Correspondence in this period revolves chiefly around Colonel Thomas Lenoir (1741-1816), his brother General William Lenoir (1751-1839) of Fort Defiance, N.C., William's wife Ann Ballard (1751-1833), and William and Ann's children. Among these children, materials relate chiefly to William Ballard (1775-1852) and his wife Elizabeth Avery (1781-1855) of Roane County, Tenn.; Ann (1778-1838) and her husband General Edmund Jones (1771-1855); Thomas (1780-1861) and his wife Selina Louisa Avery (1783-1864), who first lived in Asheville, but later took charge of Fort Defiance, and their children; Walter Raleigh (1786-1843) and his first wife Polly Elvira Bouchelle (1795-1818) and second wife Sarah Eveline Bouchelle (1798-1877), who settled in Boone County, Mo.; Eliza Mira (1789-1835), who remained at Fort Defiance, and her niece and ward Julia A. M. Pickens (1815-1898), who married Chiliab Howe (1809-1875) and lived in Alabama and Mississippi.

Another daughter was Martha (Patsy) Orilla (1792-1823), mother of Julia Pickens and wife of Israel Pickens (1780-1827). Israel Pickens's correspondence from Washington, D.C., when he was a member of Congress from North Carolina, 1811-1817, and later from Greene County, Ala., where he was elected governor of Alabama in 1821, figures prominently in this series. There are also occasional letters from another daughter, Sarah Joyce (1796-1820), who married Judge Thomas F. Jones and settled in South Carolina.

Towards the end of this period, there is correspondence of Thomas and Selina's children: William Avery (1808-1861), who married Jane K. Derr (d. 1850); Selina Louise (1813-1836), who married Samuel Pickens and settled in Greensboro, Ala.; Laura Leah Carolina, who married Joseph Caldwell Norwood (1815-1889) and lived in Hillsborough, N.C.; Mary Ann (Annie) (1819-1899), who married James Gwyn (1812-1888); Sarah (Sade) Jones (d. 1899), who lived at Fort Defiance; Walter Waightstill (Wat) (1823-1890), who married Cornelia Isabella Christian (1827-1859) and lived in Lenoir, N.C.; Thomas Isaac (Tom) (1817-1882), who married Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) Garrett (1844-1880) and lived at East Fork of Pigeon, his father's property at the east fork of the Pigeon River in Haywood County, N.C.; and Rufus Theodore (1825-1912), who married Richard Gwyn's daughter Sarah Leonora (Sallie) (1833-1913) and lived at Fort Defiance. Richard Gwyn was the husband of Colonel Thomas Lenoir's daughter Martha. To a lesser degree, there is also correspondence of William Ballard and Elizabeth's children: Isaac T.; Albert S.; Tommy; and Mira A. There is also correspondence of members of the related Avery, Norwood, and Pickens families.

Letters relating to politics begin in the 1790s and are chiefly from or to William Lenoir at Fort Defiance. Many of the letters relate to local and state politics. These include:

--a letter of 26 November 1791 from William Norwood to William Lenoir about politics and lawyering;

--letters of 1 February and 5 June 1802 to William Lenoir about lottery ticket sales in support of the University of North Carolina;

--a letter of 22 December 1804 from W. Winston to William Lenoir about a trouble along the North Carolina-Georgia border;

--letters of 5 August 1806, 2 July 1809, and 17 September 1815 to William Lenoir from brother Thomas about the latter's chances in local elections;

--letters of 29 April, 22 May, and 9 October 1812 about William Lenoir's raising troops for a local militia unit under orders from Governor William Hawkins and William Lenoir's resignation as Major General in the militia;

--a letter of 16 February 1820 to William Lenoir's nephew Thomas informing him of his selection as commissioner to lay out a road in Haywood County;

--letters of 12 and 27 November 1824 relating to William Lenoir's name being mentioned as candidate for governor and his rejection of the idea;

--a 27 November 1824 letter of William Lenoir to John Stanley, member of the General Assembly in Raleigh, about William Lenoir's opposition to the location of the Wilkes Court House and to its "elegant" design; Letters of 14 March 1825, 18 June 1833, and 10 August 1834, and 8 August 1837 about Revolutionary War pensions from the state;

--occasional letters, beginning in 1822, from Samuel F. Patterson in Raleigh to Walter Raleigh Lenoir about state politics.

There are also many letters about national politics. These include:

--a letter of 22 December 1794 from Joseph McDowell of Philadelphia to William Lenoir on the Jay and Pinckney treaties;

--a letter of 4 February 1894 from Senator Alexander Martin in Philadelphia to William Lenoir about trade with France and problems with Algerian pirates;

--letters from Jesse Franklin in Philadelphia to William Lenoir including the following: 5 April 1796 about Ohio land sales; 25 December 1801 about Jefferson and the war in the Bay of Tripoli; 4 November 1803 and 29 January 1804 about the Louisiana Purchase and the exclusion of slaves from foreign countries there; and 20 June 1812 about the declaration of war against Great Britain;

--letters of 28 March and 20 April 1800 from General Joseph Dickson in Philadelphia to William Lenoir about Napoleon and Dickson's belief that Adams will defeat Jefferson, and 27 January and 24 February 1801 about Burr and Jefferson being equals in the presidential race;

--letter of 5 January 1807 from Joseph Winston in Washington, D.C., to William Lenoir about the Burr conspiracy; ¢a letter of 24 February 1808 from Washington Norwood in Granville County, N.C., to William Lenoir about becoming involved in the European war;

