Walton Family Papers, 1804-1910

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Summary

Creator:
Walton (Family : Greene County, Ala.)
Abstract:

Members of the Walton family included William Walton (fl. 1811- 1855), who emigrated from South Carolina to western Alabama circa 1820. As of 1836, Walton and his wife, Justina (fl. 1836-1866) were living at Strawberry Hill Plantation near Forkland, Greene County, Ala., where they chiefly planted cotton. Their daughter, Justina, married James Daniel Webb (1818-1863) around 1853. Other family members occasionally lived in Eutaw, Ala.

The collection is chiefly family correspondence and financial and legal Papers, 1850s to 1870s, relating to Walton family members. Included are many letters exchanged between staff officer James Daniel Webb of the 5th Alabama Regiment, May 1861-Mary 1862, serving in Florida and Virginia, and as lieutenant colonel with the 51st Alabama Regiment in Tennessee, November 1862-July 1863, and his wife Justina S. (Walton) Webb. Financial papers include an account book, 1834-1835, about buying goods and selling cotton through commission merchants at Mobile, Ala., by way of the Tombigbee River, and later items that reflect Justina L. Walton's management of the family finances, including running Stawberry Hill, after her husband's death around 1855. There are, however, few items relating directly to plantation management or to the more than 100 slaves the Walton's owned. Other items include maps, circa 1820s, and legal papers related to land purchases in western Alabama; accounts for building a house, 1804; and an 1868 almanac with brief annotations.

Extent:
500 items (1.0 linear feet)
Language:
Materials in English
Library Catalog Link:
View UNC library catalog record for this item

Background

Biographical / historical:

Members of the Walton family, including William Walton (fl. 1811-1843) and John G. Walton (fl. 1811-1844), emigrated from South Carolina to Alabama around 1820. William Walton and his wife Justina L. (Jessie) Walton (fl. 1836-1866) had at least two children, Justina S. (Jessie) (fl. 1836-1910) and Louisa W. (Lou) (fl. 1836-1880). As of 1836, they were living at Strawberry Hill Plantation near Forkland, Greene County, Ala. Members of the family also lived at Eutaw, Greensboro, and Kirkpatricks Landing, Ala.

Upon her husband's death, Justina L. Walton assumed responsibility for her family's financial affairs. The estate she inherited included the family cotton plantation of approximately 1000 acres and 100 slaves located in Township 20, Range 2 East (see "Assesment [sic] of the property of Justina L. Walton made June 30th '55 ... upon the affidavit of J. D. Webb, agent," Volume 1, James Lusk Alcorn Papers, Southern Historical Collection).

About 1853, Justina S. Walton married James Daniel Webb (1818-1863), who appears to have moved to Alabama from North Carolina sometime in the 1840s. Together they had at least two children, Minnie (fl. 1861-1897) and James E. In May 1861, James Daniel Webb joined the 5th Alabama Regiment and travelled with it to camps and in the field in Florida and Virginia. While on the regimental staff, at least part of the time as assistant quartermaster, he served with several Confederate Army officers, including generals Robert Emmet Rodes (1829-1864) and Richard Stoddert Ewell (1817-1872), and lieutenant colonels Allen Cadwallader Jones (b. 1811) of Greene County, Ala., and John Tyler Morgan (1824-1907) of Selma, Ala. In May 1862, Webb was appointed lieutenant colonel of the newly formed 51st Alabama Regiment ("Partisan Rangers"); John Tyler Morgan was appointed colonel. The 51st Alabama operated in Tennessee. Webb was mortally wounded in a skirmish near Elk River, Tenn., on 2 July 1863. Subsequently, Justina S. Walton Webb managed her financial and personal affairs at Kirkpatricks Landing and Forkland, Ala., from 1866 until her death around 1910.

Scope and content:

This collection consists chiefly of 19th-century personal correspondence and financial and legal papers of the Walton and Webb families. There are also miscellaneous loose writings and six maps, circa 1820s, of land in western Alabama.

Although William Walton and his wife Justina L. Walton owned and operated a cotton plantation in Greene County, Ala., there are few items directly related to the running of the plantation or to the approximately 100 slaves who lived and worked there. Financial and legal Papers, however, include a number of plantation-related receipts from cotton merchants, including R. Moore & Company, Cotton Factors, of Mobile, Ala. Information in many of the items, including an 1834-1835 account book, indicates that goods were regularly shipped between Mobile and points up and down the Tombigbee River and its tributaries.

Personal letters in this collection include correspondence between Justina S. Walton Webb at Greensboro, Hale County, Ala., and James Daniel Webb in the Confederate Army. Her letters chiefly discuss family and personal matters. Serving as a staff officer (quartermaster) with the 5th Alabama Regiment from May 1861 to May 1862, Webb wrote mostly from camp and field locations in Florida and Virginia. Subsequently, while serving as lieutenant colonel of the 51st Alabama Regiment ("Partisan Rangers") from July 1862 until he was wounded on 2 July 1863, he wrote from locations in Alabama and Tennessee. His letters mostly discuss camp life, personal and family matters, weather, the major movements of his regiment, and his fellow officers. Other letters chiefly relate to personal and family concerns of members of the Walton and Webb families.

Other items include a small 1804 volume containing accounts for building a house; a McLean's Family Almanac for 1868, with brief annotations by Justina L. Walton; questions derived from reading a naturalist book; a culinary thesaurus; a list of compatible flower decorations; a thesaurus of medicines; a school-age composition by Justina L. Walton entitled "On Romping"; and a silhouette of an unknown man.

Acquisition information:

Received from Mr. and Mrs. P. Henry Pitts of Greensboro, Ala., in 1948.

Processing information:

Processed by: Erik D. France, April 1991

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, December 2009

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.

Access and use

Restrictions to access:

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to use:

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

No usage restrictions.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], in the Walton Family Papers #1437, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Location of this collection:
Louis Round Wilson Library
200 South Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27515
Contact:
(919) 962-3765
wilsonlibrary@unc.edu