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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 | 6.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 4560 items) |
| Abstract | The Mary Hunter Kennedy papers document the white members of the Houston, Young, Dalton, and Kennedy families of Iredell County, N.C., Maury County, Tenn., and Pettis County, Missouri, as well as people who were enslaved by these families and or hired by them as freedmen. Enslaved people are represented in bills of sale and work contracts that evidence human trafficking, and in the contested will of Christopher Houston (1737-1844), the anti-slavery patriarch who upon his death manumitted the people he enslaved. Freedmen are found in work contracts. There are also letters that describe white frontier women's perspective on overseeing the forced labor of enslaved people. Other correspondence, legal and financial papers, and pictures document the large family network as they spread out from Iredell County seeking more profitable lands to the south and west. The letters typically provide vivid pictures of frontier life in Tennessee and Missouri, including reports of weather, health, crops, religion, education, and, especially, the daily lives and work of women. Other topics include Presbyterian faith; property; postmastership in Iredell County, which was held by family members for nearly a century; the North Carolina tobacco trade from the 1840s through the 1880s; and writings by children. There are also American Civil War era letters written by soldiers, who told of military life, and civilians, who wrote about local conditions in various southern states. The extensive genealogical materials were chiefly collected by Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton (1814-1901) and her granddaughter Mary Hunter Kennedy. Volumes include school notebooks and account books relating to the tobacco industry and to general merchandising, as well as to estates and domestic expenses. |
| Creator | Kennedy, Mary Hunter. |
| 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
The story of the extensive white family from whom these papers derive begins with Michael Cadet Young of Virginia (d. 1769). His son Thomas Young (1732-1829) of Brunswick County, Va., apparently migrated from Mecklenburg County, Va., to Hunting Creek, in what was then Rowan (now Iredell) County, N.C., about 1778-1780. His children, Elizabeth Ragsdale Young (1786-1837) and Samuel Young (1781-1847), married children of Christopher Houston (1744-1837) and Sarah Mitchell Houston of Houstonville, Iredell County. Christopher had come from Pennsylvania to North Carolina about 1765 and went on to Tennessee about 1814.
Elizabeth R. Young married Christopher's son Placebo Houston (1779-1859) and Samuel Young married Placebo's sister Sarah Houston. Until the 1840s, the bulk of the papers consists of letters to these two couples, especially letters from Placebo and Sarah's father Christopher and their brother James in Tennessee, and letters to Thomas Young, especially from his relatives in Tennessee and South Carolina.
From the mid 1830s, the correspondence is increasingly addressed to Placebo's daughter Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton (1814-1901) of Houstonville and Eagle Mills, also in Iredell County. Unlike her brothers and sisters, Mary Cecelia remained at home, and, throughout her long life, kept in close contact with her widely scattered relatives, especially with her brother Thomas Franklin Houston in Pettis County, Mo., and her sisters, Louisa Houston Reinhardt in North Carolina and Lucy Melissa Houston Motz also in Pettis County, Mo. In 1845, Mary Cecelia married John Hunter Dalton, a manufacturer of plug and twist tobacco. Following Louisa Reindardt's death and her husband's remarriage, some of her older children lived with Mary Cecelia and with her brother Thomas. Many of the letters Mary Cecelia received from Confederate Army soldiers were from these nephews.
Mary Cecelia appears to have acted as the hub of this family, the one who kept even distantly related cousins up to date on family news. Probably it was from this role that her interest in genealogy grew. Much of Mary Cecelia's correspondence after 1880 contains genealogical information as well as more general family news.
The Daltons' daughter Bettie married Philip Butler Kennedy, her father's partner in the tobacco business. After her mother's death in 1901, the bulk of the letters are to her from her children, especially Frank H. Kennedy and Mary Hunter Kennedy. Mary Hunter Kennedy, like her grandmother Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton, carried on much correspondence concerning genealogy.
For more information see folders 40-41 and 200-203.
