Inventory of the David Franklin Thorpe Papers, 1854-1944

Collection Number 4262

unc seal
Manuscripts Department, University Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Collection Information
block Descriptive Summary
block Administrative Information
block Online Catalog Headings
block Biographical Note
block Collection Overview
plus Detailed Description of the Collection
block Items Separated
block Related Collections
Contact Information:
Manuscripts Department
CB#3926, Wilson Library
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
Phone: 919/962-1345
Fax: 919/962-3594
Email: mss@email.unc.edu
URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/
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Descriptive Summary

Repository
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Creator
Thorpe, David Franklin, 1836-1909.
Title
David Franklin Thorpe Papers, 1854-1944
Call Number
4262
Language of Materials
Materials in English
Extent
Items: About 570
Linear Feet: 1.5
Abstract
David Franklin Thorpe was plantation superintendent on Saint Helena Island, 1861-1869, and later Rhode Island businessman and state representative.
The collection includes correspondence, legal and financial material, subject files, diaries, and account books relating principally to cotton production and trade, to affairs in the Sea Islands and in the North, and to family matters. Most of the papers are letters to David Thorpe from William G. Weld, his Boston business partner, from friends and relatives in the North, and from plantation superintendents, military officials, and other Sea Island residents. Correspondence between Weld and Thorpe concerns management of plantations they jointly owned and leased. Topics discussed include cultivation, preparation for shipping, and marketing of cotton; gold prices; labor; land sales; and the general store Thorpe ran. Letters from family and northern friends, many of whom were abolitionists, concern political, intellectual, and social life, particularly in Rhode Island and Boston during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Twentieth-century correspondence consists of letters from Penn School Principal Rossa B. Cooley and other Saint Helena residents to Thorpe's son and daughter-in-law. There are volumes of Thorpe's diaries, 1861-1869, noting his daily activities and data on planting and African American laborers; two other diary volumes, 1865-1866, probably of Thorpe's sister, Mary Thorpe; Saint Helena Island plantation account books, 1854-1868, that include records of payments to free blacks and freedmen; a record book each for the Planters Association, 1866-1867, and the Rifle and Sporting Club, 1866-1868, both of Saint Helena Island; a booklet of slave songs, presumably from the 1860s; magistrates' records of Beaufort County, S.C., 1868-1869; and other volumes.

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Administrative Information

Restrictions to Access
No restrictions.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Edith Mitchell Dabbs of Mayesville, S.C., in March 1973.
Processing Information
Processed by: Rebecca McCoy; Suzanne Ruffing, September 1996
Encoded by: Eben Lehman, January 2007
This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the David Franklin Thorpe Papers #4262, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
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Online Catalog Headings

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

Abolitionists--New England.
African American agricultural laborers--South Carolina--History--19th century.
African Americans--South Carolina.
Agriculture--South Carolina--History--19th century.
Beaufort County (S.C.)--History.
Boston (Mass.)--History.
Clubs--South Carolina--Saint Helena Island.
Confederate States of America--Social conditions.
Cooley, Rossa B. (Rossa Belle), b. 1873.
Cotton--South Carolina--History--19th century.
Cotton trade--South Carolina--History--19th century.
Diaries.
Family--South Carolina--Social life and customs.
Free African Americans--South Carolina.
Freedmen--South Carolina.
General stores--South Carolina--History--19th century.
Judges--South Carolina--History--19th century.
Penn School (Saint Helena Island, S.C.)
Plantations--Management.
Plantations--South Carolina.
Plantations--South Carolina--Saint Helena Island.
Plantations--South Carolina--Sea Islands.
Planters Association.
Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)--South Carolina.
Rhode Island--History.
Rifle and Sporting Club.
Saint Helena Island (S.C.)--Commerce--History--19th century.
Saint Helena Island (S.C.)--History.
Saint Helena Island (S.C.)--Social conditions.
Saint Helena Island (S.C.)--Social life and customs.
Sea Islands--Commerce--History--19th century.
Sea Islands--History.
Sea Islands--Social conditions.
Sea Islands--Social life and customs.
Slavery--Songs and music.
Slavery--South Carolina.
South Carolina--Social life and customs.
Thorpe, David Franklin, 1836-1909.
Thorpe, Mary, fl. 1865-1866.
Weld, William G.
Women--Diaries.
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Related Collections

Penn School Papers (#3615)
Francis Everett Barnard Papers (#4181)
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Biographical Note

