Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#3838
ANNE CAMERON COLLINS PAPERS
Inventory
Abstract: Anne Cameron Collins, daughter of Paul Carrington
Cameron (1808-1891) and Anne (Ruffin) Cameron (d. 1897), of
Hillsborough, N.C.; wife of George Pumpelly Collins
(1835-1903), plantation manager in Tunica County, Miss.
Personal and family letters received by Anne (Cameron)
Collins of Hillsborough, N.C., especially from her husband,
George P. Collins, while he was away from home managing
plantations in Tunica County, Miss., and as a businessman in
Durham, N.C., from the late 1870s through the late 1890s.
There are also many letters from the Collins’s seven children,
including Annie Cameron (Collins) Wall (1862-1942), Rebecca
Anderson (Collins) Wood (1864-1921), George William Kent
Collins (1869-1946), Henrietta Page Collins (1870-1955), Mary
Arthur (Collins) Woods (1872-1952), Alice Ruffin (Collins)
Mebane (1874-1958), and Paul Cameron Collins (1877-1961); and
correspondence with Cameron and Collins relatives, including
Bennehan Cameron (1854-1925), Mildred Coles Cameron
(1820-1881), and Arthur Collins. Also included are letters
from friends, including Carrie Sargent of Bryn Mawr, Pa. There
are only two items prior to 1865. The correspondence deals
primarily with family concerns and includes letters from
children attending St. Mary’s School, 1870-1882 and late 1880s,
and the Raleigh Male Academy, 1883-1884, both in Raleigh, N.C.,
and the University of North Carolina, 1897, and also provides
information concerning George P. Collins’s business affairs and
economic and social conditions in Mississippi during
Reconstruction.
Online Catalog Terms:
Cameron, Bennehan, 1854-1925.
Cameron family.
Cameron, Mildred Coles, 1828-1881.
Collins, Anne Cameron, 1842-1915.
Collins, Arthur.
Collins family.
Collins, George Pumpelly, 1835-1903.
Collins, George William Kent, 1869-1964.
Collins, Henrietta Page, 1870-1955.
Collins, Paul Cameron, 1877-1961.
Family—North Carolina—Social life and customs—19th century.
Hillsborough (N.C.)—Social life and customs—19th century.
Mebane, Alice Ruffin Collins, 1874-1958.
Plantations—Mississippi—Tunica County.
Raleigh Male Academy (N.C.)—Students.
Reconstruction—Mississippi.
St. Mary’s School (Raleigh, N.C.)—Students—History—19th
century.
Sargent, Carrie.
Tunica County (Miss.)—Economic conditions—19th century.
University of North Carolina (1793-1962)—Students—History—19th
century.
Wall, Annie Cameron Collins, 1862-1942.
Women—North Carolina—Social life and customs—19th century.
Wood, Mary Arthur Collins, 1872-1952.
Wood, Rebecca Anderson Collins, 1864-1921.
Size: About 10,000 items (12.5 linear feet).
Date Span: 1849-1909.
Provenance: Received from Elizabeth H. Collins, of Hillsborough, N.C.,
in March 1973, and from John Sykes III of Baton Rouge, La.,
in May 1997.
Access: No restrictions.
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or
their descendants, as stipulated by United States
copyright law.
Related Collections: Cameron Family Papers (#133);
Bennehan Cameron Papers (#3623);
Thomas Ruffin Papers (#644).
Table of Contents:
Biographical Note
Description
Addition of May 1997
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Anne Ruffin Cameron (1842-1915) was the daughter of Paul Carrington
Cameron (1808-1891) and Anne (Ruffin) Cameron (d. 1897). Her maternal
grandfather was Thomas Ruffin, chief justice of North Carolina, and her
paternal grandfather was Duncan Cameron (1777-1853). Born 16 July 1842, she
married George Pumpelly Collins (1835-1903), Major, CSA, on 20 December
1860. George P. Collins came from the Chowan and Washington County area of
North Carolina. He had business and property interests in Tunica County,
Miss., for a decade or two after the Civil War, and spent considerable time
in Mississippi from 1865 to the late 1870s. Later, he became engaged in
various business enterprises in Durham, N.C. George and Anne Collins made
their home in Hillsborough, N.C., and seven of their children lived to
maturity:
Annie Cameron Collins (1862-1942) married William Lewis Wall of Durham,
N.C., on 16 November 1892, and had three children: George Collins Wall,
Sarah Wallace Wall, and Rebecca Bennehan Wall.