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Scope and Content
The Mary Hunter Kennedy papers document the white members of the Houston, Young, Dalton, and Kennedy families of Iredell County, N.C., Maury County, Tenn., and Pettis County, Missouri, as well as people who were enslaved by these families and or hired by them as freedmen. Enslaved people are represented in bills of sale and work contracts that evidence human trafficking, and in the contested will of Christopher Houston (1737-1844), the anti-slavery patriarch who upon his death manumitted the people he enslaved. Freedmen are found in work contracts. There are also letters that describe white frontier women's perspective on overseeing the forced labor of enslaved people. Other correspondence, legal and financial papers, and pictures document the large family network as they spread out from Iredell County seeking more profitable lands to the south and west. The letters typically provide vivid pictures of frontier life in Tennessee and Missouri, including reports of weather, health, crops, religion, education, and, especially, the daily lives and work of women. Other topics include Presbyterian faith; property; postmastership in Iredell County, which was held by family members for nearly a century; the North Carolina tobacco trade from the 1840s through the 1880s; and writings by children. There are also American Civil War era letters written by soldiers, who told of military life, and civilians, who wrote about local conditions in various southern states. The extensive genealogical materials were chiefly collected by Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton (1814-1901) and her granddaughter Mary Hunter Kennedy. Volumes include school notebooks and account books relating to the tobacco industry and to general merchandising, as well as to estates and domestic expenses.
This collection is divided into two series: Series 1 consists of material received by the Southern Historical Collection prior to 1959; Series 2 consists of the numerous additions made since that date. The series contain essentially similar material. In Series 1, correspondence, business, financial and legal papers are arranged chronologically in Series 1, while in Series 2, non-correspondence has been separated from the letters.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Original Deposit, 1959.
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Subseries 1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
| Folder 1 |
Correspondence, 1759-1783 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 114 items. Letters from Michael Cadet Young to his son Thomas Young, Crooked Creek, Lunenburgh County, Va. Also included are bills, bonds, deeds, and miscellaneous papers of Thomas Young in Virginia, and, 1780, on Hunting Creek in Rowan County, N.C. |
| Folder 2 |
Correspondence, 1785-1810 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 220 items. Miscellaneous papers of Thomas Young and of Christopher Houston, including receipts, deeds, correspondence, and the will of Thomas Young, circa 1801, naming his children. Items relating also to William Young, A. Young, Christopher Ellis, Robert Houston. 18 October 1808 and 14 November 1809, letters from William W. Woodward, Philadelphia, to Christopher Houston, itemizing a library being purchased by Houston and discussing books and religious revival. April 1810, William Ballard, Mecklenburg County, to Thomas Young about family news. |
| Folder 3 |
Correspondence, 1811-1814 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 313 items. Receipts and letter addressed to Christopher Houston, postmaster of Iredell County. 1812, receipt for three enslaved people who were trafficked by Placebo Houston to James Houston in Maury County, Tenn. 29 November 1814(?), Christopher Houston, Maury County, Tenn., to his son-in-law Samuel Young, Houstonville, N.C. |
| Folder 4 |
Correspondence, 1815-1817 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 410 items. Four letters from Christopher and Sarah Houston at Beech Grove, Maury County, Tenn., to their children in Iredell County, N.C., describing their situation in Tennessee, telling family news, and discussing religion. Appointment of Placebo Houston as postmaster at Houstonville, June 1815, and his receipts, etc. |
| Folder 5 |
Correspondence, 1818 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 56 items. Papers of Placebo Houston, including letters from his father Christopher Houston, Beech Grove, Tenn. 30 July 1818, will of Thomas Young (1732-1829), naming his children Samuel, Elizabeth Houston, Francis, John M., Temperance Carson, Thomas, Susannah Gill. |
| Folder 6 |
Correspondence, 1820-1823 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 619 items. Papers of Placebo Houston, continued, including more letters from relatives in Tennessee, and papers relating to the property of his cousin Andrew Mitchell, who was moving to Lawrence County, Ala. |
