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Collection Number: 04472-z

Collection Title: John Williams ledger, 1770-1803

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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Abstract John Williams (1731-1799), of Williamsboro, Granville (now Vance) County, N.C., was a planter, lawyer, and judge. He married Agnes Bullock Keeling (d. 1803), a widow, on 12 November 1759. Their daughter Agnes married Robert Burton. Along with his cousin Richard Henderson, Williams organized the Louisa (later the Transylvania) Company in 1774 in order to develop and sell land between the Cumberland and Kentucky rivers. Williams and Henderson had engaged Daniel Boone to explore the region in 1760. Williams was the resident agent of the company in Boonesboro, Ky., from December 1775 until April 1776. He became one of the first Superior Court judges of North Carolina under the Constitution of 1776, a position he held for 20 years. He was elected delegate to the Continental Congress in 1778 and was a signer of the Articles of Confederation. Williams was one of the original trustees of the University of North Carolina. The collection is a ledger, 258 pages, of John Williams, restored and bound in red leather in about 1930. Entries cover the period from 1770 to 1803 and include accounts, court attendances and fees, and Williams's salary as a delegate to the Continental Congress (page 144). Also included are records of the settlement of the estate of Williams's cousin and partner, Richard Henderson. There appear to be no entries for the period when Williams was in Boonesboro as agent for the Transylvania Company.
Creator Williams, John, 1731-1799.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
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 John Williams ledger #4472-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Purchased from Chandler W. Gordon, of The Captain's Bookshelf, Asheville, North Carolina, in 1986.
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.
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Processed by: Pamela Dean, June 1987

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

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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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John Williams (1731-1799), of Williamsboro, Granville (now Vance) County, North Carolina, was a planter, lawyer, and judge. He married Agnes Bullock Keeling (d. 1803), widow, 12 November 1759. Their daughter Agnes married Robert Burton. Along with his cousin Richard Henderson, Williams organized the Louisa (later the Transylvania) Company in 1774 in order to develop and sell land between the Cumberland and Kentucky rivers. Williams and Henderson had engaged Daniel Boone to explore the region in 1769. Williams was the resident agent of the company in Boonesboro, Kentucky, from December 1775 until April 1776. He became one of the first Superior Court judges of North Carolina under the Constitution of 1776, a position he held for twenty years. He was elected delegate to the Continental Congress in 1778 and was a signer of the Articles of Confederation. Williams was one of the original trustees of the University of North Carolina.

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The collection is a ledger, 258 pages, of John Williams, restored and bound in red leather in about 1930. Entries cover the period from 1770 to 1803 and include accounts, court attendances and fees, and Williams's salary as a delegate to the Continental Congress (page 144). Also included are records of the settlement of the estate of Williams's cousin and partner, Richard Henderson. There appear to be no entries for the period when Williams was in Boonesboro as agent for the Transylvania Company.

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Contents list

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Oversize Volume SV-4472/1

Ledger, 1770-1803

258 pages. Restored and bound in red leather in about 1930. Entries cover the period from 1770 to 1803 and include accounts, court attendances and fees, and Williams's salary as a delegate to the Continental Congress (page 144). Also included are records of the settlement of the estate of Williams's cousin and partner Richard Henderson. There appear to be no entries for the period when Williams was in Boonesboro as agent for the Transylvania Company.

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