]
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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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Collection Overview
| Size | 7.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 3400 items) |
| Abstract | The papers of Jackson, Prince, and Cobb families of Athens, Macon, and other locations in Georgia, and the the Rootes family of Fredericksburg, Va., document the lives of white plantation owning families and the people enslaved by them on Halscot Plantation outside Athens, Ga.; Cookshay Plantation in Chambers County, Ala.; and other plantations in Bibb and Baker counties, Ga. The collection consists of lists of enslaved people, bills of sale for enslaved people, accounts, deeds, indentures, daybooks, and other records about plantation operations; personal and business correspondence; diaries; scientific notes; genealogical materials; and photographs. Topics include enslavement; management of a plantation by a widow; social and religious life of antebellum wealthy white women, including an interracial camp meeting and missionary activities; Democratic Party journalism and political life in antebellum Georgia; wars with North American Indians in Georgia; an 1803 treaty with the Creek Indians; the Mexican War; the annexation of Texas; conscription work in the American Civil War; early American foreign affairs; diplomatic service in France, Austria, and Mexico; Franklin College (later the University of Georgia); and children's writings. |
| Creator | Jackson (Family : Jackson, Henry, 1778-1840)
Prince (Family : Prince, Oliver Hillhouse, 1823-1875) |
| Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Processing Information
Processed by: Manuscripts Department Staff.
Encoded by: Jackie Dean, August 2007
Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, January 2021
Conscious Editing work by: Nancy Kaiser, September 2020. Updated abstract, subject headings, biographical note, scope and content notes, 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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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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Biographical Information
The Jackson, Prince, Cobb, and Rootes families all owned plantations that relied on the forced labor of enslaved people. As of September 2020, only one enslaved person, Jefferson, who was hired to work in a print shop, has been identified in this finding aid, although the names of other enslaved people are findable in the archival documents.
Henry Jackson, a white American educator, diplomat, and plantation owner, was born in Moretonhampstead, Devonshire, England, in 1778, the youngest son of James and Mary Webber Jackson. He emigrated to America in 1790 and took up the study of medicine, graduating from the Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1802. Unhappy as a physician, he pursued an academic career and became professor of sciences and mathematics at Franklin College (later the University of Georgia) in 1811. In 1813 Jackson interrupted his teaching to accompany William H. Crawford to France as secretary to the American Legation. He remained in Paris as charge d'affaires until 1818, when he returned to Franklin College. In 1828 Jackson resigned his teaching post and moved to Halscot (also called Henry's Mount Farm), his plantation near Athens.
Henry Jackson's older brother James Jackson (1757-1806), a Revolutionary War general and political protege of William H. Crawford, served as a U.S. congressman from Georgia in the early 1790s, as governor of Georgia from 1798 to 1801, and as a U.S. senator from that state from 1801 until his death. Henry's older brother Abraham also lived in Georgia in the 1790s and served in the Georgia House of Representatives circa 1803.
In 1819 Henry Jackson married Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb, a white woman and the widow of Captain Howell Cobb (1772-1818). Martha was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1776, the daughter of Thomas Reade and Sarah Ryng Battaile Rootes. Before she married in 1810, she lived with her family in Fredericksburg. She then moved with her husband first to Washington City, then in 1812 to his plantation outside Louisville, Georgia. One year after Cobb's death she married Henry Jackson and moved with him to Athens, then later to his Halscot Plantation, where she lived until around 1850 or 1851. She died in 1853.
Martha's sister, Sarah Robinson Rootes (1792-1867), married Howell Cobb's brother, John Addison Cobb, and Henry Jackson's nephew, William Henry Jackson, married Howell Cobb's sister, Mildred Lewis Cobb.
Henry and Martha Jackson had three children. Their son Henry Rootes Jackson (1820-1898) became active in politics, serving as judge and minister to Austria, 1853-1858, and to Mexico, 1885-1886. He also served as a Confederate general in the Civil War. One of their daughters, Martha, married Col. Hezekiah F. Erwin, and another, Sarah Maria Rootes Jackson, married Oliver Hillhouse Prince Jr.
Oliver Hillhouse Prince, a white Georgia plantation owner and newspaper editor, was born 16 March 1823 in Bibb County, the son of Oliver Hillhouse Prince (senior) and Mary Ross Norman Prince. The elder Prince, a founder of the city of Macon, died, along with his wife, in a shipwreck off the coast of North Carolina in 1837. Orphaned, the young Prince became a ward of his uncle, Washington Poe of Macon.
Prince received most of his education at Dr. Beaman's School in Milledgeville, Georgia, and at Yale College in Virginia. Around 1844 he began editing the Georgia Telegraph, an organ of the Democratic party. He left the paper in 1847 to serve as a lieutenant with the 13th U.S. Cavalry in the Mexican War.
Following the war Prince owned and operated several large Georgiaplantations. In 1852 he married Sarah Jackson. During the Civil War Prince served as a volunteer aide-de-camp, receiving a captain's commission and helping conscript soldiers in Baker County, Georgia. His wife and children (Basiline, Henry, Marie Jacqueline, and Oliver) resided in Bath, Georgia, during the war and for several years afterward while Prince stayed on his plantation in Baker County. Prince died in 1875.
(Much of the information for these sketches came from the genealogical material contained in Series 9 of Subcollection 2. Sketches of James Jackson and Henry Rootes Jackson can be found in the Dictionary of American Biography.)
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Scope and Content
The papers of the Jackson and Prince families of Athens, Macon, and other locations in Georgia document the lives of white plantation owners and the people enslaved by them on Halscot Plantation outside Athens, Ga.; Cookshay Plantation in Chambers County, Ala.; and other plantations in Bibb and Baker counties, Ga. The collection consists of plantation records about people who were enslaved and plantation operations, including lists of enslaved people, bills of sale for enslaved people, accounts, deeds, indentures, and daybooks; personal and business correspondence; diaries; scientific notes; and genealogical materials. The Jackson subcollection includes the papers of the widely connected Rootes, Cobb, and Jackson families, and the Prince subcollection contains the papers of Oliver Hillhouse Prince and other members of the Prince, Hillhouse, and related families. Within the subcollections, divisions appear between correspondence, financial and legal papers, diaries, pictures, and other papers.