--many letters, beginning in April 1812, from Israel Pickens to William Lenoir about his activities as a member of Congress with particular emphasis on the War of 1812; about life in Washington, D.C., 1812-1817; and from Pickens after 1817 where he served as governor, 1821-1825, including one, dated 18 April 1825, in which Pickens described Lafayette's tour through Alabama;

--fairly frequent letters, beginning in March 1819, from Lewis Williams (1782-1842), North Carolina congressman from 1814 to his death, to William Lenoir about their mutual dislike for Andrew Jackson, whom both considered power hungry and ungracious; international issues, especially tariffs; banking, including a letter of 12 January 1832 on the destruction of the Second Bank of the United States;

--a few letters from William Lenoir on politics, including a letter of 16 February 1824 to William Ballard Lenoir in which he expressed support for Crawford over Calhoun and Jackson; letters in 1832 about why William Lenoir supported Clay over Jackson; letters of 10 and 17 December 1832, 16 February 1836, 30 May 1837, and 3 January 1838, in which he wrote against nullification and for slavery; letters attacking Jackson, including a letter of 2 April 1833, in which he wrote, "I find that many of the deluded wise men of the nation have now formed the opinion that I publicly expressed before General Jackson's first election. To wit that he was the most dangerous man in the nation for a president. Between him and the Nullifiers which (Heaven be thank'd) are opposed to each other but possessed of the same spirit of pride avarice and aspiration, the best Government in the world seems to totter"; and many letters, including those of 18 June 1836 and 4 June 1838 lamenting corruption and big spending in government;

--a letter of 15 July 1828 from Tobias Watkins in Washington, D.C., to Lewis Williams and forwarded to William Lenoir, in which Watkins repeated the rumor that Andrew Jackson was the illegitimate offspring of Fanny Jennings, a "mulato quadroon" of Iredell County, N.C.;

--several letters relating to the removal of Native Americans, including one of 14 January 1830 from Lewis Williams and another of 28 July 1838, in which William Ballard Lenoir wrote, "They [the Cherokee] are quite peaceably disposed and many of them submit to their fate tolerably cheerfully."

Business letters relate chiefly to plantation management, land speculation, and William Lenoir's unsuccessful attempt to retain lands originally belonging to Moravians.

Plantation correspondence begins in 1791 with letters about bringing supplies to Fort Defiance and selling crops and livestock produced there. Many of the letters between William Lenoir and his sons are related to plantation management. A letter of 7 December 1809 discusses collecting rents on Lenoir property, and several, including a letter of 10 March 1813, outline problems with overseers of distant property. Among letters relating to managing slaves are those of 21 March 1809, in which Thomas Lenoir asked that brother Walter Raleigh Lenoir look for a "young wench that he thinks would suit me"; of 2 February, 28 March, and 19 May 1811, in which Thomas and William Lenoir discussed buying and selling slaves and how the price for slaves had recently escalated; and of 11 September 1835, which shows that Walter Raleigh Lenoir had slaves on his Missouri property. Letters of 13 April 1806, 28 March 1837, 23 December 1839, and 10 January 1840 show that the Lenoirs were somewhat sensitive about buying and selling slaves. In the 1837 letter, Thomas Lenoir explained to William Avery Lenoir, who had just sold his own slaves in Alabama and wondered what to do with those of Thomas who were in his care, that William was to ask the slaves whether or not they wanted to be sold. The 1839 and 1840 letters between William Ballard Lenoir in Tennessee and L. G. Jones in North Carolina are about how to avoid breaking up a slave family.

Land-speculation correspondence begins about 1796 and includes letters relating to land in Tennessee, North Carolina, and other states. Some of the letters, such as one from Isaac T. Avery in Morganton to Thomas Lenoir on 15 May 1829, have to do with gold speculation.

Correspondence relating to the Moravian land case begins on 23 July 1809 and continues through at least 1833. Included are a few letters in 1831 from Joseph Cossart in Ireland and James Stuart, Cossart's agent in Pittsburgh.

Family materials in the early years include many letters about family matters to William Lenoir from his brother Thomas Lenoir, but quickly expand to include letters to William Lenoir from his sons, chiefly William Ballard Lenoir and Thomas Lenoir, and among the women of the family. Letters relate chiefly to family activities in general, including documentation of the peregrinations of several family members in search of better land, business opportunities, or living conditions. There are also many letters in which family members indulge in long lists of their own activities and those of children or other relatives and some in which family members outline their feelings about life or other family members. General family letters include:

--a letter of 1 February 1795 from William Ballard Lenoir to William Lenoir asking help in financing continuing education; ¢a letter of 31 October 1801 from Walter Raleigh Lenoir to his father about hating school, and one of 7 February 1806 indicating that Walter was being sent home from school;

--letters of 22 November 1801 and 4 December 1802 relating to Waightstill Avery's being crippled and in process of settling his affairs;

--letters beginning 16 September 1806 from son Thomas Lenoir in Morganton, N.C., to William Lenoir about Thomas's dissatisfaction with life at East Fork of Pigeon and continuing until Thomas moved his family to Fort Defiance around 1822; ¢a letter of 29 September 1807, from Mary Lenoir Davenport in Red Hill, N.C., to Thomas Lenoir's wife Selina about Mary's losing a child in a fire;

--many letters, beginning on 29 June 1810, from William Ballard Lenoir to father William Lenoir or brother Thomas Lenoir about life in Roane County, Tenn.;

