Transportation Vouchers, 1905

This collection contains the papers of Barrie Lucien Holt, covering his life as a capitalist, planter, financier and Quartermaster General of the Alabama National Guard. The papers consist of an account ledger dating from 1850 and maintained by Holt and his father, James L. Holt. Holt was an organizer and majority shareholder in the Prattville Cotton Mills and Banking Company, as well as a partner in D. M. Snow and Company which owned a hardware store and engaged in money lending. The bulk of papers are from the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The collection also has correspondence and miscellaneous business records of the Prattville Cotton Mills for the years 1906 and 1907. There are general business papers and financial records from D. M. Snow and Company from 1871 until 1892, and general business papers for Holt himself primarily from 1905 until 1908. The bulk of business papers, however, are related to several loans contracted by Robert C. Sandlin, a general merchant and financier in Nixburg (Coosa County) with D. M. Snow and Company.

Using as collateral the property conveyances which he had acquired through purchase or foreclosure of mortgages, R. C. Sandlin borrowed money from D. M. Snow and Company. When Sandlin was unable to meet his payments, the Coosa County lands accrued to Holt and his uncle and partner, D. M. Snow. The deeds and papers of collateral comprise a substantial portion of the collection and while the Sandlin-D. M. Snow business affairs began in 1895 and continued until 1911, the approximately eighty-nine warranty deeds and land conveyances date from as early as 1841, with the majority of transactions occurring from 1865 to 1887. The conveyances reflect the economic times of the post Civil War and post Reconstruction South.

The collection also contains papers from Holt's years as the quartermaster general of the Alabama National Guard (1886-1911) which relate primarily to the logistics of transporting and supplying the summer maneuvers of the Alabama National Guard from 1905 to 1909.

Also included in the collection are papers of various members of B. L. Holt's immediate family including his father and son. These papers are primarily general business papers and limited in scope.

The collection thus breaks somewhat naturally into four groupings that cover more than a century, from 1841 until 1950. The bulk of papers, however, are from the years 1905 through 1908.