Folder 7-8
Folder 7Folder 8 |
Correspondence, 1824-1828 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 7-828 items. More family letters from Maury County, Tenn., and Lawrence County, Ala., to the Houstons and Youngs in Iredell County. Social invitations, business receipts. |
| Folder 9 |
Correspondence, 1829-1830 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 922 items. More family letters from Tennessee and Alabama, giving news of Houston, London, Bills, Martin, Gill, Wright, and Mitchell families. Topics include health, crops, marriages, births, deaths, cholera, the times, religion, and politics. Christopher Houston recommended specific reading and gave advice. |
| Folder 10 |
Correspondence, 1831-1832 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 1019 items. More letters from Christopher Houston at Springhill Garden in Bedford County, Tenn., and James Houston in Maury County, Tenn. In these letters, Christopher was becoming more verbose in his religious discussions. 17 June 1831, Thomas L. Jones, Abbeyville, Va., inquiring of the Houstonville postmaster about Mr. Ney, the schoolmaster formerly at Abbeyville. 14 August 1832, Christopher Houston trying to remember his Revolutionary War service and get records. |
| Folder 11 |
Correspondence, 1833-1835 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 1120 items. More Houston letters from Tennessee as above; also from Andrew Carson in Henry County, Tenn., to his Uncle Placebo Houston, July 1835. |
| Folder 12 |
Correspondence, 1836 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 128 items. More Houston family letters. Christopher Houston on the subject of the institution of slavery, 4 April and subsequent letters. 27 September, J. Augustus Young, Statesville, to his cousins Mary Cecelia and Emma Houston, Houstonville. |
| Folder 13 |
Correspondence, 1837-1839 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 1316 items. Papers of Placebo Houston and correspondence of his daughters with their Houston and Young cousins. Letters from James Houston, Marshall County, Tenn., and others about the dispute over the formerly enslaved people who had been manumitted by his father's will. 17 October 1838, Andrew Mitchell, Hardeman County, Tenn., to his kinsman Placebo Houston, on current affairs, politics, family news. |
| Folder 14 |
Correspondence, 1840-1849 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 1467 items. Bills, receipts (42), notes, mostly of Placebo Houston and John H. Dalton. Houston family letters from James in Tennessee and Thomas F. Houston in Missouri. Letters, beginning 1841, to John H. Dalton, Madison, Rockingham County, N.C., from his brothers P. H. Dalton and Robert H. Dalton, in Greensboro, N.C., and Livingston, Ala. Letters from Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton, beginning in 1845, to her husband John Hunter Dalton while he was traveling through the South in the interest of his tobacco business. She stayed at Houstonville during his absences. Letters to Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton from friends and relatives. 11 September 1848, P. H. Dalton, at Cabin Hill, Houstonville, tells of his preaching and personal news. |
| Folder 15 |
Correspondence, 1850-1859 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 1583 items. Papers of Placebo Houston and of John H. Dalton, including business papers and receipts (52), family letters, and report for Bettie Dalton at Concord Female College, Statesville, N.C. Among the correspondents are Bettie Dalton, a the time a young girl writing to her parents, 1854-1859, while she was in school at Statesville; Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton to her husband; and L. M. Motz, J. A. Reinhardt of Sugar Hill, Ga., James H. Dalton of Patrick County, Va., Robert H. Dalton of Aberdeen, Miss., all kinsmen; and others. |
| Folder 16 |
Correspondence, 1860 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 1625 items. Dalton and Houston family letters, written from Statesville and High Point, N.C.; Sligo, Tenn.; West Point, Ga.; Friendship, S.C.; and from Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton at Houstonville to her husband when he was absent. Also letters concerning tobacco business to John H. Dalton. |
| Folder 17 |
Correspondence, 1861 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 1719 items. Dalton family correspondence, continued, the letters being mostly to Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton, and including letters from daughter Bettie at Statesville; Robert H. Dalton at Aberdeen, Miss.; A. P. Reinhardt at Sligo, Tenn.; and the following Confederate soldiers: Dwight Reinhardt near Nashville, Tenn., and Bowling Green, Ky.; Lt. Col. John A. Young at Tudor Hall, Va.; J. H. Reinhardt near Yorktown, Va., 9 November; and E. A. Osborne at Manassas, Va., November-December. |
