Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Walter Alves Papers #3792, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

All or part of this collection is available on microfilm from University Publications of America as part of the Records of ante-bellum southern plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War, Series J.

Acquisitions Information

Gift of Henry Powell Alves in May 1949; of the Henderson family via Mrs. Lyman A. Cotten in October 1965; and of Mrs. Archibald Henderson in March 1973.

Additional Descriptive Resources

Original finding aid is filed in folder 1a.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Roslyn Holdzkom, August 1992

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, March 2010

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.

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.

• Absentee landlordism.
• Alves family.
• Alves, Gavin.
• Alves, Walter, 1768-1819.
• Bennehan, Richard, 1743-1825.
• Boylan, William, 1777-1861.
• Cameron, Duncan, 1777-1853.
• Estates (Law)--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Evans, Walter.
• Fanning, Edmund, 1739-1818.
• Federal Party (N.C.)
• Gaston, William, 1778-1844.
• Grove, William Barry, 1764-1818.
• Henderson (Ky.)--History.
• Henderson, A. (Archibald), 1768-1822.
• Hogg family.
• Hogg, James, 1729-1805.
• Johnston, William, d. 1785.
• Lawyers--Virginia--History--19th century.
• Mebane, Alexander, 1744-1795.
• Migration, Internal--Southern States--History--19th century.
• North Carolina--Economic conditions--19th century.
• Norwood, James.
• Real estate investment--Tennessee.
• Real estate management--Tennessee.
• Real estate investment--North Carolina.
• Real estate management--North Carolina.
• Scottish Americans--North Carolina--History.
• Tazewell, Henry, 1753-1799.
• Tennessee--Economic conditions--19th century.
• United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783--Confiscations and contributions.
• Wickham, John, 1763-1839.

• Henry Powell Alves Papers (#2816);
• Hogg and Norwood Family Papers (#2258);
• James Hogg Papers (#341).

Walter (Hogg) Alves was born on 6 October 1768 in Scotland, the son of James Hogg (1730-1804) and Anne McDowal Alves Hogg (1733-1801). James Hogg was a native of East Lothian, Scotland, where he lived until after his marriage and the birth of several children. A short time before the Revolution, he decided to leave Scotland for America, landing at Wilmington, N.C., in 1774. During the Revolution, Hogg stood with the colonists and served on the Committee of Safety. He was also a member of the Transylvania Company. In 1775, he represented the Transylvania Company at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, where he spoke in favor of allowing Kentucky to enter the union as the 14th colony, a measure that was blocked by Patrick Henry. James Hogg was one of the founders of Henderson, Ky.; he was also active in the founding of the University of North Carolina. At some point, Hogg successfully applied to the General Assembly of North Carolina to change the names of his sons Gavin and Walter Hogg to Alves in their mother's honor.

On 11 May 1787, Walter Alves married Mary Amelia Johnston, daughter of William Johnston (d. 1785), agent to noted Virginia lawyer John Wickham (1763-1839). Nine children were born of this union: Annie (1788-1852); Elizabeth (1790-1852); James (1792-1853); William Johnston (1793-1866); Mary (1797-1806); Haywood (1799-1854); Samuel Johnston (1801-1821); Walter (1803-1856); and Robert (1806-1860). Walter Alves served in the North Carolina General Assembly, 1793-1795. He was trustee of the University of North Carolina, 1795-1813, and treasurer of the board of trustees, 1795-1799. A staunch Federalist, he counted William B. Grove, William Polk, and William Gaston as close political allies. His business interests centered on land speculation in North Carolina and Tennessee.

Primarily business papers of Walter Alves, including correspondence, surveys, rental accounts, and other papers relating to Alves's extensive land holdings in North Carolina and in the Clinch and Powell River regions of eastern Tennessee. Also included are family correspondence, letters from Federalist politicians, and papers relating to Alves's move to Henderson, Ky. Correspondents include Gavin Alves, Richard Bennehan, William Boyland, Duncan Cameron, Walter Evans, William Gaston, William B. Grove, Archibald Henderson, James Hogg, Alex Mebane, James Norwood, and Henry Tazewell. Many items pertain to the estate of Alves's father-in-law, William Johnston, and relate to the efforts of Edmund Fanning (1739-1818), North Carolina colonial official and loyalist for whom Johnston worked, to recover properties confiscated during the Revolution. These papers include correspondence, 1805-1812, between Alves and noted Virginia lawyer John Wickham (1763-1839).