Correspondence chiefly pertaining to business affairs of Major Peter Hairston of Sauratown Hill Plantation in Stokes County, N.C. Included are letters received from commission merchants, business associates, and overseers, and letters exchanged with relatives and friends.

Frequent correspondents are Heathcock & Fenwick of Petersburg; Hairston's father-in-law, Peter Perkins; ironworks owner, James Martin; and Hairston's son-in-law, Robert Hairston. Family letters also appear from Hairston's brother, George Hairston, of Berry Hill, Va., and from George's son, Samuel, who was Robert Hairston's brother. One letter appears from N. P. Hairston in Warren County, Miss., to his father, John Hairston, at the Hairston Iron Works in Patrick County, Va., in which the younger Hairston described his activities in the new territory.

Letters from commission merchants discuss goods purchased and tobacco prices. Other business correspondence concerns Hairston's interest in the Union Iron Works (see letters from James Martin in 1796); the buying and selling of slaves, land, and horses; plantation work; land surveys; the collection of debts; and local business news. Family letters focus primarily on financial arrangements, family health, and visits.

Mostly business letters received by Robert Hairston in Henry County, Va., and Stokes County, N.C. Family letters also appear, including one addressed to his wife, Ruth Stovall Hairston.

About half the letters are from Samuel Nowlin & Son of Lynchburg and discuss items purchased, tobacco prices, the Tobacco Law (see 8 November 1839), and lands in Mississippi (see 28 August 1838). Two letters appear from Hairston's nephews, John H. Hairston and George Hairston Junior, who managed his affairs in Columbus, Miss., where he grew cotton. The letters discuss hiring overseers and land acquisitions and rentals. William Wilson and Brice Edwards, overseers, also wrote Hairston at Sauratown in Stokes County from his plantation in Leatherwood, Henry County, Va., to report on his crops, the health of his slaves, and other plantation matters. Miscellaneous letters from acquaintances discuss plantation and financial arrangements.

Of particular interest is a letter from Peter Wilson Hairston, a senior at the University of North Carolina, to his grandmother, Ruth Stovall Hairston. Dated 22 April 1837, the letter expressed Hairston's emotional attachment to Chapel Hill despite its being "a place without a single thing to attract the eye or a single charm to to [sic] captivate the heart."

Principally letters exchanged by Peter W. Hairston and Frances (Fanny) Caldwell during their courtship in the fall of 1858 and spring of 1859. Ten items, mostly letters Peter exchanged with his brothers and other relatives, appear between 1839 and 1855. One item appears in the spring of 1861.

Peter and Fanny's letters, written while Peter lived at Cooleemee Hill in Davie County and Fanny lived in Salisbury, discuss their feelings for each other, literary works, politics, religion, and family. Toward the end of this period, they often mentioned their marriage plans and the country's growing political tensions.

Of interest in Peter's letters are one, dated 2 December 1858, giving his opinions on the Catholic and Episcopal churches, and another, dated 26 January 1859, in which he described his meeting President Buchanan and other politicians in Washington. His letters in April 1859 from the St. Nicholas Hotel in New York provide a window on the social life there, his acquaintances, churches he attended, and politics. He occasionally remarked on the Republican and Free Soil parties and on abolitionism. Fanny's letters discuss mostly her literary opinions and family events.

Scattered items before 1858 pertain mostly to family and plantation affairs. Of note is a letter, dated 29 October 1839, to Peter from his brother Robert at Chapel Hill, concerning Robert's winter vacation plans; the repeal of the Prayer Law at the university; and discussion of building a North Building on campus. Also of interest is a letter of 26 July 1851, from Peter's mother, Agnes Hairston, to her brother, discussing her crops, a local revival, and her brother George's mill. A photostatic copy of a letter from Jeb Stuart to Peter Hairston, written in 1854 from Salem, N.C., gives news of family and friends and local preaching and comments on progress made in building a house at Cooleemee.

One item, a letter dated 4 February 1861, from E. L. Stuart in Richmond to Peter Hairston, informed Hairston of the unavailability of a teacher he had been trying to employ because her parents feared the outbreak of war.

