Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#3242
MARY HUNTER KENNEDY PAPERS
Inventory
Abstract: Correspondence; legal and financial papers;
genealogical material; student notebooks, account
books, and other volumes; pictures; and other papers
of members of the Houston, Young, Dalton and Kennedy
families of Iredell County, N.C., and other locations
in the South. Most of the papers are family letters
exchanged among members of this large family, as they
spread out from Iredell County seeking more profitable
lands to the south and west. The letters provide
vivid pictures of frontier life in Tennessee and
Missouri, including reports of weather, health, crops,
religion, education, slavery, and, especially, the
daily lives and work of women. Letters of Christopher
Houston (1744-1837) from Maury County, Tenn., about
1814 to 1837, contain discussions of his Presbyterian
faith and anti-slavery convictions; papers dated after
his death relate to attempts to challenge and settle
his will, through which he had manumitted his slaves.
Also included are documents relating to property;
items relating to the postmastership in Iredell
County, which was held by family members for nearly a
century; and scattered papers relating to the North
Carolina tobacco trade from the 1840s through the
1880s. There are also Civil War era letters written
by soldiers, who told of military life, and civilians,
who wrote about local conditions in various southern
states. The extensive genealogical materials were
chiefly collected by Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton
(1814-1901) and her granddaughter Mary Hunter Kennedy.
Volumes include school notebooks and account books
relating to the tobacco industry and to general
merchandising as well as to estates and domestic
expenses.
Online Catalog Terms:
Accounting--Books of account.
Confederate States of America--Social conditions.
Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.
Dalton, Mary Cecelia Houston, 1814-1901.
Dalton family.
Estates (Law)--Southern States--History--19th century.
Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs--19th century.
Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs--20th century.
Family--Southern States--Social life and customs--19th century.
Family--Southern States--Social life and customs--20th century.
Frontier and pioneer life--United States--History--19th century.
Genealogists--Southern States.
Home economics--Southern States--History--19th century.
Houston, Christopher, 1744-1837.
Houston family.
Iredell County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
Kennedy, Mary Hunter.
Kennedy family.
Maury County (Tenn.)--Social life and customs.
Merchants--Southern States--History--19th century.
Migration, Internal--United States--History--19th century.
Missouri--Social life and customs--19th century.
Postal service--Postmasters--North Carolina--History.
Presbyterians--Tennessee--History--19th century.
Real property--Southern States--History--19th century.
School notebooks.
Slavery--Southern States.
Slaves--Emancipation.
Tennessee--Social life and customs--19th century.
Tobacco industry--North Carolina--History--19th century.
Women--Southern States--Social life and customs--19th century.
Women--Southern States--Social life and customs--20th century.
Young family.
Size About 4,560 items (6.0 linear feet).
Provenance: Received from Frank Kennedy of Charlotte, N.C.,
and Mary Hunter Kennedy of Statesville, N.C., in
October 1956 and February, June, and August 1957;
and from Mary Hunter Kennedy Daly in November
1984.
Access: No restrictions
Items Separated: V-3242/S-9; P-3242/1-12; OP-3242/1-2
Related Collections: Gertrude D. Enfield Papers (#3696);
Frank H. Kennedy Papers (#4501).
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or
their descendants, as stipulated by United States
copyright law.
INTRODUCTION
Biographical Note
The story of the extensive family from whom these papers
derive begins with Michael Cadet Young of Virginia (d. 1769).
His son Thomas Young (1732-1829) of Brunswick County, Va.,
apparently migrated from Mecklenburg County, Va., to Hunting
Creek, in what was then Rowan (now Iredell) County, N.C., about
1778-1780. His children, Elizabeth Ragsdale Young (1786-1837)
and Samuel Young (1781-1847), married children of Christopher
Houston (1744-1837) and Sarah Mitchell Houston of Houstonville,
Iredell County. Christopher had come from Pennsylvania to North
Carolina about 1765 and went on to Tennessee about 1814.
Elizabeth R. Young married Christopher's son Placebo Houston
(1779-1859) and Samuel Young married Placebo's sister Sarah
Houston. Until the 1840s, the bulk of the papers consists of
letters to these two couples, especially letters from Placebo and
Sarah's father Christopher and their brother James in Tennessee,
and letters to Thomas Young, especially from his relatives in
Tennessee and South Carolina.
From the mid 1830s, the correspondence is increasingly
addressed to Placebo's daughter Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton
(1814-1901) of Houstonville and Eagle Mills, also in Iredell
County. Unlike her brothers and sisters, Mary Cecelia remained
at home, and, throughout her long life, kept in close contact
with her widely scattered relatives, especially with her brother
Thomas Franklin Houston in Pettis County, Mo., and her sisters,
Louisa Houston Reinhardt in North Carolina and Lucy Melissa
Houston Motz also in Pettis County, Mo. In 1845, Mary Cecelia
married John Hunter Dalton, a manufacturer of plug and twist
tobacco. Following Louisa Reindardt's death and her husband's
remarriage, some of her older children lived with Mary Cecelia
and with her brother Thomas. Many of the letters Mary Cecelia
received from Confederate Army soldiers were from these nephews.
Mary Cecelia appears to have acted as the hub of this
far-flung family, the one who kept cousins many times removed up
to date on family news. Probably it was from this role that her
interest in genealogy grew, an interest inherited and carried on
by her granddaughter, Mary Hunter Kennedy. Much of Mary
Cecelia's correspondence after 1880 contains genealogical
information as well as more general family news.
The Daltons' daughter Bettie married Philip Butler Kennedy,
her father's partner in the tobacco business. After her mother's
death in 1901, the bulk of the letters are to her from her
children, especially Frank H. Kennedy and Mary Hunter Kennedy.
