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.
This collection was rehoused under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.
Size | 0.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 165 items) |
Abstract | The collection documents enslaved people in Alabama and Yadkin County, N.C.; Isaac Jarratt (active 1812-1875), a white merchant and landholder in Montgomery, Ala., and Huntsville, N.C., who trafficked enslaved people; and his son, Isaac Augustus Jarratt (1841-1890), a white merchant and distiller who owned plantations in Huntsville, Conrads, and Fayetteville, N.C., that were dependent on enslaved labor. The collection includes photocopies of birth and death records of enslaved people recorded in a Jarratt family bible and financial records for the purchase of enslaved people by Jarratt family members. There are also family and business letters, 1832-1929, and financial, legal, and military documents pertaining to the Isaac Jarratt family of Surry (now Yadkin) County, N.C., and Montgomery, Ala. Early items primarily concern personal news of family and friends and a variety of business transactions, including purchases of land, debt settlements, and a carriage in New York City. Two 1835 letters to the elder Jarratt from cousins discuss one's resettlement in McNairy County, Tenn., and the other's travels through the Choctaw and Cherokee nations. Civil War era material consists of two 1864 military enrollment orders for Captain Isaac A. Jarratt of the 26th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, Company C. Other items include an 1875 exchange of letters between the elder Jarratt and the federal pension office concerning his application for a pension as a veteran of the War of 1812; photocopies of family records and a history pertaining to the Clingman, Puryear, and Jarratt families; a photocopy of a 1978 class paper about the "White House" of Yadkin County, N.C.; a small account book belonging to Isaac Jarratt listing transactions for goods bought, clothing and cloth, taxes, and traveling expenses; a small book, The Death of Abel, inscribed to Hal Jarrett; a recipe for a "white mixture" cure; and a flier with populist and racially divisive language, that calls for a slate of new officials in Yadkin County to address chronic lack of road improvements, public education, and support for industries. |
Creator | Jarratt, Isaac, active 1812-1875 |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Manuscripts Dept. Staff; Margaret Dickson, July 2007; Meaghan Alston and Nancy Kaiser, July 2021
Encoded by: Margaret Dickson, July 2007
Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, February 2010
Updated by: Laura Hart, May 2021
Conscious Editing Work by: Laura Hart and Nancy Kaiser, March 2020. Updated abstract, biographical note, scope content note, subject headings, and container list.
Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.
This collection was rehoused under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.
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.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
White landholder and merchant of Montgomery and Huntsville, Ala., Isaac Jarratt (active 1812-1875) was an enslaver and a slave trader and human trafficker in partnership with Tyre Glen (d. 1875). Glen and Jarratt operated their human trafficking business between Alabama and North Carolina from 1830 to 1835. Jarratt served in the American military during the War of 1812. His son, Isaac Augustus Jarratt (1841-1890), of Huntsville, Conrads, and Fayetteville, N.C., was an enslaver, plantation owner, merchant, and distiller. The younger Jarratt received an A.B. from the University of North Carolina in 1861 and served as a captain in Company C, 26th North Carolina Infantry Regiment of the Confederate Army, during the Civil War.
Back to TopThe collection includes photocopies of birth and death records of enslaved people recorded in a Jarratt family bible and financial records for the purchase of enslaved people by Jarratt family members. There are also family and business letters, 1832-1890, and a few financial, legal, and military documents pertaining to the Isaac Jarratt family of Surry (now Yadkin) County, N.C., and Montgomery, Ala. Early items primarily concern personal news of family and friends and a variety of business transactions, including purchases of land, debt settlements, and a carriage in New York City. Two 1835 letters to the elder Jarratt from cousins discuss one's resettlement in McNairy County, Tenn., and the other's travels through the Choctaw and Cherokee nations. Civil War era material consists of two 1864 military enrollment orders for Captain Isaac A. Jarratt of the 26th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, Company C.
