Abstract

This collection houses 303 items documenting Jefferson County, and specifically Lawson D. Franklin and his family, between 1809 and 1874. The majority of the papers, including correspondence, accounts, indentures, plats, records of enslaved persons, and administration of his estate, document Franklin's business dealings.

Abstract This collection consists of a single volume documenting the case of Robert W. Chester vs. Robert W. Crockett and William Groom, which was heard before the Madison County Chancery Court on January 15, 1851. This case had to do with money that Crockett (who was co-executor of Terrill L. Camp's estate with William Groom) was supposedly illegally withholding from Chester without Groom's knowledge. The ledger includes transcriptions of Chester's original complaint, Crockett's answer, exhibits for...

Abstract This forty-page diary, written by Nancy Dickinson Estabrook, documents antebellum Knoxville, Tennessee from the perspective of an educated woman from New England. Estabrook is twenty-nine when the diary begins. She often records her religious and emotional thoughts, her feelings about her only daughter (Charlotte Ann Estabrook) and other relatives, and her own physical afflictions, which she feels will soon take her life. She mentions many notable Knoxvillians and local events, including the...

Abstract

The O. P. Temple Papers consist of correspondence, legal and financial files, writings, newspaper clippings, awards, gifts, and photographs documenting the life and work of Knoxville businessman and politician Oliver P. Temple.

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This petition asks the Tennessee Legislature to pass a law that will free the state's enslaved peoples and their descendants. The petition is signed by 75 residents of Bedford County, Tennessee.

Abstract

This collection consists of a letter written by Robert M. Barton of Greeneville, Tenn., on October 24, 1847, to his brother of Readyville, Tenn. He writes that he must buy or assist in the buying of an enslaved person for a friend with a sick wife. The letter also contains family information.

Abstract

This collection contains a letter from Samuel Martin of Campbell's Station, Tenn. to Hamilton Fish, Governor of New York, dated January 25, 1849. In the letter, Martin expresses concern about the possibility of slavery being kept from expanding. An enslaver, Martin defended the institution. He also discusses his desire to create a canal from the Dismal Swamp Canal in North Carolina around to the Mississippi and the need for a National Agricultural School.

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This collection contains a single note, hiring a slave belonging to Calloway Hodge to William Wilson for a year, dated February 5, 1864.

Abstract

This document constitutes a summary of a lawsuit that Thomas Humes brought against William Smith, John Gore, and James Roddy of Jefferson County, Tennessee. Additional notes signed by Frances Alexander Ramsey and Archibald Roane dated April 5, 1799 certify that the document is an accurate copy of the Court's records.

Abstract

Collection consists of part of an unsigned letter written to My dear Annie, dated July 4. The year not given, and the letter is incomplete, lacking one or more pages. Much of the letter deals with the writer defending the treatment of enslaved people by southerners. Also writes that her husband, a Presbyterian minister, and her had to move from Kentucky to Clarksville, Tennessee to avoid factionalism within the church.

Abstract

In this letter, Captain William R. Story of the 1st U.S. Colored Artillery (heavy) writes to John J. King on behalf of a soldier under his command named Tecumsey whose wife, formerly one of King's enslaved people, is still living in King's home. The soldier would like her to be able to remain in the house, and Story assures King that the man earns a reasonable wage and will be good for any small amount of a years rent.

Abstract These four documents illustrate a case that William Blount brought against George Mitchell in 1794. Blount accused Mitchell of stealing one of his enslaved women, Amy, and demanded that Mitchell pay him the sum of one hundred pounds current money of North Carolina equal to two hundred and fifty dollars current money. Blount won the original case, but Mitchell (who acknowledged that Amy was enslaved by Blount) did not pay. Blount asked for further damages, and the case was finally settled in...

Abstract

This collection contains a ledger book of William Graham of East Tennessee, dated 1857-1863. Entries include records of business transactions, monies spent, slaves bought and sold, county bonds owned (in Washington and Jefferson Counties), notes owned, private land sales, and settlement of accounts.

Abstract

In this bill of sale, dated August, 1850, William H. Stokes transfers his ownership of a family of five enslaved people to L. Cook and R. B. Hanley of the firm of Cook & Hanley in Shelby County, Tenn. The family consists of Charles, aged 26 or 27 years; Anna, aged 20 years; and three children, Nelly, about 4 years old, Betty about 3 years old, and a female infant.

Abstract

This account book houses the records of Dandridge attorney and merchant William Caswell. Of particular interest are the docket of the 12th Judicial Circuit (1843 to 1854), slave records, estate inventories, and personal accounts.