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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.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 19.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 7100 items) |
| Abstract | Family correspondence and financial and legal materials dating from the mid-eighteenth century through the early twentieth century comprise the bulk of the collection, which documents several branches of the white Hairston, Wilson, and extended families of Virginia and Mississippi. Financial and legal documents include bills, receipts, accounts, tax assessments, wills, deeds, indentures, agreements, contracts, ledgers, and slight, scattered business correspondence. Eighteenth and nineteenth-century financial and legal materials document the Hairston family's enslavement of hundreds of human beings, agricultural and other business interests, and extensive land holdings in Virginia and Mississippi, including Beaver Creek Plantation in Henry County, Va. Numerous documents, including bills of sale, tax assessments, and extracts from wills, reflect the antebellum plantation economy in the American South and illustrate the families' use of and reliance on enslaved labor from the colonial period until emancipation. Post emancipation documents include tenant agreements with African American farmers. Other materials include documents related to schools and churches which family members attended, lodges and clubs, Virginia militias in the fist decades of the nineteenth century, and the Beaver Creek Plantation household in the early twentieth century. A small number of photographs depict extended family members including Rorer James, Sr., a Virginia state senator. However, most individuals who are pictured are not identified. Genealogical information, family charts, family histories, and transcriptions of nineteenth-century documents were compiled in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries by members of the white Hairston family and related families. |
| Creator | Hairston (Family : Hairston, George, 1750-1827)
Wilson (Family : Danville, Va.) |
| Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Subject Headings
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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Biographical Information
Colonel George Hairston (1750-1825) built Beaver Creek Plantation in 1776 just outside Martinsville in Henry County, Va. In 1781, he married Elizabeth Perkins Letcher (d. 1819), widow of William Letcher. They had eleven children together.
Elizabeth also had a daughter by her first husband, William Letcher (1750-1780). Bethenia Letcher married David Pannill and was the maternal grandmother of Jeb Stuart (1833-1864).
Marshall Hairston married his cousin, Ann Hairston (1802-1888), and they lived at Beaver Creek with their four children John A. Hairston (d. 1862), Elizabeth "Bettie" Perkins Hairston (1836-1922), Ann Marshall Hairston, and Ruth Stovall Hairston (1837-1886). In 1837, Marshall Hairston rebuilt Beaver Creek, which had been destroyed in a fire.
In 1873 Bettie Perkins Hairston married her cousin J.T.W. Hairston (1835-1908), son of Harden and Sallie Staples Hairston, of Crawfordsville in Lowndes County, Miss. J.T.W. Hairston was a graduate of Virginia Military Institute, a major in the Confederate States Army, and a planter in Lowndes County, Miss.
Bettie Perkins Hairston and J.T.W. Hairston had two children, Marshall, who died in infancy, and Watt H. Hairston (1876-1916), who never married. After the death of her husband, Bettie Perkins Hairston returned to Beaver Creek and cared for the home until her death.
Ruth Stovall Hairston married Robert A. Wilson (b. 1825). Robert Wilson was the son of Robert Wilson and Catherine Pannill Wilson of Danville, Va. Ruth Stovall Hairston and Robert Wilson's daughter Annie Marshall Wilson (1869-1938) married Virginia state senator Rorer James, Sr. (1859-1921). They had three children Robert James, Rorer "Buddy" James, Jr. (1897-1937), and Annie James (1901-1966).
Annie James married James Edward Covington (1891-1977), who made frequent trips to China for the tobacco trade.
Annie Marshall Wilson James, daughter of Robert A. Wilson and Ruth Hairston Wilson, inherited Beaver Creek after Bettie Perkins Hairston died in 1922.
Marshall's brother, John Adams Hairston, married Malinda Corn. They lived with their five children in Yalabusha County, Miss.