Civil War letters of Peter W. Hairston to his wife, Fanny, mostly during 1861, when he was travelling with the 1st Regiment of the Virginia Cavalry Volunteers as an aide to Jeb Stuart. Hairston wrote chiefly from camps in Fairfax, Beverley, and Prince William counties, including camps Bee, Longstreet, Jefferson Davis, Clover, and Bunker Hill. Several letters also appear from Martinsburg, Winchester, Richmond, and Alexandria, Va. Fanny, during this period, resided at the Spotswood House in Richmond, at Cascade in Pittsylvania County, and in Danville, Va. The letters contain information on help the Hairston family gave the Confederate Army, slave unrest in Virginia, the treatment of Unionists, camp gossip regarding Jefferson Davis and leading Confederate generals, and references to Dr. Dabney Carr, Methodist chaplain; William D. Pender; and Charles F. Fisher. One letter, dated 17 July 1861, appears from Charles F. Fisher, at Winchester, to "My dear Sister." In it, Fisher discussed the condition of his troops and their preparations for battle. Another item of note is a testimonial to Peter Hairston's commendable performance penned by Jeb Stuart on 12 October 1861, when Hairston left his service.

Only 11 items appear after 1861. Peter wrote Fanny sporadically in 1862 and 1863 from Richmond, Hanover Court House, and from near the Rapidan, while he was serving as an aide to Jubal Anderson Early. Principal topics are gossip about military personages, including Jeb Stuart, Early, and James B. Gordon, and about troop movements. A letter dated 10 November 1863 gives an account of the action at Rappahannock Bridge near Brandy Station. Further information on Hairston's Civil War experiences can be found in his war diary (see Volume 18 in Series 4).

Personal correspondence of Peter Wilson Hairston, comprising chiefly letters to his wife and daughters, with scattered business letters.

In 1866, Hairston wrote Fanny often at Sauratown from Baltimore and Washington, D.C., describing his business prospects and his attempts to gain pardons for himself and his family. He on occasion mentioned conflicts between radical Republicans and ex-Confederates in Washington. Between 1866 and 1878, he wrote sporadically to Fanny in Baltimore while visiting family and attending to business in Salisbury and Windsor, N.C., and Buck Forest, Berry Hill Plantation, Oak Hill Plantation, Danville, and White Sulphur Springs, Va. His chiefly letters mostly family illnesses and news. Of note is a letter, dated 26 July 1868, in which Hairston described a flood in Baltimore and discussed the fate of former Confederates in the Courts. Most of the letters appearing after 1878 are from Peter in Baltimore and at various locations in North Carolina and Virginia to his daughters, Ruth and Agnes, and to Fanny at Cooleemee Hill. They contain news of family events, visitors, and friends. A few letters in 1882 concern Hairston's commission business. In 1885 and 1886, a handful of letters appear for Ruth and Agnes from their brother Francis (Frank) and various cousins and friends.

Chiefly letters received by Fanny Hairston and her son, Frank Hairston, between 1887 and 1896, and by her daughter, Ruth Wilson Hairston, after 1897. A few items also appear for another son, Peter W. Hairston, and daughter, Agnes Hairston. Most of Fanny and Frank's letters are addressed to Sauratown and Cooleemee from J. A. O. in Columbus, Miss.; J. A. Early in Lynchburg; and W. A. Stuart and George W. Palmer in Saltville, Va., and concern the settlement of Peter W. Hairston's estate. Ruth's letters, addressed to her at Cooleemee from friends in Alexandria, Va.; Iowa City, Iowa; New York City; and Raleigh, N.C., discuss genealogy, church and family news, and mutual friends.

Of note are letters of condolence received by Ruth and Agnes upon the death of their brother, Frank, in 1902, and their mother, Fanny, in 1907. Also of interest is a tribute (enclosed in a letter of 9 February 1937), written by an African-American minister to Fanny Hairston upon her death.

Chiefly deeds, plats, and surveys pertaining to the lands owned by Peter Hairston in Stokes and Surry counties, N.C. Deeds also appear for lands he acquired in Rowan and Mecklenburg counties. A handful of deeds appear for Stokes and Surry County lands purchased by Peter Perkins.

Other items consist of slave bills of sale, bonds, accounts with commission merchants, tax and other receipts, loan notes, and articles of agreement with overseers and others. Most of the slave bills of sale appear between 1821 and 1826, with one for 1815. Accounts are primarily for plantation and household goods bought of Heathcock & Fenwick of Petersburg. Accounts also appear with William & James Douglas of Petersburg; Thomas & Curtis of Fayetteville; Hector & McNeill; and Smith Carson.

Of note is the will, dated 22 July 1823, of Preston Gilbert of Pittsylvania County, Va.

