Anne Cameron Collins Papers, 1849-1909

Summary

Creator:
Collins, Anne Cameron, 1842-1915.
Abstract:

Anne Cameron Collins, daughter of Paul Carrington Cameron (1808-1891) and Anne (Ruffin) Cameron (d. 1897), of Hillsborough, N.C.; wife of George Pumpelly Collins (1835-1903), plantation manager in Tunica County, Miss.

Personal and family letters received by Anne (Cameron) Collins of Hillsborough, N.C., especially from her husband, George P. Collins, while he was away from home managing plantations in Tunica County, Miss., and as a businessman in Durham, N.C., from the late 1870s through the late 1890s. There are also many letters from the Collins's seven children, including Annie Cameron (Collins) Wall (1862-1942), Rebecca Anderson (Collins) Wood (1864-1921), George William Kent Collins (1869-1946), Henrietta Page Collins (1870-1955), Mary Arthur (Collins) Woods (1872-1952), Alice Ruffin (Collins) Mebane (1874-1958), and Paul Cameron Collins (1877-1961); and correspondence with Cameron and Collins relatives, including Bennehan Cameron (1854-1925), Mildred Coles Cameron (1820-1881), and Arthur Collins. Also included are letters from friends, including Carrie Sargent of Bryn Mawr, Pa. There are only two items prior to 1865. The correspondence deals primarily with family concerns and includes letters from children attending St. Mary's School, 1870-1882 and late 1880s, and the Raleigh Male Academy, 1883-1884, both in Raleigh, N.C., and the University of North Carolina, 1897, and also provides information concerning George P. Collins's business affairs and economic and social conditions in Mississippi during Reconstruction.

Extent:
10000 items (12.5 linear feet)
Language:
Materials in English
Library Catalog Link:
View UNC library catalog record for this item

Background

Biographical / historical:

Anne Ruffin Cameron (1842-1915) was the daughter of Paul Carrington Cameron (1808-1891) and Anne (Ruffin) Cameron (d. 1897). Her maternal grandfather was Thomas Ruffin, chief justice of North Carolina, and her paternal grandfather was Duncan Cameron (1777-1853). Born 16 July 1842, she married George Pumpelly Collins (1835-1903), Major, CSA, on 20 December 1860. George P. Collins came from the Chowan and Washington County area of North Carolina. He had business and property interests in Tunica County, Miss., for a decade or two after the Civil War, and spent considerable time in Mississippi from 1865 to the late 1870s. Later, he became engaged in various business enterprises in Durham, N.C. George and Anne Collins made their home in Hillsborough, N.C., and seven of their children lived to maturity:

Annie Cameron Collins (1862-1942) married William Lewis Wall of Durham, N.C., on 16 November 1892, and had three children: George Collins Wall, Sarah Wallace Wall, and Rebecca Bennehan Wall.

Rebecca Anderson Collins (1864-1921) married Frank Wood of Edenton, N.C., on 11 November 1886, and had three children: Frank, Jr. (died as a child), George C. Wood (b. 1890), and Rebecca (Wood) Drane.

Mary Arthur Collins (1866-1871).

George William Kent Collins (1869-1946), unmarried, was a University of North Carolina alumnus and became a civil engineer.

Henrietta Page Collins (1870-1955), unmarried.

Mary Arthur Collins (1872-1952) married Frank Wood after the death of her sister Rebecca, and had no children.

Alice Ruffin Collins (1874-1958) married Frank Carter Mebane on 20 December 1900, and was mother of Frank Mebane Jr., and Alice Mebane.

Paul Cameron Collins (1877-1961) married Mary McNeill on 12 January 1910, and was the father of Elizabeth Hyman Collins and Mary Strange Collins.

The above information about the children is mainly from Alice R. R. Rouse, The Reads and Their Relatives. Biographical sketches, including family data of Duncan Cameron and Paul C. Cameron are in Cyclopedia of Eminent and Representative Men of the Carolinas, 19th Century, Vol. II (1892). Birth and death dates were added by the earlier donor, Elizabeth H. Collins.

Scope and content:

Family letters and other papers, mostly letters received by Anne Cameron Collins of Hillsborough, N.C., from her daughters and her sisters between 1876 and 1900. Also included are a few letters to or from George P. Collins and others and a few financial papers. The papers are arranged chronologically.

Acquisition information:

Received from Elizabeth H. Collins, of Hillsborough, N.C., in March 1973, and from John Sykes III of Baton Rouge, La., in May 1997.

Gift of John Sykes III, cousin of original donor Elizabeth H. Collins, of Baton Rouge, La., on 28 May 1997.

Processing information:

Processed by: SHC Staff, 1997

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

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 Anne Cameron Collins papers #3838, 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