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Scope and Content
Original deposit:
The bulk of the original deposit consists of letters to Elizabeth "Bettie" Perkins Hairston. Correspondents include her mother Ann Hairston, who wrote chiefly from the family plantations near Martinsville, Va. between the 1850s and 1890s; her sister, Ruth Stovall Hairston Wilson, who wrote from Danville, Va.; her brother, John A. Hairston, who wrote from school in Staunton, Va., from 1855 to 1857; and her cousin, Jeb Stuart (1833-1875), who wrote from West Point, from 1853 to 1854, and while fighting against the Comanches in Texas, 1855.
During the Civil War, Bettie lived with relatives in Yalabusha County, Miss., where she received letters from her family about life on the home front. There are also letters to Bettie, written after her marriage in 1873, from her husband, J.T.W. Hairston in Lowndes County, Miss., where he was trying to run a cotton plantation without enslaved labor. Other significant family correspondence documents the westward movement of various Hairston family members and includes some papers of George Hairston of Halifax County, Va., from circa 1800 to 1820.
In addition to correspondence, several account books document family life, including the involvement of family members in at least two stores in Henry County and Danville, Va., from 1800 to 1829. A household account book, dated 1831 to 1869, provides detailed information about weaving, livestock raising, gardening, and other household production. Other financial and legal materials include scattered bills, receipts, depositions, lists and other records of enslaved people, and labor contracts with freedpeople.
Additions of 2015:
The 2015 additions consist of letters of Anne Wilson, from Dan's Hill (1887-1892); farming contracts, indentures, and assorted sales records; 5 ledgers from the 19th century, at least three of which pertain to the Beaver Creek Plantation in Martinsville, Va.; and other related family papers.
Additions of 2016:
The bulk of the 2016 additions consists of financial and legal documents, including bills, receipts, accounts, tax assessments, wills, deeds, indentures, agreements, contracts, and slight, scattered correspondence. Materials pertain largely to Hairston and Wilson families' agricultural business interests and their extensive land holdings in Virginia and Mississippi. Numerous documents, including bills of sale, tax assessments, and extracts from wills, reflect the antebellum plantion economy and illustrate the families' use of and reliance on enslaved labor from the colonial period to emancipation. Post emancipation documents include tenant agreements with "colored" farmers. Documents related to land transactions often include surveys of property bought and sold.
The bulk of the family correspondence in the additions dates from the 1870s to the 1920s. Bettie Perkins Hairston and Annie Marshall Wilson James are the chief recipients of the letters from this time period. Other papers relate to schools attended by family members, Virginia militias in the early national period, churches, funerals, lodges and clubs, genealogy, and Beaver Creek Plantation. A small number of photographs depict extended family members including Rorer James, Sr. However, most individuals who are pictured are not identified.
Addition of 2017:
The addition contains genealogical information; family charts; family histories and anecdotes; and transcriptions of nineteenth-century family letters and a household ledger. Most materials were compiled by members of the white Hairston family and related extended families in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Also includes letters written by members of the family that pertain to the book The Hairstons An American Family in Black and White by Henry Wiencek (1999).
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Series Quick Links
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A. Hairston and Wilson Family Papers, 1800-1906 and undated (Original deposit).
Acquisitions information: Received from Mrs. James E. Covington, daughter of Ann M. Wilson and R. A. James of Richmond and Martinsville, Va., in June 1955.
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Correspondence, 1806-1846.
This series was part of the original deposit.
Correspondence of Colonel George Hairston with various business associates and family members, and correspondence of Marshall and Ann Hairston at Beaver Creek near Martinsville, Henry County, Va. Subjects are chiefly land and enslaved people, problems of farming, kinds of crops raised, and the westward migration of various family members.
| Folder 1 |
Colonel George Hairston correspondence #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1806-1846." Folder 1 |
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Correspondence, 1847-1873.
This series was part of the original deposit.
