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Voices of the Enslaved in Wilson Special Collections Library: Single-Letter Collections

Letters and Correspondence

The following is a listing of archival collections within Wilson Special Collections Library that contain letters written by enslaved people. They offer a rare glimpse into the lives of individuals who were denied the basic right to express themselves. In some cases, other documents from the collection shed light on the life of the author, but in most cases little is known about the enslaved person themselves.

"Multi-Letter Collections" indicate collections that contain two or more letters written by an enslaved person while "Single-Letter Collections" represent collections that contain just one letter written by an enslaved person. The hyperlinked collection title will take you to the Finding Aid for the collection. Most of these letters have been digitized and are accessible online. Use the links within the description to navigate to a downloadable version of the image.

Collections

Alexander and Hillhouse Family Papers, 1758-1998

Adam Alexander (1758-1812), a Scottish physician, emigrated to Liberty County, Ga., in 1776, where he acquired land and married Louisa Frederika Schmidt (1777-1846). The papers consist of extensive family and personal correspondence, business correspondence, plantation accounts, physician's accounts, estate papers, travel journals, and genealogical materials. They document family, political, and religious life in Washington and Savannah, Ga., and in Connecticut and New York. The collection includes a letter from an enslaved woman, Mary Brown, to enslaver Adam L. Alexander, asking him to buy her back. This letter can be found in Subseries 1.1, Box 1 and the digitized version is linked below.  

April 30,1839: Folder 8 (scan 9)

Bedford Brown Papers, 1779-1906

Bedford Brown was a state legislator and United States senator from Caswell County, N.C. The collection includes scattered papers of the family of Bedford Brown and of his son, Livingston Brown. Included is a letter dated May 12, 1860, from an enslaved man in Arkansas (name unknown) to his Uncle Ned on another plantation. Also of note is a bill of sale dated August 31, 1863 for an enslaved woman named Lucy. The letter has not been digitized. See folder 3.

Cameron Family Papers, 1757-1978

This collection documents many aspects of the personal lives and business affairs of the Cameron family of Orange County, one of antebellum North Carolina's wealthiest families. There is an abundance of information about the individuals who were enslaved on their numerous plantations: their names, their ages, where they worked, what they did, what they wore, and their illnesses. Although there are no letters written by enslaved people, there is one letter written on behalf of an enslaved woman Mary Walker dated September 4, 1859 (scans 1-4). The author of the letter, J. P. Lesley, asks Mildred Cameron to reunite Mary with her children. This letter has been digitized. See Subseries 1.4.1 or Box 50, Folder 1197.

Elizabeth Amis Cameron Blanchard Papers, 1694-1954

The collection includes correspondence, notes, memoranda, diary entries, clippings, pictures, and horse breeding and racing records, all relating to Elizabeth Blanchard's book, The Life and Times of Sir Archie: The Story of America's Greatest Thoroughbred. Series 3 is chiefly correspondence between various members of the Amis family in which there is a letter from enslaved woman Sophia to her enslaver "Miss Sallie," likely Sallie Amis Noland. In the letter Sophia expresses her surprise at her enslaver going to North Carolina, and states she would rather go anywhere else in the world but there.

January 7, 1858: Folder 45 (scans 78-79) and (scans 79-81)

Hamilton Brown Papers, 1752-1907

The Hamilton Brown Papers represents three generations of the Brown Family from Wilkes County, North Carolina. The collection includes extensive and varied business and personal papers of John Brown, his son Hamilton Brown of Wilkesboro, N.C., and members of related families in Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. Of particular interest is a series of letters, 1835-1839, from Indiana residents responding to notices about fugitives from slavery published by Hamilton. These correspondents sent detailed instructions about how they would assist Hamilton in recovering his enslaved individuals whom they believed to be working as freemen in nearby communities. Letters show that Hamilton enslaved many people who were hired out in towns far from Wilkesboro. Several of these individuals wrote letters during the 1830s and 1840s to negotiate terms of hire.

December 20, 1832: Folder 53 (scans 40-41).

George W. Burwell Papers, 1786, 1800-1884 

George W. Burwell was a physician, enslaver, and businessman of Mecklenburg County, Virginia. The collection is mostly correspondence, financial and legal papers. Some letters document plantation life, transactions, work performed by enslaved people and others, and hiring out of enslaved people. The collection contains one letter written during the Civil War by enslaved man James Burwell. James wrote to his enslaver, George Burwell, on May 10, 1864, stating that he had arrived at a camp near Richmond. He asked Burwell to send news to his wife that he was safe.

May 10, 1864: Folder 7 (scans 18-19)

Henry Alderson Ellison Papers, 1848-1882

The collection contains records of enslaved people and other papers relating to Henry Alderson Ellison, enslaver of Baldwin County, Ala., and his family. Included is a notebook containing lists of people enslaved by Ellison in 1848 and 1858-1860 and records of their being hired out. Of note is a letter, 30 October 1864, from Abram M. Allen, an enslaved individual who had been freed before the Civil War, to Eliza Tripp Ellison, Henry's widow, at Wilson, N.C., where she had taken refuge during the Civil War. Abram informs Eliza of his whereabouts. This letter has not been digitized, but can be found in folder 2 of the collection. 

