Inventory of the Peter Wilson Hairston Papers, 1773-1965, 1986

Collection Number 299


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

Repository
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Creator
Hairston, Peter Wilson, 1819-1886.
Title
Peter Wilson Hairston Papers, 1773-1965, 1986
Call Number
299
Language of Materials
Materials in English
Extent
Items: About 930
Linear Feet: 4.5
Abstract
Peter Wilson Hairston (1819-1886), tobacco planter of southwestern Virginia and north central North Carolina, Confederate soldier, and commission merchant. Other prominent family members include Peter Wilson Hairston's great- grandfather, Major Peter Hairston (1752-1832); his grandmother, Ruth Stovall Hairston (1784-1869); his step-grandfather, Robert Hairston (1782-1852); and his second wife, Frances McCoy Caldwell Hairston (1835-1907). Through his first wife, Columbia Stuart Hairston (died circa 1858), Hairston was also related to Jeb Stuart (1833-1864), under whom he served in the Civil War.
Correspondence, financial and legal papers, plantation ledgers, travel diaries, and miscellaneous items documenting the business and personal affairs of the Hairston family. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence of Peter W. Hairston and financial and legal papers of Major Peter Hairston. Letters and business items also appear for Robert and Ruth Hairston. Only limited information appears on Major Hairston's personal or family life, and no information is available on his Revolutionary War experiences. The papers of Peter W. Hairston provide mostly financial data on his plantations, but there are also letters relating to the courtship of his second wife and to family life in general. Little information appears, however, on his postwar commission firm. Plantations documented include Sauratown Hill in Stokes County, and Cooleemee Hill in Davie County, N.C., and other plantations in Surry and Davidson counties, N.C.; Henry and Patrick counties, Va.; and in Columbus, Miss. The papers provide particularly rich opportunities for research on slaves. One volume contains accounts, 1815-1836, with a midwife who chiefly attended slave births. Peter Wilson Hairston's Civil War experiences, including his service, chiefly in Virginia, as aid to Jeb Stuart with the 1st Virginia Cavalry and to Jubal A. Early, are documented in his correspondence and his Civil War diary. There are also volumes documenting European travel in the 1840s and 1850s, life in Chapel Hill around the same period, documents relating to the work of freedmen and tenant farmers, clippings genealogical materials relating to Hairston family members, and other papers. The Addition of October 1997 consists of three Hairston family plantation record books and of pages found inserted in the record books. Included are accounts and inventory lists, 1852-1882, of the property of Robert Hairston (1782-1852) and his wife, Ruth Stovall Hairston Wilson Hairston (1784-1869), who lived at Berry Hill, a plantation in Pittsylvania County, Va.

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Administrative Information

Restrictions to Access
No restrictions.
Acquisitions Information
The bulk of the papers were received from Peter W. Hairston and Ruth Wilson Hairston in the late 1930s. In July 1944, Mrs. Peter W. Hairston added five volumes. Other additions were received from Judge Peter W. Hairston of Advance, N.C., in October 1968, October 1986, February 1987, and October 1997 (Accession # 97130).
Processing Information
Processed by: Jill D. Snider, February 1991
Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008
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.
The Addition of October 1997 is arranged in the same way as, but has not been incorporated into, the original deposit of materials.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Peter Wilson Hairston Papers #299, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Copyright Notice
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.

Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
Confederate States of America. Army--Officers--Correspondence.
Confederate States of America. Army--Officers--Diaries.
Confederate States of America. Army. Virginia Cavalry Regiment, 1st.
Cooleemee Plantation (N.C.)
Courtship--North Carolina--History--19th century.
Diaries (Blank-books)
Early, Jubal Anderson, 1816-1894.
Europe--Description and travel.
Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
Family--Virginia--Social life and customs.
Freedmen--North Carolina.
Freedmen--Virginia.
Hairston family.
Hairston, Frances McCoy Caldwell, 1835-1907.
Hairston, Peter Wilson, 1819-1886.
Hairston, Peter, 1752-1832.
Hairston, Robert, 1783-1852.
Hairston, Ruth Stovall, 1784-1869.
Midwives--History--19th century.
Plantations--Mississippi.
Plantations--North Carolina.
Plantations--Virginia.
Sauratown Hill Plantation (Stokes County, N.C.)
Slavery--North Carolina.
Slavery--Virginia.
Slaves--Medical care--North Carolina.
Stuart, Jeb, 1833-1864.
Tenant farmers--North Carolina.
Tenant farmers--Virginia.
Tobacco farmers--North Carolina--History--19th century.
Tobacco farmers--Virginia--History--19th century.
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Related Collections

Elizabeth Seawell Hairston Papers (#1518); George Hairston Books (#2476); George Hairston Papers (#4477); Hairston and Wilson Family Papers (#3149); John Tyler Hairston Papers (#1836); Robert Hairston Papers (#1148); Samuel Hairston Papers (#3820); and Robert Wilson Business Records (#1882, #1886).
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Biographical/Historical Note

Peter Wilson Hairston (1819-1886), tobacco planter of southwestern Virginia and north central North Carolina, Confederate soldier, and post Civil War commission merchant of Baltimore, grew up on Oak Hill Plantation in Pittsylvania County, Va. The son of Samuel Hairston (1788-1875) and Agnes John Peter Wilson (1801-1880), he received an A.B. in 1837 from the University of North Carolina before inheriting several plantations from his great grandfather, Major Peter Hairston; his grandparents, Robert and Ruth Stovall Hairston; and other relatives. Hairston first married Columbia Stuart, who died circa 1858, leaving him two children, Elizabeth and Samuel. A year later he married Frances McCoy Caldwell (1835-1907) of Salisbury, N.C. Together they had five children: Samuel (1850-1867); Peter Wilson (1871-1943); Francis Caldwell (1862-1902); Agnes Wilson (1860-1914); and Ruth Wilson (1869-1947).

In the early 1840s, Hairston lived in Pittsylvania County. By the late 1850s, he had taken up residence at Cooleemee Hill Plantation in Davie County, N.C. In addition to growing tobacco, he operated a mill on the Yadkin River. During the Civil War, he served as an aide to his former brother-in-law, Jeb Stuart, in the 1st Regiment of the Virginia Cavalry Volunteers, and to Jubal Anderson Early in the Army of Northern Virginia. After the war, he moved to Baltimore, where he started a commission merchant business, Herbert & Hairston.

Peter Wilson Hairston's great grandfather Major Peter Hairston (1752-1832) was a tobacco planter in Stokes, Surry, and Davie counties, N.C. Educated at the University of Virginia, he rose to the rank of major during the Revolution. In 1786, Hairston took up tobacco planting at Sauratown Hill Plantation in Stokes County. In 1817, he purchased Cooleemee Hill Plantation. Hairston married Alcey Perkins, daughter of Peter Perkins, and had one daughter, Ruth Stovall Hairston (1784-1869). Upon his death in 1832, he left the bulk of his lands to Ruth. Ruth's first marriage was to Peter Wilson, by whom she had one daughter, Agnes John Peter Wilson, who was the mother of Peter Wilson Hairston. After Peter Wilson's death, Ruth married her father's nephew, Robert Hairston, a tobacco planter of Henry County, Va., who also grew cotton in Columbus, Miss.

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Collection Overview

Series 1 contains both business and personal correspondence, mostly of Peter W. Hairston. The financial and legal papers (Series 2) consist of deeds, land plats, surveys, plantation and personal accounts, slave bills of sale, receipts, loan notes, affidavits, and articles of agreement. The bulk of these pertain to Major Peter Hairston. Series 3, Other Loose Papers, contains clippings (mostly obituaries), broadsides, and miscellaneous items. The volumes in Series 4 are arranged chronologically by the earliest date appearing in them. They include mostly ledgers for Peter W. Hairston's plantations, domestic and European travel diaries, and genealogical publications. The addition of October 1997 contains photocopies, typed transcriptions, and indexes of three Hairston family plantation record books and of pages found inserted in the record books. The record books contain accounts and inventory lists, 1852-1882, of the property of Robert Hairston (1782-1852) and his wife, Ruth Stovall Hairston Wilson Hairston (1784-1869).

