Correspondence, 1784-1838

Containers:

Box 1

Scope and content:

Genealogical documents provided by Hemphill family descendants appear at the beginning of this folder.

The first few letters are by John Hemphill (1761-1832), pastor of an Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP) in Moreland, Georgia. Many of the earlier letters relate to affairs of the Presbyterian church in South Carolina, including many letters from other ministers of that faith to William Ramsey Hemphill, son of John Hemphill and also an ARP minister.

Three sermons and a pastoral letter of William Ramsey, as well as letters from N. M. Gordon, William W. Patton, Matthew Linn, Samuel Taggart, James Hemphill, and Robert C. Grier to him, concern enslavement.

Along with religious correspondence, there are early letters discussing the following topics: naturalization laws in force in 1807; Aaron Burr's expedition; and anti-Masonic meetings in Alabama in 1820.

Correspondence during the 1830s discusses such topics as: nullification sentiment in South Carolina in 1832, and anti-nullification sentiment in North Carolina as expressed in a letter from 1833; views favorable or approving of enslavement; movement of enslaved persons through Augusta, Georgia, in 1834-1835; expedition of 1836 against the Seminoles of Florida; in education, the resignation of Thomas Cooper as president of South Carolina College, and affairs at South Carolina College; and comments on abolition petitions in Congress in 1836.

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