Chiefly letters to Elizabeth (Bettie) Perkins Hairston Hairston. These include an 1853 letter offering motherly advice from Ann Hairston Hairston at Sassafras Grove, near Martinsville, Va., while Bettie attended school in Salem, N.C.; affectionate and descriptive letters from her cousin Jeb Stuart at West Point, 1853-1854, and fighting Comanches in Texas, 1855; news from her brother, Jack A. Hairston, at Eastwood School near Staunton, Va., 1855-1857; and letters, 1866, from Danville, Va., where her sister, Ruth Stovall Wilson lived with husband, Robert Wilson.
After 1854, Bettie spent much time at her Uncle John Adams Hairston's in Yalabusha County, Miss. There she received letters from a few family members fighting for the Confederacy during the Civil War, but most correspondence concerns civilian issues--family news, war hopes and fears, accounts of contacts with troops, and problems of refugees--especially in Virginia and Mississippi. Letters after the war were written chiefly by Ann Hairston Hairston and Ruth Stovall Wilson, focusing on labor issues and adjustments to new political and economic realities with the end of slavery. Letters indicate that Ann apparently worked closely with a man named Townes to operate the Virginia plantations. Bettie continued to live alternately with family in Yalabusha County, Miss., and in Martinsville, Va. There are no courtship letters from J. T. W. Hairston, whom Bettie married in 1873.
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Correspondence, 1874-1906.
This series was part of the original deposit.
The marriage of Bettie and J. T. W. Hairston marks a definite shift in correspondence. Thereafter, letters are chiefly from J. T. W. Hairston, of Crawfordville, Miss., to Bettie (usually in Martinsville, Va.) and their son, Watt. Hairston typically wrote about local events around Crawfordville and the Lowndes County seat, Columbus, Miss. He was preoccupied with farming and the problems of raising cotton without enslaved labor. Letters suggest that he supplemented the family income by working as a land agent renting out property. His letters continue through 1906. Also of note are 1885 letters from Ann Hairston Hairston at the World's Fair in New Orleans and from Europe. Although most of the letters from Europe are undated, Ann seems to have spent an extended period there, perhaps from about 1888 to about 1898.
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Correspondence, undated.
This series was part of the original deposit.
Letters from J. T. W. Hairston in Hairston, Miss., to his wife, and letters of other family members spanning the various generations represented throughout this collection.
Folder 27-28
Folder 27Folder 28 |
J. T. W. Hairston #03149, Subseries: " Correspondence, undated." Folder 27-28 |
| Folder 29 |
Other family members #03149, Subseries: " Correspondence, undated." Folder 29 |
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Financial and legal materials: Loose papers.
This series was part of the original deposit.
Lists of enslaved people, bills, receipts, agreements, depositions, and other documents. Of note are Robert Wilson's labor contracts with freedpeople formerly enslaved on his plantations, Danshill and Sandy River, 1865-1871.
| Folder 30 |
1810-1849 #03149, Subseries: "Financial and legal materials: Loose papers." Folder 30 |
| Oversize Paper Folder OPF-3149/1 |
"Bill of A hous for Mr Saml. Hairston," circa 1823 #03149, Subseries: "Financial and legal materials: Loose papers." OPF-3149/1Includes floor plan, specifications, and bill for labor and materials. |
| Folder 31 |
1851-1864 #03149, Subseries: "Financial and legal materials: Loose papers." Folder 31 |
| Folder 32 |
1865-1871 #03149, Subseries: "Financial and legal materials: Loose papers." Folder 32 |
| Folder 33 |
1872-1895 and undated #03149, Subseries: "Financial and legal materials: Loose papers." Folder 33 |
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Financial and legal materials: Account books, 1800-1869.
