Letters, 1769-1819

Containers:

Box 1

Scope and content:

Assorted manuscript documents from the Ingram and Chiles families, arranged chronologically. Items include correspondence from acquaintances and business contacts regarding the Ingram's cidar, brandy, and cotton businesses; memoranda concerning trading and legal matters; some family correspondence about the health of family members and Eben N. Ingram's medical education in Louisburg, NC, Pennslyvania, and New York. The bulk of documents fall into two distinct periods, 1785-1792 and 1815-1819. Letters and memoranda from the early period include those of John Chiles of Georgetown, SC and Thomas Chiles, Esquire. The later period includes several letters from Thomas Ingram to his brother, Eben N. Ingram about family and business matters at the Ingram plantation while Eben was away for medical school.

Folder includes at least three references to enslaved people. One is a list of 18 names written on the back of a scrap of a legal document. The front of the document is dated 1792 while the list of names on the back is dated 1826. List appears to be related to cotton shares. The second item is letter from a Mr. Johnson to Joseph Ingram acknowledging the receipt of "nine bales of cotton by Jacob." The third item is a letter from Thomas Ingram to his brother, Ebenezer N. Ingram, in which Thomas informs his brother of the death of "Negro man Jim."

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