--a letter of 4 November 1813 from Israel Pickens to William Lenoir asking for Martha (Patsy)'s hand;

--a letter of 25 February 1817 from nephew Thomas Isaac Lenoir in Sumter District, S.C., to William Lenoir about the death of William's brother Thomas Lenoir;

--letters in May and July 1817 from William Lenoir's daughter Sarah Lenoir Jones in South Carolina to sister Eliza Mira Lenoir about her life with Thomas F. Jones, and one of 9 May 1820 in which Thomas Jones wrote of Sarah's death; ¢a letter of 4 June 1819 in which William Ballard Lenoir instructed his son Albert at Greenville College, Tenn., about how to act in college;

--a letter of 29 March 1821 from Selina Louisa Avery Lenoir's brother Isaac T. Avery of Swanns Pond, N.C., the Avery homestead, to William Ballard Lenoir about the death of Waightstill Avery;

--a letter of 23 August 1824 from Israel Pickens to Thomas Lenoir about the education of Israel's daughter Julia;

--a letter of 21 February 1826 in which James H. Norwood in Hillsborough, N.C., comments to Eliza Mira Lenoir on her unmarried state;

--letters, beginning in August 1829, from Selina Louise, Laura, Sarah, and Walter Waightstill Lenoir, and from Julia Pickens at school in Salem or Hillsborough, N.C., to Selina Louisa Avery Lenoir and other relatives about school life;

--a letter of 1 September 1829 in which Walter Raleigh Lenoir complained to William Lenoir about the large number of slaves in Wilkes County, N.C.: "[It is] infested with Slaves, ... which I conceive to be one of the greatest curses belonging to our Country. Under these considerations and many others I believe it would be advisable to me to visit some other region and see if I can't settle myself more satisfactory than I could in Wilkes. A non Slave holding state I would prefer" (although a letter of 11 September 1835 makes it clear that Walter held slaves in Missouri);

--letters, beginning around February 1835, from Sarah Eveline Lenoir with Walter Raleigh Lenoir in Missouri about life in that state;

--letters in late 1835 showing that Thomas and William Lenoir were having difficulty coexisting at Fort Defiance;

--a letter of 20 June 1837 in which Selina Louisa Avery Lenoir gave an overview of the Avery family;

--a letter of 6 February 1838 in which Thomas Lenoir gave a summary of activities at Fort Defiance;

--a letter of 13 May 1839 from Thomas Lenoir to William Ballard Lenoir informing William of the death of their father, and one of 21 March 1840 from William Avery Lenoir in Greene County, Ala., in which he lamented the fighting among family members over the division of William Lenoir's property.

There are also several letters--24 July 1823; 6 February 1824; 18 February, 28 March, 25 June, 14 November 1834; 8 and 28 May, 6 June 1835; 17 December 1836; 4 July 1837; 11 April 1839--that contain reminiscences of William Lenoir's exploits at the Battle of King's Mountain.

For an exhaustive look at an individual's correspondence, researchers are advised to see the description of Subseries 1.6, Undated Correspondence, which contains letters relating to: Eliza Mira Lenoir (1789-1835); Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) Garrett Lenoir (1844-1880); Rufus Theodore Lenoir (1825-1912); Sarah (Sade) Jones Lenoir (d. 1899); Sarah Leonora (Sallie) Gwyn Lenoir (1833-1913); Selina Louisa Avery Lenoir (1783-1864); Thomas Isaac Lenoir (1817-1882); Thomas Lenoir (1780-1861); Walter Waightstill Lenoir (1823-1890); William Avery Lenoir (1808-1861); William Lenoir (1751-1839); and miscellaneous Bingham, Gwyn, Lenoir, Norwood, Oertel, and other family members.

Much correspondence in this period relates to the children of William and Ann Ballard Lenoir, especially William Ballard (1775-1852) and his wife Elizabeth Avery (1781-1855) in Roane County, Tenn.; Ann's husband General Edmund Jones (1771-1855); Thomas (1780-1861) and his wife Selina Louisa Avery (1783-1864), who took charge of Fort Defiance at William Lenoir's death; Walter Raleigh (1786-1843) and his wife Sarah Eveline Bouchelle (1798-1877) in Boone County, Mo.; Eliza Mira (1789-1835) at Fort Defiance, and her niece and ward Julia A. M. Pickens Howe (1815-1898) of Alabama and Mississippi. The greater portion of the correspondence, especially after 1849, relates to the children of Thomas and Selina: William Avery (1808-1861) and his wife Jane K. Derr (d. 1850); Selina Louise (1813-1836) and her husband Samuel Pickens of in Greensborough, Ala.; Laura Leah Carolina and her husband Joseph Caldwell Norwood (1815-1889) of Hillsborough, N.C.; Mary Ann (Annie) (1819-1899) and her husband James Gwyn (1812-1888); Sarah (Sade) Jones (d. 1899) of Fort Defiance; Walter Waightstill (Wat) (1823-1890), a lawyer in Lenoir, N.C., and his wife Cornelia Isabella Christian (1827-1859); Thomas Isaac (Tom) (1817-1882) and his wife Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) Garrett (1844-1880) of the family plantation at East Fork of Pigeon, Haywood County, N.C.; and Rufus Theodore (1825-1912) and his wife Sarah Leonora (Sallie) (1833-1913) of Fort Defiance. There is also some correspondence of other Lenoir family members and of members of the related Avery, Bingham, Norwood, and Pickens families.