This series was part of the original deposit.
| Oversize Volume SV-3149/1 |
1800-1804 #03149, Subseries: "Financial and legal materials: Account books, 1800-1869." SV-3149/1Accounts with individuals for liquor, merchandise, and labor, perhaps at Beaver Creek. The volume was also used as a scrapbook, and many pages have been pasted over with newspaper clippings and poems. |
| Oversize Volume SV-3149/2 |
1803-1807 #03149, Subseries: "Financial and legal materials: Account books, 1800-1869." SV-3149/2Accounts with individuals showing labor performed and miscellaneous purchases. Also included is a "Cash account Halifax County," 1804-1805, and an "Inventory of the plantation utensils, household and kitchen furniture, and Stock of all kind delivd. to Washington Rowland by Parrish Green at Booker's ferry on the 19th day December 1804." |
| Oversize Volume SV-3149/3 |
1804-1807 #03149, Subseries: "Financial and legal materials: Account books, 1800-1869." SV-3149/3Halifax County. Accounts with individuals for liquor, merchandise, and labor. |
| Oversize Volume SV-3149/4 |
1804-1816 #03149, Subseries: "Financial and legal materials: Account books, 1800-1869." SV-3149/4"G. H. Ledger, Halifax." Entries made by George Hairston and Henry Hairston. In addition to ledger accounts with individuals with few itemized charges, the volume also contains "A statement of weights Tobo. made by James Elder at Bookers ferry in the year 1806" and "A Statement of Crop Tobo. made by Daniel Perkins in the year 1806." |
| Oversize Volume SV-3149/5 |
1811-1829 #03149, Subseries: "Financial and legal materials: Account books, 1800-1869." SV-3149/5Account, 1811-1812, for Caswell County showing merchandize purchased and labor performed and daily accounts, 1818-1829, for the Goblen Town Store, Danville, Va. |
| Oversize Volume SV-3149/6 |
1831-1869 #03149, Subseries: "Financial and legal materials: Account books, 1800-1869." SV-3149/6Household accounts for Beaver Creek and other plantations, possibly kept by Ann Hairston Hairston. A wide variety of entries document spinning and weaving, sewing, care of livestock, vegetable gardening, recipes, candle and butter making, and miscellaneous items purchased for the household. There is much information about enslaved people on the two plantations, including work performed, birth records, and clothing distributed. Many entries describe provisions lent or bartered to neighbors. |
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B. Hairston and Wilson Family Papers, 1750-1957 and undated (Additions of 2016).
Acquisition information: Accessions 102652 and 102686
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Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated.
Arrangement: Loose chronological order by year, not by day or month.
Processing information: This series has not been fully analyzed or described. Selected quotations from letters are provided to suggest the content of the letters.
Chiefly family letters written from Mississippi and Virginia. Also included are post cards, greeting cards, telegrams, and invitations to weddings and graduations. Topics discussed in the letters include religion and religious devotion; family business interests including tobacco and cotton; enslaved people before the Civil War; employees including plantation overseers, tenant farmers, agricultural laborers, and household servants; health and illness; deaths of friends and family and bereavement; charity; children; neighbors; African Americans; American Indians; and local news. Correspondents occasionally mention national and international events, such as the progression of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, the possible impact of the Russo-Japanese War on Russia's place in the world, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and the armistice. Correspondence during the Civil War is slight and scattered.
