Papers (1741-1914, undated) including correspondence, legal records, land records, records of enslaved persons, financial records, receipts, ledger account book, recipes, cures, disease, etc.
Francis Brooks, a descendant of John Brooks, was a Pitt County, N.C., planter. During the period 1829-1830, he became guardian for Abraham Hardee, probably a maternal relative. Samuel Isaac Dudley, also a member of this family, served as sheriff of Pitt County (1910-1914). The family remained active in local affairs and intermarried with such prominent families as the Tuckers, Dudleys, and Sullivans.
Correspondence of interest consists of a letter (Nov., 1848) from "Philipes County," Arkansas that discusses acquaintances in the surrounding area, corn and cotton crops and prices, rising land value, opportunity for success, and Moye relatives.
Estate records (1829-1836) consist of receipts for accounts, returns of sale, and accounts summaries for Abraham C. Hardee, for whom Brooks served as guardian. Records of enslaved persons (1808-1856) consist of twelve bills of sale (1808-1850), a promise to pay an enslaved person (1827), hiring out stipulations of enslaved persons for the years 1830-1833 and 1835, and a solicitous note (September, 15, 1856) informing an enslaver that a leased enslaved person was unwilling to work for the current enslaver and was being returned. 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.
Land records (1741-1904) consist of a copy of a Beaufort County land grant (May 21, 1741) to Simon Burney; a copy of a Pitt County deed (1764); and land rental and leasing agreements (1836, 1874, 1903). Legal records (1819-1822) consist of loan notes (1819-1826) and an Oath of Allegiance (Sept., 1865).
A sheriff's accounts consist of state tax, pension vouchers, guardianship, and deposit receipts for Pitt County Sheriff S. I. Dudley (1912-1914). Similarly a ledger book (1910-1914) lists receipts of funds including state and local taxes, general county fund, bridge, road, school, courthouse and jail bonds, and bond salary entries (1911-1914). Other entries (1910, 1913) record financial transactions of Dudley as an administrator and guardian.
Miscellaneous papers include recipes and cures (1834, undated) for fever and unnamed diseases, and a lineage of the descendants of John Brooks (undated).
Gift of Mr. Ralph Sullivan, Jr.
Processed by D. Lawson, June 1979
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.