After the death of William Lenoir, the volume of letters relating to politics greatly decreases. In this period, most of the political letters are to or from William Avery Lenoir, who was active in Whig politics in Alabama, or Joseph Caldwell Norwood (1815-1889) of Hillsborough, N.C., Laura Leah Carolina Lenoir's husband. Some of William Ballard Lenoir's letters to his brother Thomas also contain political musings. These include:

--a letter of 4 April 1840 to William Avery Lenoir in Greensborough, Ala., about the maliciousness of Van Buren's talk against Harrison;

--letters of 14 August 1840 and 15 March and 21 June 1841 to William Avery Lenoir from Joseph Caldwell Norwood about Whigs in North Carolina;

--letters, beginning in February 1841, about Thomas Isaac Lenoir's seeking the Superior Court clerkship in Caldwell County; ¢a letter of 12 July 1843 from William Ballard Lenoir in Tennessee to brother Thomas about politics and William's son's campaign as a Whig candidate for Congress;

--a letter of 1 May 1844 from Walter Waightstill Lenoir to his mother about taking brother Rufus to see Henry Clay in Raleigh;

--a letter of 12 July 1844 from Laura Norwood to her father Thomas Lenoir about the possible division of Orange County, N.C.;

--a letter of 28 April 1845 from William Avery Lenoir in Greensborough, Ala., about the emancipation of slaves in the West Indies being more closely related to economics than humanitarian feelings;

--many letters, beginning in May 1848, relating to the politics of internal improvements, especially roads and railroads;

--letters, beginning in the late 1840s, from S. F. Patterson in Raleigh to William Avery Lenoir about North Carolina politics;

--a letter of 5 January 1860 from James Webb Norwood about a secession meeting in Lenoir.

Business letters relate to plantation management, land speculation, and various other business ventures in which Lenoir family members and their relatives were involved. Much of this correspondence is between Thomas Lenoir at Fort Defiance and his son Thomas Isaac Lenoir at the East Fork of Pigeon plantation. Included are:

--a letter of 5 July 1842 from Joseph Caldwell Norwood about closing Mickle & Norwood, a merchant concern in Hillsborough, because of hard times;

--letters, August to October 1843, from Thomas Isaac and Walter Waightstill Lenoir traveling to New York on plantation business;

--a letter of 3 April 1844 to North Carolina Governor Morehead from William Avery Lenoir on building a female academy at Lenoir;

--a letter of 17 February 1847 from William Ballard Lenoir about how slaves prices had skyrocketed;

--a letter of 20 August 1847 from Thomas Isaac Lenoir reporting on the state of the East Fork of Pigeon plantation, including a discussion of the activities of individual slaves; a letter of 18 November 1851 in which Thomas Isaac Lenoir responded to his father's sending him three slaves by saying, "To me it is gratifying to know that you are willing to trust me with that much property"; and a letter of 24 February 1852 in which Thomas Lenoir discussed a slave sale with Thomas Isaac Lenoir;

--many letters, beginning around 1848, on road and railroad building and how those activities influenced business in the areas they served;

--a letter of 13 December 1852 from William Bouchelle in Columbia, Mo., to Walter Waightstill Lenoir about setting up the University of Missouri and two female schools;

--correspondence in 1858 and 1859 between William Avery Lenoir and Joseph Caldwell Norwood about land sales;

--a letter of 1 March 1860 from Laura Norwood to her uncle Walter Waightstill Lenoir about how much she loved teaching;

--letters in October and November 1860 from Walter Waightstill Lenoir about how much he enjoyed visiting Minnesota because of the liberal attitude he found there towards road construction and other internal improvements.

Family letters include:

--letters in the 1840s from Rufus Lenoir at the Bingham school in Hillsborough and Walter Waightstill Lenoir in Chapel Hill at the University of North Carolina, including some in 1842 about Walter's wanting to leave school;

--many letters to and from Sarah (Sade) Jones Lenoir at Fort Defiance about routine family affairs;

--a letter of 15 November 1843 on the death of Walter Raleigh Lenoir;

--letters, beginning around July 1844, from Julia Pickens Howe, who had recently moved from Alabama to Mississippi;

--letters, beginning around 1844, from James Norwood, a teacher in Hillsborough;

--a letter of 22 January 1856, from Walter Waightstill Lenoir about studying law;

--letters in 1844 and 1845 from Laura Norwood to various relatives about family activities;

--letters in 1847 from James Gwyn studying at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia;

--many letters, beginning in the early 1850s, from Walter Waightstill Lenoir, practicing law in Lenoir;

--letters in 1849 from Jane and William Avery Lenoir from Warm Springs and Catawba Springs where they had gone for Jane's health, and a letter in August 1850 about Jane's death;

--a letter of 6 November 1852 from William Ballard Lenoir about his ill health and another of 12 December 1852 about his death;

--letters, beginning around 1855, from William Bingham, then at school in Chapel Hill and later a schoolmaster with his father at the W. J. Bingham & Sons Select School in Orange County, chiefly to cousin Walter Waightstill Lenoir, with whom he was great friends, or to Sarah Jones Lenoir, whom he called Aunt Sade;

--letters, beginning in the mid-1850s, from Rufus Lenoir, permanently settled at Fort Defiance;

--many letters, beginning in early 1856, between Walter Waightstill Lenoir and Cornelia (Nealy) Isabella Christian, before and after their June 1856 marriage; letters, beginning in April 1857, about Nealy's ill health; letters in 1858 about the birth and death of their daughter Anna Tate Lenoir and about trips made by Nealy to springs in Virginia and North Carolina for her health; and a few letters in 1859 about Nealy's death on 7 February of that year.