About two-thirds of the Jackson subcollection consists of correspondence (Series 1). Most of it is with family, though a considerable portion is business related. Letters exchanged among the members (mostly women, though children too) of the Rootes, Cobb, and Jackson families provide insight into the family, religious, and educational life of wealthy white families in Virginia and Georgia. Topics discussed include treatment of enslaved people, camp meetings, missionary activities, church divisions, courtship and marriage, the education and rearing of children, and financial worries (including those caused by the War of 1812 and falling cotton prices in the 1830s). Of particular interest are letters from Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson after the death of Henry Jackson in 1840, which document her management of their plantations in Georgia and Alabama for more than ten years. Correspondence between the American and English members of Henry Jackson's family provides insight into immigration to America and early Georgia and national politics.
Henry Jackson's business correspondence relates to his service as charge d'affaires in France, to his connections with Franklin College (later the University of Georgia), and to his operation of plantations in Georgia and Alabama (1828-1840). Jackson's correspondence as charge d'affaires illuminates little beyond his routine activities; however, it does touch on sensitive issues surrounding American shipping rights. His correspondence pertaining to Franklin College (where he taught from 1811 to 1813 and from 1818 to 1828) chiefly provides information on his role in procuring scientific supplies for the school, but it also discusses individual students. Later correspondence in the early 1830s, when Jackson served on the college's board of trustees, addresses early conflicts over the school's administration.
The financial and legal papers in Series 2 and 3 of the Jackson subcollection include some documentation of the people who were enslaved by the Jackson family, but are chiefly the personal and business accounts of Henry and Martha Jacquelin Rootes) Cobb Jackson and their children. There are lists of enslaved people with financial valuations assigned to them, bills of sale for enslaved people, and other records of operations of the Jacksons' Halscot Plantation outside Athens, Ga., and their Cookshay Plantation in Chambers County, Ala. There are also records of Jackson's service as Charge d'Affaires to France (1812-1818), some material on the finances of the American Legation in Paris, and on Henry's personal expenses while a medical student.
Series 4 contains diaries kept by Jackson family members, mostly focusing on religion and daily life. The diary of Martha Jacquelin (Rootes) Cobb Jackson provides insight into the religious life of a white upper class Baptist woman. Diaries of her children describe the family's farm and social activities on their Halscot Plantation in the early 1830s. Henry Jackson's diaries contain ideas on scientific matters. Thomas Reade Rootes's diary offers opinions on a variety of social and ethical topics.
Of special interest among the subcollection's Other Papers (Series 5) are items documenting late eighteenth and early nineteeth-century scientific disciplines and a number of miscellaneous items providing insight into religious thought, daily plantation life, and Georgia politics.
Series 6 contains 13 unidentified pictures of individuals, probably family members, and one unidentified house.
The Prince subcollection consists of correspondence, financial and legal materials, genealogical materials, and miscellaneous items chiefly documenting the lives and personal finances of the white Prince family, plantation operations, and Georgia Telegraph business. The lives of enslaved and formerly enslaved people who are documented include Jefferson, an enslaved man, who was hired by Oliver Hillhouse Prince to work in his print shop (folder 134), and freedmen who are discussed more generally (folder 140). There is also a series of clippings discussing the issue of slavery (folder 162b). The subcollection also offers substantial information on the politically turbulent decades leading up to the Civil War and on family genealogy. Topics include wars with North American Indians in Georgia, an 1803 treaty with the Creek Indians, Democratic party state and national politics, the Mexican War, the annexation of Texas, religious happenings, the American Civil War, and genealogy.
Correspondence (Series 7) accounts for about one-half of the Prince materials. Oliver Prince's personal and business letters, chiefly 1839 to 1852, contain frequent commentary on local, state, and national politics. Topics include the contest between George M. Troup and John Clark in Georgia in 1825; the election of James K. Polk, and the annexation of Texas. Of interest in his later correspondence is discussion of developments during the Civil War in Baker County. Other correspondence belongs mostly to Prince's wife, Sarah (Jackson) Prince, his daughter, Basiline, and Basiline's cousin, Margaret P. Hillhouse. Sarah's correspondence deals mostly with religious and family life, and Basiline and Margaret's, which comprises the bulk of the subcollection after 1873, provides a rich source on the genealogy of the Rootes, Cobb, Jackson, Prince, Hillhouse, King, Cary, Jacquelin, Thomas, and other families.
The financial and legal papers of Oliver Prince (Series 8) mostly document his plantation activities. Only scattered information appears on personal expenses or on the finances of the Georgia Telegraph. Almost all of the material filed under Other Papers (Series 9) in the Prince subcollection is related to family genealogy. Miscellaneous items pertain to Georgia politics.
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Series Quick Links
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Subcollection 1. Jackson Family Papers, 1784-1880.
Arrangement: chronological.
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Series 1. Correspondence, 1784-1880.
Arrangement: chronological.
Personal letters exchanged between members of the Rootes, Cobb, and Jackson families, or between members of these families and their friends, and business correspondence of Henry Jackson. A considerable amount of the correspondence belongs to the women of these families; there is some correspondence of children. There does not appear to be much documentation of enslaved people in this series, though there is some discussion of treatment of enslaved people (1784-1811) and of an interracial camp meeting (12 August 1819).
A small portion (about 125 items) of the correspondence was received by the Southern Historical Collection already having suffered significant mold or physical damage or having deteriorated to fragments. These items have been interfiled chronologically whenever possible. Most appear in Subseries 1.1 through Subseries 1.4
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Subseries 1.1. Correspondence, 1784-1811.