| Folder 34 |
1778 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 34"On Monday Last there was a vary excessive draught, and of which I unfortunately was one of the soldiers draughted, in the county of Halifax. There is nearly six hundred men on the march for Norfolk..." |
| Folder 35 |
1800 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 35Death of an infant. |
| Folder 36 |
1808 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 36"Should you enter into the Matrimonial State, Through any other motives than a real reflection + honorable principals + to live + raise a Family in the fear of Our Great Creator, + not Through the list of the Carnal mind." |
| Folder 37 |
1811 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 37
|
| Folder 38 |
1812 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 38"There has been a very hard fought Battle between the Americans - British + Savag[e]s Near Queens Town, the Americans considerable worsted." |
| Folder 39 |
1813 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 39"There was a detachment of regulars and a party of Indians and NY Volunteers sent out this morning at 2 [o'clock] to force the Enemy from out of there encampments, about two miles from this place [Fort George upper Canada] The Indians composing the advance guard who attacked the Enemy..." "Our Indians [have] all returned home with considerable disgust, the Farmers Brother (the Indian Chief) stated to Genl Boyd that the Yankeys (as they call us all) was cowards..." |
| Folder 40 |
1814 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 40"The negroes too entirely well." |
| Folder 41 |
1816 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 41
|
| Folder 42 |
1819 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 42
|
| Folder 43 |
circa 1810s #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 43
|
| Folder 44 |
1821 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 44
|
| Folder 45 |
1822 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 45"to my extreme gratification found my white family well, and all the blacks except America maid Nancy and she is getting better, but the neighbourhood is very sickly, the fever…prevails all around us." |
| Folder 46 |
1825 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 46"I see no alternative but for her [widow] to be thrown on the charity of strangers for her future supports, unless you and your Brother Major P. Hairston would give her support for the balance of her life." |
| Folder 47 |
1826 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 47
|
| Folder 48 |
1829 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 48"recommend to you, Col. Robert Wilson of this County as a fit person to fill the vacancy in the command of the 11th Brigade Va. Militia…" |
| Folder 49 |
circa 1820s #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 49"To Miss Ann Hairston on her Wedding day." |
| Folder 50 |
1832 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 50
|
| Folder 51 |
1833 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 51"much have I thought of you and your eternal welfare…" |
| Folder 52 |
1834 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 52"[White Sulphur] Springs are verry much crowded; so much so, that the Col. As well myself had to take the floor two nights, for our beds." |
| Folder 53 |
1835 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 53
|
| Folder 54 |
1836 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 54"met several Indians going to town to deal in the store. I was very much amused at them. They had their horses laded with Deer skins and the females riding on them. Stayed all night at an Indians by the name of Colbert in the Chick Saw nation…" |
| Folder 55 |
1837 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 55
|
| Folder 56 |
1838 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 56"the negroes will be sold If they have not been at any rate a part of them which I wish you to purchase." |
| Folder 57 |
1839 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 57"My family both White and Black have enjoyed good health this summer." |
| Folder 58 |
circa 1830s #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 58
|
| Folder 59 |
1840 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 59
|
| Folder 60 |
1842 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 60
|
| Folder 61 |
1843 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 61"I know not whether another year we shall be able to get enough to eat. That is about as much as we have ever been able to do heretofore, and as I expect all our negroes will be taken from us this year (except one small family) I do not know what is to become of us in the ensuing, without negroes, money, or credit." "There are some little cousins here with black eyes and as yellow as indians that you have never seen." |
| Folder 62 |
1844 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 62
|
| Folder 63 |
1847 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 63
|
| Folder 64 |
1848 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 64Chiefly letters to Marshall Hairston from his daughter Bettie P. Hairston and his wife Ann Hairston. |
| Folder 65 |
1849 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 65Letters received by Ann Hairston. |
| Folder 66 |
circa 1840s #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 66
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| Folder 67 |
1850 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 67"Cornelia's health very delicate, suffering with the third day ague, and fever, had been vaccinated a few days before against small Pox, which made her quite sick and aggravated." |
| Folder 68 |
1851 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 68Letters received by Ann Hairston. |
| Folder 69-70 |
1852 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 69-70"Perhaps the loss of a lovely child, if not the most painful is yet the most enduring of all God's visitations." "I was glad you found mother in Mississippi in a prosperous condition + that your negroes were healthy. If you were to meet with many losses, it would take very high prices of Cotton to keep up your stock, negroes selling so high here. No 1 negro fellows from 10 to 1100$ young woman from 4 to 750$." |
| Folder 71 |
1853 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 71
|
| Folder 72 |
1854 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 72
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| Folder 73 |
1855 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 73"love to all and houdy to the negroes." |
| Folder 74-75 |
1856 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 74-75"Our Servants are all [getting] better so they need but little of my attention now which I assure you is quite a relief we are now busy making preparations for our Southern journey." "every body here white and black are very attentive to us." |
| Folder 76-77 |
1857 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 76-77"Your father has no overseer and is out in the farm all day attending to his own business." "we had some very cold weather in Dec + Jan, but I heard of no persons being frozen except some negroes in the Tallahatchie bottom who were drunk." |
| Folder 78 |
