Inventory of the Alexander Elliot Papers, 1769-1909

Collection Number 4596


Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Collection Information
Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Online Catalog Headings
Biographical Note
Collection Overview
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/
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Descriptive Summary

Repository
Southern Historical Collection
Creator
Elliot, Alexander, 1797-1870.
Title
Alexander Elliot Papers, 1769-1909
Call Number
4596
Language of Materials
Materials in English
Extent
Items: 400
Linear Feet: 0.5
Abstract
Alexander Elliot, lumberman of Fayetteville, Cumberland County, N.C., who also served as a colonel in the militia, was a member of the North Carolina House of Commons, 1824-1825, and the North Carolina Senate, 1826.
The collection is chiefly letters documenting Elliot's lumbering business. Many items are from agents in Wilmington, N.C., who handled the timber that Elliot rafted to them via the Cape Fear River. These letters typically include financial statements relating to the shipment and sale of Elliot's lumber. There are also many bills and receipts, some relating to buying and selling slaves. Also included are family letters. Some of these letters are from Elliot's sister, Jane Boylan, who lived in Raleigh, N.C., and wrote in the early 1840s chiefly about family matters. Others are from William Wilkshire Whitfield, Elliot's nephew, who, in the mid-1840s, wrote to his uncle from Chapel Hill where he was a student at the University of North Carolina. Other family letters, written in the mid- to late-1840s, are from family members who had moved to Columbus, Lowndes County, Miss., to farm. These letters mostly discuss family and agricultural matters, but also include mention of other topics, such as the possibility of slave insurrections in Mississippi and North Carolina. In 1864 and 1865, there are letters to Elliot from a teacher he had hired to provide an education for his children during the Civil War. The volume of materials drops off after the 1860s.

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Administrative Information

Restrictions to Access
No restrictions.
Acquisitions Information
Purchased from Doug Mattox in December 1991, June 1993 (Acc. 93085), November 1997 (Acc. 97156), and February 2000 (Acc. 98587). Received as gift from Doug Mattox in February 2001 (Acc. 99146).
Processing Information
Processed by: Roslyn Holdzkom, 1991 with subsequent additions
Encoded by: Roslyn Holdzkom, August 2004
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Alexander Elliot Papers #4596, 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.

Agriculture--Mississippi--History--19th century.
Boylan, Jane, fl. 1840.
Children--Education--North Carolina--History--19th century.
Columbus (Miss.)--History.
Commission merchants--North Carolina--History--19th century.
Cumberland County (N.C.)--Commerce--History--19th century.
Education--North Carolina--History--19th century.
Elliot, Alexander, 1797-1870.
Family--Mississippi--Social life and customs.
Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
Fayetteville (N.C.)--Commerce--History--19th century.
Fayetteville (N.C.)--History.
Fayetteville (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
Lowndes County (Miss.)--History.
Lumber trade--North Carolina--History--19th century.
Lumber--Transportation--History--19th century.
Migration, Internal--Southern States--History--19th century.
Slave bills of sale--North Carolina.
Slave insurrections--Southern States.
Slavery--North Carolina.
Teachers--North Carolina--History--19th century.
University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Students--History.
Whitfield, William Wilkshire, fl. 1840.
Wilmington (N.C.)--Commerce--History--19th century.
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Biographical Note

Alexander Elliot, lumberman of Fayetteville, Cumberland County, N.C., who also served as a colonel in the militia, was a member of the North Carolina House of Commons, 1824-1825, and the North Carolina Senate, 1826.

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Collection Overview

The collection is chiefly letters documenting lumberman and North Carolina legislator Alexander Elliot's lumbering business. Many items are from agents in Wilmington, N.C., who handled the timber that Elliot rafted to them via the Cape Fear River. These letters typically include financial statements relating to the shipment and sale of Elliot's lumber. There are also many bills and receipts, some relating to buying and selling slaves. Also included are family letters. Some of these letters are from Elliot's sister, Jane Boylan, who lived in Raleigh, N.C., and wrote in the early 1840s chiefly about family matters. Others are from William Wilkshire Whitfield, Elliot's nephew, who, in the mid-1840s, wrote to his uncle from Chapel Hill, N.C., where he was a student at the University of North Carolina. Other family letters, written in the mid- to late-1840s, are from family members who had moved to Columbus, Lowndes County, Miss., to farm. These letters mostly discuss family and agricultural matters, but also include mention of other topics, such as the possibility of slave insurrections in Mississippi and North Carolina. In 1864 and 1865, there are letters to Elliot from a teacher he had hired to provide an education for his children at home during the Civil War. The volume of materials drops off after the 1860s.

Detailed Description of the Collection

Alexander Elliot Papers, 1769-1870.
About 400 items.
Box 1
Papers

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