Chiefly correspondence of Henry Jackson and Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson, with some correspondence of other members of their families.
Between 1784 and 1811 the collection contains mostly letters received by Martha Jacquelin Rootes from women in her family, including her aunt Lucy Thornton, who lived in Caroline County, Virginia, her cousin Martha M. J. Robinson of Winchester, Virginia, and her friends Mary Cooke and E. Marion. Of interest are references to the treatment of people who were enslaved (folders 1-6), courtship, friendship, religious devotion and missionary efforts, plantation life, and the difficulties women encountered in operating a plantation.
Correspondence of Abraham Jackson (Henry's brother) is dated 1782 to 1805 and consists mostly of letters to or from his mother and brothers. These letters contain primarily family news, but have scattered references to Georgia and national politics. Of interest is a fragment, ca. 1789, from Abraham to his brother Samuel discussing the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. (For additional correspondence of Abraham and other Jackson family members, see Subsubseries 9.1.1.)
Henry Jackson's correspondence for this period is scattered. Of note is a series of letters from mid-1811 to early 1812 concerning the settlement of Joseph Webber's (his grandfather's) English estate. Correspondents include his brothers Joseph and Samuel and his sister Eliza.
| Folder 1 |
Correspondence, 1784-1785Includes discussion of treatment of enslaved people. |
| Folder 2 |
Correspondence, 1786-1798Includes discussion of treatment of enslaved people. |
| Folder 3 |
Correspondence, 1799-1804Includes discussion of treatment of enslaved people. |
| Folder 4 |
Correspondence, 1805-1807Includes discussion of treatment of enslaved people. |
| Folder 5 |
Correspondence, 1808-1810Includes discussion of treatment of enslaved people. |
| Folder 6 |
Correspondence, 1811Includes discussion of treatment of enslaved people. |
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Subseries 1.2. Correspondence, 1812-1818.
Letters are about equally divided in number between Martha's family correspondence and Henry Jackson's personal and business correspondence. Letters to Martha from Lucy Thornton note church happenings, including splits occurring in the Baptist church in Fredericksburg, Va. Letters from Martha's father mostly discuss the education and rearing of Martha's sisters, Laura and Sarah, who lived with Martha from 1814 to 1817 and possibly afterward while her parents resided on their White Marsh plantation in Gloucester County, Virginia. These letters are useful in illuminating the expected role of white women in the church and family. Martha's father's letters also describe the difficulties he and other plantation owners around White Marsh experienced during the War of 1812.
Jackson's correspondence from 1812 to 1818 is mostly correspondence with the members of his family in England and his correspondence as charge d'affaires. His most frequent correspondent was his nephew Jabez (in London and later the U.S.). They wrote about family, Jabez's career, and politics (including the War of 1812 and various U.S. political figures). Of note in Jackson's charge d'affaires papers are copies of letters to the French government (contained in one letter copy book dated 1815-1816). These chiefly concern American shipping rights and difficulties encountered by American citizens in France. Other official correspondence includes letters of introduction, invitations, thank-you notes, financial correspondence, and pleas for help from American citizens.
| Folder 7 |
Correspondence, 1812 |
| Folder 8 |
Correspondence, 1813 |
| Folder 9 |
Correspondence, 1814 |
| Folder 10 |
Correspondence, 1815 |
| Folder 11-12a |
Correspondence, 1816 |
| Folder 12b |
Correspondence, Letter Copy Book, 1815-1816 |
Folder 13-15
Folder 13Folder 14Folder 15 |
Correspondence, 1817 |
Folder 15-17
Folder 15Folder 16Folder 17 |
Correspondence, 1818 |
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Subseries 1.3. Correspondence, 1819-1828.
Of note is a first-person account of an interracial camp meeting reported in a letter, 12 August 1819, from Mrs. Sherwood to Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson. The subseries otherwise largely consists of Henry Jackson's correspondence relating to Franklin College. This correspondence concerns the acquisition of laboratory and other materials, students, and the governance of the college. Jackson's personal correspondence consists mostly of letters with his family, especially his nephews Joseph Webber Jackson and William Henry Jackson, and with old acquaintances in Paris. These letters frequently discuss politics. There is also correspondence relating to Jackson's land acquisitions.
Letters to Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson from her father, Lucy Thornton, and other family members concern family news and events, camp meetings and other church news, and her marriage to Henry Jackson. There is a series of letters Martha and Henry wrote each other during their courtship in 1819, and another series of letters they wrote each other in 1827 and 1828. These letters contain detailed information on daily life at Halscot.
Folder 18-23
Folder 18Folder 19Folder 20Folder 21Folder 22Folder 23 |
Correspondence, 1819Includes an account of an interracial camp meeting (12 August 1819). |
Folder 24-25
Folder 24Folder 25 |
Correspondence, 1820 |
| Folder 26 |
Correspondence, 1821 |
| Folder 27 |
Correspondence, 1822 |
| Folder 28 |
Correspondence, 1823 |
| Folder 29 |
Correspondence, 1824 |
| Folder 30 |
Correspondence, 1825-1826 |
| Folder 31 |
Correspondence, 1827 |
Folder 32-33
Folder 32Folder 33 |
Correspondence, 1828 |
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Subseries 1.4. Correspondence, 1829-1840.
