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Size | 2.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 750 items) |
Abstract | Papers of white lawyer, North Carolina state legislator, congressman, and Democratic Party politician, Benjamin Hickman Bunn (1844-1907) include political correspondence, legal documents, financial materials, and some items related to the Bunn family of Nash County, N.C. Political correspondence chiefly concerns congressional elections and North Carolina Democratic Party conventions in the 1880s and 1890s and contains frequent references to the North Carolina Farmers' Alliance. Other political materials are speeches, petitions to the North Carolina General Assembly and to U.S. Representative Bunn who represented North Carolina's fourth congressional district. Slight family correspondence is primarily with Bunn's daughters. Legal documents include deeds, indentures, contracts, a will, and court documents, such as summons for relief, depositions, reports of referees, and criminal and civil case dockets. Of note are court documents for Hilliard v. Rowland which originated in Nash County, N.C., and was heard by the State Supreme Court of North Carolina in 1873. Financial materials are chiefly receipts and account balance sheets. Other items include an essay on "Bootlicking" (circa 1855) by Bunn's brother William, a University of North Carolina student, notebooks with remedies and pharmaceutical uses for various substances, certificates of membership to masonic temples, a wedding invitation, and a genealogical file compiled by descendants. |
Creator | Bunn, Benjamin Hickman, 1844-1907. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Laura Hart, March 2016
Encoded by: Laura Hart, March 2016
Revisions by: Nancy Kaiser, Gillian McCuistion, and Biff Hollingsworth, October 2019
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Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
Benjamin Hickman Bunn (1844-1907), a white lawyer, legislator, and Democratic Party politician, served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1889 to 1895 for North Carolina's fourth congressional district. He chaired the Committee on Claims. Prior to his election to Congress, Bunn practiced law in Nash County, N.C., as the county attorney and the attorney for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Following the incorporation of Rocky Mount, N.C., in 1867, Bunn became the town's first mayor. He was elected to North Carolina's constitutional convention in 1875 and was a delegate to the 1880 Democratic National Convention. In 1882, he was elected to the North Carolina General Assembly and chaired a joint committee on the code. Following his congressional service, Bunn was postmaster for Rocky Mount and had a brief term as head of Rocky Mount Mills.
Bunn was born 19 October 1844 to Redmond Bunn and Mary Hickman Bryan Bunn of Nash County, N.C., and was educated at Rocky Mount Academy. Prior to his matriculation at The University of North Carolina, the American Civil War started, and Bunn enlisted in the Confederate States of America Army, serving as a lieutenant in the 47th North Carolina Regiment and later as captain for a company of sharpshooters with the Army of Northern Virginia. He was wounded at the battles of Gettysburg and Petersburg. His two brothers, William Henry Bunn and Elias Bunn, died in the war. After the war, he read law in Goldsboro, N.C., and received his license to practice in 1866.
Bunn married Harriet Philips of Edgecombe County, N.C. in 1871, and the couple had nine children James, Mary, Benjamin, Jr., Annie Lee, Laura-Maude, Catherine, Hattie, Bessie, and Redmond. Bunn died on 25 August 1907 at his home, Benevenue, near Rocky Mount.
For more biographical information, see Claiborne T. Smith, Jr.'s 1979 article in the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, edited by William S. Powell. Copyright 1979-1996 by the University of North Carolina Press.
Back to TopPapers of lawyer, white North Carolina state legislator, congressman, and Democratic Party politician, Benjamin Hickman Bunn (1844-1907) include correspondence, legal documents, financial materials, and some items related to the Bunn family of Nash County, N.C. Political correspondence chiefly concerns congressional elections and North Carolina Democratic Party conventions in the 1880s and 1890s and contains frequent references to the North Carolina Farmers' Alliance.
Slight family correspondence is primarily with Bunn's daughters.
Legal documents include deeds, indentures, contracts, a will, and court documents, such as summons for relief, depositions, and reports of referees, for superior courts in Nash, Edgecomber, and Wilson counties. Of note are court documents for Hilliard v. Rowland which originated in Nash County, N.C., Superior Court and was heard by the State Supreme Court of North Carolina in 1873.
Political materials are speeches, petitions to the North Carolina General Assembly and to U.S. Representative Bunn who represented North Carolina's fourth congressional district.
Financial materials are chiefly receipts and account balance sheets.