David Franklin Thorpe:

1836 May, born in Providence, Rhode Island.
1858-1861 Attended Brown University.
1862 3 March, sailed to Port Royal, S.C., under the auspices of the Massachusetts Humane Society.
1862 Fall, appointed superintendent of the Thomas J. Fripp plantation.
1863 March, bought Village Farm with William G. Weld.
1864 February-March, bought the Marion Chaplin plantation with William G. Geld and leased School Farm.
1865 24 August, married Mary Helen Mooney.
1866 9 November, birth of son Allston E. Thorpe.
1867 12 August, Mary Mooney Thorpe died.
1869 Moved back to Providence and went into business.
1875 Married Susan Emily Anthony.
1885-1886 Served as Rhode Island state representative.
1909 9 March, died.
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Collection Overview

The David Franklin Thorpe papers include correspondence, legal and financial material, subject files, diaries, and account books relating principally to cotton production and trade, to affairs in the Sea Islands and in the North, and to family matters. Most of the papers are letters to David Thorpe from William G. Weld, his Boston business partner, from friends and relatives in the North, and from plantation superintendents, military officials, and other Sea Island residents. Correspondence between Weld and Thorpe concerns management of plantations they jointly owned and leased. Topics discussed include cultivation, preparation for shipping, and marketing of cotton; gold prices; labor; land sales; and the general store Thorpe ran. Letters from family and northern friends, many of whom were abolitionists, concern political, intellectual, and social life, particularly in Rhode Island and Boston during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Twentieth-century correspondence consists of letters from Penn School Principal Rossa B. Cooley and other Saint Helena Island, S.C., residents to Thorpe's son and daughter-in-law. There are volumes of Thorpe's diaries, 1861-1869, noting his daily activities and data on planting and African American laborers; two other diary volumes, 1865-1866, probably of Thorpe's sister, Mary Thorpe; Saint Helena Island, S.C., plantation account books, 1854-1868, that include records of payments to free blacks and freedmen; a record book each for the Planters Association, 1866-1867, and the Rifle and Sporting Club, 1866-1868, both of Saint Helena Island; a booklet of slave songs, presumably from the 1860s; magistrates' records of Beaufort County, S.C., 1868-1869; and other volumes.

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Arrangement of Collection

1. Correspondence
2. Financial and Legal Matters
3. Subject Files
4. Volumes
5. Pictures
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Items Separated

Oversize papers (OP-4262/1-2
Picture (P-4262/1
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Detailed Description of the Collection

1. Correspondence, 1855, 1861-1870, 1936-1944 and undated.

About 440 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Correspondence between Weld and Thorpe concerns the management of plantations they jointly owned and leased: Village Farm, School Farm, the Thomas J. Fripp plantation, and the Marion Chaplin plantation. Topics discussed include the cultivation, preparation for shipping, and marketing of cotton; cotton taken on consignment; gold prices; labor; land sales by the federal Tax Commission; finances; and the general store Thorpe ran. Many of Thorpe's letters are rough drafts or copies of those he sent.
Letters from family and northern friends, many of whom were abolitionists, concern political, intellectual, and social life, particularly in Rhode Island and Boston, during the Civil War and Reconstruction years. Other topics discussed include patent medicines, house furnishings, military campaigns in Virginia, and news of friends. Letters written by Thorpe, his wife Mary Mooney Thorpe, and his sister Mary Thorpe from Saint Helena Island relate to religious practices of the freedmen, labor, hunting, daily activities, and family matters. The 20th-century correspondence consists of letters from Penn School Principal Rossa B. Cooley and other Saint Helena residents to Thorpe's son and daughter-in-law. Some family information was enclosed with letters and is filed with this material.
Many of the communications from military officials, superintendents, and other Sea Island residents are brief notes requesting provisions, supplies, draft animals, means of transport, loans of tools, or social events. Some of the longer notes and official circulars concern the blockade, rations, payment of laborers, conscription, and housing for refugees.
Note that a few letters are included in the Planters Association subject file.
Folder 1
1855; 1862
Folder 2-3
1863
Folder 4-5
1864
Folder 6-7
1865
Folder 8-9
1866
Folder 10-11
1867
Folder 12
1868
Folder 13
1869-1870; 1936-1944
Folder 14
Undated

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2. Financial and Legal Material, 1862-1869.

