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 Matthew Cary Whitaker Papers #768, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Mrs. Robert R. William of Asheville, N.C., before 1940; from Meriweather D. Williams in July 2006 (Acc. 100448); purchased from the Historical Shop at Metairie, La., in January 2012 (Acc. 101552); and received from Katherine Williams Jewell in September 2022 (Acc. 20220930.3)

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: SHC Staff,

Encoded by: Kathryn Roth, February 2008

This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.

Finding aid updated in March 2012 by Armando Suarez and in December 2022 by Jackie Dean because of additions.

Conscious Editing Work by: Nancy Kaiser, July 2020. Updated abstract, subject headings, biographical note, scope and content note, and container list.

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.

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.

• Agriculture--Alabama--History--19th century.
• Agriculture--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Alabama--Economic conditions.
• Alabama--Social life and customs.
• Confederate States of America--Social conditions.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Officiers.
• Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889.
• Enfield (N.C.)
• Enslaved persons--Employment--North Carolina.
• Enslaved persons--Medical care--North Carolina.
• Enslaved persons--North Carolina--Registers.
• Families--Alabama.
• Families--North Carolina.
• Fort family.
• Halifax County (N.C.)--History.
• Halifax County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845.
• Lawrence County (Ala.)--History.
• Lawrence County (Ala.)--Social life and customs.
• Medical fees--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Medicine--Practice--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Perquimans County (N.C.)--History.
• Physicians--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Plantation owners--Alabama.
• Plantation owners--North Carolina.
• Plantations--Alabama.
• Plantations--North Carolina.
• Ranson, R. (Robert), 1828-1892.
• Real property--Alabama--History--19th century.
• Slavery--Alabama.
• Slavery--North Carolina.
• Slavery--United States--History--18th century--Sources.
• Slavery--United States--History--19th century--Sources.
• Whitaker Family Plantation (N.C.)
• Whitaker family.
• Whitaker, Matthew Cary, 1801-1873.
• Whitaker, Spier, 1841-1901.

• Cary Whitaker Papers (#767)
• Matt W. Ransom Papers (#2615)
• R. Ransom Papers (#622)
• Spier Whitaker Papers (#770)
• Absalom Benton Whitaker Papers (#1124)
• Whitaker and Meade Papers (#1132)
• Whitaker and Snipes Family Papers (#770)

Matthew Cary Whitaker (1801-1873) was a white physician and plantation owner of Enfield, Halifax County, N.C.

The Matthew Cary Whitaker Papers document a white physician and plantation owner in Enfield, Halifax County, N.C., the related Whitaker and Fort family members, and people who were enslaved by these families. Enslaved people are identified in bills of sale, wills, deeds, and lists, and are sometimes discussed more broadly in correspondence in terms of their labor, which frequently was hired out. There also is family correspondence, including letters received by Whitaker when he was studying medicine in Baltimore, Md., 1823-1824, and bills, receipts, accounts, and business papers related primarily to plantation operations. Letters to Matthew Whitaker from his brother, Spier Whitaker, and other family members discuss family news, Halifax County political news, opinions of presidential candidates, monetary and other changes made by President Andrew Jackson, and the rising price of grain due to scarcity in Europe.

Items before 1823 are deeds, accounts, and other papers concerning the related Fort family and the people they enslaved. Of note are letters concerning plantations in Lawrence County, Ala. Letters from Fort family members in Alabama to Hilliard Fort of Halifax County, N.C., indicate that Alabama land was more productive than North Carolina land and encourage him to speculate in unclaimed lands in Alabama.

The Addition of 2006 also documents Whitaker and Fort family members, friends, and the people they enslaved, and contains correspondence and financial and legal records. Topics include family news, Halifax County news, plantation matters, and politics. Of note is an 1864 letter from Jefferson Davis to Mrs. Ransom, a Whitaker family friend, discussing the whereabouts of her husband, Major General Robert Ransom Jr.

The Addition of 2012 consists of a physician's ledger kept by Matthew Whitaker, 1827-1839, containing details of treatments, charges, payments, and medications prescribed to white people and enslaved people in the Halifax County, N.C., area; and a plantation journal belonging to Hilliard Fort, 1820-1827, that documents the labor of enslaved people (at least four pages towards the end of the volume) and other aspects of plantation operations, including purchases, promissory notes, and debts.

The Addition of 2022 contains letters from family members and friends. There is also letter dated 3 February 1836 from George Washington Carpenter of Philadelphia, Penn., possibly discussing a labor transaction.