Inventory of the Brownrigg Family Papers, 1736-1986

Collection Number 2226

unc seal
Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Collection Information
block Descriptive Summary
block Administrative Information
block Online Catalog Headings
block Biographical/Historical Note
block Collection Overview
plus Detailed Description of the Collection
block Items Separated
block Related Collections
Contact Information:
Manuscripts Department
CB#3926, Wilson Library
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
Phone: 919/962-1345
Fax: 919/962-3594
Email: mss@email.unc.edu
URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/
Processed by
Rebecca Hollingsworth
Date Processed
March 1992 with subsequent additions
Encoded by
Lynn Holdzkom
Date Encoded
July 2003
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Descriptive Summary

Repository
Southern Historical Collection
Creator
Brownrigg family.
Title
Brownrigg Family Papers, 1736-1986
Call Number
2226
Extent
300 items (0.5 linear feet)
Abstract
The Brownrigg family of Wicklow County, Ireland; Chowan, Pasquotank, and Hertford counties, N.C.; and Mississippi. Included are Richard Brownrigg (d. 1771) of Ireland; brothers John and Thomas Brownrigg; Thomas's wife, Ruth; their son, Gen. Richard Thomas Brownrigg (b. 1793); and their daughter, Elizabeth Brownrigg, who married the Hon. John L. Bailey. The collection includes correspondence and other papers, mainly 1771-1861, of the Brownrigg family of Chowan County, N.C., and Lowndes County, Miss. Included are deeds, contracts, bills and receipts; copies of family data and wills, including the wills of Richard Brownrigg (1735-1771) and his son Thomas Brownrigg (1767-1826); personal letters concerning health, education in North Carolina, fisheries, travels, and property in Chowan and Pasquotank counties, N.C., and Lowndes County, Miss.; typed transcriptions of John Brownrigg's letters, 1784-1794, written in Ireland and Jamaica; letters, 1807-1811, from Richard Thomas Brownrigg at the University of North Carolina; letters, 1835, written on a wagon caravan journey from North Carolina to Mississippi; journals, 1835 and 1836, written by Richard Thomas Brownrigg on trips from North Carolina to Mississippi; personal account books, 1835-1858, of Richard T. Brownrigg and his son John Brownrigg; and a few letters, 1944, of Richard Thomas Brownrigg (b. 1865).
Language
English.


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Administrative Information

Restrictions to Access
No restrictions.
Provenance
Received from Richard Thomas Brownrigg of St. Louis, Mo., in 1940, and from Henry Brownrigg of London, UK, in April 2000 (Acc. 98606).
Processing Information
This collection was rehoused under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Brownrigg Family Papers #2226, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
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Online Catalog Headings

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

Account books.
Americans--Ireland--History--19th century.
Brownrigg family.
Brownrigg, John, fl. 1784-1858.
Brownrigg, John, fl. 1835-1865.
Brownrigg, Richard, d. 1771.
Brownrigg, Richard Thomas, 1793-1863.
Brownrigg, Richard Thomas, b. 1865.
Brownrigg, Thomas, 1767-1826.
Chowan County (N.C.)--History.
Education--North Carolina--History--19th century.
Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
Fisheries--North Carolina--History.
Ireland--Description and travel.
Irish Americans--North Carolina--History--19th century.
Jamaica--Description and travel.
Lowndes County (Miss.)--Social life and customs.
Migration, Internal--Southern States--History--19th century.
Mississippi--Description and travel.
Pasquotank County (N.C.)--Social life and customs--19th century.
Real property--Mississippi--History--19th century.
Real property--North Carolina--History--19th century.
Southern States--Description and travel.
University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Students--History--19th century.
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Related Collections

John Lancaster Bailey Papers (#39)
Elizabeth Henderson Cotten Papers (#1650)
Archibald Henderson Papers (#3650)
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Biographical/Historical Note

Richard Brownrigg (1735-1771) was born in Wicklow County, Ireland, and emigrated to America some time before 1760. He settled in Bertie County, N.C., and married Sarah Campbell, daughter of Captain John Campbell. His son John Brownrigg (fl. 1784-1894) spent many years in Dublin, Ireland, with the uncle for whom he had been named; he was the heir to his uncle's estates in Ireland and Jamaica.

Thomas Brownrigg (1767-1826), a younger son of Richard Brownrigg, lived in Pasquotank County, N.C., until the death of his brother John. At that time he moved to the family estate of Wingfield in Chowan County.

General Richard Thomas Brownrigg (1793-1847), oldest son of Thomas Brownrigg, lived at Wingfield until 1836, when he moved to Lowndes County, Miss. He settled near Columbus, as did his sister and brother-in-law, Sarah and William Sparkman. General Brownrigg and his wife, Mary Winifred Hoskins Brownrigg, had seven children. Their oldest son, John Brownrigg (fl. 1835-1865), was a physician in the Columbus area and a surgeon in the Confederate Army.

Richard Thomas Brownrigg (b. 1865), only son of John Brownrigg, was a lawyer in Saint Louis, Mo.

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Collection Overview

The collection includes correspondence and other papers, mainly 1771-1861, of the Brownrigg family of Chowan County, N.C., and Lowndes County, Miss. Included are deeds, contracts, bills and receipts; copies of family data and wills, including the wills of Richard Brownrigg (1735-1771) and his son Thomas Brownrigg (1767-1826); personal letters concerning health, education in North Carolina, fisheries, travels, and property in Chowan County and Pasquotank County, N.C., and Lowndes County, Miss.; typed transcriptions of John Brownrigg's letters, 1784-1794, written in Ireland and Jamaica; letters, 1807-1811, from Richard Thomas Brownrigg at the University of North Carolina; letters, 1835, written on a wagon caravan journey from North Carolina to Mississippi; journals, 1835 and 1836, written by Richard Thomas Brownrigg on trips from North Carolina to Mississippi; personal account books, 1835-1858, of Richard T. Brownrigg and his son John Brownrigg; and a few letters, 1944, of Richard Thomas Brownrigg (b. 1865).