Much of Mary Hunter Kennedy's later correspondence concerns
genealogy.
For more information see folders 40-41 and 200-203.
Collection Overview
This collection includes correspondence; legal and financial
papers; genealogical material; student notebooks, account books,
and other volumes; pictures; and other papers of members of the
Houston, Young, Dalton and Kennedy families of Iredell County,
N.C., and other locations in the South. The genealogical
material was chiefly collected by Mary Cecelia Dalton and her
granddaughter Mary Hunter Kennedy.
Most of the papers are family letters exchanged among members
of this large family, as they spread out from Iredell County
seeking more profitable lands to the south and west. The letters
provide vivid pictures of frontier life in Tennessee and
Missouri, including reports of weather, health, crops, religion,
education, slavery, and, especially, the daily lives and work of
women. Also among the papers are documents relating to property,
including receipts, deeds, wills, and promissory notes; items
relating to the postmastership in Iredell County held by members
of this family for nearly a century; and scattered papers
relating to the tobacco trade from the 1840s through the 1880s.
There are also Civil War era letters written by soldiers and
civilians in North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky,
Alabama, and Georgia. Letters written by Christopher Houston
from Tennessee, about 1814 to 1837, contain discussions of his
Presbyterian faith and anti-slavery convictions; papers dated
after his death relate to attempts to challenge and settle his
will, through which he had manumitted his slaves.
This collection is divided into two subcollections:
Subcollection 1, consists of material received by the Southern
Historical Collection prior to 1959; Subcollection 2, consists of
the numerous additions made since that date. The subcollections
contain essentially similar material. In Subcollection 1,
correspondence, business, financial and legal papers are arranged
chronologically in Series 1, while in Subcollection 2,
non-correspondence has been separated from the letters. Overall,
the collection is arranged as follows:
Subcollection 1
Series 1 Correspondence and Related Items
Series 2 Other Material
Series 3 Volumes
Subcollection 2
Series 1 Correspondence
Series 2 Other material
Subseries 2.1 Legal Materials
Subseries 2.2 Financial Materials
Subseries 2.3 Genealogical Materials
Subseries 2.4 Miscellaneous
Subseries 2.5 Printed Materials
Series 3 Pictures
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
SUBCOLLECTION 1. MATERIAL RECEIVED BEFORE 1959.
Series 1. Correspondence and Related Items.
1759-1955 and undated. About 800 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Folder 1. 1759-1783. 14 items.
Letters from Michael Cadet Young to his son Thomas Young,
Crooked Creek, Lunenburgh County, Va. Also included are
bills, bonds, deeds, and miscellaneous papers of Thomas Young
in Virginia, and, 1780, on Hunting Creek in Rowan County, N.C.
Folder 2. 1785-1810. 20 items.
Miscellaneous papers of Thomas Young and of Christopher
Houston, including receipts, deeds, correspondence, and the
will of Thomas Young, ca. 1801, naming his children. Items
relating also to William Young, A. Young, Christopher Ellis,
Robert Houston. 18 October 1808 and 14 November 1809, letters
from William W. Woodward, Philadelphia, to Christopher
Houston, itemizing a library being purchased by Houston and
discussing books and religious revival. April 1810, William
Ballard, Mecklenburg County, to Thomas Young about family
news.
Folder 3. 1811-1814. 13 items.
Receipts and letter addressed to Christopher Houston,
postmaster of Iredell County. 1812, receipt for three slaves
being sent by Placebo Houston to James Houston in Maury
County, Tenn. 29 November 1814(?), Christopher Houston, Maury
County, Tenn., to his son-in-law Samuel Young, Houstonville,
N.C.
Folder 4. 1815-1817. 10 items.
Four letters from Christopher and Sarah Houston at Beech
Grove, Maury County, Tenn., to their children in Iredell
County, N.C., describing their situation in Tennessee, telling
family news, and discussing religion. Appointment of Placebo
Houston as postmaster at Houstonville, June 1815, and his
receipts, etc.
Folder 5. 1818. 6 items.
Papers of Placebo Houston, including letters from his
father Christopher Houston, Beech Grove, Tenn. 30 July, will
of Thomas Young (1732-1829), naming his children Samuel,
Elizabeth Houston, Francis, John M., Temperance Carson,
Thomas, Susannah Gill.
Folder 6. 1820-1823. 19 items.
Papers of Placebo Houston, continued, including more
letters from relatives in Tennessee, and papers relating to
the property of his cousin Andrew Mitchell, who was moving to
Lawrence County, Ala.
Folders 7-8. 1824-1828. 28 items.
More family letters from Maury County, Tenn., and Lawrence
Lawrence County, Ala., to the Houstons and Youngs in Iredell
County. Social invitations, business receipts.
Folder 9. 1829-1830. 22 items.
More family letters from Tennessee and Alabama, giving
news of Houston, London, Bills, Martin, Gill, Wright, and
Mitchell families--health, crops, marriages, births, deaths,
cholera, the times, religion, politics. Christopher Houston
recommended specific reading and gave advice.
Folder 10. 1831-1832. 19 items.
More letters from Christopher Houston at Springhill Garden
in Bedford County, Tenn., and James Houston in Maury County.
In these letters, Christopher was becoming more verbose in his
religious discussions. 17 June 1831, Thomas L. Jones,
Abbeyville, Va., inquiring of the Houstonville postmaster
about Mr. Ney, the schoolmaster formerly at Abbeyville. 14
August 1832, Christopher Houston trying to remember his
Revolutionary War service and get records.
Folder 11. 1833-1835. 20 items.
More Houston letters from Tennessee as above; also from
Andrew Carson in Henry County, Tenn., to his Uncle Placebo
Houston, July 1835.