1858 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 78
|
| Folder 79 |
circa 1854-1858 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 79Letters written by J.T.W. Hairston from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI). |
| Folder 80 |
1859 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 80
|
| Folder 81-82 |
circa 1850s #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 81-82
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| Folder 83 |
1860 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 83
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| Folder 84 |
circa 1861 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 84Contains a letter from Alfred Ely to "General" that may have been written when Ely was a prisoner of war (POW) in Richmond, Va. |
| Folder 85 |
1862 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 85
|
| Folder 86 |
1863 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 86"In regards to the remains of your Dear boy...Mr. Kit Clarke of Patrick, told me that he saw him buried + had himself placed a plank at the head of the Grave + could find + show it." |
| Folder 87 |
1864 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 87"I have been struck by two spent balls during this [?] expedition." "I think this year will close the war…And then what rejoicing we will have." |
| Folder 88 |
1865 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 88"I have taken some trouble to get you all the information I could about white labour. In Richmond I called upon Harrison, Guddin + Apperson who have been importing Swedes into Virginia. They told me the Swedes had been tried upon five plantations in Jones River and given satisfaction upon four of the five. Upon one of them some mechanics, such as tailors...got among them and then were not satisfied upon the plantation + left. The price of able bodied men $150 Women $100 Boys and Girls up to 20 $50 or more in proportion to ability...You are to reserve something monthly from their wages so as to keep them to their contract. Food + Shelter to be provided for all. Some persons make a different contract and give them one fifth of the crop. They have never been accustomed to corn bread and do not like it _ So you would have to furnish them part of their rations in flour. It is said they work well + live upon much less than it takes to feed the negroes." |
| Folder 89 |
1866 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 89
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| Folder 90 |
1867 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 90
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| Folder 91 |
1868 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 91
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| Folder 92 |
1869 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 92"The negroes have water melon patches on the river." |
| Folder 93 |
1870 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 93"I will have to change my cook in a few days…I will be inconvenienced if I do not employ another cook_She is so honest and all my house servants are her children…A white woman sent Mr. Wilson word today that she would cook for him if he would let her daughter live with her." "We are all at this time very much shocked + distressed by the Sad & afflicting news from Richmond...among the Names of the killed was one Major Sam Hairston." The courthouse in Richmond, Va., collapsed. |
| Folder 94 |
1871 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 94"I am engaged at this time in writing a historical novel, in which I shall have to mention the Murder of Col Letcher by Nichols, during the Revolutionary War." |
| Folder 95 |
1872 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 95
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| Folder 96 |
1873 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 96
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| Folder 97 |
1874 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 97"Every thing seems to have become easy except Money matters _ Negroes are working well so far." |
| Folder 98 |
1875 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 98"Hardin says-so the negroes say-That he always knew that Negro Preachers and thought that white preachers did not stick to the [truth] + now he knows that both are about equal on the truth question." |
| Folder 99 |
1877 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 99
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| Folder 100 |
1878 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 100
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| Folder 101 |
1879 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 101
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| Folder 102 |
circa 1870s #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 102
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| Folder 103 |
1880 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 103
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| Folder 104 |
1881 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 104"He is as you know, an old man with a helpless family, only daughters to comfort him. I write without their knowledge and will ask you to pardon me for calling on you to aid them in their heavy loss." |
| Folder 105 |
1882 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 105
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| Folder 106 |
1884 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 106
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| Folder 107 |
1885 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 107
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| Folder 108 |
1886 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 108Contains a letter written by a child. |
| Folder 109-112 |
1887 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 109-112Contains many letters written on bereavement stationery. |
| Folder 113-114 |
1888 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 113-114
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| Folder 115-116 |
1889 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 115-116Contains letters written from cities in Italy. |
| Folder 117-118 |
circa 1880s #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 117-118
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| Folder 119-120 |
1890 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 119-120
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| Folder 121-126 |
1891 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 121-126Most letters are from Rorer James, Sr., writing from Richmond, Va., to his wife Annie Marshall Wilson James. |
| Folder 127-134 |
1892 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 127-134Most letters are from Rorer James, Sr., writing from Richmond, Va., to his wife Annie Marshall Wilson James. |
| Folder 135 |
1893 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 135Contains letters written from cities in Italy. |
| Folder 136 |
1894 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 136
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| Folder 137 |
1895 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 137
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| Folder 138 |