| Folder 18 |
Correspondence, 1862 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 1828 items. Letters to Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton; also some to her husband. Some letters were written by Bettie in school at Statesville; other are from Reinhardt and Young and other relatives in the Confederate Army at Manassas in January and March; Wythe, Va. in March; Suffolk, Va. in March; Richmond in May-July; Dalton, Ga., on 18 September; Winchester, Va., on 11 October; and Culpeper, Va., on 13 November; also from civilian relatives at Salisbury, Statesville, and Madison, N.C, and Laurens, S.C., and Leighton, Ala. 1 August, a small broadside appealing for help for the Rowan Way-Side Hospital, Salisbury, N.C. |
| Folder 19 |
Correspondence, 1863 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 1928 items. Letters to Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton and to Bettie from friends and relatives at Charlotte, Hamptonville, Randolph County, Salisbury, and Statesville, N.C; and Guntersville, Ala.; Laurens, S.C.; War Trace, Tenn.; Fredericksburg, Orange, and Mortons Ford, Va. 16 March, Raleigh, N.C, an inquiry to J. H. Dalton about making potash on his land. 19 September, High Point, N.C, P. H. Dalton trying to get flour and a horse and other necessities. October-November, letters from Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton at Houstonville to her daughter Bettie visiting in Columbia. 12 December, items relating to the funeral and estate of Rachel Dalton, and settlement of estate of Nicholas Dalton. |
| Folder 20 |
Correspondence, 1864-1865 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 2029 items Letters to Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton and Bettie from relatives in North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and Virginia, the Reinhardt and Young cousins and E. A. Osborne in the Confederate Army, and civilian cousins elsewhere. Three letters from A. L. Young at Salisbury, N.C., 1865. 25 February 1865, Peter S. Wilkes, House of Representatives at Richmond, to his cousins. |
| Folder 21 |
Correspondence, Undated, circa 1860-1865 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 21 |
| Folder 22 |
Correspondence, 1866-1867 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 2216 items. More Dalton family letters. Correspondence of Bettie Dalton on a visit to Alabama and Missouri. Letters from Richard Kennedy in New Orleans to his brother Philip Butler Kennedy. 25 March 1867, Thomas F. Houston, Pettis County, Mo., to his sister in Iredell County, N.C. Transcript relating to the case of William J. Pendleton vs. John H. Dalton, having to do with the estate of Placebo Houston (original bill, 1863, and answer and testimony). |
| Folder 23 |
Correspondence, 1868 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 2314 items. Dalton family letters continued, chiefly correspondence between Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton at Houstonville and daughter Bettie visiting in Missouri. Miscellaneous personal letters. |
| Folder 24 |
Correspondence, 1869 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 2414 items. Dalton correspondence continued. Bettie in Missouri and then back at home at Eagle Mills, Iredell County, N.C. Letters to Bettie from cousin Frank Houston at Ann Arbor, Mich., and later at home in Missouri. Robert H. Dalton in St. Louis to his brother. |
| Folder 25 |
Correspondence, 1870-1871 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 2530 items. Receipts (16) for tobacco crops purchased by J. Dalton. Communications from the U.S. Internal Revenue Dept. to J. H. Dalton about tobacco taxes. Personal and family letters to Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton and Bettie, from Laurens, S.C., Sedalia, Mo., and Charlotte, N.C. Richard Kennedy in New Orleans to his brother. |
| Folder 26 |
Correspondence, 1872-1874 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 2619 items. Continuation of business papers of J. H. Dalton, Eagle Mills, N.C., relating to his tobacco company. ersonal and family letters to Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton and Bettie. Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton was visiting in Missouri in 1874. Family letters from cousins in North Carolina, Missouri, and Illinois. |
| Folder 27 |
Correspondence, 1875 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 2714 items. More Dalton letters as above; also from Robert H. Dalton in Los Angeles. Items in case of John H. Dalton vs. Thomas N. Cooper, former partner in tobacco business. |
| Folder 28 |
Correspondence, 1876-1877 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 2813 items. Family letters from R. H. Dalton in Los Angeles, Richard Kennedy in New Orleans, John A. Young in Charlotte, N.C., and others in Bloomington, Ill., and Henrietta, Tex.; also items relating to business affairs of J. H. Dalton. |