Folder 12. 1836. 8 items.
More Houston family letters. Christopher Houston on the
subject of the institution of slavery, 4 April and subsequent
letters. 27 September, J. Augustus Young, Statesville, to his
cousins Mary Cecelia and Emma Houston, Houstonville.
Folder 13. 1837-1839. 16 items.
Papers of Placebo Houston and correspondence of his
daughters with their Houston and Young cousins. Letters from
James Houston, Marshall County, Tenn., and others about the
disputed manumission of the slaves from his father's estate.
17 October 1838, Andrew Mitchell, Hardeman County, Tenn., to
his kinsman Placebo Houston, on current affairs, politics,
family news.
Folder 14. 1840-1849. 67 items, including 42 receipts.
Bills, receipts, notes, mostly of Placebo Houston and John
H. Dalton. Houston family letters from James in Tennessee and
Thomas F. Houston in Missouri. Letters, beginning 1841, to
John H. Dalton, Madison, Rockingham County, N.C., from his
brothers P. H. and Robert H., in Greensboro, N.C., and
Livingston, Ala. Letters from Mary Cecelia Houston Dalton
(hereafter MCD), beginning in 1845, to her husband John Hunter
Dalton while he was traveling through the South in the
interest of his tobacco business. She stayed at Houstonville
during his absences. Letters to MCD from friends and
relatives. 11 September 1848, P. H. Dalton, at Cabin Hill,
Houstonville, tells of his preaching and personal news.
Folder 15. 1850-1859. 83 items, including 52 receipts.
Papers of Placebo Houston and of John H. Dalton, including
business papers and receipts, family letters, and report for
Bettie Dalton at Concord Female College, Statesville, N.C.
Among the correspondents are Bettie Dalton--a little girl's
letters to her parents, 1854-1859, while she was in school at
Statesville; MCD (to her husband; and L. M. Motz, J. A.
Reinhardt of Sugar Hill, Ga., James H. Dalton of Patrick
County, Va., Robert H. Dalton of Aberdeen, Miss., all kinsmen;
and others.
Folder 16. 1860. 25 items.
Dalton and Houston family letters, written from
Statesville and High Point, N.C.; Sligo, Tenn.; West Point,
Ga.; Friendship, S.C.; and from MCD at Houstonville to her
husband when he was absent. Also business letters to John H.
Dalton.
Folder 17. 1861. 19 items.
Dalton family correspondence, continued, the letters being
mostly to MCD, and including letters from daughter Bettie at
Statesville; Robert H. Dalton at Aberdeen, Miss.; A. P.
Reinhardt at Sligo, Tenn.; and the following Confederate
soldiers: Dwight Reinhardt near Nashville, Tenn., and Bowling
Green, Ky.; Lt. Col. John A. Young at Tudor Hall, Va.; J. H.
Reinhardt near Yorktown, Va., 9 November; and E. A. Osborne at
Manassas, Va., November-December.
Folder 18. 1862. 28 items.
Letters to MCD; also some to her husband. Some letters
were written by Bettie in school at Statesville; other are
from Reinhardt and Young and other relatives in the
Confederate Army at Manassas in January and March; Wythe, Va.
in March; Suffolk, Va. in March; Richmond in May-July; Dalton,
Ga., on 18 September; Winchester, Va., on 11 October; and
Culpeper, Va., on 13 November; also from civilian relatives at
Salisbury, Statesville, and Madison, N.C, and Laurens, S.C.,
and Leighton, Ala. 1 August, a small broadside appealing for
help for the Rowan Way-Side Hospital, Salisbury, N.C.
Folder 19. 1863. 28 items.
Letters to MCD and to Bettie from friends and relatives at
Charlotte, Hamptonville, Randolph County, Salisbury, and
Statesville, N.C; and Guntersville, Ala.; Laurens, S.C.; War
Trace, Tenn.; Fredericksburg, Orange, and Mortons Ford, Va.
16 March, Raleigh, N.C, an inquiry to J. H. Dalton about
making potash on his land. 19 September, High Point, N.C, P.
H. Dalton trying to get flour and a horse and other
necessities. October-November, letters from MCD at
Houstonville to her daughter Bettie visiting in Columbia. 12
December, items relating to the funeral and estate of Rachel
Dalton, and settlement of estate of Nicholas Dalton.
Folder 20. 1864-1865. 29 items.
Letters to MCD and Bettie from relatives in North
Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and Virginia, the Reinhardt and
Young cousins and E. A. Osborne in the army, and civilian
cousins elsewhere. Three letters from A. L. Young at
Salisbury, N.C., 1865. 25 February 1865, Peter S. Wilkes,
House of Representatives at Richmond, to his cousins.
Folder 21. Undated, ca.1860-1865.
Folder 22. 1866-1867. 16 items.
More Dalton family letters. Correspondence of Bettie
Dalton on a visit to Alabama and Missouri. Letters from
Richard Kennedy in New Orleans to his brother Philip Butler
Kennedy. 25 March 1867, Thomas F. Houston, Pettis County,
Mo., to his sister in Iredell County, N.C. Transcript
relating to the case of William J. Pendleton vs. John H.
Dalton, having to do with the estate of Placebo Houston
(original bill, 1863, and answer and testimony).
Folder 23. 1868. 14 items.
Dalton family letters continued, chiefly correspondence
between MCD at Houstonville and daughter Bettie visiting in
Missouri. Miscellaneous personal letters.
Folder 24. 1869. 14 items.
Dalton correspondence continued. Bettie in Missouri and
then back at home at Eagle Mills, Iredell County, N.C.
Letters to Bettie from cousin Frank Houston at Ann Arbor,
Mich., and later at home in Missouri. Robert H. Dalton in St.