1896 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 138
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| Folder 139 |
1897 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 139
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| Folder 140 |
1898 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 140
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| Folder 141 |
1899 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 141
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| Folder 142 |
circa 1890s #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 142
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| Folder 143 |
1900 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 143Includes a letter from archaeologist Clarence Bloomfield Moore, who studied and excavated American Indian sites. "We hope to visit your place this coming winter…Our present plans are to begin work at the lower end of the river and do all the work we can on our way up." |
| Folder 144 |
1901 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 144Contains a letter written by a child. |
| Folder 145 |
1902 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 145
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| Folder 146 |
1903 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 146
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| Folder 147 |
1904 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 147"Have not received any letters from you this week + only the account book from Watt and never see any white person." "[?] son was killed last week _ supposed by Negroes." |
| Folder 148 |
1905 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 148"It seems that with the aid of the Japanese The people of Rusia[sic] will gain their liberties _ If a few more Sergius were disposed of Rusia might take her place as a good nation among the powers." |
| Folder 149 |
1906 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 149
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| Folder 150 |
1907 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 150
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| Folder 151-153 |
1908 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 151-153
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| Folder 154 |
1909 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 154Contains letters written by a child. |
| Folder 155 |
circa 1900-1910 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 155
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| Folder 156-157 |
1910 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 156-157
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| Folder 158-159 |
1911 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 158-159Contains a letter written by a child. |
| Folder 160-161 |
1912 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 160-161Contains a letter written by a child. |
| Folder 162-163 |
1913 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 162-163
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| Folder 164-165 |
1914 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 164-165"I am very bitter against the brutal 'Huns,' and particularly the Kaiser. It is appalling to think of the sorrowing homes not only on the countries of the Allies but in Germany and Austria also." |
| Folder 166 |
1915 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 166
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| Folder 167-169 |
1916 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 167-169Contains a letter written by a child. |
| Folder 170-171 |
1917 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 170-171
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| Folder 172-173 |
1918 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 172-173"I believe that if the German people would only do their part and do away with the Kaiser and his Henchmen, the Allies would be much more reasonable than they will be if the war continues….I am here to fight, and am going to do the best I can. I have a good company, and both my men and Officers are so loyal to me and so willing." |
| Folder 174-176 |
1919 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 174-176"I am still in the same little town in France where we have been since we came out of the line after the Armistice was signed." |
| Folder 177 |
circa 1910s #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 177
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| Folder 178-179 |
1920 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 178-179
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| Folder 180-185 |
1921 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 180-185Includes many letters expressing sympathy following the death of Rorer A. James, Sr. |
| Folder 185a |
Telegrams, 1921 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 185aProcessing information: These telegrams represent a sample of those donated to this collection. Approximately 100 telegrams were discarded because they had become too brittle to handle and fell apart at the touch. Expressions of sympathy following the death of Rorer A. James, Sr. |
| Folder 186 |
1922 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 186
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| Folder 187 |
1923 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 187
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| Folder 188 |
1924 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 188
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| Folder 189 |
1926 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 189
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| Folder 190 |
1927 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 190
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| Folder 191 |
1928 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 191
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| Folder 192-204 |
circa 1900-1920s #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 192-204
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| Folder 205-207 |
Greeting cards, circa 1900-1920s #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 205-207
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| Folder 208 |
1930 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 208
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| Folder 209 |
1936 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 209
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| Folder 210 |
1937 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 210
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| Folder 211 |
circa 1930s #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 211
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| Folder 212 |
1951-1954 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 212Contains a letter written by a child. |
| Folder 213 |
1957 #03149, Subseries: "Correspondence, 1778-1957 and undated." Folder 213"there is no sense in my fighting this climate any more_ All my family are 100% for this _ My coloured maid will go with me + stay for several months." |
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Financial and legal materials, 1750-1936 and undated.