For an exhaustive look at an individual's correspondence, researchers are advised to see the description of Subseries 1.6, Undated Correspondence, which contains letters relating to: Eliza Mira Lenoir (1789-1835); Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) Garrett Lenoir (1844-1880); Rufus Theodore Lenoir (1825-1912); Sarah (Sade) Jones Lenoir (d. 1899); Sarah Leonora (Sallie) Gwyn Lenoir (1833-1913); Selina Louisa Avery Lenoir (1783-1864); Thomas Isaac Lenoir (1817-1882); Thomas Lenoir (1780-1861); Walter Waightstill Lenoir (1823-1890); William Avery Lenoir (1808-1861); William Lenoir (1751-1839); and miscellaneous Bingham, Gwyn, Lenoir, Norwood, Oertel, and other family members.

There are a few letters relating to politics during this period; as might be expected, those that exist relate to the Civil War. In business and family correspondence, however, there is a notable lack, with some exceptions, of comment on the war and its home-front repercussions. In this period, Sarah (Sade) Jones Lenoir, Rufus Theodore Lenoir, and his wife Sarah Leonora (Sallie) Gwyn Lenoir lived at Fort Defiance; Thomas Isaac Lenoir and his wife Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) Garrett Lenoir lived at East Fork of Pigeon; and Walter Waightstill Lenoir began practicing law in Lenoir, N.C., and ended living alone in a cabin in the woods at Crab Orchard in Caldwell or Watauga County, N.C.

Letters with a particularly political or Civil War slant include the following:

--letters of 3 January and 10 and 15 April 1861 that comment on secession and the attack on Fort Sumter;

--a letter of 25 June 1861 in which William Ballard Lenoir in Roane County, Tenn., advised a cousin that his cotton factory could get along without Yankee business for a year or two;

--letters, beginning with one of 2 July 1861, from Thomas Isaac Lenoir to Walter Waightstill Lenoir and others about raising a volunteer company, and, beginning in September 1861, to his wife, parents, and brothers from Thomas at various army camps, chiefly about military life and battles;

--a letter of 3 August 1861 from N. H. Gwyn to cousin Rufus Theodore Lenoir from Manassas Junction, Va., about the battle there;

--letters, beginning with one of 5 January 1862, from Walter Waightstill Lenoir, chiefly to his mother and brothers from various locations in the field until September 1862, when Walter was injured at Manassas and treated at the home of a friend in Middleburg, Va., where his right leg was amputated below the knee. Walter was home by late 1862, and, on 12 January 1863, wrote to brother Thomas about having a wooden leg made and attending the county court;

--letters, beginning in June 1863, from Thomas L. Norwood from the field to various relatives about military life;

--a letter of 23 July 1863 from Walter Waightstill Lenoir to a brother about his fear slaves will be armed and freed by the advancing Northern soldiers: "If the Yankees are strong enough to put down our fierce and strong fight for independence, they will be strong enough to govern the negroes";

--a letter of 5 February 1865 from Zebulon Baird Vance to Walter Waightstill Lenoir in which Vance wrote: "... pray God to strengthen our people for the cruel and unequal contest";

--letters in April 1865 containing descriptions of Stoneman's descent into Yadkin Valley;

--a letter of 30 December 1865 in which Walter Waightstill Lenoir resigned the position of Councillor of State to which he had been elected against his will.

Business letters include the 25 June 1861 William Ballard Lenoir letter mentioned above about his cotton factory; infrequent reports from overseers, particularly at East Fork of Pigeon, and comments on planting, particularly from Rufus Theodore Lenoir at Fort Defiance; a letter of 4 March 1863 in which Thomas L. Norwood wrote to uncle Walter Waightstill Lenoir about how uncomfortable Thomas was with the idea of being a teacher like others in his family; and a letter of 20 March 1863 relating to the sale of a slave and the seller's refusal to accept Confederate money.

Besides family letters relating chiefly to Civil War activities of family members, there are also:

--letters in April and May 1861 relating to the deaths of William Avery Lenoir and Thomas Lenoir and ones in September 1864 relating to the death of Selina Louisa Avery Lenoir;

--many letters to and from Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) Lenoir, wife of Thomas Isaac Lenoir, at East Fork of Pigeon;

--a letter of 19 August 1861 from Thomas L. Norwood to Sarah (Sade) Jones Lenoir about how much he liked being a student at the University of North Carolina;

--many letters, beginning around April 1863, relating to Walter Waightstill Lenoir's preference for living alone in various rustic cabins.

For an exhaustive look at an individual's correspondence, researchers are advised to see the description of Subseries 1.6, Undated Correspondence, which contains letters relating to: Eliza Mira Lenoir (1789-1835); Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) Garrett Lenoir (1844-1880); Rufus Theodore Lenoir (1825-1912); Sarah (Sade) Jones Lenoir (d. 1899); Sarah Leonora (Sallie) Gwyn Lenoir (1833-1913); Selina Louisa Avery Lenoir (1783-1864); Thomas Isaac Lenoir (1817-1882); Thomas Lenoir (1780-1861); Walter Waightstill Lenoir (1823-1890); William Avery Lenoir (1808-1861); William Lenoir (1751-1839); and miscellaneous Bingham, Gwyn, Lenoir, Norwood, Oertel, and other family members.

