John S. Dobbins papers, 1834-1916

Author/Creator:

Dobbins, John S., 1800-1886

Publication/Creation:

1834-1916

Format:

Archival Material or Manuscripts

More Details

Additional/Related Title Information

Full Title:

John S. Dobbins papers, 1834-1916

Subjects/Genre

Genre:

Genealogies (histories)

Subjects:

Caldwell, I. M. M.
Cobb, Thomas R. R.(Thomas Read Rootes),1823-1862
Dobbin family
Dobbins, Joseph,1844-1879
Dobbins, William Henry,1841-1862
Erwin, A. S.
Felton, William H.(William Harrell),1823-1909
Kollock, George J.,1810-1894
Ray, John
Rossignol, Paul
Stiles, William Henry,Jr.,1834-1878
Young family
Confederate States of America.Army.Phillips Legion
Ku Klux Klan (19th century)
Emory and Henry College
Wofford College (Spartanburg, S.C.)
Agriculture--Georgia
Atlanta Campaign, 1864
Military camps
Communication and culture
Education--Southern States--19th century
Freed persons
Plantations--Georgia
Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)--Georgia
Slave records--Georgia
Enslavers--Georgia
Slavery--Georgia
Soldiers--Georgia
South Mountain, Battle of, Md., 1862
Transportation--Georgia
Alabama--History
Georgia--Economic conditions--19th century
Georgia--Politics and government--19th century
Georgia--Social conditions--19th century
Georgia--Social life and customs--19th century
Gordon County (Ga.)
Habersham County (Ga.)
South Carolina--History
Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865

Description/Summary

Finding Aid:

Finding aid available electronically

Summary:

The collection consists of microfilm copies of letters (1849-1918) to and from Dobbins and related family members (some in South Carolina and Alabama), friends, and business acquaintances. Topics discussed include agriculture and farming, slavery and freedmen, education, family, transportation and communication, politics, economics, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. Letters (1861-1862) of William Henry Dobbins were written from camps in Virginia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. There are also some letters written before the Civil War (1861) and during Reconstruction (1866) by former slaves of the Dobbins family; letters mentioning a relative jailed on suspicion of being a Ku Kluxand letters (1862-1863) from a friend in the Confederate Army. Legal and business documents include bills, accounts, receipts (for slaves, taxes, purchases), land lottery certificates, agreements (for businesses, hiring of slave labor, apprenticeship) insurance papers, leases, and a certificate of registry for a free man of color (1860). Correspondence, legal papers, and business papers arranged in chronological order except the following: Page 2 of the letter of A. S. Erwin to John S. Dobbins, October 26, 1862; page 3 of the letter of Eli Burkett, October 2, 1866; and page 6 of the letter of Mamie Starr, March 1, 1877. These items are at the end of Reel 1.

Language:

English

Language Note:

Materials entirely in English.

Physical Type/Description:

2 microfilm reels

Restrictions on Access:

Unrestricted access.

Organization and Arrangement:

Arranged by record type.

Biographical/Historical Note:

John S. Dobbins, planter and merchant, was born 29 December 1800, in South Carolina, and died 22 April 1886, in Gordon County, Georgia. He married Caroline Moss (1840; d. 1849), with whom he had four children (William, Joseph, Mary Emma, and Cornelia). The family lived near Clarkesville, in Habersham County, Georgia where Dobbins was in a mercantile business, began farming, and was county treasurer (resigned 1858). He, his sons, and some slaves, moved to Gordon County, Georgia (ca. 1859), leaving his wife, Sarah Williams Dobbins (m. 1851), his daughters, and some slaves, in Habersham County. His son William, a student at Emory and Henry College, served in the Confederate Army in Phillips' Legion and was mortally wounded in the Battle of South Mountain (Maryland, 1862). The family refugeed from Gordon County to Terrell County in 1864 and returned in 1867; Joseph became a businessman, Cornelia married Henry B. Herington, and Mary Emma married Henry Hunt.

Reproduction Note:

Available only on microfilm.

Location of Originals:

Originals in possession of donor.

Additional Identifiers

Catalog ID (MMSID):

990027679610302486

OCLC Number:

173862950

Barcode:

1062755-1001
EMU308337