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 processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.
Size | 1.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 570 items) |
Abstract | David Franklin Thorpe was plantation superintendent on Saint Helena Island, 1861-1869, and later Rhode Island businessman and state representative. The collection includes correspondence, legal and financial material, subject files, diaries, and account books relating principally to cotton production and trade, to affairs in the Sea Islands and in the North, and to family matters. Most of the papers are letters to David Thorpe from William G. Weld, his Boston business partner, from friends and relatives in the North, and from plantation superintendents, military officials, and other Sea Island residents. Correspondence between Weld and Thorpe concerns management of plantations they jointly owned and leased. Topics discussed include cultivation, preparation for shipping, and marketing of cotton; gold prices; labor; land sales; and the general store Thorpe ran. Letters from family and northern friends, many of whom were abolitionists, concern political, intellectual, and social life, particularly in Rhode Island and Boston during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Twentieth-century correspondence consists of letters from Penn School Principal Rossa B. Cooley and other Saint Helena residents to Thorpe's son and daughter-in-law. There are volumes of Thorpe's diaries, 1861-1869, noting his daily activities and data on planting and African American laborers; two other diary volumes, 1865-1866, probably of Thorpe's sister, Mary Thorpe; Saint Helena Island plantation account books, 1854-1868, that include records of payments to free blacks and freedmen; a record book each for the Planters Association, 1866-1867, and the Rifle and Sporting Club, 1866-1868, both of Saint Helena Island; a booklet of slave songs, presumably from the 1860s; magistrates' records of Beaufort County, S.C., 1868-1869; and other volumes. |
Creator | Thorpe, David Franklin, 1836-1909. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Rebecca McCoy; Suzanne Ruffing, September 1996
Encoded by: Eben Lehman, January 2007
Updated by: Dawne Howard Lucas and Becca Stubbs, February 2022
This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.
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.
David Franklin Thorpe:
1836 | May, born in Providence, Rhode Island. |
1858-1861 | Attended Brown University. |
1862 | 3 March, sailed to Port Royal, S.C., under the auspices of the Massachusetts Humane Society. |
1862 | Fall, appointed superintendent of the Thomas J. Fripp plantation. |
1863 | March, bought Village Farm with William G. Weld. |
1864 | February-March, bought the Marion Chaplin plantation with William G. Geld and leased School Farm. |
1865 | 24 August, married Mary Helen Mooney. |
1866 | 9 November, birth of son Allston E. Thorpe. |
1867 | 12 August, Mary Mooney Thorpe died. |
1869 | Moved back to Providence and went into business. |
1875 | Married Susan Emily Anthony. |
1885-1886 | Served as Rhode Island state representative. |
1909 | 9 March, died. |
The David Franklin Thorpe papers include correspondence, legal and financial material, subject files, diaries, and account books relating principally to cotton production and trade, to affairs in the Sea Islands and in the North, and to family matters. Most of the papers are letters to David Thorpe from William G. Weld, his Boston business partner, from friends and relatives in the North, and from plantation superintendents, military officials, and other Sea Island residents. Correspondence between Weld and Thorpe concerns management of plantations they jointly owned and leased. Topics discussed include cultivation, preparation for shipping, and marketing of cotton; gold prices; labor; land sales; and the general store Thorpe ran. Letters from family and northern friends, many of whom were abolitionists, concern political, intellectual, and social life, particularly in Rhode Island and Boston during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Twentieth-century correspondence consists of letters from Penn School Principal Rossa B. Cooley and other Saint Helena Island, S.C., residents to Thorpe's son and daughter-in-law. There are volumes of Thorpe's diaries, 1861-1869, noting his daily activities and data on planting and African American laborers; two other diary volumes, 1865-1866, probably of Thorpe's sister, Mary Thorpe; Saint Helena Island, S.C., plantation account books, 1854-1868, that include records of payments to free blacks and freedmen; a record book each for the Planters Association, 1866-1867, and the Rifle and Sporting Club, 1866-1868, both of Saint Helena Island; a booklet of slave songs, presumably from the 1860s; magistrates' records of Beaufort County, S.C., 1868-1869; and other volumes.
Back to TopArrangement: chronological.
Correspondence between Weld and Thorpe concerns the management of plantations they jointly owned and leased: Village Farm, School Farm, the Thomas J. Fripp plantation, and the Marion Chaplin plantation. Topics discussed include the cultivation, preparation for shipping, and marketing of cotton; cotton taken on consignment; gold prices; labor; land sales by the federal Tax Commission; finances; and the general store Thorpe ran. Many of Thorpe's letters are rough drafts or copies of those he sent.
Letters from family and northern friends, many of whom were abolitionists, concern political, intellectual, and social life, particularly in Rhode Island and Boston, during the Civil War and Reconstruction years. Other topics discussed include patent medicines, house furnishings, military campaigns in Virginia, and news of friends. Letters written by Thorpe, his wife Mary Mooney Thorpe, and his sister Mary Thorpe from Saint Helena Island relate to religious practices of the freedmen, labor, hunting, daily activities, and family matters. The 20th-century correspondence consists of letters from Penn School Principal Rossa B. Cooley and other Saint Helena residents to Thorpe's son and daughter-in-law. Some family information was enclosed with letters and is filed with this material.
