Fisher Family Papers, 1758-1896
Title:
Fisher Family Papers, 1758-1896
Members of the Fisher and Beard families of Salisbury, Rowan County, N.C., included Lewis Beard (1754-1820), plantation owner, merchant and county and state official; his son-in-law Charles Fisher (1789-1849), representative to the United States Congress and the North Carolina House of Commons and plantation and gold mine owner; and Charles's son Charles F. Fisher (1816-1861) (Charles Frederick), who was, among other things, president and contractor for the North Carolina Railroad, for whom Fort Fisher, N.C. was named. Charles F. Fisher's daughter Frances married J. M. Tiernan, who was involved in the mining business. She wrote novels under the pen name of Christian Reid. Collection consists mainly of correspondence, legal and financial materials, and other items of Charles Fisher, Charles F. Fisher, and other members of the Fisher and related families. Charles Fisher's correspondence discusses both national and North Carolina politics, especially John C. Calhoun, his presidential aspirations, and the Whig Party; gold mining; his Smith County, Miss., plantation; land speculation in Choctaw Indian territory in Mississippi; and a controversy involving the Bank of Salisbury. Charles F. Fisher's correspondence concerns mining interests, business investments, and work as president of the North Carolina Railroad. In the 1880s and 1890s, there is also correspondence of writer Frances Fisher Tiernan (Christian Reid) from her French editor and from her husband, describing his experiences managing a mine in the state of Durango, Mexico. Financial and legal papers consist of indentures; land grants and surveys; receipts; lists of tools, supplies, and purchases; and work records, contracts, and stock certificates, mostly relating to gold mining in North Carolina, Charles Fisher's Mississippi plantation, construction of the Western North Carolina Railroad, the Choctaw Indian Nation's land claims against the United States government (which Charles Fisher supported), and Charles F. Fisher's procurement of provisions, clothing, and equipment for the 6th North Carolina Regiment during the Civil War. Some of the work records relate to hiring of slave labor to for mining and railroad work. There are also political writings; materials relating to the Western Carolinian, a political journal that Charles F. Fisher co-published; and part of a Christian Reid story. Volumes include account books for the Yadkin toll bridge, Lewis Beard's general store, iron foundries, and blacksmith work; Charles Fisher's scrapbooks on politics and economics and account books for his travel on plantation and Choctaw land claims business; and Charles F. Fisher's diary of a trip through northeastern Georgia in 1833, account books, Western Carolinian subscriber lists, and record books of the Western North Carolina Railroad.
ArchivalResource:
7.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 4,050 items)
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