Other items include an essay on "Bootlicking" (circa 1855) by Bunn's brother William Henry Bunn, a University of North Carolina student, notebooks with remedies and pharmaceutical uses for various substances, certificates of membership to masonic temples, a wedding invitation, and a genealogical file compiled by descendants.
The Addition of October 2019 consists of 5 legal dockets belonging to Bunn. Dockets range from 1893 to 1903 and were created in Nash County, N.C. There are 2 civil issues dockets, 2 criminal, and 1 summons.
Back to Top
Folder 1 |
1882-1883Of interest is a letter dated 12 February 1883 addressed to the United States House of Representatives and the Senate from the "one armed and one legged soldiers of North Carolina." The letter's authors decry the appropriations for free schools, "which the many journals of the state seem to howl over as the greatest blessing or the savior of the next generation" and the lack of aid given to "the claims of the most miserable and destitute class of people of the state- the negro children or the white children not excepted for they are able to work." Other letters pertain to pension claims and taxes for building a jail. |
Folder 2 |
1886-1888Includes a letter dated 4 January 1888 from a member of the Nash County, N.C., Commissioners pertaining to the county jail which had burned down. Other letters concern elections and Bunn's political rivals. |
Folder 3 |
1889Of interest is a letter dated 20 June 1889 from Charles N. Hunter editor of the The Progressive Educator to the Superintendent of the Census. Hunter writes that the "results of Negro emancipation in the United States as evidence in the material, moral and intellectual advancement of the race during the past twenty-five years, is a subject of deepest interest to all the people of the Republic." He seeks census information including figures for farm land, town lots, horses, mules, stocks, churches, and schools owned by African Americans, cash in hand, invested, and saved by African Americans, and the amount of "taxes realized" from said property and "Negro Polls." |
Folder 4 |
January-February1890Of interest is a circular letter dated 28 February 1890 to "the Working People of North Carolina" from the Knights of Labor pertaining to the shared demands--including abolition of the national bank and coinage of silver--of the Knights of Labor and the National Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union. |
Folder 5 |
March-April1890Topics addressed include congressional nominations, political support, the Farmers' Alliance, and the national cemetery. |
Folder 6-7
Folder 6Folder 7 |
May1890Of interest is a letter dated 4 May 1890 from Josephus Daniels editor of The State Chronicle about a letter he reluctantly published from a "prominent [Farmers'] Alliance man of this county." |
Folder 8 |
June1890Chiefly letters concerning the North Carolina Farmers' State Alliance. |
Folder 9-10
Folder 9Folder 10 |
July1890Chiefly letters concerning candidates and the political convention. |
Folder 11 |
August-September1890Includes a circular letter dated 16 September 1890 to the voters of the fourth congressional district in North Carolina from George L. Tonnoffski running as an independent for Congress. |
Folder 12 |
November-December1890Includes a letter of congratulations dated 7 November 1890 for Benjamin Bunn's electoral victory. |
Folder 13 |
1891 |
Folder 14 |
January-February1892Chiefly concerning the North Carolina Farmers' State Alliance. |
Folder 15 |
March 1892Chiefly letters concerning political topics. Includes a letter dated 18 March 1892 warning that "Unless the Democratic convention incorporates into its platform measures of radical financial reform sufficient to satisfy the urgent demands of the masses there is no use for it to nominate a ticket." |
Folder 16-19
Folder 16Folder 17Folder 18Folder 19 |
June1892Chiefly letters concerning the political convention and nominations. |
Folder 20 |
July-November1892Chiefly letters concerning politic topics including post office appointments. |
Folder 21 |
February-March1894Includes a family letter dated 4 February 1894 from Bessie to Hattie. |
Folder 22-25
Folder 22Folder 23Folder 24Folder 25 |
May1894Chiefly letters concerning the political convention and nominations. |
Folder 26-30
Folder 26Folder 27Folder 28Folder 29Folder 30 |
