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The Wilkes County, Georgia collection is made up of probate inventories, estate records, indentures, receipts, accounts, and other documents relating to the inhabitants of Wilkes County, Georgia.

This collection contains 204 items, chiefly probate inventories, receipts, records of sales of decedents' property, indentures and other legal documents. Eighty-seven of the items pertain to the estate of Robert Toombs (d. 1826). Most of the items date from between 1778 and 1830. Twenty-one items date from 1839 to 1867; there are no probate inventories for those decades. Almost all of the material in this collection comes from Wilkes County, but a few documents are from other counties.

The probate inventories provide a wealth of details about the lives of Wilkes County residents, enslaved and free. Inventories can be used to reconstruct some details of slaves' lives. These documents show the number of slaves on plantations with the monetary value assigned to them, often give names of slaves, and indicate if women had children. Sometimes appraisers noted the names of a woman's children. For some decedents, the records of the disposition of estates show the scattering of slaves to various slaveholders as well as the distribution of other property. The "List of the property sold of Lewis Biddles Estate Deceased," has unusual value: It breaks down the slaves sold into family groups (information beyond the more frequent notations of mothers and children). A poignant 1828 estate sale record relates that Old Andrew and Old Amy were "offered & no bidder." The collection includes other material about slaves and slavery, such as records of the hiring out of slaves and a 1784 bond that expressed a preference for a "country born negroe boy." Four court documents from the late 1780s and early 1790s reveal cases of "Negroe Stealing" but with scant detail. Another court document, from 1792, declares that a Capt. John Man "saw a Negro man Ben, said to be the property of Richard Baily on the morning of the 29th June Instant, much wounded, which appeared to be done by shooting." Man testified that one Norcut Slaven had told Man that Slaven "has shot the said Negro Ben." The court took action against Slaven and other men, though the documents do not show the final outcome of the case. The records in this collection can be used to study the economy of Wilkes County. In addition to slaves, inventories list livestock and equipment, such as plows, cotton cards and looms, and blacksmiths' tools -- details that allow scholars to study the extent of plantations' self-sufficiency or participation in the market. With qualifications due to uncertainty about completeness, these inventories can be used to study wealth and consumption over time and to compare the lifestyles of the well-off versus the poor. The records also allow analysis of levels of literacy. The collection also offers information regarding material culture and consumption. William Grant furnished his house with "3 Painted Pine dressing tables," "1 Dozen Rush Bottom Chairs," and several pieces of mahogany furniture among other things. Inventories indicate that Wilkes County residents might own musical instruments, pillow cases, sugar dishes, custard cups, decanters, looking glasses, and books (occasionally listed by title) to name a few of the consumer goods that turn up in the records. The "Inventory of the estate and effects of William Rogers" suggests that Rogers may have been a teacher or bookseller. His books included Lessons for Reading, Schoolmasters asst, two copies of Ovid's Metamorphoses, a few dictionaries and a number of grammars. Some other miscellaneous inventory items listed were traps for rodents, 55 gallons of peach brandy, 22 thimbles, spice mortars, coffee mills and waffle irons.

Inventories can be used to study women's and men's legal and financial roles. Some probate inventories contain lists of debts. Women rarely served as administrators or controlled property that went through the probate process, but a few women appear in this collection in those positions. Women's presence is greatest as buyers of property sold at estate sales and as slaves. The collection contains a few wills, receipts, contracts and miscellaneous legal documents.

Approximately 80 documents about Robert Toombs's estate provide an especially full record of one family's spending on goods and services. Toombs's wife, Catherine, settled the estate's accounts over the few years after Toombs's death in 1826. Pages of accounts and receipts show the cost of education, library fees, the children's board, food, clothes, furniture, postage, medical services (including those of midwives), legal services, piano tuning, transportation, and taxes. The records also show the price that Toombs's got for their cotton and corn. A picture of the lives of the Toombs's family emerges from these records. The sons attended Franklin College, daughter Sarah Ann played the piano. The family received the Wesleyan Journal according to a receipt for paying postage for the journal. To drink, the Toombses might choose from coffee, gin, whisky or "the best Madeira Wine."

The papers of William Gibbons consist of Gibbons' incoming correspondence and receipts for the purchase of goods. The letters and receipts contain information regarding the operation of a Georgia plantation, financial and legal matters, as well as family concerns.

The William Gibbons papers are comprised of 264 items, dated from June 16, 1804, to March 3, 1857, but most were written between February 21, 1828, and September 14, 1845. The collection contains 172 letters, two documents, and 90 receipts. Of the correspondence, 84 letters are from William Dunham to William Gibbons, 12 are from William Trotter Porter to William Gibbons, and 20 are from Hannah Wheelwright to her uncle, William Gibbons, nine which regard legal matters with the Ogden family. Forty-seven letters are from other correspondents, primarily to William Gibbons and Thomas Gibbons.

William Dunham's letters consist exclusively of matters pertaining to the operation of a plantation in Georgia. His letters include detailed information about crop yields, management, slave labor, and the treatment of slaves. Notable topics represented in the Dunham letters include financial details about the purchase of goods and the sale of crops Rice, potatoes, cotton, and corn; specifics regarding Gibbons' slaves, such as finances pertaining to their sustenance e.g. October 1832, November 1832; the death of slaves from illness e.g. June 22, 1829 and September 15, 1834; and the marriage prospects for slaves September 14, 1832. Dunham also writes about the purchase and sale of cattle and sheep. Of note are a description of the branding of a murderer apparently a man known to both Dunham and Gibbons, May 3 and 24, 1830, a reference to the Nat Turner rebellion letter dated September 22, 1831, a mention of a local woman assaulting a "negro" July 18, 1832, and several letters regarding an outbreak of cholera at Gibbons' and nearby plantations September 1 to September 22, 1834.

William Porter was the editor of the newspaper The Spirit of the Times, and the letters written by him primarily concern financial matters that is, asking William Gibbons for monetary support. In addition to his financial affairs, Porter writes about speculating on horseracing. The nine E.B.D. Ogden letters regard the purchase of land at Elizabeth Town Point, New York. Two notable items in the Ogden letters are letters from E. van Ansdall regarding the judgment in Aaron Ogden vs. Thomas Gibbons September 22, 1835, and regarding the Elizabeth Town Point land purchase, including limitations on the use of the river for steamboat operation November 13, 1833.

The letters written to Thomas Gibbons pertain to plantation affairs and the shipment of goods mostly casks of rice. One letter of particular interest was written by Adam Newall for the Crawford Davison Co. from Liverpool regarding the trade of cotton between the United States and Great Britain November 28, 1812.

The 90 receipts are from various businesses including the Union Line, the New Jersey Hotel, and various grocers and merchants. Two of the prominent sellers were J.D. Wyckoff and A.H. Osborn. The receipts were for the purchase of groceries, hay, and household goods, and services such as furniture repair, work done on Gibbons' house, and other labor. Most of the wares/services are paid for by William Gibbons, Jedediah Dayman, John Baldwin, Daniel McCalley, Henry Signer, and Cornelius Vanderbilt Oct. 20, 1827. Each of the various buyers named on the receipts made their purchases on behalf of William Gibbons. Four of the receipts regard purchases made for the Steam Boat Thistle and the Steam Boat Bellona Laundry, August 31, 1821; Oysters, August 1823 and March 2, 1825; and Lobsters, August 2, 1828.

Five miscellaneous letters include three letters from Gibbons' son, William H., a letter from William Gale and a letter from C.J. Luster. The two documents regard financial matters and the hiring of a female servant, named Margaret Glen. The receipts are all for the purchase of various goods.