About 55 items.
Arrangement: by type.
Principally accounts, deeds and indentures, and magistrate's papers. Accounts include crop records, expenditures for supplies, labor, shipping costs, cash advances, cotton sales, and Thorpe's accounts with Weld (see also the account and plantation books in the volume series). Among the deeds and indentures are certificates for land purchases on Saint Helena Island by Weld and Thorpe and a legal agreement between them. The magistrate's records include arrest and search warrants, affidavits, summonses, records of cases, and testimony in hearings before David Thorpe during his tenure as magistrate in Beaufort County, S.C., 1868-1869. Cases deal primarily with petty theft, although one case involves wife beating.
Folder 15
Accounts
Folder 16
Deeds and Indentures
Folder 17
Magistrate's Records

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3. Subject Files, 1866-1869.

About 55 items.
Primarily material relating to local organizations in which Thorpe participated. Organization material and correspondence constitute the bulk of the file for the Planters Association of Saint Helena and Ladies Islands, for which Thorpe served as secretary. Correspondents include various South Carolina newspaper editors and government officials. Among the records of the Rifle and Sporting Club, for which Thorpe was also secretary, are organizational materials, lists of officials and members with notes as to their states of origin and islands of residence, minutes, accounts, a target code, and what appears to be the text of a speech. Note that some of the volumes also pertain to the Planters Association and the Rifle and Sporting Club.
Other subject files include a draft of resolutions to be presented at a Republican Party meeting on Saint Helena, written by David Thorpe; a booklet of slave songs; and mathematics, Latin, and Greek exercises, probably from Thorpe's studies at Brown University. The miscellaneous file includes a hand-drawn map of properties owned and leased by Thorpe and Weld, possibly enclosed in a letter from Thorpe to Weld in December 1863, and printed material.
Folder 18
Planters Association
Folder 19
Republican Party
Folder 20
Rifle and Sporting Party
Folder 21
School Exercises
Folder 22
Slave Songs
Folder 23
Miscellaneous

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4. Volumes, 1854-1869.

17 items.
Diaries and account books of David Thorpe, diaries probably written by one of Thorpe's sisters, and records of the Planters Association and the Rifle and Sporting Club. Thorpe's diaries and account books include notes on daily life, records of planting and yields, and indications of payments to laborers. One account book, Volume 9, was begun by William M. Murray in 1854 as a record of slaves on his Edisto and Fenwick Island plantations and was later used to list what appear to be names, occupations, and other details of freedmen.
Folder 24
V-4262/1: 1861-1862, 165 pages
Pocket diary of David Thorpe.
Folder 25
V-4262/2: 1863, 175 pages
Pocket diary of David Thorpe.
Folder 26
V-4262/3: 1863-1864, 160 pages
Pocket diary of David Thorpe.
Folder 27
V-4262/4: 1865, 180 pages
Pocket diary of David Thorpe.
Folder 28
V-4262/5: 1866, 185 pages
Pocket diary of David Thorpe.
Folder 29
V-4262/6: 1868-1869, 175 pages
Pocket diary of David Thorpe.
Folder 30
V-4262/7: 1865-1866, 24 pages
Diary, probably of Thorpe's sister Mary.
V-4262/8: 1866, 24 pages
Diary, probably of Thorpe's sister Mary.
Folder 31
V-4262/9: 1854-1860, 200 pages
Account and plantation book of William M. Murray, Fenwick Island.
Folder 32
V-4262/10: 1862-1863, 150 pages
Account and plantation book with records of crops and pay to free black.
Folder 33
V-4262/11: 1862-1863, 45 pages
Account and plantation book with cotton accounts.
Folder 34
V-4262/12: 1863, 80 pages
Pocket account and plantation book.
Folder 35
V-4262/13: 1865-1866, 100 pages
Pocket account and plantation book with record of pay to freedmen field hands.
Folder 36
V-4262/14: 1866, 100 pages
Pocket account and plantation book with record of pay to freedmen hands.
Folder 37
V-4262/15: 1867, 100 pages
Pocket account and plantation book with accounts of cotton and pay to freedmen.
Folder 38
V-4262/16: 1868, 70 pages
Account and plantation book with record of cotton planted and pay to freedmen.
Folder 39
V-4262/17: 1866-1867, 300 pages
Minutes of the Planters Association.
Folder 40
V-4262/18: 1866-1868, 300 pages
Minutes of the Rifle and Sporting Club.

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4. Pictures, undated.

1 item.
Image P-4262/1
Photograph of unidentified woman and child.

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