Louis to his brother.
Folder 25. 1870-1871. 30 items, including 16 receipts.
Sixteen receipts for tobacco crops purchased by J. Dalton.
Communications from the U.S. Internal Revenue Dept. to J. H.
Dalton about tobacco taxes. Personal and family letters to
MCD and Bettie, from Laurens, S.C., Sedalia, Mo., and
Charlotte, N.C. Richard Kennedy in New Orleans to his
brother.
Folder 26. 1872-1874. 19 items.
Continuation of business papers of J. H. Dalton, Eagle
Mills, N.C., relating to his tobacco company, and personal and
family letters to MCD and Bettie. MCD was visiting in
Missouri in 1874. Family letters from cousins in North
Carolina, Missouri, and Illinois.
Folder 27. 1875. 14 items.
More Dalton letters as above; also from Robert H. Dalton
in Los Angeles. Items in case of John H. Dalton vs. Thomas N.
Cooper, former partner in tobacco business.
Folder 28. 1876-1877. 13 items.
Family letters from R. H. Dalton in Los Angeles, Richard
Kennedy in New Orleans, John A. Young in Charlotte, N.C., and
others in Bloomington, Ill., and Henrietta, Tex.; also items
relating to business affairs of J. H. Dalton.
Folder 29. 1878-1879. 13 items.
Dalton family letters continued. Items relating to Dalton
vs. Cooper, and to Nicholas Dalton's trouble with U.S. Revenue
Department regulations.
Folder 30. 1880-1884. 10 items.
Papers of John H. Dalton and other family members in
partnership with P. B. Kennedy, manufacturers of plug and
twist tobacco, Eagle Mills, Iredell County, N.C. MCD's
correspondence with scattered relatives about genealogy; also
family letters. 31 December 1880, Lyman C. Draper to MCD
inquiring about James Houston at Battle of Kings Mountain.
1883, Appointment of MCD as postmaster of Houstonville. 11
February 1884, transcript of case from Rowan Superior Court,
of John A. Houston vs. John H. Dalton and others in the estate
of Placebo Houston (1872-1878).
Folder 31. 1885-1889. 25 items.
MCD's correspondence about family matters and genealogy;
continuation of series of letters from cousin Ann C. Elliott,
Bloomington, Ill., to MCD; also from P. S. Wilkes, 30 July
1888, and Franklin Houston, March 1889, Sedalia, Mo.
September-October 1886, correspondence between Lyman C. Draper
and MCD, concerning P. S. Ney, Daniel Boone traditions, and
North Carolina place-names.
Folders 32-33. 1890-1899. 23 items.
MCD's genealogical correspondence. Notes, deeds, and
other business documents of P. B. Kennedy.
Folder 34. 1900-1903. 13 items.
Miscellaneous papers of Bettie Dalton Kennedy and her
husband P. B. Kennedy of Daltonia, N.C. List of voters in
Eagle Mills, 6 November 1900. 22 April 1901, D. M. Furches.
Mary Cecelia Dalton died 30 April 1901. Letters from Bettie
Kennedy to daughter at State Normal College, Greensboro, N.C.
Folder 35. 1904-1909. 13 items.
Kennedy family correspondence and miscellaneous business
papers of P. B. Kennedy relating to property in Mt. Vernon,
N.Y., and to shares in Statesville Air Line Railroad.
Folder 36. 1911-1955. 21 items.
Scattered letters about genealogy and family news to
Bettie Kennedy. The letters from 1946 onward are to Mary H.
Kennedy of Statesville and are also about family history.
Letters from Mary E. Lazenby and others. Young and Houston
data.
Folder 37. Undated transcriptions of family letters. 4 items
The following dated typed transcriptions of family letters
have been interfiled in the chronological series: 5 October
1816; 24 November 1821; 9 May 1822; 17 December 1827; 4 May
1828; 4 September 1832; 20 October 1832; 21 September 1835; 19
May 1841. The location of the originals of these letters is
unknown.)
Folders 38-39. Undated.
A few Civil War letters, items relating to the Tabor
Presbyterian Church, and miscellaneous family letters from all
periods.
Series 2. Other Material.
1876-1952. About 100 items.
Arrangement: by type.
Folders 40-41. Genealogy. Approximately 50 items.
Genealogical data relating to Houston, Young, Bills,
Wright, and related lines. "Descendants of Michael Cadet
Young of Brunswick County, Va." These are papers of Mary
Cecelia Dalton and of Mary Hunter Kennedy. They include some
fully worked out lines and typewritten accounts and also many
rough notes from various sources.
Folder 42. Post Office.
Post Office circulars and clippings.
Folders 43-44. Clippings.
Newspaper clippings relating to members of the family.
Folder 45. Invitations.
Social invitations from the 1870s, chiefly relating to
Bettie Dalton of Iredell County, N.C.
Series 3. Manuscript Volumes.
1795-1908. 39 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
NOTE: Volumes have been renumbered. Old volume number follows
current number in square brackets.
Folder 46. Volume 1. [34] 1795-1796. Account book, possibly
kept near Statesville, N.C., includes brief accounts
with David Caldwell and of Christopher Houston.
Folder 47. Volume 2. [28] 1814. B. A. Sharpe's arithmetic
workbook.
Folder 48. Volume 3. [1] 1815-1817. A small account book
concerned with the estate of Bird Deatherage.
Nicholas Dalton, Saml. Dalton, Jr., and James Hunter,
bonded.
Folder 49. Volume 4. [16] 1821. Lucy N. Houston's arithmetic
workbook.
Folder 50. Volume 5. [31] 1826-1827. General store account
book.
Folder 51. Volume 6. [27] 1831. John A. Young's geometry
workbook.