Manuel J. Thouston Letter, 1865

The collection consists of a photocopy of letter from Isabella C. Sourtan, a formerly enslaved woman, of Liberty, Va., asking permission to return to work for her former enslaver, Manuel J. Thouston, in Gloucester County, Va. All three pages of this collection are digitized.

July 10, 1865: Folder 1

Stephen D. Heard Papers, 1758-1889

Stephen D. Heard, lawyer, commission merchant, and native of Wilkes County, Ga., practiced law in Talbotton, Ga., from about 1835 until about 1847. In 1836, he married Mary Anne Willis of Wilkes County, whose father, Colonel Richard Jefferson Willis, later signed the Ordinance of Secession. Correspondence and financial and legal materials chiefly 1840 to 1874 concerning the successive firms in which Stephen D. Heard was involved. The collection also contains some family materials, including correspondence, diaries, recipe books, and household account books. The Heard family enslaved many individuals and the collection includes some correspondence as well as lists and registers documenting these people. Of particular note is a letter written by Ellis Davis to Anna Platt Heard on October 23, 1865.

October 23, 1865: Folder 189 (scans 23-25)

John DeBerniere Hooper Papers, 1778-1911

The papers of professor and teacher John DeBerniere Hooper consist of correspondence with his father-in-law, William Hooper, and with other Hooper, Jones, and DeBerniere family members in North Carolina and South Carolina. Included is a letter from 1861 a man named Jerry who was enslaved by Hooper. Hooper hired Jerry out to students at the University of North Carolina and on October 16, 1861, Jerry wrote to Hooper explaining that he didn't have enough work because so many had enlisted to serve the Confederacy. He asks Hooper if he can make other arrangements for further work.  

October 16, 1861Folder 15 (scan 45)

John Kimberly Papers, 1821-1938

The collection includes personal correspondence, lecture notes, laboratory notebooks, and accounts of farmer and University of North Carolina professor John Kimberly. The letters are predominately concerned with daily life and family news, but also discuss current events such as the slavery market, fugitives from slavery, and crop conditions prior to the Civil War, as well as the quality of life in antebellum Chapel Hill, N.C. Of note is a letter written by a woman named Susan Capart from Liberia, Africa.

March 1, 1859: Folder 20 (scans 74-76)

Henry Smith Richardson Papers, 1811-1999

Most of this collection includes personal and business correspondence, writings, newspaper clippings and other printed material, and business and association records documenting H. Smith Richardson's career in Richardson-Vicks Inc. There is a small series of Smith family papers, 1811-1918 (subseries 5.3). Included is a letter to Judge Watson from a man who was enslaved by Richardson. The subject of the letter is unclear; it either thanks Watson for saving the enslaved person's life or asks him to help the enslaved person get out of jail.

November 13, 1864: Folder 201a (scan 8)

John Steele Papers, 1716-1846

This collection contains correspondence, financial and legal materials, and other items of John Steele and the Steele family. Two letters contain information about individuals who were enslaved by the family. On September 2, 1835, Mary Steele was informed that Cressa, who was enslaved by a man in Yorkville, S.C., was being returned because of her "misconduct" with the agent who hired her. On November 15, 1835, Alfred Stell (Steele) wrote to his enslaver, Mary Steele, requesting to "live in Raleigh so that I can be close to my wife." 

November 15, 1835: Folder 71 (scans 15-16)

William H. Wills Papers, 1712-1993 (bulk 1803-1882)

William H. Wills (1809-1889) of Halifax County, N.C., was a general merchant in Halifax, a Methodist Protestant minister, and enslaver. The collection documents his service in the Methodist Protestant church in North Carolina and church administration between the 1840s and 1890s. The collection includes a letter written by a man named Washington ("Wash") Wills who was enslaved by the Wills family.

 October 30, 1864: Folder 12 (scans 80-81)

Thomas Crawford Papers, 1842-1844

Thomas Crawford, enslaved by Thomas Mosley of Mount Sterling in Montgomery County, Ky., was sold by Mosley to James Crawford, also of Mount Sterling. Thomas Crawford was manumitted by James Crawford in 1842 and moved to Delaware, Ohio, with his wife Hattie and their children. The collection contains a letter, 1 April 1844, from Thomas Crawford to his former owner, Thomas Mosley, commenting on his life in Delaware, Ohio. In the letter, Crawford addressed Mosley as "Farther" and mentioned receiving money from Mosley, which he used to pay off a mortgage debt, and renting property out to "a Dutchman to crop on the haves." Thomas Crawford also mentioned his son, Steward Crawford, in the letter. This letter has not been digitized.

 April 1, 1844: Folder 1

Examples of Letters

Letter written by Alfred Steele in the John Steele Papers, November 1835

Scan of letter from Alfred in the John Steele Collection