Chiefly personal correspondence of Henry Jackson and Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson and their chidren, Henry Rootes Jackson, Sarah Rootes Jackson, and Martha Rootes Jackson. Henry's letters discuss a broad range of topics, including Georgia politics, land acquisitions, Franklin College, financial difficulties, and the education of his son, Henry Rootes Jackson. Among his most frequent correspondents were his nephews Jabez and Joseph Webber Jackson. Martha expanded her correspondence to include an ever-widening network of relatives and friends, including her sister Serena (Rootes) Lea, wife of Henry C. Lea of Alabama; Elizabeth Schley, wife of Georgia governor William Schley; and a number of nieces and nephews. Of note among the childrens' correspondence are letters by Henry Rootes Jackson to his family while he was studying at Edgehill Seminary in New Jersey (1834-1835) and at Yale College in New Haven (1836-1839). They chiefly discuss his social life and campus events.
| Folder 34 |
Correspondence, 1829 |
| Folder 35 |
Correspondence, 1830 |
| Folder 36 |
Correspondence, 1831 |
| Folder 37 |
Correspondence, 1832 |
Folder 38-40
Folder 38Folder 39Folder 40 |
Correspondence, 1833 |
| Folder 41 |
Correspondence, 1834 |
Folder 42-43
Folder 42Folder 43 |
Correspondence, 1835 |
| Folder 44 |
Correspondence, 1836 |
Folder 45-47
Folder 45Folder 46Folder 47 |
Correspondence, 1837 |
| Folder 47 |
Correspondence, January-September 1838 |
| Folder 48 |
Correspondence, October 1838-1839 |
Folder 49-50
Folder 49Folder 50 |
Correspondence, 1840 |
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Subseries 1.5. Correspondence, undated (circa 1784-1840)
Letters that do not bear dates, but that can be placed in this period. They include few letters to and by Henry Jackson while in France, a large number of letters exchanged between Henry Jackson and Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson during separations (probably late 1820s and early 1830s), letters to Martha from Mary Ann Lamar, Sarah (Rootes) Cobb, Sarah (Jackson) Prince, and other family members. Jackson's French correspondence is mostly personal. Letters between Henry and Martha and correspondence with other family members provide information mostly on family matters and life at Halscot. Correspondence with Henry Smith, overseer at Cookshay, provides information on the operation of the plantation.
Folder 51-58
Folder 51Folder 52Folder 53Folder 54Folder 55Folder 56Folder 57Folder 58 |
Correspondence, Undated |
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Subseries 1.6. Correspondence, 1841-1859.
Mostly the correspondence of Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson and her children. Much of this correspondence documents Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson's management of the Halscot Plantation outside Athens, Ga., and the Cookshay Plantation in Chambers County, Ala., for over a decade after her husband's death in 1840. A considerable number of letters with the overseers on the Cookshay plantation discuss its operations in detail. Numerous letters from Henry Rootes Jackson and from Henry Jackson's nephew Joseph Webber Jackson also concern plantation matters and finances. Martha's correspondence with her daughters and with other family members often discusses the status of her crops and livestock.
Letters exchanged among Henry Rootes Jackson, Sarah Rootes Jackson (later Prince), Martha Rootes Jackson (later Erwin), and their mother discuss mostly personal news. Sarah and Martha's letters with a number of cousins, including Mary Ann Lamar and Laura Battaile Cobb, discuss religion, including missions to Africa, family, and society news. Several letters in the 1840s pertain to Henry Rootes Jackson's service in the Mexican War.
| Folder 59 |
Correspondence, 1841 |
Folder 60-61
Folder 60Folder 61 |
Correspondence, 1842 |
| Folder 62 |
Correspondence, 1843 |
| Folder 63 |
Correspondence, 1844 |
| Folder 64 |
Correspondence, 1845 |
Folder 65-67
Folder 65Folder 66Folder 67 |
Correspondence, 1846 |
| Folder 68 |
Correspondence, 1847 |
| Folder 69 |
Correspondence, 1848 |
Folder 70-72
Folder 70Folder 71Folder 72 |
Correspondence, 1849 |
| Folder 73 |
Correspondence, 1850-1851 |
Folder 74-75
Folder 74Folder 75 |
Correspondence, 1852 |
| Folder 76 |
Correspondence, 1853 |
| Folder 77 |
Correspondence, 1854-1859 |
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Subseries 1.7. Correspondence, 1860-1880.
Chiefly Civil War correspondence of Henry Rootes Jackson. Included are two letters by Jackson concerning the retreat from Sherman's army, one to Henry Rootes Jackson about his orders recalling the 1st Georgia Regiment to duty, and one to Jackson from 1st Lieutenant Samuel Dawson reporting an exchange of prisoners and other military matters. Miscellaneous items, dated 1861, 1868, 1879, and 1880 are addressed to Mary Ann Cobb and General and Mrs. Jackson and concern family matters.
| Folder 78 |
Correspondence, 1860-1880 |
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Series 2. Financial Volumes and Papers, 1812-1896 and undated.
Financial papers document the personal and business accounts of Henry Jackson and Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson and their children, as well as the existence of people who were enslaved by the Jackson family. There are lists of enslaved people with financial valuations assigned to them, personal accounts, records of Jackson's service as Charge d'Affaires to France (1812-1818), and plantation accounts.
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Subseries 2.1. Charge d'Affaires Accounts, 1812-1818.
Financial records of Henry Jackson while secretary to the American Legation and later Charge d'Affaires for the United States in France. Personal accounts consist mostly of bills and receipts for living expenses. American Legation accounts consist of bills, receipts, and records kept for postage, stationery, printing, salary, and miscellaneous expenses. Correspondence related to Jackson's financial affairs in Paris may be found in Subseries 1.2.
| Folder 79 |
Charge d'Affaires accounts, 1812-1815 |
| Folder 80 |
Charge d'Affaires accounts, 1815-1816 |
| Folder 81 |
Charge d'Affaires accounts, 1816-1818 |
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Subseries 2.2. Personal Accounts, 1796-1820.