Folder 52. Volume 7. [2] 1833-1837. Thomas Franklin Houston's
exercise book--geography, algebra, arithmetic.
Folder 53. Volume 8. [26] 1838. Augustus C. Houston's workbook
of Latin and shorthand.
Folder 54. Volume 9. [32] 1841-1859. Account book of a
blacksmith at Madison [N.C.?]; entries scattered.
Folder 55. Volume 10. [22] 1850-1855. Slight booklet stitched
together containing what appears to be some Post
Office accounts entered by John Young.
Folder 56. Volume 11. [3] 1857-1865. Album of Bettie Dalton,
Madison and Houstonville, N.C, containing poems
addressed to her from her young friends.
Folder 57. Volume 12. [4] 1858. Class lists: Yadkinville,
Aylsbury, Shiloh, Zion, Wesley Chapel, Mt. Sinai,
Macedonia, Prospect, Mt. Pleasant, Providence,
Bethany, Jonesville, Hickory Grove, Center, Harris'
Chapel.
Folder 58. Volume 13. [5] 1861-1884. Copies of Bettie Dalton's
letters and compositions (lightly copied in a Francis
Improved Manifold Writer).
Folder 59. Volume 14. [6] 1870-1875. Notebook containing
"Pendleton evidence," apparently depositions and other
memoranda in the Pendleton vs. Dalton case.
Folder 60. Volume 15. [7] 1874 [and 1880s]. Mary C. Dalton's
pocket notebook containing notes on genealogy--Hunter,
Houston, Reinhardt, Young connections.
Folder 61. Volume 16. [30] 1875. Dalton's general store account
book.
Folder 62. Volume 17. [37] 1875-1882. Grocery store account
book, scattered entries.
Folder 63. Volume 18. [29] 1876. Dalton & Kennedy factory
accounts for tobacco products.
Folder 64. Volume 19. [8] 1876-1877. Miscellaneous tobacco and
other accounts of J. H. Dalton.
Folder 65. Volume 20. [33] 1876-1877. Dalton & Kennedy's
Factory Book for tobacco products.
Folder 66. Volume 21. [20] 1877. Account book of a general
country store. Similar in content to Vol. 19.
Folder 67. Volume 22. [38] 1878-1880. General store account
book.
Folder 68. Volume 23. [39] 1880-1881. General store account
book.
Folder 69. Volume 24. [17] 1880-1882. John H. Dalton's account
with Philip B. Kennedy, followed by comments in
Kennedy's handwriting upon the career of William
Jennings Bryan and the Gold Standard. These accounts
appear to have been the drafts for speeches.
Folder 70. Volume 25. [19] 1881-1883. Accounts, of a general
country store, probably the store operated by Philip
B. Kennedy.
Folder 71. Volume 26. [36] 1886. Philip B. Kennedy's tobacco
sales book.
Folder 72. Volume 27. [9] 1887. Mary Cecelia Dalton's accounts
for servants' wages and supplies.
Folder 73. Volume 28. [35] 1887-1891. Account book of a grocery
store, kept by one of the Daltons near Statesville,
N.C.
Folder 74. Volume 29. [18] 1888. Philip B. Kennedy in account
with J. H. Dalton's estate.
Folder 75. Volume 30. [10] 1897, 1904-1905. Magistrate's
Docket, P. B. Kennedy, Justice of Peace, Eagle Mills
township, Iredell County, N.C. Proceedings in 4
cases.
Folder 76. Volume 31. [11] 1902-1908. Pages from account book
of P. B. Kennedy: provisions and labor; logging and
sawing at saw mill.
Folder 77. Volume 32. [12] n.d. Arithmetic exercise book of
Samuel and Andrew Mitchell.
Folder 78. Volume 33. [13] n.d. Geometry notebook.
Folder 79. Volume 34. [14] n.d. "Miss Bettie Dalton's book"
containing questions and answers in regard to
Christian beliefs, miscellaneous compositions of a
young girl, and a love-and-friendship question game.
Folder 80. Volume 35. [15] n.d. French exercise book of Bettie
Dalton.
Folder 81. Volume 36. [21] n.d. Latin copy book of John Young.
Folder 82. Volume 37. [23] n.d. Poems copied by Mary Houston and
John A. Young.
Folder 83. Volume 38. [24] n.d. Arithmetic workbook, appears to
be from the early 1800s.
Folder 84. Volume 39. [25] n.d. School notebook, containing
questions and answers on geography and grammar.
SUBCOLLECTION 2: ADDITIONS SINCE 1959.
1776-1959. About 2,450 items.
This subcollection contains material similar to that found in
the original collection: family correspondence, business, legal
and financial papers, and genealogical material of the Young,
Houston, Dalton, and Kennedy families of Iredell County, N.C.,
and their relatives primarily in South Carolina, Tennessee,
Missouri, and other southern states.
Series 1. Correspondence.
1776-1959. About 1,750 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
The principal recipients in chronological order are Thomas
Young, Placebo Houston, Macy Cecelia Houston Dalton, Bettie
Dalton Kennedy, and Mary Hunter Kennedy. Continuing themes in
the letters are health, domestic chores, quality of land, crops,
weather, slaves, visitors, education, and attempts to settle
estates and accounts. The latter illustrate the complex economic
interdependence of family members across generations and states.
1776: Two letters from John Ragsdale to Thomas Young about
Ragsdale's health and life in the army.
1780-1823: The bulk of the letters are to Thomas Young from his
siblings, children and grandchildren in North Carolina; Sumner,
Overton, and Warren Counties, Tenn.; Wilkes County, Ga.; and
Claremont and Laurens, S.C., mostly concerning health, births,
deaths, marriages, weather, and crops.