The collection best documents the business affairs of Peter W. Hairston and Major Peter Hairston. Only limited information appears on Major Hairston's personal or family life, and no information is available on his Revolutionary War experiences. The papers of Peter W. Hairston provide mostly financial data on his plantations. Little information appears on his postwar commission firm. Hairston's Civil War experiences are documented in his correspondence and his Civil War diary. His personal views on politics and religion appear frequently in his correspondence and travel diaries.

The papers provide rich opportunities for research on slaves. Bills of sale; slave lists (often giving ages); and birth records offer particularly fertile ground for genealogical research on slaves owned by Major Peter Hairston, Peter W. Hairston, Robert Hairston, Samuel Hairston, and Henry Hairston. Some information, mostly in plantation ledgers and enclosures, also appears on overseers and postwar plantation managers. Plantations for which documentation appears include Sauratown Hill, Cooleemee Hill, Shoe Buckle, Muddy Creek, Belew's Creek, Old Home, Town Fork, South Yadkin, Camp Branch, Colum Hill, Buzzard's Roost, Poverty Plains, Burnt Chimneys, and Locus Grove.

The Addition of October 1997 (Accession # 97130) consists of three Hairston family plantation record books and of pages found inserted in the record books. Included are accounts and inventory lists, 1852-1882, of the property of Robert Hairston (1782-1852) and his wife, Ruth Stovall Hairston Wilson Hairston (1784-1869), who lived at Berry Hill, a plantation in Pittsylvania County, Va.

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Arrangement of Collection

Series 1. Correspondence
Subseries 1.1. Major Peter Hairston, 1787-1828 and undated
Subseries 1.2. Robert Hairston, 1833-1840
Subseries 1.3. Peter W. Hairston, 1842 February 1861
Subseries 1.4. Peter W. Hairston, April 1861-1863
Subseries 1.5. Peter W. Hairston, 1865-1886
Subseries 1.6. Other Hairston Family Letters, 1887-1937 and undated
Series 2. Financial and Legal Papers
Subseries 2.1. Major Peter Hairston, 1773-1832 and undated
Subseries 2.2. Robert Hairston, 1833-1841 and undated
Subseries 2.3. Peter W. Hairston, 1842-1861
Subseries 2.4. Unidentified Antebellum Papers, undated
Subseries 2.5. Peter W. Hairston, 1862-1884
Subseries 2.6. Other Hairston Family Papers, 1886-1902
Series 3. Other Loose Papers, 1859-1965 and undated
Series 4. Volumes
Subseries 4.1. Antebellum Volumes, 1784-1877
Subseries 4.2. Civil War Diary, 1863
Subseries 4.3. Postbellum Volumes, 1866-1943, 1986
Addition of October 1997
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Items Separated

