Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the McGavock Family Papers, #465, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Loaned by Colonel Henry Dickinson of Tennessee, prior to 1940.

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1a.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

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.

• China--History--1795-1861.
• Columbia (Miss.)--Social life and customs.
• H. D. (Henry Dickinson).
• Ireland--Social life and customs--19th century.
• McGavock family.
• McGavock, Hugh, 1761-1844.
• McGavock, Randal W. (Randal William), 1826-1863.
• Nashville (Tenn.)--Politics and government.
• Secession.
• Sharkey, William L. (William Lewis), 1797-1873.
• Tax collectors--Virginia--History--19th century.
• Wythe County (Va.)--Economic conditions.

Prominent members of the McGavock family include Hugh McGavock (1761-1844), federal tax assessor and collector, of Wythe County, Va., and Randal William McGavock (1826-1863), Confederate Army officer, Democratic Party leader, diplomat, and mayor of Nashville, Tenn.

The collection includes family, official, and political correspondence, including letters from Irish relatives and other papers, 1799-1815, pertaining to duties as federal tax assessor and collector in western Virginia of Hugh McGavock (1761-1844) of Wythe County, Va.; miscellaneous antebellum papers of Judge Henry Dickinson of Columbia, Miss., father of United States Secretary of War Jacob McGavock Dickinson; and antebellum correspondence about routine political appointments of Randal William McGavock (1826-1863), Confederate Army officer, Democratic Party leader, diplomat, and mayor of Nashville, Tenn. Also included are a lengthy 1853 letter discussing a rebellion in China and an 1859 letter from William L. Sharkey of Jackson, Miss., about the possibility of secession.