1824-1834: Mostly to Placebo Houston from relatives in Lawrence
and Madison Counties, Ala.; Maury and Giles Counties, Tenn.;
Laurens, S.C.; and Cole County, Mo. There are also a few letters
to Samuel Young, including several from Lewis Williams, North
Carolina member of the U.S. House of Representatives, on local
and national politics. Topics in these letters are similar to
those mentioned above with the addition of buying and supervising
slaves, local social conditions, and the high hopes and frequent
disappointments of those moving to the frontier.
1835-1860: Although letters to Placebo continue until 1841,
beginning in 1834 and continuing up through 1900 the bulk of the
letters are to his daughter, Mary Cecilia Houston Dalton (MCD).
There are also a few letters scattered throughout this period to
her husband, John Dalton relating to his tobacco business and to
family financial matters.
Prior to MCD's marriage in 1844 there are numerous letters
from cousins and friends about beaux, courtship, and marriages.
Her most faithful correspondents were her sisters Lousia
Reinhardt and Lucy Melissa Motz, her brother Thomas Franklin
Houston, and Thomas's wife Mary Hampton. Those from the women
provide a detailed picture of female life on the frontier with
its loneliness and the unceasing round of spinning, sewing,
preparing and putting food by, supervising slaves, and nursing
both the white and black members of their households. Mary's and
Lucy's letters on these subjects contrast with Thomas's,
highlighting the disparities between men's and women's
experiences.
In addition to the general family and farming news, other
topics covered include travel and resettling in Tennessee and
Missouri, especially in 1845 and 1846; railroad expansion; the
establishment of schools and churches; slave and crop prices;
speculation in land, slaves, hogs, and mules; and, in 1841, life
of a cadet at West Point.
Occasionally in the 1830s and 1840s, there are discussions of
national political issues such as Van Buren's election, including
one undated letter on ballot box stuffing in Lincolnton, N.C.;
the relative merits of the Whigs and Democrats; and opposition to
bank speculation. In the mid-1850s, there begin to be hints of
the impending Civil War. Letters in this period are from
Tuscumbia, Pleasant Valley, and Leighton, Ala.; Carroll, Coopers,
and Pettis counties, Mo.; North Carolina, especially Lincolnton
and Statesville; Carroll and Whythe counties, Va.; and Laurens
and Friendship, S.C.; with a few others from Texas, Tennessee,
and Georgia.
1860-1865: Letters are primarily from MCD's nephews, Dwight and
J.H. Reinhardt, mostly in Virginia and Tennessee and also at
Bowling Green, Ky., discussing joining up, buying substitutes,
camp conditions, lack of supplies, illnesses, long marches, low
moral, and occasional battles, including at Lee's Farm Dam, Va.;
near Corinth, Miss.; and Chancellorsville, in addition to several
others in which they took no part. Other relatives wrote of hard
times on the home front in Missouri; Sligo, Tenn.; and Water
Valley, Miss.
1866-1899: In the immediate post-war years, letters document
slow recovery from the war, problems with former slaves, and
reconstruction government policies in South Carolina and
Missouri. A few letters to and from Melmouth Reinhardt describe
the life of a Wake Forest College student. In the 1870s, there
are mentions of railroad bonds and a constitutional convention in
North Carolina, and drought and grasshoppers in Missouri. In
addition to the regular family news, the primary topic in the
1870s and 1880s is the families' financial interconnections and
the suits and extensive and complex negotiations about settling
estates and debts. MCD's correspondence about family genealogy
begins in 1877 with a query about the Gill family. Lyman Draper
wrote in 1879 in reference to P. S. Ney.
Letters in the 1890s, especially from Thomas Houston in
Missouri, provide excellent documentation of the lingering
effects of the war among southern farmers and of the concerns
which led to the rise of Populism. Of particular interest is his
January 1894 letter.
1900-1920: Following Mary Cecelia Dalton's death in 1901, the
bulk of the correspondence is among members of the Kennedy
family, especially Bettie to her daughter Mary Hunter Kennedy,
and Frank to Mary and Bettie. From 1901 through 1904, the
letters are almost entirely from Bettie to Mary, a student at
North Carolina Normal and Industrial College at Greensboro.
Letters from Mary to her parents, 1905 through 1907, reveal
her experiences as a school teacher in Asheville, N.C. Those
from 1909 through 1919 are primarily from Frank to his parents
and to Mary discussing his life as a student at Oak Ridge School,
the University of North Carolina, and Harvard Law School, and as
a teacher, 1912-1914, at New Bern, N.C.
From 1920 through 1940, the correspondence consists of general
family news among Mary, her parents, siblings, and
sisters-in-law.
From 1940 to 1959, letters are more genealogical in content.
Many are from Gertrude Enfield, a cousin, who was writing a
biography of a mutual ancestor, Christopher Young.
