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 George W. Bryan Papers, #3570, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchased, March 1962.

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid is filed in folder 1a.

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.

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.

• Agricultural laborers--Georgia--Economic conditions.
• Bryan, Cornelia Stokes.
• Bryan, George W., fl. 1860-1880.
• Children--Georgia--Social life and customs.
• Henry County (Ga.)--Economic conditions.
• Lawyers--Georgia--History--19th century.
• Legislators--Georgia--History--19th century.
• Love-letters--History--19th century.
• Plantation owners--Georgia.
• Ritherdon, Edward H.
• Ritherdon, Minnie.
• Worth County (Ga.)--Economic conditions.

George W. Bryan (fl. 1860-1880) was a planter and lawyer of Henry and Worth counties, Ga. He was the democratic candidate for the 35th district in the Georgia state senate race, 1876. There are some items in the collection that indicate he may have been elected.

Bryan married Cornelia "Nelie" Stokes in April 1861.

The collection includes family correspondence, scattered business papers, and account books of George W. Bryan and his wife Cornelia Stokes Bryan. Most correspondence is dated 1859-1873, with a few Civil War items. It includes 74 love-letters between the couple before their marriage. The rest of the correspondence and all other loose papers are business related. One letter is addressed to Bryan at the state legislature, indicating that he may have been a legislator. There are also ten seemingly unrelated letters from Minnie and Edward H. Ritherdon, apparently children, to "Hughie." Volumes, chiefly 1866-1875, are records of accounts with sharecroppers and paid labor, including merchandise advanced.