Walter Alves of Orange County, N.C., wasthe son of James Hogg (1730-1804) and Ann McDowal (Alves) Hogg (1732-1801) ofScotland. The family emigrated to America in 1774, settling in North Carolina. Hisfather legally changed his sons' last names from Hogg to Alves in honor of theirmother. Walter Alves married Mary Amelia Johnston, daughter of William Johnston (d.1785) and had with her nine children. Alves, a staunch Federalist, served in theNorth Carolina General Assembly, 1793- 1795; was a trustee of the University ofNorth Carolina, 1795-1813; and speculated heavily in North Carolina and Tennesseelands. The collection is primarily business papers of WalterAlves. The bulk consists of correspondence, surveys, rental accounts, and otherpapers pertaining to Alves's extensive land holdings in North Carolina and in theClinch and Powell rivers areas of east Tennessee. Also included are familycorrespondence, letters from Federalist politicians, and papers pertaining toAlves's move to Henderson, Ky. Correspondents include Gavin Alves, Richard Bennehan,William Boylan, Duncan Cameron, Walter Evans, William Gaston, William B. Grove,Archibald Henderson, James Hogg, Alex Mebane, James Norwood, and Henry Tazewell.Many items pertain to the estate of Alves's father-in-law, William Johnston (d.1785), mainly concerning the efforts of Edmund Fanning (1739-1818), North Carolinacolonial official and Loyalist for whom Johnston had been agent, to recoverproperties confiscated during the Revolution. These estate papers includecorrespondence, 1805-1812, between Alves and John Wickham (1763-1839), notedVirginia lawyer, and relevant earlier papers.