Other items include an 1875 exchange of letters between the elder Jarratt and the federal pension office concerning his application for a pension as a veteran of the War of 1812; photocopies of family records pertaining primarily to the white Clingman family; a photocopy of a 1978 class paper about the "White House" of Yadkin County, N.C.; and a photocopy of a 1979 history of the white Clingman, Puryear, and Jarratt families.
The Addition of March 2007 consists of one small account book belonging to Isaac Jarratt listing transactions for goods bought, clothing and cloth, taxes, and traveling expenses.
The Addition of June 2007 includes business and personal correspondence relating to the Jarratt family from between 1864 and 1929, as well as bills, receipts, orders and order forms, and a small book, The Death of Abel, inscribed to Hal Jarrett from "Auntie," 22 June 1891.
The Addition of February 2008 includes letters to Harriet Jarratt; bank receipts and promissory notes; survey of a plot of land; a recipe for a "white mixture" cure; and a flier with populist and racially divisive language, that calls for a slate of new officials in Yadkin County to address chronic lack of road improvements, public education, and support for industries.
Back to TopArrangement: by type of material, then chronological.
Folder 1 |
Letters from relatives and business associates to Isaac Jarratt, 1832-1849 |
Folder 2 |
Military, financial, and legal documents belonging to Isaac Augustus Jarratt, 1864-1890 |
Folder 3 |
Papers about enslaved peopleIncludes photocopies of birth and death records for people enslaved by members of the Jarratt family, and an undated list of enslaved people with notations on prices for human trafficking in the internal slave trade |
Papers, 1831-1979 and undatedIncluded are photocopies of birth, death and marriage records pertaining to the white Clingman family, 1853-1977; photocopy of a class paper titled "The Mysteries of the White House," of Yadkin County, N.C., by William K. Seabrook, 1978; photocopy of a history of the white Clingman, Puryear, and Jarratt families, by A. H. Jarratt, Sr., 1979; a travel memorandum, listing mileage and expenses for a trip between Montgomery, Ala., and Quincy, Fla., undated; and a letter to Harriet Ann Jarratt (wife of Isaac Jarratt) of Huntsville, N.C., from her homesick son, L. B. Cash, in Castleton, Vt., between school terms. |
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Folder 4 |
Lists of enslaved people and receipts related to trafficking of people, 1832-1834Contains two log sheets listing seventy-eight people trafficked by Jarratt. The enslaved people are listed by name on the logs. Jarrat also noted prices paid, estimated value, selling price, and his profit margin in the internal slave trade and trafficking of humans. |
Folder 5 |
Receipts related to people enslaved by the Cash family, 1830, 1833, 1846 |
Folder 6 |
Miscellaneous receipts, 1811-1858 |
Reel M-3514/1-2
M-3514/1M-3514/2 |
Microfilm copy of papers, 1832-1979Folders 1-6 are copied on the microfilm. |
Folder 7 |
Account book, 1839-1851One small account book belonging to Isaac Jarratt listing transactions for goods bought, clothing and cloth, taxes, and traveling expenses. |
Folder 8-12
Folder 8Folder 9Folder 10Folder 11Folder 12 |
Correspondence, 1864-1929 and undatedBusiness and personal correspondence relating to the white Jarratt family, dated 1864 to 1929. Correspondents include Isaac Augustus Jarratt, J. A. Jarratt, Mary J. Pickett, J. J. Pickett, Harriet Jarratt, and E. L. Gaither. |
Folder 13 |
Small book, The Death of Abel, inscribed to Hal Jarrett from "Auntie," 22 June 1891 |
Folder 14 |
Papers, 1858-1916Acquisitions Information: Accession 100874 Includes letters to Harriet Jarratt; bank receipts and promissory notes; survey of a plot of land; a recipe for a "white mixture" cure; and a flier with populist and racially divisive language, that calls for a slate of new officials in Yadkin County to address chronic lack of road improvements, public education, and support for industries. |
Microfilm reels (M-3514/1-2)
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