Correspondence from William Berry to Joel Berry, 1866

File — Box: 4239.001, Folder: 5

Letters from William Berry to Joel Berry, 1866

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: This collection contains letters primarily written to and by members of the Berry family of Newnan, Coweta County, Georgia. Many of the letters were addressed to Joel Berry from his father, Judge Andrew Berry; his brothers Thomas and William Berry; and other individuals. Several letters were sent to Joel while he was at Georgetown College in Washington, DC, in the late 1850s, and discuss subjects such as cotton crops and town news. One such letter from William, in March 1858, relates a criminal case in which a local man was tried--and acquitted--for killing a slave. Correspondence written after the US Civil War documents the family’s growing debt and inability to secure labor on their plantations. There are also three letters from a James Berry, including one from 1820 in which James applies to be an overseer; along with items recording the deaths of Thomas and Joel Berry; and a file of 1869 correspondence with Georgia official A. J. Bell concerning Andrew Berry’s responsibility to return his “wild lands” to the state. The collection includes legal and financial documents related to Berry family members.

Dates

1866

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Due to the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access to certain materials may require additional advance notice.