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Funding from the Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc., supported the encoding of this finding aid and microfilming of this collection.
Size | 1.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 430 items) |
Abstract | The Gregorie family, rice and cotton planters of Beaufort County, S.C., descended from James Gregorie (1740-1807) who came to America in 1750 and married Ann Ross. Their son, Alexander Frazier Gregorie (d. 1849), married Esther Hutson in 1798 and then Sarah McCarthy in 1813. James Gregorie (1798-1874), a son of Alexander Frazier Gregorie, married Martha McPherson in 1823. Their daughter Elizabeth (b. 1829) married William Waight Elliott (1831-1884) of Port Royal, S.C., in 1854. The collection consists of business and personal papers, 1742-1918, of the Gregorie and Elliott families in Beaufort County, S.C. Included are the papers of Alexander Frazier Gregorie, mainly concerning estate settlements and South Carolina and Georgia land, and extensive business correspondence relating to rice and cotton sales, 1844-1874, of James Gregorie, especially with his cousin John Colcock, a factor in Charleston, S.C. There are a few slave records, including bills of sale of slaves from the 1850s and 1860s, and a letter reporting on the condition of Gregorie's slaves and plantation affairs in Mississippi and South Carolina. Papers from the Civil War period concern business. Postwar correspondence with businessmen in Charleston and with northern mortgage-holders reflects the economic uncertainties and political turbulence of the times. There is some personal correspondence throughout, and many business letters include personal information. Also included are business and genealogical papers of Elizabeth Gregorie Elliott and William Waight Elliott. Family history materials relate chiefly to the Gregorie, McPherson, Woodward, De Treville, and Elliott families. |
Creator | Elliott (Family : Beaufort County, S.C.)
Gregorie (Family : Beaufort County, S.C.) |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Brooke Allan, 1960; Carolyn Wallace, 1971; Laura O'Keefe, 1983
Encoded by: Nancy Kaiser, July 2005
Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, November 2009
Updated by: Laura Hart, March 2021
Funding from the Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc., supported the encoding of this finding aid and microfilming of this collection.
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.
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The Gregorie family of Beaufort County, S.C., descended from James Gregorie (1740-1807) who came to America in 1750 and married Ann Ross. Their son, Alexander Frazier Gregorie (d. 1849), married Esther Hutson in 1798 and then Sarah McCarthy in 1813. James Gregorie (1798-1874), a son of Alexander Frazier Gregorie, was a rice and cotton planter. He married Martha McPherson in 1823. Their daughter Elizabeth (b. 1829) married William Waight Elliott (1831-1884) of Port Royal, S.C., in 1854.
Back to TopThe collection consists chiefly of business papers relating to the Gregorie and Elliott families of Beaufort County, S.C., which merged in 1854 with the marriage of Elizabeth M. Gregorie and William Waight Elliott. Throughout the collection, there are letters, deeds, bonds, accounts, and other business papers. There is also some personal correspondence, and many of the business letters are somewhat personal as the writers were ususally relatives or personal friends.
Papers, 1742-1799, are chiefly deeds and land grants relating to Gregorie and Graves family properties in Georgia and South Carolina. Included is a copy of Joshua McPherson's 1774 will.
Papers, 1800-1837, concern Alexander Frazier Gregorie (1768-1849) of Beaufort, S.C. Correspondence and other papers relate to education and property, but the bulk of materials pertain to the complicated estate settlement of William Graves (or Greaves). Other correspondents interested in this case include Nathaniel Russell, a Mrs. Harabrowski, Seaborn Jones, Reuben Wilkinson, David McCredie, Richard Habersham, James Palmer, Judge R. R. Read, Crawford & Cumming, James Nicholson, William C. Micou, and Eben Starnes. Also included is an account book, 1820s-1840s, documenting financial accounts of Charles Gregorie, Alexander Frazier Gregorie, and Thomas Hutson Gregorie.
Papers, 1844-1874, relate chiefly to the financial and legal concerns of James Gregorie (1798-1874) of Pocotagligo, S.C. and Yemassee, S.C. Included are materials relating to the estates of Charles Gregorie and Alexander Frazier Gregorie, miscellaneous bonds, contribution receipts from the Stoney Creek Independent Prebyterian Church, the wills and estate settlements of James McPherson and Elizabeth McPherson, and the marriage settlement of James's daughter Elizabeth. There are a few slave records, including bills of sale of slaves from the 1850s and 1860s, and a letter reporting on the condition of Gregorie's slaves and plantation affairs in Mississippi and South Carolina. Beginning in the late 1850s and continuing into the late 1860s, there are letters from John Colcock, a factor and commission merchant in Charleston, S.C., concerning Gregorie's cotton and rice accounts and other business matters. In the postwar period, the letters follow the family's business interests--planting, selling, and storing cotton; taxes; purchasing; comments on profit and loss; pests; and weather. In addition to giving advice and reporting on transactions, Colcock, a cousin, also mentioned family and personal events and gave news of himself and friends. Included are some copies of Gregorie's letters to Colcock. When John Colcock died, Thomas H. Colcock carried on the business, later renaming it from JohnColcock Co. to Colcock & Heyward.
Other correspondence during the late 1860s describes the uncertainties and economic and political troubles of Reconstruction. William Heyward of Charleston, S.C., gave gloomy, detailed accounts of the situation of the ex-slaves, labor problems, northern speculators, broken bridges, cotton crops, taxes, and politics. There is also correspondence between Gregorie and Charles M. Rose of New York, who advanced capital for Gregorie's plantation and had a lien on the crops until 1874. Other financial papers include hardware bills and accounts with Saml. H. Wilson & Bro., a Charleston grocer.
Papers, 1874-1918, relate to William Waight Elliott and Elizabeth Gregorie Elliott. Included are real estate titles, bonds, mortgages, and other papers chiefly concerning family history and genealogy of the Gregorie, McPherson, Woodward, De Treville, and Elliott families. Other materials include pamphlets, genealogical charts, and newspaper clippings. In addition, there are four notebooks with family history data collected by Elizabeth M. Elliott.
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