| Folder 29 |
Correspondence, 1878-1879 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 2913 items. Dalton family letters continued. Items relating to Dalton vs. Cooper, and to Nicholas Dalton's trouble with U.S. Revenue Department regulations. |
| Folder 30 |
Correspondence, 1880-1884 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 3010 items. Papers of John H. Dalton and other family members in partnership with P. B. Kennedy, manufacturers of plug and twist tobacco, Eagle Mills, Iredell County, N.C. Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton's correspondence with scattered relatives about genealogy; also family letters. 31 December 1880, Lyman C. Draper to Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton inquiring about James Houston at Battle of Kings Mountain. 1883, Appointment of Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton as postmaster of Houstonville. 11 February 1884, transcript of case from Rowan Superior Court, of John A. Houston vs. John H. Dalton and others in the estate of Placebo Houston (1872-1878). |
| Folder 31 |
Correspondence, 1885-1889 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 3125 items. Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton's correspondence about family matters and genealogy; continuation of series of letters from cousin Ann C. Elliott, Bloomington, Ill., to Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton; also from P. S. Wilkes, 30 July 1888, and Franklin Houston, March 1889, Sedalia, Mo. September-October 1886, correspondence between Lyman C. Draper and Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton, concerning P. S. Ney, Daniel Boone traditions, and North Carolina place-names. |
Folder 32-33
Folder 32Folder 33 |
Correspondence, 1890-1899 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 32-3323 items. Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton's genealogical correspondence. Notes, deeds, and other business documents of P. B. Kennedy. |
| Folder 34 |
Correspondence, 1900-1903 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 3413 items. Miscellaneous papers of Bettie Dalton Kennedy and her husband P. B. Kennedy of Daltonia, N.C. List of voters in Eagle Mills, 6 November 1900. 22 April 1901, D. M. Furches. Mary Cecelia Dalton died 30 April 1901. Letters from Bettie Kennedy to daughter at State Normal College, Greensboro, N.C. |
| Folder 35 |
Correspondence, 1904-1909 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 3513 items. Kennedy family correspondence and miscellaneous business papers of P. B. Kennedy relating to property in Mt. Vernon, N.Y., and to shares in Statesville Air Line Railroad. |
| Folder 36 |
Correspondence, 1911-1955 #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 3621 items. Scattered letters about genealogy and family news to Bettie Kennedy. The letters from 1946 onward are to Mary H. Kennedy of Statesville and are also about family history. Letters from Mary E. Lazenby and others. Young and Houston data. |
| Folder 37 |
Undated transcriptions of family letters #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 374 items. The following dated typed transcriptions of family letters have been interfiled in the chronological series: 5 October 1816; 24 November 1821; 9 May 1822; 17 December 1827; 4 May 1828; 4 September 1832; 20 October 1832; 21 September 1835; 19 May 1841. The location of the originals of these letters is unknown. |
Folder 38-39
Folder 38Folder 39 |
Correspondence, Undated #03242, Subseries: "1.1 Correspondence and Related Items, 1759-1955 and undated." Folder 38-39A few Civil War letters, items relating to the Tabor Presbyterian Church, and miscellaneous family letters from all periods. |
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Subseries 1.2. Other Material, 1876-1952.
Arrangement: by type.
Folder 40-41
Folder 40Folder 41 |
Genealogy #03242, Subseries: "1.2. Other Material, 1876-1952." Folder 40-41Approximately 50 items. Genealogical data relating to Houston, Young, Bills, Wright, and related families; "Descendants of Michael Cadet Young of Brunswick County, Va." These are papers of Mary Cecelia Dalton and of Mary Hunter Kennedy. They include some fully worked out lines and typewritten accounts and also many rough notes from various sources. |
| Folder 42 |
Post Office circulars and clippings #03242, Subseries: "1.2. Other Material, 1876-1952." Folder 42 |
Folder 43-44
Folder 43Folder 44 |
Newspaper clippings relating to members of the family. #03242, Subseries: "1.2. Other Material, 1876-1952." Folder 43-44 |
| Folder 45 |
Invitations #03242, Subseries: "1.2. Other Material, 1876-1952." Folder 45Social invitations from the 1870s, chiefly relating to Bettie Dalton of Iredell County, N.C. |
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Subseries 1.3. Manuscript Volumes., 1795-1908.
