to settle accounts, requests for release from jail, and a list of debtors, 1840-1843.
Items referring to slaves include an 1850 census, tax lists, mortgages on slaves, and references to individual slaves who came in contact with the criminal justice system. Although there is little information about Howerton's own plantations, of interest is an agreement, 4 October 1837, describing a newly hired overseer's responsibilities on a plantation managed by Howerton and a land survey, 1855, of 1,864 acres owned by Howerton. Also included are business letters from Philip Howerton's commission merchant, Elisha Barksdale.
Papers, 1870-1896, relate primarily to Rufus H. Owen of South Boston, Halifax County, Va., son-in-law of Philip Howerton, and to Shepherd & Company, tobacco merchants of South Boston. These papers consist of correspondence, accounts with various Richmond, Va., commission merchants, and miscellaneous items relating to tobacco sales. Also included are business letters from Shepherd & Company to Halifax County tobacco growers and Richmond and Danville Railroad Company receipts for shipment of tobacco.
Other papers relate to Slate Brothers & Jordan , 1896; the legal and financial situation of George W. Purkins and his daughter, Lizzie Purkins Kasey; and to purchases made by Louisa Howerton and Eliza J. Owen.
Folder 42 |
1817-1825 |
Folder 43 |
1826-1833 |
Folder 44 |
1834-1836 |
Folder 45-46
Folder 45Folder 46 |
1837 |
Folder 47-48
Folder 47Folder 48 |
1838 |
Folder 49-50
Folder 49Folder 50 |
1839 |
Folder 51-52
Folder 51Folder 52 |
1840 |
Folder 53-56
Folder 53Folder 54Folder 55Folder 56 |
1841 |
Folder 57 |
1841-1852: Elisha Barksdale |
Folder 58-61
Folder 58Folder 59Folder 60Folder 61 |
1842 |
Folder 62-65
Folder 62Folder 63Folder 64Folder 65 |
1843 |
Folder 66 |
1844-1845 |
Folder 67 |
1846 |
Folder 68 |
1847-1849 |
Folder 69 |
1850 |
Folder 70 |
1851 |
Folder 71 |
1852 |
Folder 72 |
1855 |
Folder 73 |
1856-1857 |
Folder 74 |
1858-1859 |
Folder 75 |
Antebellum undated |
Folder 76 |
1862 |
Folder 77 |
1868-1869 |
Folder 78 |
1870-1872 |
Folder 79-82
Folder 79Folder 80Folder 81Folder 82 |
1873 |
Folder 83-84
Folder 83Folder 84 |
1874 |
Folder 85-86
Folder 85Folder 86 |
1873-1875 |
Folder 87 |
1878 |
Folder 88 |
1880-1888 |
Folder 89 |
1890-1891 |
Folder 90 |
1892-1895 |
Folder 91 |
1896 |
Folder 92 |
Undated |
Arrangement: chronological.
Account books, including administrator accounts; merchant account books of Philip Howerton, Howerton-Fitzgerald, Howerton & Cabaniss, William M. Howerton, William Breedlove, and others in Halifax County, Va.; and records from Philip Howerton's tobacco business, including a letter copybook containing business correspondence and an 1819 cash book of Philip Howerton listing expenses for goods and services.
Papers relating to various members of the Howerton family of Halifax County, Va. Included are essays, poems, and speeches; a book of poems handwritten by Miss Howerton in 1838; a songbook and album, 1859, of Henry E. Owen; a handwritten constitution for the Howerton Sabbath School Society; a pocket-sized manufactured diary and memorandum book of Rufus H. Owen; a notebook of Eliza J. Owen, containing lists of grocery items and dry goods purchased; and handwritten recipes.
Circulars include a menu from the Willard Hotel, Washington, D.C.; copies of an advertisement for the Kasey Leaf Tobacco Caser; an advertisement for Mr. Polke Miller, "a delineator of the Old Southern Plantation Negro"; price current circulars for tobacco; and a broadside for the Petersburg and Roanoke Rail Road connection with the Appomattox Rail Road. Political papers include a broadside from George W. Purkins regarding his views on a Virginia constitutional convention.
Also included are handwritten and printed marriage and death notices and newspaper clippings regarding planters and plantations in the South prior to and during the Civil War.
Folder 108 |
Howerton Sunday School constitution, 1822 |
Folder 109 |
Book of poems by Miss Howerton, 1838 |
Folder 110 |
Essays, speeches, poems |
Folder 111 |
Songbook and album of Henry Owen, 1859 |
Folder 112 |
Diary and memorandum book of Rufus H. Owen, 1859 |
Folder 113 |
Notebook of Eliza Owen, 1882-1894 |
Folder 114 |
Recipes |
Folder 115 |
Dance card/calling cards, grading chart |
Folder 116 |
Marriage and death notices |
Folder 117 |
Political papers, 1850-1865 and undated |
Folder 118 |
Brochures and programs, 1865-1870 and undated |
Folder 119 |
Advertising circulars |
Folder 120 |
Newspaper clippings |
Oversize volumes (SV-359/2, 8, 11).
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