Mostly Henry Jackson's personal accounts while attending medical school in Philadelphia (one volume dated 1796-1797) and while working as a doctor (one volume dated 1809-1810 and five receipts for personal goods). There are also other miscellaneous receipts for 1817 through 1820; a personal account book belonging to Henry Jackson and Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson for 1819-1820 (there are plantation accounts for 1850-1851 contained in the back of this volume); and one undated item that may relate to a commission received by Jackson to buy scientific supplies from France for the University of Georgia.
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Subseries 2.3. Plantation Accounts, 1816-1869 and
undated.
Plantation papers of Henry Jackson and Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson and of their son Henry Rootes Jackson document people who were enslaved at their plantations, as well as plantation accounts and operations. The earliest papers are for the Louisville, Ga., plantation owned by Howell Cobb and Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb (later Jackson) and dated 1816-1818. Subsequent papers concern the Halscot Plantation of Henry Jackson and Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson, outside Athens (1818-1850s); the Cookshay Plantation (Chambers County, Ala.) owned by the Jacksons (1838?-1852), and a plantation (location unknown) owned by Henry Rootes Jackson.
Papers include lists of people who were enslaved and assessments of their financial value, household and plantation account books, livestock records, plantation day books, receipts, accounts with cotton factors, and tax records.
| Folder 86 |
Plantation account book, 1816-1818 and 1817-1818Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb's accounts for the Louisville, Ga., plantation |
| Folder 87 |
Plantation account book, 1819-1820Henry Jackson and Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson's accounts, probably at Henry's Mount Farm (Halscot Plantation) outside Athens, |
| Folder 88 |
Plantation account book, 1823-1824Henry Jackson and Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson's accounts at Henry's Mount Farm (Halscot Plantation). |
| Folder 89 |
Plantation accounts, 1824-1834Memorandum book, 1824-1826, recipes |
| Folder 90 |
Plantation account book, 1833-1834Henry Jackson and Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson's accounts at Halscot, and day book, 1835-1837 |
| Folder 91 |
Plantation accounts, 1835-1838 |
| Folder 92 |
Account book, 1839Henry Jackson and Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson's accounts for Cookshay Plantation |
| Folder 93 |
Plantation accounts, 1839-1840 |
| Folder 94 |
Account book, 1841Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson's accounts at Cookshay plantation |
| Folder 95 |
Plantation accounts, 1841-1842 |
| Folder 96 |
Plantation accounts, 1843-1844 |
| Folder 97 |
Plantation accounts, 1845-1850 |
| Folder 98 |
Day book, 1847, 1849Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson's notes on daily operation of Halscot Plantation. See also accounts for 1850 and 1851 in the volume in folder 85. |
| Folder 99 |
Day book, 1851Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson's accounts and notes on operation of Halscot. |
| Folder 100 |
Plantation Accounts, 1851-1852 |
| Folder 101 |
Plantation accounts, 1852-1853 |
| Folder 102 |
Account book, 1852-1869 and undatedMartha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson's accounts at Halscot. |
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Series 3. Legal Papers, 1818-1868and undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
Primarily papers of Dr. Henry Jackson, Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson, and Henry Rootes Jackson. Papers include bills of sale for people who were enslaved, land grants, deeds, indentures (loan and property), employment agreements with overseers, bonds, and other legal items related to the operation of the Jackson plantations. A considerable portion of the papers pertain to the settlement of Jackson's estate after his death in 1840.
| Folder 103 |
Legal papers, 1818-1842 |
| Folder 104 |
Legal papers, 1843-1847Includes bills of sale for people who were enslaved. |
| Folder 105 |
Legal papers, 1848-1868 and undatedIncludes bills of sale for people who were enslaved. |
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Series 4. Diaries, 1801-1854.
Arrangement: chronological.
Diaries kept by Jackson family members, mostly focusing on religion and daily life. There is one undated diary probably belonging to Martha's father, Thomas Reade Rootes. Entries for Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson provide insight into the religious life of a white, upper class Baptist woman. She commented extensively on sermons, the Bible, and her relationship to God. Childhood diaries by Henry Rootes, Martha, and Sarah Jackson describe the family's farm and social activities on their Halscot Plantation in the early 1830s. Henry Jackson's diaries contain ideas on scientific matters. Thomas Reade Rootes's diary offers opinions on a variety of social and ethical topics.
| Folder 106 |
Diary, 1801Henry Jackson discusses school life at the Medical College of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), where Jackson studied medicine. |
Diary and loose entries, 1806, Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb 16 pp. Diary, 5 pp. loose entries.Records religious meditations and thoughts. |
|
Diary, 1 September 1811 to 11 October 1811, Henry Jackson, 35 pp.Discusses scientific ideas and describes contemporary books and inventions. |
|
Diary, 4 January 1813, Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb, 19 pp.Records religious thoughts. |
|
Diary entry (loose), 24 October 1815, Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb, 4 pp.Records religious thoughts. |
|
Diary, 13 October 1814 to 30 January 1817, Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb, 48 pp.Records religious meditations and thoughts. |
|
Diary 14 May 1816 to 10 September 1816, Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb, 20 pp.Records religious thoughts. |
|
"A Diary of Scripture Promises or The Soul's Every Day Feast," 1818, Author unknown, 38 pp.Lists scriptural passages for reflection by day. |
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Diary entry (loose), 22 February 1821, Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson, 3 pp.Records religious thoughts. |
|
| Folder 107 |
Diary, ? May 1830 to 29 March 1831, Henry Rootes Jackson, 41 pp.Descriptions of daily life at the Jacksons' Halscot Plantations, including comings and goings and farm and other activities of his parents and sisters. |
Diary, 4 June 1833 to 4 September 1834, Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson, 76 pp.Descriptions of daily life at the Halscot Plantation, including household and farm chores and leisure activities. |
|
Diary, 13 May 1834 to 28 October 1835, Sarah Maria Rootes Jackson, 87 pp.Descriptions of daily life at the Halscot Plantation, including household and farm chores and leisure activities. |
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| Folder 108 |
Diary, March 1837, Henry Rootes Jackson, 157 pp. (Diary 2 January 1854 to 26 April 1854, Sarah Rootes(Jackson) Prince, 58 pp. contained in same volume.)Written while he was a student at Yale, Henry Rootes Jackson's diary records mostly personal feelings and school notes. Many of his early poems are included. Sarah (Jackson) Prince's diary discusses family, plantation activities, and her religious feelings. |
| Folder 109 |
Diary entries (loose), Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson, 9 March 1834 and undated. 2 pp.Comments on Bible chapters read. |
Diary entries (loose), 12 February 1844 and 27 February 1844, probably belonging to Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson, 2 pp.Records religious thoughts. |
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Diary, 10 March 1844 to 26 May 1845, Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson, 7 pp.Comments on sermons heard. |
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Diary, 1846, Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson, 10 pp.Comments on sermons heard. |
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Diary, undated, Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson, 15 pp.Records religious thoughts. |
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Diary, undated, probably Thomas Reade Rootes, 51 pp.(Labeled Laura B. Rootes, Federal Hill, but has only 4 pp. of doodling and calculations by her.) Offers opinions on a variety of topics, including women wearing men's clothes and sensuous overindulgence. |
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Series 5. Other Papers, 1787-1854.
