Biographical/historical information

Richard Caswell was born on August 3, 1729 in Joppa, Baltimore County, Maryland. With his father's failing health, he was sent to New Bern in 1745 and worked as an apprentice to the surveyor general, James Mackilwean. After finishing his apprenticeship he went into politics and married Mary Mackilwean. They had three children, two died at birth, and their son grew to manhood. Mary Caswell died from complications of childbirth in 1757 and in 1757 he remarried Sarah Heritage. They had eleven children, eight lived to adulthood. From 1754 to 1776, Caswell was a member of the colonial assembly and he was a speaker of the house for a year during that time. In 1776 he was elected governor of the state and was reelected in 1777, 1778, and 1779. Caswell was later elected governor again in 1785 to 1787. Richard Caswell died in 1794.

Scope and arrangement

The majority of this collection is correspondence and letters by Richard Caswell or W. Keats Sparrow. The other half of this collection pertain to a Ph.D. Dissertation in History by Clayton Brown Alexander.

Administrative information

Custodial History

October 24, 2007 52 items, 0.25 cubic feet; Collection (1930-2007) of materials relating to North Carolina's first governor, including genealogical and biographical research materials for the Richard Caswell Celebration held in Kinston, NC during August, 2007, including correspondence, printed materials, compact discs, photocopies & transcripts of documents, including Clayton Brown Alexander's biography (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill). Donor: Dr. W. Keats Sparrow

Source of acquisition

Gift of Dr. W. Keats Sparrow

Processing information

Encoded by Mark Custer, January 4, 2008

Processed by Ashlyn Racine, August 2023

Copyright notice

Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.

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