Bills, deeds, accounts, receipts, and miscellaneous papers related to the plantation and legal affairs of Robert Hairston. About half the items are bills for charges by witnesses appearing in the cases of Robert Hairston v. Absalom Bostick Junior and Robert Hairston v. Jesse McAnally in Stokes County during 1835 and 1836. Other items include deeds for lands in Davidson and Stokes counties; accounts with merchants; and receipts for tobacco and corn, probably made out to tenants who farmed Hairston's land. Of note are an indenture made 16 November 1833 for the rental of Hairston's mill in Stokes County and an article of agreement, 8 November 1833, with overseer William Wilson hiring him to manage the Shoe Buckle Plantation.

Mostly papers kept by Peter W. Hairston on the finances of his grandmother, Ruth Stovall Hairston, whose affairs he managed, and his own plantation papers.

About two-thirds of the items appear between 1852 and 1856 for Ruth Hairston, and include primarily receipts and accounts from commission merchants, druggists, doctors, and other merchants in Columbus, Miss., where she owned a plantation. Many of these items are in the name of John Witherspoon, her Columbus agent. The bulk of the accounts are with Cozart, Humphries, & Billups; Lampkin & Whitfield; Humphries, Walsh & Co; and druggist James Blair. Of note in her papers is the power-of-attorney she signed over to Peter W. Hairston on 4 December 1852; her cumulative accounts with John Witherspoon between 1853 and 1856; and lists of her property for taxes in 1853 and 1854.

Peter W. Hairston's papers are chiefly deeds for land he owned in Davie, Davidson, and Stokes counties. Other items include miscellaneous receipts, accounts, bonds, and lists of tobacco and corn picked by slaves at Shoe Buckle and Old Town plantations in the 1850s.

Mostly unidentified land surveys. Items of interest are a list of lands adjoining Cooleemee Hill Plantation and a town plat of Hairstonburg on the Dann River.

Principally legal and financial papers regarding Hairston's leasing of lands in North Carolina and Virginia after he moved to Baltimore, and scattered financial items for Fanny Hairston.

Land rental agreements; receipts for taxes, crops produced, and monies owed; and deeds to Davie County and Pittsylvania County properties appear between 1862 and 1883. Only two Civil War items, both receipts, appear. Of note in the papers is an article of agreement Hairston signed on 20 December 1865 hiring John Lindsay to operate his mill on the Yadkin River. After the war, Hairston served as executor of his father Samuel Hairston's estate, for which one receipt appears in 1875, and as agent for his mother, Agnes Hairston, for whom he rented out her Goosewood Plantation in 1877.

After 1881, several accounts appear for Fanny Hairston with Baltimore and Washington jewelers, dressmakers, and florists.

Chiefly the estate papers of Peter W. Hairston, kept by his sons, Frank C. Hairston, executor, and Peter W. Hairston, estate agent, with items also appearing that relate to the finances of Fanny Hairston. In later years Jubal Anderson Early acted as administrator of the estate.

The estate papers include loan notes, account statements, court petitions, and receipts. Several items pertain to the settlement of the accounts of Hairston's commission business in Baltimore. Of particular interest is a statement of the assets and liabilities, circa 1901, of "Peter Hairston, colored," including a list of receipts held by the estate of Peter W. Hairston. Also of interest is a land rental agreement for Sauratown made between Peter W. Hairston, as estate agent, and Edward A. and Annie Byrd Watson, on 7 February 1902.

Accounts and receipts also appear for Frank C. Hairston with John F. Ward, dry goods merchant of Lexington, N.C., and for Fanny Hairston, for miscellaneous services.

Undated items are accounts of Fanny Hairston and land plats and miscellaneous items pertaining to the purchase of lands in Stokes County, N.C.

Chiefly ledgers kept by Major Peter Hairston for his Sauratown Hill Plantation between 1784 and 1832 and by Peter W. Hairston for a number of North Carolina and Virginia plantations between 1840 and 1877. A few accounts appear for Robert and Ruth Stovall Hairston. Domestic and European travel diaries appear between 1843 and 1860.

Ledgers of Major Peter Hairston contain contracts with overseers and accounts for tobacco; iron goods; blacksmithing and midwife services; and dry goods, groceries, and hardware items. Hairston seems to have operated an ironworks and employed a blacksmith on or near Sauratown Hill. Volume 1 (289 pages) contains accounts for 1784-1786; Volume 2 (252 pages), accounts for 1785-1789; and Volume 3 (270 pages) for the years 1792-1803 and 1812, with most of the entries falling between 1794 and 1797.