OP-299/1-20
Series 4. Volumes S-4, S-5, S-6, S-10, S-14

Detailed Description of the Collection

1. Correspondence, 1787-1937 and undated.

About 330 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Business and family correspondence of Major Peter Hairston (1752-1832); Robert Hairston (1782-1852); Peter Wilson Hairston (1819-1886); and the family of Peter Wilson Hairston. Topics include plantation, ironworks, milling, and merchant affairs; land acquisitions; courtship; the Civil War; politics and religion, family and church life; the settlement of Peter Wilson Hairston's estate; and family history.
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1.1. Letters of Major Peter Hairston, 1787-1828 and undated.
51 items.
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.
Folder 1
1787-1788; 1793-1799
Folder 2
1803, 1815; 1817; 1820; 1822
Folder 3
1823-1825; 1827-1828; and undated
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1.2. Letters Received by Robert Hairston, 1833-1834; 1837-1840.
13 items.
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."
Folder 4
Letters Received by Robert Hairston 1833-1834; 1837-1840
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1.3. Antebellum Correspondence of Peter W. Hairston, 1839; 1842-1861.
About 97 items.
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.
Folder 5
1839; 1842; 1844; 1847; 1850-1851; 1854-1855
Folder 6
October 1858-April 1859
Folder 7-10
January-June 1859
Folder 11
February 1861
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1.4. Civil War Letters of Peter W. Hairston, April 1861-1863.
48 items.
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).
Folder 12
April-October 1861
Folder 13
1862-1863
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1.5. Postbellum Correspondence of Peter W. Hairston, 1865-1886.
About 82 items.
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.
Folder 14
1865-1870; 1876; 1878
Folder 15
1879-1880; 1882-1883
Folder 16
1884
Folder 17
1885
Folder 18
1886
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1.6. Other Hairston Family Letters, 1887-1937 and undated.
41 items.
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.
Folder 19
1887-1892; 1895-1896
Folder 20
1897-1899; 1902-1903; 1907-1908; 1918; 1928-1929; 1934-1935; 1937; and undated

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2. Financial and Legal Papers, 1773-1902 and undated.

About 465 items.
Financial and legal papers of Major Peter Hairston, Robert Hairston, Peter Wilson Hairston (1819-1886), Fanny C. Hairston, Frank C. Hairston, and Peter Wilson Hairston (1871-1943). Included in Major Peter Hairston's papers are a number of items regarding the land holdings of Peter Perkins. Many items related to the affairs of Ruth Stovall Hairston can be found in the papers of Peter Wilson Hairston (1819-1886). The papers comprise mostly deeds, land plats, and surveys, with a number of accounts, slave bills of sale, receipts, loan notes, affidavits, and articles of agreement.
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2.1. Papers of Major Peter Hairston, 1773-1832 and undated.
About 275 items.
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.
Folder 21
1773; 1775; 1779
Folder 22
1780-1782
Folder 23
1783-1784
Folder 24
1785-1787
Folder 25
1788
Folder 26
1789
Folder 27
1790-1791
Folder 28
1792-1793
Folder 29
1794
Folder 30
1795
Folder 31
1796-1797
Folder 32
1798-1799
Folder 33
1800-1802
Folder 34
1803-1804
Folder 35
1805-1810
Folder 36
1811-1815
Folder 37
1816-1817
Folder 38
1818-1819
Folder 39
1820-1822
Folder 40
1823
Folder 41
1824-1825
Folder 42
1826-1827
Folder 43
1828-1832
Folder 44
Undated
Folder 45
Undated fragments
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2.2. Papers of Robert Hairston, 1833-1838; 1841; and undated.
47 items.
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.
Folder 46
1833-1835
Folder 47
1836-1837
Folder 48
1838; 1841; and undated
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2.3. Antebellum Papers of Peter W. Hairston, 1842-1861.
About 61 items.
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.
Folder 49
1842-1843; 1845-1848
Folder 50
1850-1853
Folder 51
1854-1856
Folder 52
1860-1861
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2.4. Unidentified Antebellum Papers, Undated
11 items.
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.
Folder 53
Unidentified Antebellum Papers, Undated.
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2.5. Civil War and Postbellum Papers of Peter W. Hairston, 1862-1884.
25 items.
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.
Folder 54
1862-1863; 1865-1867; 1871; 1875; 1877-1878
Folder 55
1880-1884
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2.6. Other Hairston Family Papers, 1886; 1888-1893; 1895-1897; 1899-1902.
44 items.
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.
Folder 56
1886; 1888-1891
Folder 57
1892-1893; 1895-1897; 1899-1902
Folder 58
Undated

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3. Other Loose Papers, 1859-1965 and undated.

