Papers (1853-1943) of Halifax County, NC farmer and his family, consisting of financial papers, farm records, lecture notes, cash accounts, livestock and miscellaneous.
William W. Brickell and his son Richard B. Brickell were nineteenth century farmers in Halifax County, N.C. W.W. Brickell was trustee for Halifax County (1862-1867), treasurer of the Halifax County Board of Wardens (1869), county commissioner (1863-1865), agent with the indigent fund for volunteers (1861), and representative in the North Carolina convention of 1865.
William W. Brickell was born Oct. 13, 1807, at Bath, Beaufort Co., North Carolina, and died on July 10, 1878, in Halifax Co., North Carolina. He was married first to Amanda A. H. Bishop Brickell (1808-1849) and they had five children. He married second to Rebecca W. Bishop Brickell (1817–1886) and they had one child who was Richard B. Brickell (1854-1942).
Source: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/82016186/william-w-brickell
The collection consists of financial and farm records (1853-1896) which reflect the various aspects of the Brickells' profession. In the farm accounts the father and son describe the weather, planting methods, land rentals and labor, and livestock owned, as well as family and community news.
Of particular interest in the farm records is brief mention of a camp meeting (1856) and the number of converts; W.W. Brickell presiding over the marriages of Joseph J. Cullen and Mary E. Johnston (March 18, 1858) and John Medlin and Rebecca Ione Hawkins (January 14, 1858); and a notation (June 2, 1876) that Elias Powell "was to be hanged for the murder of Cowen[sic]," which is a reference to the murder of Jewish merchant Isadore Cohen of Whitakers, N.C.
Cash accounts of the Brickell family reflect prices of livestock, cotton, corn, potatoes, subscriptions to North Carolina periodicals, and subscriptions for community and church improvements. Financial records give evidence of the effect of the Civil War on private life such as the subscription of volunteers and the sale of fodder and horses to the Confederate Army. Also included are records of expenses at the Fork Institute (at Warrenton in Warren Co., N.C.) in 1874 and Quankey Academy (in Halifax Co., N.C.) in 1862, 1863, and 1864; and W.W. Brickell's accounts as guardian to Lucy B. Day, Helen P. Day, Anne M. Day and Mary W. Simmons (1860-1874), which includes expenses for schooling, clothing, and travel, and records for the hiring out of enslaved persons that had been left to the children (lists names of enslaved persons, pay, and names of people who hired them). Guardian records for Sarah A. Gary in 1858 also referred to hiring out enslaved persons and give their names, the pay, and the names of the people who hired them. The Hiring-out system allowed a hirer to temporarily lease an enslaved person from an enslaver, generating revenue for the enslaver through the labor of the enslaved people completing the work. The county records include accounts of the offices which W.W. Brickell held. Records of the votes in Faucetts Township in the 1876 and 1880 elections are found in the collection along with lists (1863-1867, undated) of jury tickets and county orders that include names and what the people were paid.
Other records include the score of a baseball game, apparently played in Halifax County (1873); the names and addresses of boarders at the Fork Institute, spring session, (1874); the marriage of R.B. Brickell (1880) and the birth of a daughter, Margaret (1881); account of the sale of the estate of W.W. Brickell (1878); and class lecture notes (1870).
The bulk of the miscellaneous material consists of financial papers, receipts, bills and promissory notes. Other items of interest are a special cure offer of patent medicine (1890's), a copy of the will of Mrs. Rena Brickell (1933); a report card of Billy Brickell (1937-1938), final report of the estate of R.B. Brickell (1943), and a contract between William A. Daniel and laborers under the auspices of the Freedmen's Bureau (undated) which gives the laborers' first names, ages, sex, and rate of pay.
Gift of Mrs. Elizabeth M. Green
Processed by D. Speas, July 1976
Encoded by Apex Data Services
Descriptions updated by Ashlyn Racine, May 2023
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.