Volume 4 (204 pages) contains both Hairston's accounts for 1797-1832 and those of Robert and Ruth Stovall Hairston for 1833-1843. Of note are extensive entries made between 1815-1836 with Sarah (Mrs. Theodore) Welch for midwife services, mostly for slave births at Old Town, Muddy Creek, and Belew's Creek plantations. Also included in the volume are slave registers and tax receipts pertaining to Sauratown, Shoe Buckle, Muddy Creek, Belew's Creek, Old Town, and Poverty Plains plantations.

Volume 5 (240 pages) contains entries of Peter Hairston for 1827-1832, Robert Hairston for 1833-1850, and Ruth Stovall Hairston and Peter W. Hairston for 1850-1868. Besides accounts, the ledger has slave registers for Home House, Old Town, Buzzard's Roost, Muddy Creek, Belew's Creek, and Shoe Buckle plantations; tax receipts; and overseers' contracts.

Volumes 6, 9-10, and 13-14 are ledgers kept by Peter W. Hairston between 1840 and 1877 and comprise mostly accounts with overseers and farm hands for tobacco and wheat produced and provisions provided. Extensive information on slaves also appears.

Volume 6, dated 1844-1864, holds 160 pages of accounts with overseers and merchants for Cooleemee Hill. Also appearing are slave lists and lists of slave births. Volume 9 contains accounts kept with G. G. Mason, overseer at Colum Hill Plantation. Detailed lists of taxable properties in Davie, Davidson, and Stokes counties, and lists of slaves and livestock at Town Fork, South Yadkin, Colum Hill, Cooleemee Hill, Camp Branch, and other locations appear scattered throughout the 223-page volume. Of particular interest are pages 32-108, which contain copies of letters and legal documents concerning court battles over Robert Hairston's (1752-1852) estate, which Hairston tried to leave to a slave child. Included are the wills of Major Peter Hairston and Robert Hairston and a lengthy court opinion.

Volume 10 is a 127-page ledger for Camp Branch and South Yadkin plantations and includes primarily postwar work agreements and accounts with freedmen and plantation manager, Johnson G. Giles, between 1866-1868, and in 1875. Accounts dated between 1844-1866 appear on pages 1-44 and are with Johnson Giles for the South Yadkin Plantation. Of note is a list of slaves received by Peter W. Hairston from Sauratown and from his father's estate in 1853.

Volume 13 contains accounts with plantation managers G. G. Mason at Camp Branch, Johnson Giles at South Yadkin, E. Myers at Town Fork, and others for crops produced, lumber, and provisions between 1855 and 1865. Scattered accounts also appear in this 89-page volume for Cooleemee Hill Plantation.

Volume 14 accounts are mostly those Hairston kept as executor of the estate of Henry Hairston between 1857 and 1875, and pertain to Burnt Chimneys Plantation in Henry County, Va. A few pages of his own accounts with Johnson Giles appear for 1874-1876.

Volume 15, an unidentified ledger, is dated March-October 1859, and lists 23 pages of accounts for sundries, commissions, shipments, railroad stock, and miscellaneous expenditures. The first two pages of the ledger are missing.

Abundant enclosures appear in Volumes 1-4, 9-10, and 14, and include accounts, receipts, overseers' agreements, slave lists, letters, and poems. Of particular note are a copy of a Petition of Real and Personal Property of Ruth S. Hairston, dated 2 June 1869 (Volume 1); slave lists for Buzzard's Roost Plantation (Volume 4); and a bill of complaint in re George Hairston versus Ruth S. Hairston, dated 28 February 1854 (Volume 14).

Volumes 7-8, 11-12, and 16-17 are travel diaries. Peter W. Hairston kept a detailed account between October 1843 and July 1844 (Volumes 7-8) of his travels in England, France, and Italy. Entries made in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Versailles, Paris, Marseilles, Lyon, Genoa, Pisa, Rome, and Pompeii describe local sights, industries, government, and social customs. Of note are pages 37-39 and 48-50 of Volume 7, which describe George Catlin's Gallery of Indian Paintings and several Ojibway Indians Hairston met there. Appearing at the end of Volume 8 are a number of undated poems and excerpts from historical works, and copies of sermons by Reverend I. H. Parker of Salisbury, N.C., dated 1857-1858.