Arrangement: chronological.
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Series 2: Additions Since 1959, 1776-1959.
This series contains material similar to that found in the original collection: family correspondence, business, legal and financial papers, and genealogical material concern the white Young, Houston, Dalton, and Kennedy families of Iredell County, N.C., and their relatives primarily in South Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, and other southern states, and people enslaved by these families.
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Subseries 2.1 Correspondence, 1776-1959.
Arrangement: chronological.
Letters discuss the forced labor of enslaved people, the health of white and Black people, domestic chores, quality of land, crops, weather, visitors, education, and attempts to settle estates and accounts. The latter illustrate the complex economic interdependence of family members across generations and states. The principal recipients in chronological order are Thomas Young, Placebo Houston, Macy Cecelia Houston Dalton, Bettie Dalton Kennedy, and Mary Hunter Kennedy.
| Folder 85 |
Correspondence, 1776 #03242, Subseries: "2.1 Correspondence, 1776-1959." Folder 851776: Two letters from John Ragsdale to Thomas Young about Ragsdale's health and life in the army. |
Folder 86-95
Folder 86Folder 87Folder 88Folder 89Folder 90Folder 91Folder 92Folder 93Folder 94Folder 95 |
Correspondence, 1780-1823 #03242, Subseries: "2.1 Correspondence, 1776-1959." Folder 86-951780-1823: Letters mostly concern health, births, deaths, marriages, weather, and crops. The bulk of the letters are to Thomas Young from his siblings, children and grandchildren in North Carolina; Sumner, Overton, and Warren Counties, Tenn.; Wilkes County, Ga.; and Claremont and Laurens, S.C. |
Folder 96-105
Folder 96Folder 97Folder 98Folder 99Folder 100Folder 101Folder 102Folder 103Folder 104Folder 105 |
Correspondence, 1824-1834 #03242, Subseries: "2.1 Correspondence, 1776-1959." Folder 96-1051824-1834: Topics in these letters are similar to those mentioned above with the addition of trafficking and overseeing the forced labor of enslaved people; local social conditions; and the high hopes and frequent disappointments of those moving to the frontier. Mostly to Placebo Houston from relatives in Lawrence and Madison Counties, Ala.; Maury and Giles Counties, Tenn.; Laurens, S.C.; and Cole County, Mo. There are also a few letters to Samuel Young, including several from Lewis Williams, North Carolina member of the U.S. House of Representatives, on local and national politics. |
Folder 106-136
Folder 106Folder 107Folder 108Folder 109Folder 110Folder 111Folder 112Folder 113Folder 114Folder 115Folder 116Folder 117Folder 118Folder 119Folder 120Folder 121Folder 122Folder 123Folder 124Folder 125Folder 126Folder 127Folder 128Folder 129Folder 130Folder 131Folder 132Folder 133Folder 134Folder 135Folder 136 |
Correspondence, 1835 #03242, Subseries: "2.1 Correspondence, 1776-1959." Folder 106-1361835-1860: Although letters to Placebo continue until 1841, beginning in 1834 and continuing up through 1900 the bulk of the letters are to his daughter, Mary Cecilia Houston Dalton. There are also a few letters scattered throughout this period to her husband, John Dalton relating to his tobacco business and to family financial matters. Prior to Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton's marriage in 1844 there are numerous letters from cousins and friends about beaux, courtship, and marriages. Her most faithful correspondents were her sisters Lousia Reinhardt and Lucy Melissa Motz, her brother Thomas Franklin Houston, and Thomas's wife Mary Hampton. Those from the women provide a detailed picture of white female life on the frontier. They wrote about overseeing the forced labor of enslaved people, nursing both the white and Black members of their households, loneliness, and of unceasing spinning, sewing, and preparing and putting food by. Mary's and Lucy's letters on these subjects contrast with Thomas's, highlighting the disparities between men's and women's experiences. In addition to the general family and farming news, other topics covered include travel and resettling in Tennessee and Missouri, especially in 1845 and 1846; railroad expansion; the establishment of schools and churches; prices set for enslaved people and crops; speculation in enslaved people, land, hogs, and mules; and, in 1841, life of a cadet at West Point. Occasionally in the 1830s and 1840s, there are discussions of national political issues such as Van Buren's election, including one undated letter on ballot box stuffing in Lincolnton, N.C.; the relative merits of the Whigs and Democrats; and opposition to bank speculation. In the mid-1850s, there begin to be hints of the impending American Civil War. Letters in this period are from Tuscumbia, Pleasant Valley, and Leighton, Ala.; Carroll, Coopers, and Pettis counties, Mo.; North Carolina, especially Lincolnton and Statesville; Carroll and Whythe counties, Va.; and Laurens and Friendship, S.C.; with a few others from Texas, Tennessee, and Georgia. |