June1894Chiefly letters concerning the political convention and nominations. |
Folder 31-32
Folder 31Folder 32 |
July1894Chiefly letters concerning the political convention and nominations. |
Folder 33 |
August-December1894 |
Folder 34 |
1895Includes a family letter dated 3 February 1895 from Mary to Hattie. |
Folder 35 |
1896 |
Folder 36 |
1897Includes a family letter dated 24 October 1897 to Bessie from her mother "H.N. Bunn." |
Folder 37 |
1898-1900Chiefly family letters to and from women. |
Folder 38 |
1901Chiefly family letters to and from women. |
Folder 39 |
1902-1906Chiefly family letters to and from women. |
Folder 40 |
1907-1908Includes a letter dated 4 May 1907 concerning Locke Craig as a possible North Carolina gubernatorial candidate and seeking Benjamin Bunn's opinion of him. |
Folder 41 |
1909-1910Chiefly family letters to and from women. |
Folder 42 |
1916-1918Chiefly family letters to and from women. |
Folder 43 |
1919-1921Chiefly family letters to and from women. |
Folder 44 |
Undated letters, circa 1880-1930Chiefly family correspondence. |
Folder 45 |
Deed,1845 |
Folder 46 |
Indenture, 1855 |
Folder 47 |
Deeds,1868 |
Folder 48 |
Indenture, 1869 |
Folder 49 |
Nash County, N.C. Superior Court document, Hilliard v. Rowland, 1870Document refers to payments made for the hiring out of slaves between the years 1863 and 1865 using Confederate currency. |
Folder 50 |
Petition for sale of real estate,1870 |
Folder 51 |
Deed,1870 |
Folder 52-53
Folder 52Folder 53 |
Speech, circa1870Concerning the need to oust the "Radicals" from Congress. |
Folder 54 |
Nash County, N.C. Superior Court document, 1872 |
Folder 55 |
Deeds,1873 |
Folder 56 |
State Supreme Court of North Carolina, Hilliard v. Rowland,1873Report of Arbitrator. |
Folder 57 |
Notice,1875Convention of the People of North Carolina called under an act of the General Assembly. |
Folder 58 |
Poll book for Mount Airy Precinct, Surry County, N.C.,1875 |
Folder 59 |
Deed,1875 |
Folder 60 |
Indenture, 1876 |
Folder 61 |
Deeds,1876 |
Folder 62 |
Nash County, N.C., Superior Court, 1876Summons for relief. |
Folder 63 |
Deed, 1877 |
Folder 64 |
Deed,1878 |
Folder 65 |
Report on division land,1878 |
Folder 66 |
Deeds, 1879 |
Folder 67 |
Indenture, 1880 |
Folder 68 |
Deeds,1880 |
Folder 69 |
Petition to the General Assembly of North Carolina, circa1880Petitioners from Nash, Edgecombe, and Wilson Counties, N.C., requesting the creation of Rocky Mount County. |
Folder 70 |
Articles of agreement, 1881 |
Folder 71 |
Wilson County, N.C., Superior Court, 1881Summons of relief. |
Folder 72 |
Petition to General Assembly of North Carolina1881Nash County, N.C., petitioners asking for ban on fishing with nets or sieves in Sapony Creek. |
Folder 73 |
North Carolina State Vote in 1880 and 1882 by Congressional Districts,1882Printed census of North Carolina by counties with handwritten annotations for 1882. |
Folder 74 |
Deeds,1883 |
Folder 75 |
Statements concerning land transactions, circa1883 |
Folder 76 |
Notes about the South's economic development, circa 1884 |
Folder 77 |
Contract,1884 |
Folder 78 |
Nash County, N.C., Superior Court, 1885Deposition. |
Folder 79 |
Deed,1885 |
Folder 80 |
Agreement, 1886 |
Folder 81 |
Edgecombe County, N.C., Superior Court,1886Reports of referee. |
Folder 82 |
Speech, circa1886Fourth of July address includes mention of the Knights of Labor. |
Folder 83 |
Contract,1887 |
Folder 84 |
Deed,1887 |
Folder 85 |
Conditions of claims, 1887 |
Folder 86 |
Will,1888 |
Folder 87 |
Wilson County, N.C., Superior Court document, 1889 |
Folder 88 |
Statement concerning a contract, circa1889 |
Folder 89 |
Wilson County, N.C., Superior Court,1889Summons for relief. |
Folder 90 |
Petition to Congress from Rutherford College, circa1890 |
Folder 91 |
Notes concerning witnesses for a court case, circa 1890 |
Folder 92 |
Contemporary copy of letter [possibly letterpress],1890Neither the recipient nor the sender are named in the letter. The sender is seeking the recipient's help in making a nomination for a Democratic Party candidate for Congress to replace Benjamin Bunn, who is supported by the "professional politicians, The Rail road influence, and the Money influence." The sender describes anti-Bunn sentiments and the need for a different representative. "The Farmers of this Country have formulated a noble code of principles and are demanding great and important reforms. To get these reforms, congressmen must be elected who are in hearty sympathy." |