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Organization of Collection

1. Correspondence
2. Financial and Legal Materials
3. Other Papers
3.1. Genealogical Materials
3.2. Miscellaneous Items
3.3. Volumes
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Items Separated

Separated items include oversize papers (OP-2226).

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Detailed Description of the Collection

1. Correspondence, 1779-1882, 1944.

About 75 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Personal letters of various members of the Brownrigg family. Included are typed transcriptions of a letterbook, 1784-1794, of John Brownrigg. These letters are from Brownrigg in Ireland and Jamaica, to various relatives in America and Ireland, including his stepfather David Meredith, his mother Sarah Campbell Brownrigg Meredith, his sister Mary Brownrigg Blackstock, his brother Thomas, and his brother-in-law John Hunter. They discuss John Brownrigg's business affairs in North Carolina, the administration of his uncle's estates in Jamaica, the education of his brother Thomas, and other family matters. The transcriptions were made by Richard T. Brownrigg of St. Louis, Mo.; the original book has apparently been lost.
Also included are a few letters, 1807-1811, from Richard Thomas Brownrigg to his father Thomas Brownrigg, written while Richard T. Brownrigg was a student at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, chiefly concerning his activities at the University; letters of introduction, 1835, for Richard T. Brownrigg from James Iredell of Raleigh to various persons in Alabama and Mississippi; and letters, 1835-1836, to Richard T. Brownrigg from his sister Sarah Brownrigg Sparkman and his brothers-in-law William Sparkman and R. T. Hoskins, describing in detail their families' move by wagon from North Carolina to Mississippi and early experiences in Lowndes County, Miss. There are also a few letters from Richard Thomas Brownrigg of St. Louis, Mo., to his cousin Elizabeth Brownrigg Henderson Cotten, pertaining mostly to genealogical inquiries and the papers he donated to the Southern Historical Collection.
Folder 1
1779-1791
Folder 2
1791-1794
Folder 3
1807-1835

Digital version: Letter from Richard T. Brownrigg to Thomas Brownrigg, 5 March 1811
Folder 4
1836, 1846, 1882, and 19th century undated
Folder 5
1944

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2. Financial and Legal Materials, 1736-1862 and undated.

About 210 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Wills, indentures, bills, receipts, promissory notes, and other financial and legal items pertaining to the affairs of various members of the Brownrigg family. Included are the will of Richard Brownrigg, 1771, and typed transcriptions of the wills of Richard Brownrigg's father-in-law, John Campbell, 1777; of David Meredith, stepfather of John and Thomas Brownrigg, 1791; and of Thomas Brownrigg, 1825. Also included are inventories of the estates of Richard Brownrigg and his son John; indentures, bills, and receipts concerning Thomas Brownrigg, including a contract of partnership with Joseph Parker, accounts of Parker and Company, and many items concerning the buying and selling of slaves; items pertaining to Richard T. Brownrigg's brothers-in-law William Sparkman and Charles W. Hoskins; bills and receipts of Mary W. Brownrigg, the widow of Richard T. Brownrigg; and bills and receipts of Dr. John Brownrigg.
Folder 6
1736-1796
Folder 7
1800-1818
Folder 8
1821-1836
Folder 9
1840-1850
Folder 10
1851-1853
Folder 11
1854-1857
Folder 12
1858-1862 and undated

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3. Other Papers.

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3.1. Genealogical Materials, 1886-1889.
3 items.
Typed transcription of a genealogical essay, 1886, by Elizabeth Brownrigg Waddell, daughter of General Richard T. Brownrigg; a pamphlet entitled The Genealogy of the "Latham-Hill-Montfort-Littlejohn-McCulloch-Campbell and Brownrigg Families" by W. H. Bailey, a grandson of Thomas Brownrigg; a family tree of the Brownriggs of Wicklow County, Ireland; and "The Brownrigg Family in Cumberland (1550-1800)" by Henry Brownrigg.
Folder 13a-b
Genealogical materials
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3.2. Miscellaneous Items, 1800-1863 and undated.
About 10 items.
Various papers pertaining to members of the Brownrigg family, including diplomas from the Philanthropic Society, University of North Carolina, 1813, awarded to Richard T. Brownrigg; pages from the diary of an unidentified person, describing a trip to Virginia on legal business and later a trip to Washington, D.C., where the writer was entertained by President and Mrs. Tyler; an essay on Wingfield, the estate of Richard Brownrigg, possibly written by Elizabeth Brownrigg Henderson Cotten; and several obituaries of various members of the Brownrigg family, copied in the handwriting of Archibald Henderson, including the obituaries of Major Richard Thomas Brownrigg, d. 1863, and his brother Dr. John Brownrigg, fl. 1835-1865.
Folder 14-15
Miscellaneous items
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3.3. Volumes, 1835-1858.
4 items.
Folder 16
Volume 1: 12 May-11 July 1835. Travel diary of Richard T. Brownrigg and account of expenses, describing a trip from North Carolina to Columbus, Miss.
Volume 2: 25 May-22 July 1836. Travel diary and account of expenses, describing a trip from North Carolina to Mississippi.
Folder 17
Volume 3. 1848-1852. Account book, mostly pertaining to the estate of General Richard T. Brownrigg. Also included are some accounts of Mary W. Brownrigg.
Volume 4. 1853-1858. Account book, consisting mostly of personal accounts of Dr. John Brownrigg.

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