27 items.
Chiefly printed and typescript obituaries and memorials for Hairston family members, including Samuel Hairston (1850-1867); Peter W. Hairston (1819-1886); Francis Caldwell Hairston (1862-1902); Frances Caldwell Hairston (1835-1907); and Peter W. Hairston (1871-1943). Other items include clippings on Cooleemee Hill Plantation; merchant price lists; religious materials; and miscellaneous items.
Of note are a printed advertisement for Herbert, Hairston & Co. of Baltimore, dated 1870; a letter, probably written in the 1930s, to the Charlotte Observer from an African-American preacher, giving his views on servant-employee relations, organized labor, and the training of domestic workers; and a typed copy of an oral interview Peter W. Hairston, III, conducted with William T. Hairston, great-grandson of Hairston slaves, in 1965. Also of interest are the undated music and lyrics for a song entitled "Kitty, Sweet Kitty," by Christofero.
Folder 59
1859; 1865; 1867; 1870; 1879; 1886
Folder 60
1889; 1902; 1908
Folder 61
1938-1939; 1943; 1949; 1965; and undated

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4. Volumes, 1784-1943; 1986

31 items.
Arrangement: chronological by earliest date.
Plantation ledgers of Peter W. Hairston, Major Peter Hairston, Ruth Stovall Hairston, and Robert Hairston; travel diaries of Peter W. Hairston and Fanny Hairston; Civil War diary of Peter W. Hairston; and miscellaneous volumes. Ledgers are for plantations in Henry and Patrick counties, Va., and Stokes, Surry, Davie, and Davidson counties, N.C. Miscellaneous volumes pertain to genealogy and estate settlements.
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4.1. Antebellum Volumes, 1784-1877.
17 items.
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.
Folder 62
Volume 1, Ledger, Peter Hairston, 1784-1786
Folder 63
Enclosures, Volume 1
Folder 64
Volume 2, Ledger, Peter Hairston, 1785-1789
Folder 65
Enclosures, Volume 2
Folder 66
Volume 3, Ledger, Peter Hairston, 1792-1803, 1812
Folder 67
Enclosure, Volume 3
Folder 68
Volume S-4, Ledger, Peter Hairston, Ruth Stovall Hairston, Robert Hairston, 1797-1843
Folder 69
Enclosures, Volume 4
Folder 70
Volume S-5, Ledger, Peter Hairston, Ruth Stovall Hairston, Robert Hairston, Peter Wilson Hairston, 1827-1868
Folder 71
Volume S-6, Ledger, Peter W. Hairston, 1840-1865
Folder 72
Volume 7, Diary, Peter W. Hairston, October 1843 -February 1844
Folder 73
Volume 8, Diary, Peter W. Hairston, May-July 1844
Folder 74
Volume 9, Ledger, Peter W. Hairston, 1844-1864
Folder 75
Enclosures, Volume 9
Folder 76
Volume S-10, Ledger, Peter W. Hairston, 1844-1868, 1875
Folder 77
Enclosures, Volume 10
Folder 78
Volume 11, Diary, Peter W. Hairston, October-November 1845
Folder 79
Volume 12, Diary, Peter W. Hairston, November-December 1845
Folder 80
Volume 13, Ledger, Peter W. Hairston, 1855-1865
Folder 81
Volume S-14, Ledger, Peter W. Hairston, 1857-1864, 1874-1876
Folder 82
Enclosures, Volume 14
Folder 83
Volume 15, Ledger, Unidentified March-October 1859
Folder 84
Volume 16, Diary, Peter W. Fanny Hairston, August-November 1859
Folder 85
Volume 17, Diary, Peter W. and Fanny Hairston, 1859-1860
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4.2. Civil War Diary, November-December 1863.
2 items.
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.
Folder 86
Volume 18
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4.3. Postbellum Volumes, 1866-1943; 1986.
12 items.
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."
Folder 87
Volume 19, Ledger, Peter W. Hairston, 1866-1869
Folder 88
Enclosures, Volume 19
Folder 89
Volume 20, Ledger, Peter W. Hairston, 1867-1869
Folder 90
Enclosures, Volume 20
Folder 91
Volume 21, Ledger, Peter W. Hairston, 1870-1871
Folder 92
Enclosures, Volume 21
Folder 93
Volume 22, Ledger, Peter W. Hairston, 1870-1873
Folder 94
Enclosures, Volume 22
Folder 95
Volume 23, Ledger, Peter W. Hairston, 1873-1875
Folder 96
Enclosures, Volume 23
Folder 97
Volume 24, Ledger, Peter W. Hairston, 1875-1877
Folder 98
Volume 25, Ledger, Peter W. Hairston, 1876-1877
Folder 99
Enclosures, Volume 25
Folder 100
Volume 26, Ledger, Peter W. Hairston, 1876-1879
Folder 101
Enclosures, Volume 26
Folder 102
Volume 27, Ledger, Peter W. Hairston, 1878-1879
Folder 103
Enclosures, Volume 27
Folder 104
Volume 28, Ledger, Peter W. Hairston, 1879-1883
Folder 105
Enclosure, Volume 28
Folder 106
Volume 29, Ledger Notebook of Clippings, 1884-1943
Folder 107
Enclosures, Volume 29
Folder 108
Volume 30, "Some Descendants of Peter Hairston," 1986