Folder 93 |
Wilson County, N.C., Superior Court document, 1891 |
Folder 94 |
Wilson County, N.C., Superior Court, 1891Summons. |
Folder 95 |
Legal notes, 1891 |
Folder 96 |
Nash County, N.C., Superior Court, 1892Concerning eminent domain and the railroad. |
Folder 97 |
Petition to Congress from Little Methodist Church, Siler City, N.C.,1892 |
Folder 98 |
Petition to Benjamin Bunn from the Dortches Farmers' Alliance,1892"Whereas we the members of the Dortches Alliance in Nash County compose a part of the people of the fourth Congressional District from which you were elected, and whereas you pledged yourself to surport [sic] the Alliance demands....We would remind you of the fact that you went through the last campaign on your pledge. But you will have to go through all others on your record. We also remind you that you are our servant and not our master." |
Folder 99 |
Wilson County, N.C., Superior Court, Report of Sale and decree, 1893 |
Folder 100 |
Statement concerning appointment of post master general, 1893 |
Folder 101-102
Folder 101Folder 102 |
Nash County, N.C., Superior Court, 1893Case on appeal. |
Folder 103 |
Eastern Carolina Land Improvement and Banking Company Contract,1894 |
Folder 104 |
Articles of agreement, 1895 |
Folder 105 |
Wilson County, N.C., Superior Court document, 1896 |
Folder 106 |
Nash County, N.C., Superior Court, 1897Answer to amended complaint. |
Folder 107 |
Nash County, N.C., Superior Court, 1898Certificate. |
Folder 108 |
Nash County, N.C., Superior Court, 1899Articles of agreement. |
Folder 109 |
Edgecombe County, N.C., Superior Court,1899Report of referee. |
Folder 110-111
Folder 110Folder 111 |
Nash County, N.C., Superior Court, Jurors' tickets,1899 |
Folder 112 |
Nash County, N.C., Office of Board County Commissioners, Register of Deeds,1899 |
Folder 113 |
Deed,1901 |
Folder 114 |
Nash County Superior Court,1901 |
Folder 115 |
Notice, 1903 |
Folder 116 |
Claim of title,1904 |
Folder 117 |
Agreement,1904 |
Folder 118 |
Undated notes for speech,Speech writer refers to the Farmers' Alliance led by L. L. Polk, the campaign of 1868, the St. Louis Democratic Convention in 1868, and tariff reform. |
Folder 119 |
Undated notes about "The Code," North Carolina statutes |
Folder 120 |
Undated miscellaneous court and land deed materials, circa 1880-1899 |
Acquisition Information: Accession 103732
The Addition of October 2019 consists of 5 dockets belonging to Bunn. Dockets range from 1893 to 1903 and were all created in Nash County, N.C. There are 2 civil issues dockets, 2 criminal, and 1 summons. The two civil issues dockets were created in 1893 (spanning 5 years until 1898) and 1903, and include information on the names of plaintiffs and defendants, case numbers, and the names of attorneys assigned to each one. Matters include foreclosures, summons relief, divorce and damage suits, and appeals. The two criminal dockets were created in November 1898 and 1900. Information includes names of defendants, case numbers, crimes committed, summaries of trial with verdict, bail, and any names of witnesses. Cases range in crimes from slander to cheating by false token, abandonment of family, removing crops, house burning, and murder. The summons docket contains more of the same, but information is generally less detailed in the summary field, often just noted with "executed."
Oversize Box OB-05677/1 |
Dockets, 1893-1903 |
Folder 121 |
Receipts and voucher,1848-1849
|
Folder 122 |
Receipts, promissory notes, check, and balance sheets,1861-1869
|
Folder 123 |
Receipts, promissory notes, and balance sheets,1870-1878
|
Folder 124 |
Receipts, promissory notes, checks, tax stamps, and balance sheets,1880-1885Includes tax paid stamps for distilled spirits. |
Folder 125 |
Receipts, bills, checks, and balance sheets,1886Includes tax receipts. |
Folder 126 |
Receipts and balance sheets,1887Includes tax receipts. |
Folder 127 |
Receipts, check, and balance sheets,1888Includes tax receipts. |
Folder 128 |
Receipts, check, and balance sheets,1889
|
Folder 129 |
Receipts, checks, and balance sheets,1890-1894
|
Folder 130 |
Receipts, checks, bill, and balance sheets,1896-1897
|
Folder 131 |
Receipts, checks, promissory notes, and balance sheets,1900-1904
|
Folder 132 |
Receipt and balance sheets, undated
|