Arrangement: alphabetical by type.
Scientific notes and miscellaneous items collected by the Jackson and Rootes families. Notes on lectures Henry Jackson attended in France in 1816 and 1817 and on medical school and other classes Henry and James Jackson and others attended (around 1787-1788 and 1793-1794) cover the fields of medicine, botany, optics, physics, mathematics, and economics. Other items of scientific interest are articles and prospecti for medical journals and schools, Henry Jackson's notes on homeopathic medical remedies, and lectures and examinations he used in his teaching at Franklin College.
Miscellaneous include writings, addresses, school materials, and clippings. Among the literary materials are a number of poems, manuscript and printed, by Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb, Henry Rootes Jackson, Martha Rootes Jackson Erwin, and others; a copy of the sheet music for "The Red Old Hills of Georgia," with lyrics by Henry Rootes Jackson; and a sketch by an unknown author entitled "Sentimental Journey Through the Pine Woods in Carolina." Several public addresses appear. Of interest is a 4 July 1832 presentation made by T. H. Guenebault before the Phi Kappa Society of Athens, probably at Franklin College.
School and other educational materials include French exercise books for Henry Rootes Jackson (1832) and Martha J. Jackson (1836); Henry Jackson's undated translation of Corinne; and Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson's undated, handwritten copy of a Roman history. Other miscellaneous items include prints of the Lucy Cobb Institute; line drawings of family members; word derivations; an art school advertisement; a recipe; an 1842 school report for Lucy Lea (niece of Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson); an 1870 description of an invention; a ticket to a lecture on animal magnetism; and a card for Miss Jane E. Terry. Nine broadsides appear, and include announcements of concerts, business circulars, campaign posters for Henry Lea (1843), and a circular of the American Baptist Society for Evangelizing the Jews (1845).
Also included are a copy of La Patria Illustria (1885, Mexico) with a picture of Henry Jackson, Minister of the United States in Mexico, on the front (oversize) and an undated handwritten copy of the "Rules of Procedures in the Senate and House of Representatives of the U.S., Remarks."
Among documents illuminating religious life are the constitution of the Female Mite Society of Athens and Vicinity (ca. 1818, Ga.), the minutes of the Trail Creek Sunday School Society (1819, Ga.), and an account a split within the Baptist Church of Savannah (1846).
Clippings are all obituaries, except for an 1886 letter to the editor of an unidentified paper by Henry Rootes Jackson thanking the Americans in Mexico for a tribute they had paid him.
| Folder 110 |
Addresses, 1844, 1872, and undated |
| Folder 111 |
Broadsides, 1842, 1843, 1845, and undated |
| Folder 112 |
Calling cards (Dr. Henry Jackson, Henry Rootes Jackson, Sarah M. Jackson) |
| Folder 113 |
Class examinations (Dr. Henry Jackson, undated) |
Folder 114-123
Folder 114Folder 115Folder 116Folder 117Folder 118Folder 119Folder 120Folder 121Folder 122Folder 123 |
Class notes, Henry Jackson, ca. 1800-1827 and undated |
| Folder 124a |
Class notes (Henry or James Jackson, 1793-1794) |
| Folder 124b |
Class notes (Unidentified, 1787-1788) |
| Folder 124c |
Clippings, 1855, 1866, 1868, 1886, and Undated |
| Folder 125 |
Miscellaneous, 1832, 1836, 1842, 1870, 1885, 1901 |
| Folder 126 |
Miscellaneous, Undated |
| Folder 127 |
Poems (printed and manuscript) |
| Folder 128 |
Prints and drawings |
| Folder 129 |
Religious material, ca. 1818, 1819, 1850, and undated |
| Folder 130 |
Scientific and medical material (printed), 1808, 1814, 1832, 1837, 1845 and undated |
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Series 6. Pictures, undated.
Thirteen photographs of unidentified family members and one unidentified photograph of a house. There are additional unidentified photographs dated 1886.
| Image Folder PF-371/1 |
Portrait of unidentified man. |
Portrait of unidentified man in uniform. |
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Portrait of unidentified man. |
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Portrait of unidentified man in Confederate uniform, possibly Henry Rootes Jackson. |
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Portrait of unidentified man. |
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Portrait of unidentified man. |
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Portrait of unidentified man. |
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Portrait of unidentified woman. |
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Portrait of unidentified man. |
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Portrait of unidentified woman. |
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Portrait of unidentified man. |
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Picture of home of Thomas Reade Rootes II at Federal Hill, Fredericksburg, Virginia. |
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| Special Format Image SF-P-371/12 |
Tintype of unidentified woman. |
| Image Folder PF-371/2 |
Unidentified photographs |
Image Folder PF-371/3-5
PF-371/3PF-371/4PF-371/5 |
Unidentified photographs, 1886 |
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Subcollection 2. Prince Family Papers, 1784-1947.