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Addition of October 1997 (Accession # 97130)

The Addition of October 1997 consists of photocopies, typed transcriptions, and indexes of three Hairston family plantation record books and of pages found inserted in the record books. The record books contain accounts and inventory lists, 1852-1882, of the property of Robert Hairston (1782-1852) and his wife, Ruth Stovall Hairston Wilson Hairston (1784-1869), who lived at Berry Hill, a plantation in Pittsylvania County, Va. These records were transcribed by Jo Ann Whitson Cuddy of Bristol, Va. Words underlined in the transcription are those the transcriber had difficulty interpreting. Transcribed pages are interspersed behind photocopied pages of records. Each volume also includes an index of names and places.
Book I, 1852-1862, contains records of Pittsylvania County, Va., property; Leatherwood, 1665 acres in Henry County, Va.; Burnt Chimnies in Henry County, Va.; Saura Town in Stokes County, N.C.; and a plantation in Mississippi. Included are an inventory of the personal estate of Robert Hairston at Leatherwood and Burnt Chimnies, lists of slaves, list of amounts for feeding and clothing slave, amounts paid to the slaves, accounts of expenses of the estates of Robert Hairston and Peter Hairston, and other financial records of the plantations.
Book II is chiefly devoted to Berry Hill, a plantation of 700 acres in Pittsylvania County, Va. It contains notations of births, 1854-1862, and deaths, 1839-1862, of slaves, other slave lists, and plantation accounts. After 1865, the book includes accounts with African-American farm workers. Also included are accounts, 1869, of the estate of Ruth S. Hairston, and disbursements, 9 September 1882.
Book III, 1852-1873, lists property, including slaves, horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, and farm implements, of various other plantations in 1852. Inventories are given for farms forming Upper Saura Town in Stokes County, N.C. and covering approximately 10,000 acres. After Saura Town Hill come Old Town, located south of Highway 311; Shoe Buckle, east and south of the Dan River; Hamburg, on the west side of the Dan River; Town Fork; Muddy Creek, below Town Fork and Stokes County; and Belew's (spelled Balew in the records) Creek Plantation in northeast Forsyth County, N.C. In addition, there are lists of slaves in Pittsylvania County, Va.; Davie County, N.C., and those belonging to the estate of Peter Hairston who were then in Henry County, Va.
The loose papers, 1791-1884, contain several slave lists; a will of Peter Hairston, 1832; a deed, 1791; a list of men arms, ammunition, and accoutrements of the 110th Regiment of the militia in Franklin County, Va., commanded by Samuel Hairston, 6 November 1806; and other items.
Folder 109
Book I
Folder 110
Book II
Folder 111
Book III
Folder 112
Loose papers sets I and II (Papers found inserted in the plantation record books).

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