Rebecca Anderson Collins (1864-1921) married Frank Wood of Edenton,
N.C., on 11 November 1886, and had three children: Frank, Jr. (died as
a child), George C. Wood (b. 1890), and Rebecca (Wood) Drane.
Mary Arthur Collins (1866-1871).
George William Kent Collins (1869-1946), unmarried, was a University of
North Carolina alumnus and became a civil engineer.
Henrietta Page Collins (1870-1955), unmarried.
Mary Arthur Collins (1872-1952) married Frank Wood after the death of
her sister Rebecca, and had no children.
Alice Ruffin Collins (1874-1958) married Frank Carter Mebane on 20
December 1900, and was mother of Frank Mebane Jr., and Alice Mebane.
Paul Cameron Collins (1877-1961) married Mary McNeill on 12 January
1910, and was the father of Elizabeth Hyman Collins and Mary Strange
Collins.
The above information about the children is mainly from Alice R. R.
Rouse, The Reads and Their Relatives. Biographical sketches, including
family data of Duncan Cameron and Paul C. Cameron are in Cyclopedia of
Eminent and Representative Men of the Carolinas, 19th Century, Vol. II
(1892). Birth and death dates were added by the earlier donor, Elizabeth
H. Collins.
DESCRIPTION
1849-1895
The only items dated earlier than 1865, are a letter dated 20 July 1849,
from George P. Collins at Somerset Place to his cousin, and a poem copied
for Anne Cameron on the day before her wedding on 19 December 1860, by
A.K.R. (her grandmother Ruffin).
Beginning in April 1865, a large portion of this collection consists of
letters to Anne Collins from her husband at times when he was away on
business or for other reasons. The various locations of Major Collins
include: Greensboro, N.C., April 1865, while he was serving in the
Confederate Army at Gen. Johnston’s headquarters following the end of
hostilities; several locations in northeastern North Carolina, later in
1865, when Collins was trying to redeem family property in the Edenton
area; Tunica County, Miss., at or near Othello (with mail addressed to the
care of cotton factors or merchants at Memphis). Collins went to
Mississippi in late 1865, apparently to manage the plantation holdings of
his father-in-law Paul C. Cameron (see letters of 30 December 1871, and 6
January 1872), although Collins’s continued concern with Mississippi
affairs indicates that he, too, may have had interests there. Anne and
some of the children joined George Collins from time to time in
Mississippi, but apparently conditions there were not good and the family
spent much of each year in Hillsborough, while George Collins remained in
Mississippi. Collins’s letters to his wife from Mississippi are filled
with enlightening information about conditions there during Reconstruction
(see letter of 6 January 1872).
In the late 1870s, George Collins gave up permanent residence at the
Mississippi plantation and returned to North Carolina. Correspondence
suggests that he may have helped to manage the Cameron plantation at
Fairntosh (presently Durham County), and that he later became engaged in
business ventures in Durham. His wife remained in Hillsborough much of
this time, and George returned to Mississippi on plantation business as
late as 1888.
Other correspondence includes occasional letters from George P. Collins
to Paul C. Cameron in regard to Mississippi affairs; letters to George P.
and Anne Collins from their children, and members of Anne’s family,
especially Duncan Cameron, and Paul C. Cameron and his wife.
Correspondence from the children begins in the early 1870s, when their
parents are in Mississippi, and continues as they leave home to attend
school. The children’s earlier school years seem to have been in
Hillsborough at the school of the Misses Nash and Kollock, or at Miss Alice
Heartt’s school. Rebecca and Anne Collins started at St. Mary’s School in
Raleigh, N.C., beginning in 1878, apparently living at the home of Mrs.
George W. Mordecai (their mother’s aunt Margaret). Rebecca and possibly
Anne continued at St. Mary’s until 1882. According to the report cards
included with these papers, Paul and George Collins attended Raleigh Male
Academy, 1883-1884. George Collins began studying at the University of
North Carolina in 1886. Henrietta Collins attended St. Mary’s in 1887.
