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 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 courtship, friendship, religious devotion and missionary efforts, plantation life, the treatment of slaves, 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.

Letters about equally divided 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, Virginia. 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 women in the church and family. Martha's father's letters also describe the difficulties he and other planters 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). The most useful of 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.

Predominantly Henry Jackson's business correspondence, much of which relates 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 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. For a first-person account of an interracial camp meeting see the 12 August 1819 letter to Martha from Mrs. Sherwood. A series of letters Martha and Henry wrote each other during their courtship appears for 1819. Another series of letters they wrote each other in 1827 and 1828 while separated also appears. These letters contain detailed information on daily life at Halscot.

Chiefly personal correspondence of Henry and Martha 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.

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 and Martha 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.

Mostly the correspondence of Martha (Rootes) Cobb Jackson and her children. Much of this correspondence documents Martha Jackson's operation of the Halscot Plantation outside Athens, Ga., and the Cookshay Plantation in Chatham 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 operation 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.

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 concerning 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

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.

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 and Martha Jackson appears for 1819-1820. (There are plantation accounts for 1850-1851 contained in the back of this volume.) One undated item may relate to a commission received by Jackson to buy scientific supplies from France for the University of Georgia.

Plantation papers of Henry and Martha Jackson and of their son Henry Rootes Jackson. The earliest papers appear for the Louisville, Ga., plantation owned by Howell and Martha (Rootes) Cobb (later Jackson) and dated 1816-1818. Subsequent papers concern the Halscot Plantation of Henry and Martha Jackson, outside Athens (1818-1850s); the Cookshay Plantation (Chatham County, Ala.) owned by the Jacksons (1838?-1852), and a plantation (location unknown) owned by Henry Rootes Jackson.

Papers include household and plantation account books, livestock records, plantation day books, receipts, accounts with cotton factors, slave lists and value assessments, and tax records.

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 a slave named Jefferson 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.

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 (Rootes) Cobb Jackson, and her nephew Joseph Jackson. Topics include Sarah's marriage, family news and events, religious happenings, and daily plantation life. 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 religion, farming, education, freedmen, 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.

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.

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.

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 about the slavery issue, 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. Materials from the eulogy presented for Basiline Prince upon her death in 1924 also appear. Also included are 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.