Although family members remained active in the political arena, with Walter Waightstill Lenoir serving in the North Carolina General Assembly, 1883-1884, most of correspondence from this period relates to business and family matters.

Politics looms large in the following:

--letters in early 1866 among friends and relatives that mention their feelings towards freedmen;

--a letter of 2 January 1866 from Walter Waightstill Lenoir to sister Sarah (Sade) Jones Lenoir about the superiority of the southern females over women in the North;

--a few letters in 1866 and infrequently until his death in 1873 from William Bingham of the Bingham School to Walter Waightstill Lenoir about politics in general;

--letters around 1874 from Thomas Isaac Lenoir to various family members, some of which have references to local politics;

--a letter of 5 February 1878 from Senator M. W. Ransom to Walter Waightstill Lenoir about the currency question and one from Ransom of 6 January 1881 about politics in Raleigh;

--a letter of 26 April 1875 of nephew William Ballard Lenoir, a lawyer in Asheville, N.C., to Walter Waightstill Lenoir about the African-American exodus northward;

--letters of 24 February 1880 and 13 February 1886 from Zebulon Baird Vance to Walter Waightstill Lenoir about Democratic politics;

--a few letters in 1883, especially one of 1 February, relating to Walter Waightstill Lenoir's service in the North Carolina General Assembly (there are no letters relating to his campaign for office).

Business letters relate chiefly to the dealings, beginning around 1867, of Walter Waightstill Lenoir in land development, especially relating to land around Linville, N.C.; specie speculation; silver mining; and agriculture. Most of his dealings were done in conjunction with one or more of his brothers or other relatives. There are also letters from relatives in other parts of the country about their business ventures. These include:

--letters of 19 and 21 December 1867 and 29 March 1868 from Sam Christian in Bandera, Tex., to Walter Waightstill Lenoir about the business climate in Texas;

--frequent letters from Tennessee family members, including James W. Norwood, involved in the land, factories, and mills;

--a letter of 23 February 1875 from Walter B. Gwyn at the University of Virginia to Walter Waightstill about steam engines;

--a letter of 11 February 1879 from Walter Waightstill Lenoir to a brother about hard times and his trying to "... make a few scratches towards preparing my land for nephews and nieces who will now have it in the wild state that I will leave it when I die. The fault will be in them, not the land. But our government so burdens us with debt and made extravagance that it is no longer easy to live by farming, & I don't wonder that so few of the rising generation of educated people have the heroism to try it";

--many letters in the 1880s from Walter B. Gwyn, lawyer and land agent in Asheville, to Walter Waightstill Lenoir about the business Gwyn handled for his uncle;

--infrequent letters throughout this period from Thomas L. Norwood, still a teacher at Bingham's School;

--letters in late 1890 showing that Thomas Ballard Lenoir quickly became a prime mover in the Linville Land, Mfg. and Mining Company, both as executor of Walter Waightstill Lenoir's estate and on his own behalf.

Family correspondence accounts for most of the letters in this period. Letters are to and from the Lenoir brothers, Sarah (Sade) Jones Lenoir, Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) Garrett Lenoir, Laura Norwood, Thomas L. Norwood, and others. Included are:

--letters of February 1867 and 21 June 1869 from Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) Garrett Lenoir to her husband Thomas Isaac Lenoir about what appears to be an eating disorder that plagued her, and one from Thomas to a pregnant Lizzie at Montvale Spring, N.C., on 24 July 1869, in which he wrote: "I ... can't help feeling that you are sick, but try to hope that you are getting fat--regaining your self control, forming plans for future usefulness, denying yourself momentary enjoyment, that you may recover health & strength & be happy in making others so";

--a letter of 14 December 1869 describing the death of Thomas Isaac and Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) Garrett Lenoir's baby;

--a letter of 14 December 1869 in which Laura Norwood mentions artist and Episcopal clergyman Johannes Adam Simon Oertel and letters, beginning in September 1877, from Julia Adelaide Torrey Oertel, chiefly to Sarah Leonora (Sallie) Gwyn Lenoir;

--a letter of 24 February 1873 about the death of William Bingham;

--letters in 1875 and 1876 relating to the difficulties Thomas Ballard Lenoir was having at Bingham's School and, in 1879-1880, about his life as a student at the University of North Carolina;

--letters, around September 1877 mourning the deaths of Rufus Theodore and Sarah Leonora (Sallie) Gwyn Lenoir's daughters Louisa (Loula) and Elizabeth (Bessie);

--letters, beginning around June 1878, from Thomas L. Norwood to Walter Waightstill Lenoir documenting Thomas's peregrinations in Tennessee, Texas, Mississippi, and other states in search of the ideal teaching position;

--a letter of 11 March 1880 from Walter B. Gwyn in Asheville to Walter Waightstill in which he enclosed a plan for a small house;

--letters in November 1880 documenting the death of Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) Garrett Lenoir;

--a letter of 8 January 1882 documenting the death of Thomas Isaac Lenoir;

--a letter of 9 August 1890 documenting the death of Walter Waightstill Lenoir.