Folder 137-143
Folder 137Folder 138Folder 139Folder 140Folder 141Folder 142Folder 143 |
Correspondence, 1860-1865 #03242, Subseries: "2.1 Correspondence, 1776-1959." Folder 137-1431860-1865: Letters are primarily from Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton's nephews, Dwight Reinhardt and J.H. Reinhardt, mostly in Virginia and Tennessee and also at Bowling Green, Ky., discussing enlisting; buying substitutes, in which a draftee could evade service by paying someone who was exempt from the draft to replace him; camp conditions; lack of supplies; illnesses; long marches; low morale; and occasional battles, including at Lee's Farm Dam, Va., near Corinth, Miss., and Chancellorsville, in addition to several others in which they took no part. Other relatives wrote of hard times on the home front in Missouri; Sligo, Tenn.; and Water Valley, Miss. |
Folder 144-167
Folder 144Folder 145Folder 146Folder 147Folder 148Folder 149Folder 150Folder 151Folder 152Folder 153Folder 154Folder 155Folder 156Folder 157Folder 158Folder 159Folder 160Folder 161Folder 162Folder 163Folder 164Folder 165Folder 166Folder 167 |
Correspondence, 1866-1899 #03242, Subseries: "2.1 Correspondence, 1776-1959." Folder 144-1671866-1899: In the immediate post-war years, letters document slow recovery from the war, problems with freedmen, and reconstruction government policies in South Carolina and Missouri. A few letters to and from Melmouth Reinhardt describe the life of a Wake Forest College student. In the 1870s, there are mentions of railroad bonds and a constitutional convention in North Carolina, and drought and grasshoppers in Missouri. In addition to the regular family news, the primary topic in the 1870s and 1880s is the families' financial interconnections and the suits and extensive and complex negotiations about settling estates and debts. Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton's correspondence about family genealogy begins in 1877 with a query about the Gill family. Lyman Draper wrote in 1879 in reference to P. S. Ney. Letters in the 1890s, especially from Thomas Houston in Missouri, provide excellent documentation of the lingering effects of the war among southern farmers and of the concerns which led to the rise of Populism. Of particular interest is his January 1894 letter. |
Folder 168-180
Folder 168Folder 169Folder 170Folder 171Folder 172Folder 173Folder 174Folder 175Folder 176Folder 177Folder 178Folder 179Folder 180 |
Correspondence, 1900-1919 #03242, Subseries: "2.1 Correspondence, 1776-1959." Folder 168-1801900-1919: Following Mary Cecelia Dalton's death in 1901, the bulk of the correspondence is among members of the Kennedy family, especially Bettie to her daughter Mary Hunter Kennedy, and Frank to Mary and Bettie. From 1901 through 1904, the letters are almost entirely from Bettie to Mary, a student at North Carolina Normal and Industrial College at Greensboro. Letters from Mary to her parents, 1905 through 1907, reveal her experiences as a school teacher in Asheville, N.C. Those from 1909 through 1919 are primarily from Frank to his parents and to Mary discussing his life as a student at Oak Ridge School, the University of North Carolina, and Harvard Law School, and as a teacher, 1912-1914, at New Bern, N.C. |
Folder 181-186
Folder 181Folder 182Folder 183Folder 184Folder 185Folder 186 |
Correspondence, 1920-1959 #03242, Subseries: "2.1 Correspondence, 1776-1959." Folder 181-186From 1920 through 1940, the correspondence consists of general family news among Mary, her parents, siblings, and sisters-in-law. From 1940 to 1959, letters are more genealogical in content. Many are from Gertrude Enfield, a cousin, who was writing a biography of a mutual ancestor, Christopher Young. |
Folder 187-192
Folder 187Folder 188Folder 189Folder 190Folder 191Folder 192 |
Correspondence, Undated #03242, Subseries: "2.1 Correspondence, 1776-1959." Folder 187-192 |
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Subseries 2.2. Legal and Financial Material, 1798-1924.