Arrangement: Loose chronological order by year, not by day or month.
Processing information: The series has not been fully analyzed or described. In the initial culling of the financial and legal materials, items with a direct and readily apparent connection to enslavement were filed separately within a given year. Please note that the items filed separately do not represent an exhaustive analysis or the comprehensive identification of documents related to enslaved persons or the institution of slavery.
Bills, receipts, accounts, tax assessments, wills, land grants, deeds, indentures, agreements, contracts, and slight, scattered correspondence pertain to Hairston and Wilson family business interests including cotton and tobacco and to their extensive land holdings in Virginia and Mississippi. Early documents, including bills of sale and extracts from wills, illustrate the families' use of and reliance on enslaved labor from the colonial period to emancipation. Many documents related to land transactions include surveys of property bought and sold.
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Other papers, 1794-1957 and undated.
Processing information: This series has not been fully analyzed or described.
Chiefly items related to schools attended by members of the Hairston and Wilson families. Of note are presidential pardons for Marshall Hairston and J.T.W. Hairston signed by President Andrew Johnson in 1865. Other materials are related to the Virginia militias in the early national period, churches, funerals, lodges and clubs, and genealogy of the white members of the Hairston, Wilson, and related families. Also included are a household inventory and library catalog for Beaver Creek Plantation in Virginia from the early twentieth century and an 1898 broadside advertising the sale of the Danville Register.
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Photographs, undated circa 1900-1920s.
Processing information: This series has not been fully analyzed or described.
A small number of photographs depict family members including Rorer James, Sr. However, most individuals who are pictured are not identified.
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C. Papers, 1887-1895 (Addition of May 2015)
Acquisitions information: Accession 102223
The addition of May 2015 consists of letters of Anne Wilson, from Dan's Hill (1887-1892); farming contracts, indentures, and assorted sales records; 2 ledgers, 1893, 1895; and other related family papers.
| Box 36 |
Papers #03149, Series: "C. Papers, 1887-1895 (Addition of May 2015)" Box 36Letters, farming contracts, indentures, and assorted sales records; ledgers, and related family papers. |
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D. Ledgers, 1800s (Addition of June 2015)
Acquisitions information: Accession 102246
The addition of June 2015 consists of 3 account ledgers of Beaver Creek Plantation in Martinsville, Va., 1800s.
SV-03149/7-9
SV-03149/7SV-03149/8SV-03149/9 |
Ledgers, 1800s #03149, Series: "D. Ledgers, 1800s (Addition of June 2015)" SV-03149/7-9 |
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E. Genealogy and Family History Materials, circa 1970s-2017 (Addition of 2017).
Acquisition information: Accession 103057
Series contains genealogical information; family charts; family histories and anecdotes; and transcriptions of nineteenth-century family letters and a household ledger. Most materials were compiled by members of the white Hairston family and related extended families in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Also includes letters written by members of the family that pertain to the book The Hairstons An American Family in Black and White by Henry Wiencek (1999).
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Items Separated
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.
Processed by: Lisa Tolbert, January 1992 and Laura Hart, May 2017.
Updated by: Laura Hart, June 2018; Amy Morgan and Jodi Berkowitz, March 2019; Laura Hart, January 2020
Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008
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