Folder 85. 1776
86. 1780-1789
87. 1790-1799
88. 1800-1804
89. 1805-1806
90. 1807-1809
91. 1810-1812
92. 1813-1814
93. 1815-1817
94. 1818-1820
95. 1821-1823
96. 1824
97. 1825
98. 1826
99. 1827
100. 1828
101. 1829-1830
102. 1831
103. 1832
104. 1833
105. 1834
106. 1835
107. 1836
108. 1837
109. 1838
110. 1839
111-112. 1830s undated
113. 1840
114. 1841
115. 1842
116. 1843
117. 1844
118. 1845
119. 1846
120. 1847
121. 1848
122. 1849
123-125. 1840s undated
126. 1850
127. 1851
128. 1852
129. 1853
130. 1854
131. 1855
132. 1856
133. 1857
134. 1858
135. 1859
136. 1850s undated
137. 1860
138. 1861
139. 1862, January-May
140. 1862, June-December
141. 1863
142. 1864
143. 1865
144. 1866
145. 1867
146. 1868
147. 1869
148. 1860s undated
149. 1870
150. 1871
151. 1873-1874
152. 1875
153. 1876
154. 1877
155. 1878
156. 1879
157. 1870s undated
158. 1880-1885
159. 1886-1889
160. 1880s undated
161. 1890
162. 1891-1893
163. 1894
164. 1895
165. 1896
166. 1897-1898
167. 1890s undated
168. 1900-1901
169. 1902-03
170. 1904
171. 1905
172. 1906
173. 1907-1908
174. 1909
175. 1912-1914
176. 1913
177. 1914
178. 1915
179. 1916
180. 1917-1919
181. 1920-1922
182. 1923-1929
183. 1930-1939
184. 1940-1949
185. 1950-1954
186. 1955-1962
187-192. Undated
Series 2. Other Material
1798-1924. About 675 items.
Subseries 2.1. Legal Items.
1798-1920. About 150 items.
Legal papers 1798 through 1920, including wills; deeds; powers
of attorney; complaints, summons, petitions, and other court
records, especially of suits; contracts for sale of land, slaves,
and tobacco, and for hiring slaves and freedmen; and
miscellaneous other legal papers. The bulk of the papers concern
Placebo Houston and John Dalton.
Folder 193-194.
Subseries 2.2. Financial Items.
1810-1924. About 250 items.
Receipts, bills, accounts, statements, tobacco stamps, and
other miscellaneous financial papers, especially of John Dalton's
tobacco business and in reference to settlement of debts and
estates. Included are checks, bills, receipts, and accounts
relating to the settlement of P. B. Kennedy's estate, 1925.
Folder 195-199.
Subseries 2.3. Genealogy.
About 50 items.
Notes, family trees, biographical sketches and other items
relating to the genealogy of the Houston, Dalton, Hunter, Young,
Kennedy, and other families. Also typed transcriptions of
letters, especially of Michael Cadet Young and Christopher
Houston.
Folder 200. General
201-202. Notes
203. Family Trees
Subseries 2.4. Miscellaneous Items.
About 150 items.
Food and dye recipes; sewing patterns; poems; voter
registration lists; shape note hymns (folder 206); post office
reports, receipts, and accounts of the Houstonia, N.C., post
office (folder 207); and invitations. Of particular interest is
a list of books belonging to Laurens, S.C., Library Society,
apparently in the early 1800s (folder 206).
Folders 204-207.
Subseries 2.5. Printed Items.
About 75 items.
Clippings; school reports, programs, and pamphlets, especially
of New Bern and Harmony, N.C., high schools; and other printed
items.
Folders 208-211.
Series 3. Pictures.
12 items.
P-3242/1. Photograph, four women in deck chairs. Recto:
"Photographed on board RMS Queen Elizabeth."
Verso: "Aunt Mary."
/2. Photograph, unidentified woman, seated holding a
book.
/3. Photo/postcard, 2 unidentified young men. Verso:
"How do you like comics? Guess you recognize
father Lewis. Harmony has gone to the bad hasn't
it. Do you know anything yet? I had a card last
week--the sisters' pictures. I saw Kennedy and
Parker Sunday--they spent the night with me or at
my sister's rather. Sincerely, Will" Addressed
to Mary Hunter Kennedy, Houstonville, N.C.
/4. Photograph, unidentified man.
/5. Photograph, unidentified man.
/6. Silhouette, "Miss Ann Stokes."
/7. Silhouette, "Elizabeth Shackleford, 1827."
/8. Silhouette, "Sarah S. Young Blackburn, 1826."
Sarah Salina Young (1806-1873), daughter of Thomas
and Sarah Young, married Absolom Blackburn.
/9. Silhouette, "Nancy Wright Shackleford, 1826."
/10. Silhouette, "Mary Nesbit Young, 1827."
/11. Silhouette, "Eliza Young McCulloch." Lucy Eliza
Young (d.1857), daughter of Samuel Young and Sarah
Houston Young, married James Franklin McCulloch,
of Rowan County, N.C.
/12. Photograph, verso: "Mary Ella Cowles, June 1887."
INDEX TO INVENTORY
NOTE: Subcollection number is listed first, followed by series
number.
Accounting--Books of account. 1/3
Asheville (N.C.)--Social life and customs. 2/1
Alabama--Social life and customs--19th century. 1/1, 2/1
Bedford County (Tenn.)--Social life and customs. 1/1, 2/1
Bills family. 1/1, 2/1, 2/1
Bloomington (Ill.)--Social life and customs. 1/1
Carroll County (Mo.)--Social life and customs. 2/1
Carroll County (Va.)--Social life and customs. 2/1
Carson, Andrew, fl. 1776-1835. 1/1
Chancellorsville (Va.), Battle of, 1863. 2/1
Cole County (Mo.)--Social life and customs. 2/1
Confederate States of America--Social conditions. 1/1, 2/1
Confederate States of America. Army--Military life. 1/1, 2/1
Coopers County (Mo.)--Social life and customs. 2/1
Corinth (Miss.), Battle of, 1863. 2/1
Courtship--History--19th century. 2/1
Dalton, John Hunter, d. 1888. 1/1, 1/3, 2/1
Dalton, Mary Cecelia Houston, 1814-1901. 1/1, 1/3, 2/1
Dalton, P. H., fl. 1840s. 1/1
Dalton, Robert H., fl. 1840-1865. 1/1, 2/1
Dalton family. 1/1, 2/1, 2/2.3
Daltonia (N.C.)--Social life and customs. 1/1, 2/1
Deatherage, Bird, d. ca. 1815. 1/3
Draper, Lyman C., 1815-1891. 1/1, 2/1
Eagle Mill (N.C.)--Social life and customs. 1/1, 2/1
Elliot, Ann C., fl. 1885. 1/1
Enfield, Gertrude, fl. 1940-1950. 2/1
Estates (Law)--Southern States--History--19th 1/1, 2/1, 2/2
century.
Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs. All series
Family--Southern States--Social life and customs. All series
Farming--Southern States--History--19th century. 1/1, 2/1, 2/2
Friendship (S.C.)--Social life and customs. 1/1, 2/1
Frontier and pioneer life--United States--History-- 1/1, 2/1
19th century.
Genealogists--Southern States. 1/2.1
Giles County (Tenn.)--Social life and customs. 2/1
Gill family. 1/1, 2/1
Greensboro (N.C.)--Social life and customs. 2/1
Harvard University--Students--Social life and customs 2/1
--20th century.
Home economics--Southern States--History--19th century. 1/1,2/1
Houston, Christopher, 1744-1837. 1/1, 1/3/2/2.4
Houston, Elizabeth Ragsdale Young, 1786-1841. 1/1
Houston, James, fl. 1812. 1/1
Houston, Mary Hampton, fl. 1840-1860. 2/1
Houston, Placebo, 1779-1859. 1/1, 2/1
Houston, Sarah Mitchell, 1742-1821. 1/1
Houston, Thomas Franklin, 1818-ca. 1900. 1/1, 1/3, 2/1
Houston family. 1/1, 1/2, 2/1, 2/2.3
Houstonville (N.C.)--Social life and customs. 1/1, 2/1, 2/2.4
Hymns. 2/2.4
Iredell County (N.C.)--Social life and customs. 1/1, 2/1
Kennedy, Bettie Dalton, 1847-1926. 1/1, 1/3
Kennedy, Frank H., 1893- . 2/1
Kennedy, Mary Hunter. 1/2.1
Kennedy, Philip Butler, 1839-1924. 1/1, 1/3, 2/1, 2/2.2
Kennedy family. 1/1, 2/1, 2/2.3
Lawrence County (Ala.)--Social life and customs. 1/1, 2/1
Laurens (S.C.)--Social life and customs. 1/1, 2/1, 2/2.4
Leighton (Ala.)--Social life and customs. 1/1, 2/1
Lincolnton (N.C.)--Social life and customs. 2/1
Lunenburgh County (Va.)--Social life and customs. 1/1
Madison County (Ala.)--Social life and customs. 1/2
Maury County (Tenn.)--Social life and customs. 1/1, 2/1
Merchants--Southern States--History--19th century. 1/3
Migration, Internal--United States--History--19th 1/1, 2/1
century.
Missouri--Social life and customs--19th century. 1/1, 2/1
Montgomery County (N.C.)--Social life and customs. 2/1
Motz, Lucy Melissa Houston, 1810-ca. 1873. 1/1, 1/3, 2/1
New Bern (N.C.)--Social life and customs. 2/1, 2/2.5
Ney, P. S., fl. 1815. 1/1, 2/1
Osborne, E. A., fl. 1864-1865. 1/1
Overton County (Tenn.)--Social life and customs. 2/1
Pettis County (Mo.)--Social life and customs. 1/1, 2/1
Pleasant Valley (Ala.)--Social life and customs. 2/1
Populism--Missouri--History--19th century. 2/1
Postal service--Postmasters--North Carolina--History. 1/1, 2/1
Ragsdale, John, fl. 1776. 2/1
Reinhardt, Dwight, fl. 1860-1888s. 1/1, 2/1
Reinhardt, J. H., fl. 1860s. 1/1, 2/1
Reinhardt, Melmouth, fl. 1860-1870s. 2/1
Reinhardt, Sarah Louisa Houston, 1812-1845. 2/1
Rowan County (N.C.)--Social life and customs. 1/1
Salisbury (N.C.)--Social life and customs. 1/1
School notebooks. 1/3
Slavery--Southern States. 1/1, 2/1, 2/2.1
Slaves--Emancipation. 1/1
Sligo (Tenn.)--Social life and customs. 1/1, 2/1
Statesville (N.C.)--Social life and customs. 1/1, 2/1
Sumner County (Tenn.)--Social life and customs. 2/1
Tennessee--Social life and customs--19th century. 1/1, 2/1
Tobacco industry--North Carolina-- 1/2, 2/1, 2/2.1, 2/2.2
History--19th century.
University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Students-- 2/1
Social life and customs--20th century.
University of North Carolina (1793-1962). Woman's 2/1
College--Students--History.
Warren County (Tenn.)--Social life and customs. 2/1
Water Valley (Miss.)--Social life and customs. 2/1
Whythe County (Va.)--Social life and customs. 2/1
Wilkes County (Ga.)--Social life and customs. 2/1
Wilkes, Peter S., fl. 1865. 1/1
Williams, Lewis, 1786-1842. 2/1
Women--Southern States--Social life and customs-- All series
19th century.
Women--Southern States--Social life and customs-- All series
20th century.
Women teachers--North Carolina--History--20th century. 2/1
Wright, Daniel, fl. 1780-1800. 1/1, 2/1
Wright, Nancy Young, b. 1762. 1/1, 2/1
Wright family. 1/1, 1/2, 2/1
Young, Michael Cadet, ca. 1684-1769. 1/1, 2/2.4
Young, Sarah Houston, b. 1783. 1/1
Young, Samuel, 1781-1847. 1/1, 2/1
Young, Thomas, 1732-1829. 1/1, 2/1
Young family. 1/1, 1/2, 2/1, 2/2.3