Volumes 11 and 12 describe Hairston's travels in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Virginia. Volume 11 contains 46 pages of entries between 30 October and 17 November 1845, and Volume 12 contains 149 pages dated between 19 November and 31 December 1845. Volume 11 and the first 77 pages of Volume 12 describe Hairston's time in Philadelphia. He wrote frequently concerning lectures at the University of Pennsylvania and churches and political meetings he attended, including Quaker Meeting and the Dutch Reformed Church and a meeting to abolish capital punishment. He also commented often on race relations in the city. Of note in Volume 13 are Hairston's descriptions of the House of Refuge, a home for juvenile delinquents, and asylums for the deaf and mute and for the blind. Pages 78-96 describe a trip Hairston took to Washington, D.C., where he visited with friends between 12-17 December, and the remainder of the volume describes his visits with Virginia relatives.

Volumes 16 and 17 are the travel diary of Peter and Fanny Hairston while they toured Europe on their honeymoon. Volume 16, containing 173 pages, was kept mostly by Fanny between August and November 1859, and describes their travels in England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy. Descriptions are mostly of castles, churches, gardens, and museums they visited. Volume 17, 266 pages in length, was kept primarily by Peter between 3 December 1859 and 19 May 1860, and focuses on time they spent in Italy and France. Topics include artworks and sights seen, visits made, and news obtained from home. Occasional comments appear on the growing political tensions in the United States.

Original (with typed transcription) of the Civil War diary of Peter W. Hairston. Kept between 7 November and 13 December 1863, while Hairston was an aide to Jubal Anderson Early near Culpeper and Richmond, Va., the diary contains anecdotes of Robert E. Lee, Richard Stoddert Ewell, Robert Hall Chilton, Harry T. Hays, Alexander S. Pendleton, Chaplain B. Tucker Lacy, and Robert F. Hoke. Also included are mentions of disloyal sentiments in North Carolina. In December, the diary (Volume 18) records that Hairston was no longer needed in his position and returned home to his Cooleemee Hill Plantation.

Nine ledgers kept by plantation managers with freedmen and other tenants working the land of Peter W. Hairston; one ledger of accounts for Samuel Hairston's estate; and two volumes on Hairston family history.

Volume 19 contains 126 pages of accounts maintained by Johnson G. Giles between 1866 and 1869 with tenants on an unidentified plantation. Accounts are for wages paid, tobacco produced, and provisions given. Volume 20, 112 pages in length, contains similar accounts of Giles and of William Hodges with tenants between 1867 and 1869, and Volume 21, having 123 pages, has Giles's and Hodges's accounts for 1870 through 1871. Their accounts for 1870 through 1873 appear in Volume 22 (134 pages). Volume 23, a ledger kept by Giles for Hairston's Locust Grove Plantation in Henry County, Va., includes 176 pages of accounts and work agreements made with tenants. Volume 25 comprises Giles's and George Mason's accounts with tenants and work agreements for 1876-1877.

Volumes 26 (101 pages) and 27 (104 pages) contain the accounts of plantation manager, John S. Townes, with tenants at an unspecified location between 1876-1879 and 1878-1879. Work agreements also appear.

Volume 28 has accounts with tenants of plantation manager John Beard and agent Frank Brown, possibly at Cooleemee Hill Plantation, and accounts of George Wilson with tenants at Muddy Creek Plantation. The accounts are dated 1879-1883.

Accounts Peter W. Hairston kept as executor of his father Samuel Hairston's estate, appear in Volume 24. Thirty pages of accounts cover the years 1875-1877.

Enclosures to Volumes 19-28 include mostly bills and receipts and miscellaneous correspondence of plantation managers and advertising broadsides. Items of note are a slave list for Burnt Chimneys Plantation for 1860 (Volume 19); notes on natural philosophy (Volume 20); an advertising circular, dated 1873, for Herbert & Hairston (Volume 21); and an 1861 list of taxables for Henry Hairston (Volume 27).

Two volumes containing genealogical information on Hairston family members appear. Volume 29 is a 20-page notebook of obituaries clipped from newspapers. Volume 30 is a manuscript, Some Descendants of Peter Hairston, written in 1986 by Peter Wilson Hairston. Included at the end of the book is a photocopy of a document entitled "Genealogy of the Wilson Family of Pittsylvania County, Virginia."