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Collection Number: 04865

Collection Title: Hargrave Family Papers, 1790-1918

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.


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Size 0.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 300 items)
Abstract The Hargrave family were white immigrants from England who moved first to Virginia in 1635 and eventually settled in Guilford County and Davidson County, N.C. The collection includes bills, receipts, and a list, 1824-1866, that document people enslaved by the Hargraves and freedmen who became tenant farmers; financial materials, 1787-1921, including deeds for plantation land near Lexington, Davidson County, N.C., and routine bills and receipts; and letters, 1839-1918, some from family friends, one of whom moved to Texas; another who had witnessed Zachary Taylor's 1850 funeral in Washington, D.C., and wrote about the political climate in the capital; and another who was serving with American forces in France during World War I. Also included is an 1899 catalog from the Premo Camera Company and several photographs of the 1899 harvest at the Hargrave farm.
Creator Hargrave family.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English.
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Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
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 Hargrave Family Papers #4865, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Provenance
Received from Charles Clement Hargrave of Lexington, N.C., in February 1997 (Acc. 97014) and from Michael Laird Rare Books of Brooklyn, N.Y., in July 2006 (Acc. 100445).
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.
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Processed by: Jennifer Rawlings, July 1998

Encoded by: Jennifer Rawlings, July 1998

Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, December 2009

Conscious Editing Work by: Nancy Kaiser, July 2020. Updated abstract, subject headings, biographical note, scope and content note, and container list.

Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subject Headings

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.

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The white Hargrave family emigrated from England to Virginia in 1635, eventually moving to Guilford County, N.C., where Jesse Hargrave was born in 1777. In 1804, he moved to what is now Davidson County, N.C.. He became a very successful merchant and purchased land that stretched from the town limits south to the Yadkin River, as well as land along what would become Main Street in Lexington.

In 1822, Jesse Hargrave worked to establish the county of Davidson and was elected, with William Bodenhamer, to represent the county in the North Carolina House of Representatives. In this position, the two representatives and Senator Alexander Cladcleugh sponsored legislation to make Lexington the center of the county and the county seat of government. Jesse Hargrave, Benjamin Rouseville, and Alexander Caldcleugh sold 25 acres to the state for the sum of fifty cents to serve as the site for the county courthouse.

Jesse Hargrave and his wife Elizabeth Jane Lindsay had seven children: Robert L., Samuel, Alfred, John, Franklin, Jesse Hamilton, and Susan. Samuel and Alfred both served in the North Carolina state legislature. Jesse Hamilton Hargrave managed to keep his property through the American Civil War.

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The Hargrave family were white immigrants from England who moved first to Virginia in 1635 and eventually settled in Guilford County and Davidson County, N.C. The collection includes bills, receipts, and a list, 1824-1866, that document people enslaved by the Hargraves and freedmen who became tenant farmers; financial materials, 1787-1921, including deeds for plantation land near Lexington, Davidson County, N.C., and routine bills and receipts; and letters, 1839-1918, some from family friends, one of whom moved to Texas; another who had witnessed Zachary Taylor's 1850 funeral in Washington, D.C., and wrote about the political climate in the capital; and another who was serving with American forces in France during World War I. Also included is an 1899 catalog from the Premo Camera Company and several photographs of the 1899 harvest at the Hargrave farm.

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Contents list

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Letters, 1839-1918.

About 60 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

This series includes letters to Henry C. Clark to Jesse Hamilton Hargrave. Clark was particularly interested in the political climate regarding enslavement of people. One of the longest letters describes Clark's presence in Washington, D.C., during President Taylor's funeral in 1850. He described the prevailing attitude about Taylor's presidency and the political situation that developed after his death. Also included are letters from George Smith, a friend who moved to Texas. Smith asked Hargrave to take care of various business matters for him in North Carolina and described his environment in Texas. He described Texas as an excellent place to earn money. However, in 1849, Smith wrote that he was headed for California to find gold. Another member of the Hargrave family received a letter, 1918, from Archie Worsitt, an American soldier on the front lines in World War I who recorded his impressions of France.

Folder 1

Letters

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Financial Records, 1787-1921.

About 200 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

Deeds and receipts relating to the financial matters of the Hargrave family. Deeds are for plantation land in Davidson County, N.C., near Lexington, N.C. Receipts are for various items including tuition at Greensboro Female College for T. Hargrave, periodical subscriptions to Graham's Magazine and The Weekly N.C. Standard, medical bills, groceries, taxes, and other items.

Folder 2

Deeds

Oversize Paper Folder OPF-4865/2

Oversize deeds

Folder 3

Receipts, 1795-1849

Oversize Paper Folder OPF-4865/1

Oversize receipts, 1846, 1865, and undated

Folder 4

Receipts, 1850-1866

Folder 5

Receipts, 1869-1921

Folder 6

Receipts, undated

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 3. Papers about Enslavement, 1824-1866.

About 15 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

People enslaved by the Hargrave family are documented in financial and legal papers. Included are a summons from a Davidson County, N.C., court for ruling on a court matter involving enslavement of an individual named Tom; an 1847 quit claim conveyance of rights relating to an enslaved girl; a bill of sale for an enslaved person; an 1848 list of 34 enslaved people sold by Jesse Hamilton Hargrave under power of attorney for Mary W. Hargrave; an 1853 printed receipt documenting Mack, an individual enslaved by Jesse Hargrave who was hired out to James D. Eckles and Francis Pace; an 1856 receipt for the purchase of an enslaved person; and an 1858 receipt for three enslaved people. Also included is an agreement dated 1866 between formerly enslaved people and Jesse Hamilton Hargrave that these freedmen would work as tenant farmers on the plantation in return for one-fifth of their crop.

Folder 7

Papers about enslavement, 1824-1866

Oversize Paper Folder OPF-4865/3

Tenant farming agreement, 1 January 1866

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 4. Premo Camera Catalogue, 1899.

1 item.

The catalog of the Premo Camera Company of Rochester, N.Y., including all their cameras, lenses, films, and accessories.

Folder 8

Premo Camera catalogue

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse 5. Pictures, 1899.

2 items.

Photographs of harvesting at the Hargrave Farm in Lexington, N.C.

Image Folder PF-4865/1

Harvest photographs

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