Many of the communications from military officials, superintendents, and other Sea Island residents are brief notes requesting provisions, supplies, draft animals, means of transport, loans of tools, or social events. Some of the longer notes and official circulars concern the blockade, rations, payment of laborers, conscription, and housing for refugees.
Note that a few letters are included in the Planters Association subject file.
Folder 1 |
1855; 1862 |
Folder 2-3
Folder 2Folder 3 |
1863 |
Folder 4-5
Folder 4Folder 5 |
1864 |
Folder 6-7
Folder 6Folder 7 |
1865 |
Folder 8-9
Folder 8Folder 9 |
1866 |
Folder 10-11
Folder 10Folder 11 |
1867 |
Folder 12 |
1868 |
Folder 13 |
1869-1870; 1936-1944 |
Folder 14 |
Undated |
Arrangement: by type.
Principally accounts, deeds and indentures, and magistrate's papers. Accounts include crop records, expenditures for supplies, labor, shipping costs, cash advances, cotton sales, and Thorpe's accounts with Weld (see also the account and plantation books in the volume series). Among the deeds and indentures are certificates for land purchases on Saint Helena Island by Weld and Thorpe and a legal agreement between them. The magistrate's records include arrest and search warrants, affidavits, summonses, records of cases, and testimony in hearings before David Thorpe during his tenure as magistrate in Beaufort County, S.C., 1868-1869. Cases deal primarily with petty theft, although one case involves wife beating.
Folder 15 |
Accounts |
Folder 16 |
Deeds and Indentures |
Folder 17 |
Magistrate's Records |
Oversize Paper Folder OPF-4262/1 |
Oversize papers |
Primarily material relating to local organizations in which Thorpe participated. Organization material and correspondence constitute the bulk of the file for the Planters Association of Saint Helena and Ladies Islands, for which Thorpe served as secretary. Correspondents include various South Carolina newspaper editors and government officials. Among the records of the Rifle and Sporting Club, for which Thorpe was also secretary, are organizational materials, lists of officials and members with notes as to their states of origin and islands of residence, minutes, accounts, a target code, and what appears to be the text of a speech. Note that some of the volumes also pertain to the Planters Association and the Rifle and Sporting Club.
Other subject files include a draft of resolutions to be presented at a Republican Party meeting on Saint Helena, written by David Thorpe; a booklet of slave songs; and mathematics, Latin, and Greek exercises, probably from Thorpe's studies at Brown University. The miscellaneous file includes a hand-drawn map of properties owned and leased by Thorpe and Weld, possibly enclosed in a letter from Thorpe to Weld in December 1863, and printed material.
Folder 18 |
Planters Association |
Folder 19 |
Republican Party |
Folder 20 |
Rifle and Sporting Party |
Folder 21 |
School Exercises |
Folder 22 |
Slave Songs |
Folder 23 |
Miscellaneous |
Diaries and account books of David Thorpe, diaries probably written by one of Thorpe's sisters, and records of the Planters Association and the Rifle and Sporting Club. Thorpe's diaries and account books include notes on daily life, records of planting and yields, and indications of payments to laborers. One account book, Volume 9, was begun by William M. Murray in 1854 as a record of slaves on his Edisto and Fenwick Island plantations and was later used to list what appear to be names, occupations, and other details of freedmen.
Folder 24 |
V-4262/1: 1861-1862, 165 pagesPocket diary of David Thorpe. |
Folder 25 |
V-4262/2: 1863, 175 pagesPocket diary of David Thorpe. |
Folder 26 |
V-4262/3: 1863-1864, 160 pagesPocket diary of David Thorpe. |
Folder 27 |
V-4262/4: 1865, 180 pagesPocket diary of David Thorpe. |
Folder 28 |
V-4262/5: 1866, 185 pagesPocket diary of David Thorpe. |
Folder 29 |
V-4262/6: 1868-1869, 175 pagesPocket diary of David Thorpe. |
Folder 30 |
V-4262/7: 1865-1866, 24 pagesDiary, probably of Thorpe's sister Mary. |
V-4262/8: 1866, 24 pagesDiary, probably of Thorpe's sister Mary. |
|
Folder 31 |
V-4262/9: 1854-1860, 200 pagesAccount and plantation book of William M. Murray, Fenwick Island. |
Folder 32 |
V-4262/10: 1862-1863, 150 pagesAccount and plantation book with records of crops and pay to free black. |
Folder 33 |
V-4262/11: 1862-1863, 45 pagesAccount and plantation book with cotton accounts. |
Folder 34 |
V-4262/12: 1863, 80 pagesPocket account and plantation book. |
Folder 35 |
V-4262/13: 1865-1866, 100 pagesPocket account and plantation book with record of pay to freedmen field hands. |
Folder 36 |
V-4262/14: 1866, 100 pagesPocket account and plantation book with record of pay to freedmen hands. |
Folder 37 |
V-4262/15: 1867, 100 pagesPocket account and plantation book with accounts of cotton and pay to freedmen. |
Folder 38 |
V-4262/16: 1868, 70 pagesAccount and plantation book with record of cotton planted and pay to freedmen. |
Folder 39 |
V-4262/17: 1866-1867, 300 pagesMinutes of the Planters Association. |
Folder 40 |
V-4262/18: 1866-1868, 300 pagesMinutes of the Rifle and Sporting Club. |
Image P-4262/1 |
Photograph of unidentified woman and child. |