The only one of the girls not to go directly to St. Mary’s was Alice R.
Collins, who attended St. Hilda’s School in Morristown, N. J. in 1892.
Letters from the children continue as they marry and resettle. There are a
few letters to the children from friends and relatives.
Other letters, scattered throughout the collection, are from Carrie B.
Sargent (wife of Dr. Gorham P. Sargent) at Bryn Mawr, Pa.—the first letter
being written from Philadelphia, 3 August 1865. There is also
correspondence from Mrs. Josiah (Sally) Collins and other Collins in-laws
including Mary Collins, Arthur Collins, and George Collins’s mother;
various Cameron cousins and relatives; and from Anne Collins to her
children and husband.
Although the correspondence in this group of papers deals mainly with
family concerns, it also includes some business letters and offers
information on contemporary events such as Reconstruction in Mississippi,
and the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston (3 letters written from
Johnston’s headquarters in Greensboro, N.C., 22-30 April 1865).
The papers also include report cards showing the grades of the Collins
children, receipts for merchandise sales, and various clippings.
Folders 1-15 1849-June 1872
16-30 July 1872-June 1877
31-45 July 1877-1879
46-60 1880-June 1883
61-75 July 1883-April 1886
76-90 May 1886-June 1887
91-105 July 1887-August 1888
106-120 September 1888-November 1889
121-135 December 1889-1890
136-150 1891-January 1892
151-166 February-December 1892
167-180 January-July 1893
181-195 August 1893-June 1894
196-206 July 1894-December 1995
1896-1909
After 1895, Anne Cameron Collins continued to live in Hillsborough, but
visited in Edenton, Raleigh, and Durham, N.C.; New Brighton, Staten Island,
and New York City; Savannah, Ga.; and Alabama.
The letters written during this time period are mostly to Anne Collins
from her seven scattered children, and concern family matters, particularly
illnesses, travels, marriages, births, and deaths. Her daughter, Alice,
married Frank C. Mebane in 1900, and moved to New York. Paul was a student
at the University of North Carolina during 1897-1898. Letters from George,
another son, reveal his trying out different jobs in Florida, Virginia,
Ohio, and California. Children were born during this period to daughters,
Annie Wall, Rebecca Wood, and Alice Mebane. Anne Collins’s mother, Anne
Ruffin Cameron, died in May 1897, and her husband, George P. Collins, died
in August 1903. There are also letters from relatives, namely her brother
Bennehan Cameron and his wife Sallie, sister Mildred Cameron, and
brother-in-law Arthur Collins. Letters from friends and a few business
letters concerning the farm property of the Collins and Cameron families
are scattered throughout.
There is an unexplained gap in the papers from September 1904 through
1906.
Folder 207-210 January 1996-January 1897
211-225 February 1897-January 1898
226-240 February 1898-July 1899
241-255 August 1899-October 1900
256-271 November 1900-1901
272-286 1901-November 1902
287-301 December 1902-May 1903
302-316 June-November 1903
317-331 December 1903-May 1904
332-345 June 1904-June 1909
346-357 July-October 1909 and miscellaneous
ADDITION OF MAY 1997 (Acc. 97071)
Size: About 400 items (0.5 linear feet).
Dates: 1876-1900.
Provenance: Gift of John Sykes III, cousin of original donor
Elizabeth H. Collins, of Baton Rouge, La., on 28 May
1997.
Access: No restrictions.
Description: Family letters and other papers, mostly letters
received by Anne Cameron Collins of Hillsborough,
N.C., from her daughters and her sisters between 1876
and 1900. Also included are a few letters to or from
George P. Collins and others and a few financial
papers. The papers are arranged chronologically.
Box 24 Folder 358 1874-1875
Folder 359 1876
Folder 360 1877
Folder 361 1878
Folder 362 1879
Folder 363 1880-1881
Folder 364 1882-1883
Folder 365 1886-1889
Box 25 Folder 366 1892-1899
Folder 367 1900
Folder 368-370 Undated to Anne Collins from her sister
Rebecca Graham
Folder 371 Undated to Anne Collins from her parents
Paul and Anne Cameron
Folder 372 Undated to Anne Collins from her children
Folder 373 Undated to George P Collins
Folder 374 Undated, miscellaneous