Folder 193-194
Folder 193Folder 194 |
Legal Items, 1798-1920 #03242, Subseries: "2.2. Legal and Financial Material, 1798-1924." Folder 193-194About 150 items. Legal papers 1798 through 1920, including wills; deeds; powers of attorney; complaints, summons, petitions, and other court records, especially of suits; contracts for sale of land and tobacco, trafficking of enslaved people, and hiring freedmen; and miscellaneous other legal papers. The bulk of the papers concern Placebo Houston and John Dalton. |
Folder 195-199
Folder 195Folder 196Folder 197Folder 198Folder 199 |
Financial Items, 1810-1924 #03242, Subseries: "2.2. Legal and Financial Material, 1798-1924." Folder 195-199About 250 items. Receipts, bills, accounts, statements, tobacco stamps, and other miscellaneous financial Papers, especially of John Dalton's tobacco business and in reference to settlement of debts and estates. Included are checks, bills, receipts, and accounts relating to the settlement of P. B. Kennedy's estate, 1925. |
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Subseries 2.3. Genealogy.
Folder 200-203
Folder 200Folder 201Folder 202Folder 203 |
Genealogy notes and family trees #03242, Subseries: "2.3. Genealogy." Folder 200-203Notes, family trees, biographical sketches and other items relating to the genealogy of the Houston, Dalton, Hunter, Young, Kennedy, and other families. Also typed transcriptions of letters, especially of Michael Cadet Young and Christopher Houston. |
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Subseries 2.4. Miscellaneous Items.
Folder 204-207
Folder 204Folder 205Folder 206Folder 207 |
Miscellaneous Items #03242, Subseries: "2.4. Miscellaneous Items." Folder 204-207Food and dye recipes; sewing patterns; poems; voter registration lists; shape note hymns (folder 206); post office reports, receipts, and accounts of the Houstonia, N.C., post office (folder 207); and invitations. Of particular interest is a list of books belonging to Laurens, S.C., Library Society, apparently in the early 1800s (folder 206). |
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Subseries 2.5. Printed Items.
Folder 208-211
Folder 208Folder 209Folder 210Folder 211 |
Printed Items #03242, Subseries: "2.5. Printed Items." Folder 208-211Clippings; school reports, programs, and pamphlets, especially of New Bern and Harmony, N.C., high schools; and other printed items. |
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Series 3. Pictures.
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Series 4. Oversize Papers.
Oversize Paper OP-3242/1-12
OP-3242/1OP-3242/2OP-3242/3OP-3242/4OP-3242/5OP-3242/6OP-3242/7OP-3242/8OP-3242/9OP-3242/10OP-3242/11OP-3242/12 |
Oversize papers #03242, Series: "4. Oversize Papers." OP-3242/1-12 |
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Items Separated
Processed by: Pamela Dean, 1988
Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008
Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, March 2021
Conscious editing by Nancy Kaiser, November 2020: Updated collection overview, subject headings, biographical note, scope and content note, and contents 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.
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