Web Site Search

Ask us now

Register of the Thomas Carroll Papers, 1844-1914

[top]

Descriptive Summary

Title
Thomas Carroll Papers, 1844-1914
Creator
Carroll, Thomas
Extent
.4 linear feet
approximately 155 items
Repository
Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library Durham, North Carolina 27708-0185
Language
English.
[top]

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research.
However, patrons must sign the Acknowledgment of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this collection.
Also, all or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. Consequently, there may be a 24-hour delay in obtaining these materials.
Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library to use this collection.
Use Restrictions
For more information on the copyright interests involved in this collection, please consult a reference librarian.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Thomas Carroll Papers, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University.
Provenance
The papers of Thomas Carroll, planter and merchant of Ridgeway, Warren County, North Carolina, were acquired by purchase in 1938 and donations in 1975 and 1985. The status of copyright interests in these papers is unknown. For further information, see the section on copyright in the Regulations and Procedures of the Manuscript Department.
Processing Information
Encoded by Alvin Pollock, Electronic Text Unit, UC Berkeley Library
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
            

[top]

Collection Overview

The papers of Thomas Carroll span the years 1844 to 1914 with the majority of the papers dating from 1844 to 1887. They consist primarily of correspondence and accounts relating to his plantation, general store, and guardianship of orphans.
Carroll was a planter during the antebellum, Civil War, and postwar periods. After the mid-1870's he lived in Virginia and elsewhere in North Carolina, renting his farm to tenants. The correspondence documents his plantation business, especially trade with commission merchants between Norfolk, Virginia, and New York City and in Liverpool, England. There are also references to slaves, freedmen, tenant farmers, the cotton trade, and the agricultural economy and Reconstruction in North Carolina and other Southern states where family members lived. The Account Book, 1844-1867, contains lists of slaves and transactions involving slave hiring, overseers, workers, wages, midwives, a Petersburg merchant, educational expenses, and goods and services for numerous persons including architect Jacob W. Holt. The financial papers also document slaves, slave hiring, overseers, and educational expenses.
Carroll was the guardian of several orphans who included children of Congressman Joel Holleman. Financial papers and the Account Book, 1844-1867, contain guardianship accounts.
Two volumes from Carroll's general store document his mercantile business before the Civil War. The ledger accounts include free blacks, a shoe shop, Jacob W. Holt, and many slaves. The other volume contains inventories of goods and debts.
[top]

Subject Headings

These are searchable subject entries for this collection. Performing a search on these subjects in the Duke University Libraries online catalog will bring up other related research materials.
  • Slaves--North Carolina--Warren County.
  • Agriculture--Southern states.
  • Warren County (N.C.)--Economic conditions.
  • General stores--North Carolina--Warren County.
  • Landlord and tenant--North Carolina--Warren County.
  • Agricultural laborers--North Carolina--Warren County.
  • Freedmen--North Carolina.
  • Reconstruction--Southern States.
  • Orphans--North Carolina.
  • Education--Costs--Southern states.
  • Guardian and ward--North Carolina.
  • Holleman, Joel, 1799-1844--Family.
  • Commission merchants.
List of Series in Collection
Information Folder
Correspondence, 1856-1914
Printed Material, 1867-1886
Financial Papers:
[top]

Detailed Description of Collection

Box 1

Information Folder

Correspondence, 1856-1914

(2 folders)

Printed Material, 1867-1886

Financial Papers:

1847-1900 and undated   (2 folders)
Thomas Carroll, Account Book, 1844-1867
Carroll and Cheatham, Ledger of General Store, 1856-1862 (bulk 1856-1859)
General Store Inventories and Accounts Receivable and Payable for Successive Firms of Carroll and Montgomery, Thomas Carroll, and Carroll and Cheatham, 1847-1858 (Also includes cash account, 1885, of a merchant).