Correspondence, financial and legal materials, genealogical materials, and miscellaneous items chiefly document the lives and personal finances of the white Prince family, plantation operations, and Georgia Telegraph business. The lives of enslaved and formerly enslaved people who are documented include Jefferson, an enslaved man, who was hired by Oliver Hillhouse Prince to work in his print shop (folder 134), and freedmen who are discussed more generally (folder 140). There is also a series of clippings discussing the issue of slavery (folder 162b). Other topics include wars with North American Indians in Georgia, an 1803 treaty with the Creek Indians, Democratic party state and national politics, the Mexican War, the annexation of Texas, religious happenings, the American Civil War, and genealogy.
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Series 7. Correspondence, 1830-1926.
Arrangement: chronological.
Personal and business correspondence of Oliver Hillhouse Prince, family correspondence of his wife Sarah Jackson Prince, and personal correspondence of his children, especially his daughter Basiline, and of Basiline's cousin Margaret P. Hillhouse.
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Subseries 7.1. Correspondence, 1830-1849.
Personal and business correspondence of Oliver Hillhouse Prince from his youth through his editorship of the Georgia Telegraph and his service in the Mexican War. Prince's primary correspondent between 1830 and 1843 was his uncle and guardian, Washington Poe. Letters exchanged while Prince was a student at Dr. Beaman's School (Milledgeville, Ga.) and Yale College (Va.) often concern his education, finances, and career plans. Prince also received scattered letters from friends.
Most of the correspondence for 1844 through early 1847 concerns state and national politics. As a newspaper editor, Prince received frequent reports regarding the issues of the day, including James K. Polk's defeat of Henry Clay, the annexation of Texas, and the onset of the Mexican War. Letters from friends and contacts often comment on the political climate of various regions, provide results of local elections, and give personal insights into local and national politics. Prince also received routine office and scattered personal correspondence during these years. John B. Lamar and Sam Ray were the friends who wrote most often. Of note for the year 1845 are two letters (5 May and 5 June) concerning Prince's hiring of Jefferson, an enslaved man, to work in his print shop.
No correspondence appears for 1846, and only five letters appear for the years 1847 to 1849. These concern family, Prince's role in the army, and politics. No letters appear for 1850 through 1851. Undated correspondence for this period includes discussion of Oliver's education, politics, and family news.
| Folder 132 |
Correspondence, 1830-1843 |
| Folder 133 |
Correspondence, 1844 |
| Folder 134 |
Correspondence, January-June 1845Two letters, 5 May 1845 and 5 June 1845, concern Jefferson, and enslaved man hired by Prince to work in his print shop. |
| Folder 135 |
Correspondence, July 1845, 1847-1849 |
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Subseries 7.2. Correspondence, 1852-1873.
Almost all family correspondence with scattered business letters. Between 1852 and 1858 the bulk of the correspondence belongs to Sarah (Jackson) Prince. Frequent writers were her cousins Mary Ann Cobb and Laura Battaile Cobb, her mother Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson, and her nephew Joseph Jackson. Topics include Sarah's marriage, family news and events, religious happenings, and daily life for a white family on a plantation. The handful of letters received by Oliver Prince for this period concern politics, family news, and plantation affairs.
A gap appears in the correspondence for 1859 and for 1861 and 1862, followed by scattered letters for 1863 and 1864. These include correspondence between Prince and his wife and children, especially his daughter Basiline, while he worked conscripting soldiers in Baker County and his family resided in Bath (outside Augusta). The letters express Prince's anxiety about his family's safety and report developments of the war. Several business letters also appear.
For the late 1860s through the mid-1870s most of the letters are those exchanged between Oliver, Sarah, and Basiline, while Oliver lived on his plantation in Macon and his family resided in Bath, and later while Basiline and Marie Jacqueline lived in Atlanta. These letters often concern freedmen, religion, farming, education, and postwar fears and hardships. Of special note is a 24 September 1869 letter to Prince from W. H. Sparks concerning the circumstances surrounding the 1825 Georgia gubernatorial election.
| Folder 136 |
Correspondence, 1852-1853 |
| Folder 137 |
Correspondence, 1854 |
| Folder 138 |
Correspondence, 1855-ca. 1860 |
| Folder 139 |
Correspondence, 1862-1865 |
| Folder 140 |
Correspondence, 1866-1873Includes letters discussing freedmen, religion, farming, education, and postwar fears and hardships. There is also a letter, 24 September 1869, to Prince from W. H. Sparks concerning the circumstances surrounding the 1825 Georgia gubernatorial election. |
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Subseries 7.3. Correspondence, 1874-1926.
Mostly the correspondence of Basiline Prince and her cousin Margaret P. Hillhouse. Both women exhibited a passion for genealogical research and wrote frequently to near and distant relatives of the Prince, Hillhouse, Cobb, Jackson, King, Green, Bulloch, Thomas, and other families concerning their lineage. Basiline also carried on personal correspondence with her family, including her father, her sister Marie Jacqueline, her brothers Oliver and Henry, her cousin Mildred Lewis Rutherford, and various other cousins. Almost all the correspondence between 1918 and 1926 belongs to Margaret Hillhouse and concerns family genealogy.
| Folder 141 |
Correspondence, 1874-1889 |
| Folder 142 |
Correspondence, 1890-1910 |
| Folder 143 |
Correspondence, 1911-1917 |
| Folder 144 |
Correspondence, 1918 |
| Folder 145 |
Correspondence, 1919 |
| Folder 146 |
Correspondence, 1920-1926 and undated |
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Series 8. Financial and Legal Papers, 1808-1897.
Arrangement: chronological.
