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Collection Number: 00092-z

Collection Title: Bedford Brown Papers, 1779-1906.

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.


This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities; this finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

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Size 64 items
Abstract Bedford Brown (1795 – 1870), was a white United States senator and state legislator from Caswell County, North Carolina; whose son, Livingston Brown, married Ann E. Clark. Papers include a letter, dated 12 May 1860, written by an enslaved individual to his Uncle Ned on a neighboring plantation and a bill of sale for Lucy, an enslaved woman. Also included are family letters dated 1836; political correspondence of Bedford Brown in 1860; and of Livingston Brown, 1866 – 1876; and Caswell County deeds and miscellaneous papers. 
Creator Brown, Bedford, 1795-1870.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
Restrictions to Use
No usage restrictions.
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Bedford Brown Papers, #92-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Mary Wilson Brown of Yanceyville, N.C., prior to 1940.
Additional Descriptive Resources
A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1.
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.
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Processed by: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, May 2009

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

Conscious Editing Work by: Rebecca Stubbs, July 2020. Updated abstract, subject headings, biographical note, and scope and content note.

Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

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The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Bedford Brown (1795-1870), son of Jethro Brown of Caswell County, N.C., was involved in politics most of his life, serving in the state legislature and in the United States Senate, 1829-1840. He moved to Missouri in 1843, renouncing politics temporarily, but moved soon again to Virginia, and shortly thereafter returned to Caswell County. His wife was Mary Brown with whom he had four sons William, Bedford Junior (1825-1897), Livingston, and Thomas J. Livingston Brown married Ann E. Clark, daughter of John Bullock Clark (1802-1885) of Fayette, Mo., state legislator, United States congressman, and member of the Confederate Congress. Livingston Brown and his wife moved to Albermarle County, Va., in 1847. After his wife's 1848 death, Livingston remarried and resettled in Caswell County, N.C., and became involved in North Carolina politics.

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The collection includes scattered papers of the family of Bedford Brown and of his son, Livingston Brown. Papers include a letter, dated 12 May 1860, written by an enslaved individual to his Uncle Ned on a neighboring plantation and a bill of sale for Lucy, an enslaved woman. Brown and Clark family letters, beginning in 1836; political correspondence of Bedford Brown only in 1860, and of Livingston Brown, 1866-1876; and Caswell County deeds and other legal documents; undated speeches; and other miscellaneous items. Among other persons represented in the papers are William Brown, Thomas J. Brown, John H. Turner, Ann E. Clark, Mary S. Brown, John Bullock Clark, Elenor Clark, Bedford Brown Junior, Milo A. Holcomb, J. W. Alspaugh, John Cunningham, W. F. Leak, R. Weakley Brown, John Thomas Harris, Josiah Turner Junior, Matt W. Ransom, Harvey Spalding, and R. B. Glenn.

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Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Bedford Brown Papers, 1779-1906 and undated.

Folder 1

Papers, 1779, 1800-1846

Folder includes original finding aid.

Oversize Paper Folder OPF-92/1

Deed, 1783

Folder 2

Papers, 1847-1859

Folder 3

Papers, 1860-1866

Includes a 12 May 1860 letter from an enslaved man in Arkansas (name unknown) to his Uncle Ned on another plantation. There is also a bill of sale dated 31 August 1863 for an enslaved woman named Lucy.

Folder 4

Papers, 1867-1906

Folder 5

Undated speeches and articles

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