For an exhaustive look at an individual's correspondence, researchers are advised to see the description of Subseries 1.6, Undated Correspondence, which contains letters relating to: Eliza Mira Lenoir (1789-1835); Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) Garrett Lenoir (1844-1880); Rufus Theodore Lenoir (1825-1912); Sarah (Sade) Jones Lenoir (d. 1899); Sarah Leonora (Sallie) Gwyn Lenoir (1833-1913); Selina Louisa Avery Lenoir (1783-1864); Thomas Isaac Lenoir (1817-1882); Thomas Lenoir (1780-1861); Walter Waightstill Lenoir (1823-1890); William Avery Lenoir (1808-1861); William Lenoir (1751-1839); and miscellaneous Bingham, Gwyn, Lenoir, Norwood, Oertel, and other family members.

Correspondence during this period is almost exclusively related to business or family matters.

Business dealings revolved around Thomas Ballard Lenoir and other family members in their dealings with the Linville Improvement Company. Much of this material was generated as a result of complications arising from Walter Waightstill Lenoir's estate, for which Thomas Ballard Lenoir was executor. Many letters deal with lawsuits surrounding estate disputes, but there are also letters relating to other lawsuits in which the Linville Improvement Company seems to have been mired. Besides Thomas Ballard Lenoir, some of the chief business players were: J. McDowell Michal of the Piedmont Wagon Company, husband of Mary (Mame), who was Thomas Isaac and Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) Garrett Lenoir's daughter; Walter B. Gwyn, lawyer and land agent in Asheville; Edmund Jones (William Lenoir was his maternal great-grandfather), lawyer of Lenoir; Hugh MacRae of Wilmington Cotton Mills; and, to a lesser extent, the Norwood relations in Tennessee and Rufus Theodore Lenoir at Fort Defiance.

Family correspondence involves many members of the Lenoir, Gwyn, Norwood, and related families. Chief among the correspondents are Sarah Leonora (Sallie) Gwyn Lenoir and her son Rufus Theodore Lenoir, Jr., who, during this period attended the Rutherford Military Institute in Rutherfordton, N.C.; the Davis School, in Winston, N.C.; and, for a short time, the A. & M. College in Raleigh. Around 1897, Rufus seems to have married Clyde Lyndon and settled with his bride in Athens, Ga., where he was either working or in school and she wrote a great number of interminable letters to her mother-in-law about the most minute details of their largely uneventful lives. Also included are:

--letters, beginning in 1891, from J. McDowell Michal to his wife Mary (Mame) as he travelled for business;

--many letters, beginning around 1892, from Julia Adelaide Torrey Oertel to Sarah Leonora (Sallie) Gwyn Lenoir about family affairs and the work of Johannes Adam Simon Oertel, and a letter of 16 September 1906 from Johannes Oertel to Sallie about his trip home to Vienna;

--a letter of 20 January 1899 documenting the death of Sarah (Sade) Jones Lenoir;

--a letter of 20 April 1937 from Robert W. Bingham, William Bingham's grandson, giving a brief history of the Bingham School.

For an exhaustive look at an individual's correspondence, researchers are advised to see the description of Subseries 1.6, Undated Correspondence, which contains letters relating to: Eliza Mira Lenoir (1789-1835); Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) Garrett Lenoir (1844-1880); Rufus Theodore Lenoir (1825-1912); Sarah (Sade) Jones Lenoir (d. 1899); Sarah Leonora (Sallie) Gwyn Lenoir (1833-1913); Selina Louisa Avery Lenoir (1783-1864); Thomas Isaac Lenoir (1817-1882); Thomas Lenoir (1780-1861); Walter Waightstill Lenoir (1823-1890); William Avery Lenoir (1808-1861); William Lenoir (1751-1839); and miscellaneous Bingham, Gwyn, Lenoir, Norwood, Oertel, and other family members.

Undated letters tend to relate to family affairs, although there are a few instances of undated business letters. Letters have been grouped by recipient/sender. There is some slight overlap in this arrangement scheme, as when Sarah Leonora (Sallie) Gwyn Lenoir wrote to her husband Rufus Theodore Lenoir or to her sister-in-law Sarah (Sade) Jones Lenoir. Researchers interested in an exhaustive look at an individual's correspondence are advised to check all of the likely folders.

Arrangement: chronological.

Processing Note: When a volume's number has changed as a result of reprocessing, the old number may be found in parentheses following the volume description.

Diaries of William Lenoir, Selina Louisa Avery Lenoir, and Walter Waightstill Lenoir. The diaries of William and Walter Waightstill Lenoir describe their military experiences in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. Selina Louisa Avery Lenoir's diary details a journey she made to visit her family and friends. Diary entries for William Avery Lenoir can be found in Series 5.1.3. Travel memoranda and diary entries for members of the Lenoir family are also found in Series 5.

Arrangement: chronological.

Writings of William Lenoir on his military and political activities, as well as the religious, school, political, and business writings of other members of the Lenoir family. There is also some religious, humorous, and love poetry.

Arrangement: chronological.

Clippings on national and international politics, war, business, religion, social issues, human interest stories, and agriculture; pages from missionary and gardening newspapers; business, financial, and religious handbills, circulars, and brochures; invitations; maps and charts; advertisements; and obituaries.

Arrangement: chronological.

Household and plantation records consist of financial and legal papers and memoranda for the household and plantation activities of the Lenoir family, including household events and expenses; slave records; recipes and distilling records; bills and receipts for plantation expenses; papers relating to property and plantation management; stud books; and livestock, blacksmith, medical, and school records. Other plantation accounts are found in Series 5.

Arrangement: by type.