The financial and legal papers of Oliver H. Prince, including scattered legal papers of his father and of Washington Poe. The financial papers consist mostly of bills and receipts. They include Prince's personal accounts with clothiers, sundries merchants, and others for the periods 1841 through 1843, 1847 through 1849, and 1863 through 1871. (Those for 1847 through 1849 reflect Prince's participation in the Mexican War.) Also included are business accounts for the Georgia Telegraph, 1844-1847, and Prince's plantation accounts with merchants and cotton factors, 1850-1858. For additional information on Prince's plantation finances, see Subcollection 1, Series 2, which documents his dealings with Martha Jacquelin Rootes Cobb Jackson. Some documents belonging to Prince may have also been filed there since ownership was not clear.
Legal documents include deeds, legal agreements, loan papers, and other items pertaining primarily to Prince. Of note is a prenuptial property agreement made between Prince and his future wife Sarah Jackson in 1852. A few papers belong to Prince's father (also named Oliver H. Prince), and to Washington Poe, who served as executor of the elder Prince's will.
| Folder 147 |
Financial and legal papers, 1808, 1841-1845 |
| Folder 148 |
Financial and legal papers, 1846-1854Includes a prenuptial agreement concerning people enslaved and land owned by Sarah M. R. Jackson, 1852 (OP-371/3-4). |
| Extra Oversize Paper XOP-371/3 |
Indenture for land between Jacob P. Welch and Martha and Sarah Jackson, 1851 |
| Oversize Paper OP-371/4 |
Indenture (marriage contract) concerning 20 people enslaved by Sarah M. R. Jackson, 1852The prenuptial agreement documents John, 42 years of age; Daphne, 35 years of age; Mary, 19 years of age; Emma, 16 years of age; Fanny, 14 years of age; George, 10 years of age; Charles, 9 years of age; Ben, 7 years of age; Henrietta, 6 years of age; Caroline, 4 years of age; Susan, 9 months of age; Jane, 19 years of age; Silla, 30 yeras of age; Sarah, 13 years of age; Henry, 11 years of age; Betsy, 9 years of age; David, 7 years of age; Clarissa, 5 years of age; Glasgow, 2 years of age; William, 4 months of age. |
| Folder 149 |
Financial and legal papers, 1888-1897 |
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Series 9. Genealogical Material, 1784-1947 and
undated.
Notes, clippings, and publications related to the genealogy of the Cobb, Jackson, Jacqueline, Prince, Hillhouse, King, Thornton, Thomas, Green, Rutherford, Barrington, Griswold, Cary, and other related Virginia and Georgia families.
Copious data and notes on family genealogy compiled principally by Basiline Prince and Margaret Hillhouse. Included are detailed genealogical charts, biographical information, and family anecdotes. Considerable additional genealogical information can be found in the correspondence of these two women in Subseries 7.4.
Of particular value is a notebook by Basiline Prince containing genealogical data and handwritten transcriptions of letters and legal documents dating from 1784 to 1814. The transcriptions include the will of Joseph Webber, Henry Jackson's maternal grandfather; correspondence of Henry Jackson with his family; and letters written to Henry's brother Abraham, mostly from family members. Topics of interest are Tom Paine in England, wars with North American Indians in Georgia, an 1803 treaty with the Creek Indians, the issue of paper money, the War of 1812, and Georgia politics. A few of the transcriptions duplicate letters filed in the collection, which are in a rapid state of deterioration.
The bulk of the clippings cover the 1890s through the 1920s and chiefly concern members of the Prince, Thomas, Jackson, and Cobb families. Several clippings, taken primarily from the Daily Georgian, appear from the 1830s and 1840s. They include editorials, poems, and miscellaneous articles. A few clippings appearing after the 1920s pertain to Jordan S. Thomas of Charlotte, N.C. (husband of Marie Jacqueline Prince), and one clipping from 1947 relates to Henry Rootes Jackson.
Folder 150-152
Folder 150Folder 151Folder 152 |
Genealogical notes, 1889-1940 and undated |
Folder 153-154
Folder 153Folder 154 |
Genealogical notebooks |
Folder 155-157
Folder 155Folder 156Folder 157 |
Genealogical clippings |
Folder 158-161
Folder 158Folder 159Folder 160Folder 161 |
Genealogical publications |
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Series 10. Miscellaneous Items, 1812, 1838,
1857, 1866-1924 and undated.
Miscellaneous political and family items. Of interest is a scrapbook kept by Oliver H. Prince, which contains copies of letters, genealogical charts, original letters, clippings, pictures, and other miscellaneous items. In addition to the scrapbook, several items clipped from newspapers, most likely by Oliver Prince, appear concerning political issues. Of note is a series of 1845 clippings from the Daily Georgian discussing the issue of slavery, and an 1862 clipping of a letter Prince sent to an unidentified newspaper concerning the 1825 Troup-Clark contest for governor. Other clippings pertain to politics in the Reconstruction period.
Additional items of political significance are election returns for the 8th district (Baker County, Ga.) probably from the year 1857; a U.S. Senate speech on the tariff issue (1844) delivered by Mr. McDuffie; and an undated handwritten editorial entitled "The State of Government," possibly for use in the Georgia Telegraph.
Other papers include the Prince childrens' school reports and Basiline's early compositions, cards (post, greeting, and calling), and travel maps, brochures, and souvenir ribbons Basiline collected on trips to Virginia (for the Jamestown Exposition of 1907), to Florida (for the Key West Over-the-Sea Railroad Celebration in 1912), to Moretonhampstead, England, and to Wales. Also included are the eulogy presented for Basiline Prince upon her death in 1924, Marie Jacqueline (Prince) Thomas's catechism book (1868) and marriage license (1884), and an undated typescript description by Jordan S. Thomas of two Glynn County plantations, Altama and Hopeton, being considered for development as a sportsman's retreat.
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Items Separated