Lenoir family legal and business records include the legal papers of Waightstill Avery; notes and memoranda of various legal cases in Ashe, Caldwell, Watauga, and Wilkes counties; wills and other papers relating to the settlement of the estates of members of the Lenoir family and related individuals; legal and business papers of members of the Lenoir family relating to their professional and business activities; promissory notes and volumes listing notes and debtors; Lenoir family tax records; bank statements; papers relating to the Linville Improvement Company and the Linville Building and Loan Association; Walter Waightstill Lenoir's work records for Linville, his grist and lumber mills, and other properties, consisting of ledgers listing employees and their accounts and records of days worked by employees; grist and lumber mill account books, statements, accounts, and memoranda of work done at the mills, and grain, flour, timber, and lumber used at the mills.

Arrangement: by type.

Political papers of William Lenoir include descriptions of his troubles with his political opponent James Welborn and political notebooks containing notes on the North Carolina Constitutional Convention in Hillsborough and copies of the North Carolina constitution and other state political documents. Election papers consist of vote tallies, lists of names and party affiliations for various districts in North Carolina, and a few memoranda on the Western North Carolina Railroad Company, North Carolina laws, and land entries. County papers pertain to the establishment of county lines, road construction, and the control of wolves in the county, and include a list of subscribers to the Mecklenburg monument. See also vote tallies in volume 246 (Series 5.3.).

Arrangement: chronological.

Moravian lands court case records include indentures, affidavits, agreements, reports, memoranda and notes, and other court documents relating to William Lenoir's attempt to gain the lands of the Moravian United Brethren on the grounds that they had been held in trust by a loyalist and were thus forfeit.

Arrangement: chronological.

Indentures, affidavits, agreements, reports, memoranda and notes, and other court documents relating to William Lenoir's partnership in the land speculation firm Rousseau and Company, as well as two financial records of the company. See also Series 5.1.1.

Arrangement: by case.

Indentures, affidavits, agreements, reports, memoranda, and other court documents relating to land disputes. In the earliest cases, William Lenoir seems to have been involved as a defendant or plaintiff; in later years, the cases were those of Walter Waightstill Lenoir, both as attorney and litigant. See also Series 5.1.1.

Arrangement: by type.

Land legal documents, surveys, and memoranda include grants, deeds, and indentures for the purchase and sale of land chiefly in North Carolina; volumes containing lists of land grants in Ashe and Wilkes counties, N.C.; surveys, maps, and memoranda concerning the Lenoir family's land holdings and transactions, and their work surveying land for other individuals; land survey field notes; labor and leasing agreements for land; receipts for the purchase, sale, and registration of land; survey warrants; and volumes containing the value of lands in Watauga, Caldwell, and Catawba counties, N.C. See also Series 5.1. and 5.3.

Arrangement: chronological.

Memorandum books belong to William Lenoir, his sons Walter Raleigh Lenoir and Thomas Lenoir, and Thomas's sons William Avery Lenoir, Thomas Isaac Lenoir, and Walter Waightstill Lenoir. Additional memoranda for Walter Waightstill Lenoir are found in Series 6.3.2.

Arrangement: chronological.

Processing Note: When a volume's number has changed as a result of reprocessing, the old number may be found in parentheses following the volume description.

The day books cover the daily business transactions of William Lenoir, Thomas Lenoir, and his sons William Avery Lenoir and Thomas Isaac Lenoir. The books include payments for rent, provisions, labor, and household and plantation expenses. A few of the volumes include agricultural notes or lists of accounts.

Arrangement: chronological.

Processing Note: When a volume's number has changed as a result of reprocessing, the old number may be found in parentheses following the volume description.

Account books of William Lenoir, Thomas Lenoir, William Avery Lenoir, and Walter Waightstill Lenoir, containing entries for plantation activities, lumber and construction, land transactions, labor, rents, and sales of crops and other items, as well as business, plantation, agricultural, and political memoranda. Vol. 257 contains a few diary entries by William Avery Lenoir. Vols. 248-249 are oversized volumes.

Arrangement: by type.

Tax records chiefly for Wilkes County, N.C., including memoranda for land, poll, and legal taxes; tax settlements with William and Walter Raleigh Lenoir as clerk of court of Wilkes County; lists of land and property taxes by household for the justices' returns; and tax assessments on slaves. Lenoir family personal tax records are found in Series 3.2.6. Other clerk of court records are found in Series 3.2.4.1. and Series 6.5.

Arrangement: chronological.

Census records consist of tax inventories, district listings for the census of 1840, Thomas Lenoir's 1840 census expenses and memoranda, and an instruction form for the 1840 census.

Arrangement: by type.

Military papers and volumes cover the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War, and include muster rolls, inspection and regimental returns, substitute contracts, receipts for pay and plunder, certificates of commission or promotion, division orders, and memoranda on supplies, casualties, and other regimental business.

Arrangement: by type.

Postal records are from the Fort Defiance, N.C., post office, where Thomas Lenoir, Thomas Isaac Lenoir, and Rufus Theodore Lenoir served as postmasters. The papers include financial and legal material, memoranda, and other items relating to the operation of the Fort Defiance post office. There are also many accounts of mail sent and received, and accounts of newspapers, periodicals, and pamphlets received at the Fort Defiance post office.

Arrangement: by type.

Court records include official court documents and records for various trials in the Wilkes County, N.C., County Court. Other records relating directly to William Lenoir's and William Ballard Lenoir's service as clerk of court are found in Series 3.2.4.1. and Series 6.1.1.