Correspondence and political papers reflecting Massey's service as S.C. Representative from York County, S.C.; political material dealing with the end of Reconstruction and the administration of Governor Wade Hampton; correspondence from job seekers wanting Massey's support for political appointments or elective office. his membership in the Democratic party; papers re his memberships in agricultural societies; and Massey family papers. During the election of 1876 when Democrats were fighting for control of the state, L.B. Stephenson wrote Massey from Flat Rock, N.C., "Politics are at high water mark and every effort will be made to carry the election in this County [Kershaw], but to do so will require very hard work and a good deal of intimidating. We will have to overcome a majority of 500 or 600. Some few negroes are joining the Democratic party and a great many would but they are afraid of other negroes who threaten them very strong." Ten years later, South Carolina Democrats were still celebrating Hampton's victory: letter, 8 Oct. 1886, from J.S. Verner of Walhalla, S.C., re planned reunion for members of the "Wallace House," which was to occur 10 Nov 1886. Family papers document the Massey family's financial and legal problems during Reconstruction and after and BHM's management of his farm at Fort Mill, S.C., including letters, receipts, bills from merchants in Charlotte, N.C., and Rock Hill, S.C., papers re sale of land and estate settlements, children's tuition payments, school plays and compositions, and a biographical sketch of BHM photocopied from the S.C. state agricultural and mechanical society proceedings, 1890; and a letter, 18 May 1877, from Memphis commission merchant and S.C. native John Rosser with comments on the Hayes - Tilden election. Political papers contain documents re the 1876 SC elections and Wade Hampton's installation as governor; these include letter from. L. B. Stephenson, 20 November 1876, discussing election returns in Kershaw County; letters from BHM, 26 November and 12 December 1876, describing maneuvers by the Hampton and Chamberlain forces in the state capitol; printed ballots for York County, S.C., for 1876, 1878, and 1888, some with election returns penciled in the margins. Massey's work as a legislator involved oversight of the Columbia Canal along the Congaree and Broad Rivers. On 29 Mar. 1882, Thomas B. Lee, the engineer on the project, reported: "I have completed the field work of the survey for the proposed canal and have been during this week and am now, engaged making an estimate of the cost of the work. I have directed my attention first to the selection of a proper place for the dam. I find the best place to be just above the upper lock. This place is best because the whole cost of the improvement will be materially less than to build lower down...." Letter, 3 Nov. 1884, John James Hemphill (Chester, S.C.) re the campaign for his 2nd term as U.S. Congressman and his election strategy: "A change of residence necessitates a change of certificate. Please see that this class of voters is challenged. We are going to have a hard fight & will need all the votes possible." Some letters reflect contemporary attitudes toward alcohol consumption. Letter, 14 Sept. 1886, C.M. Green of Blacksburg, S.C., re his qualifications in his unsuccessful bid for the S.C. House of Representatives which included the claim, "I have not touched a drop of whiskey in six or seven years, and am resolved never to use it any more." In 1887, W.A. Fewell of Rock Hill, S.C., wrote Massey: "Through some of my friends much to my surprise sorrow and shame I learn that I grossly insulted you at the picnic in Ebenezer yesterday [4 July 1887] while under the influence of cursed whiskey. I remember not one word I said and write beseeching you to pardon me for anything I may have said." The majority of BHM's later political correspondence concerns job applications, election strategy, and candidates for state offices under the Hampton administration and includes letters from Robert Moorman Sims, Isaac Donnom Witherspoon, James Franklin Hart, Iredell Jones, William D. Trantham, J. Rufus Bratton, John Doby Kennedy, John James Hemphill, and John Peter Richardson. Other political papers relate to his work on the penitentiary board and consist of letters and enclosures from superintendent Thomas J. Lipscomb; these discuss hiring out convict labor, contracting for services, and include 1882 inventories submitted by various department heads. BHM's active memberships in the state Grange and various agricultural societies are documented by letters from James Nathan Lipscomb, A. P. Butler, William Jefferson Duffie, and Andrew Hutchinson White. Includes small cache of letters, 1887-1888, from Rt. Rev. Monsignor D[aniel] J. Quigley, vicar general of the Catholic Diocese of Charleston, soliciting Massey's aid to administer the estate of Quigley's brother-in-law, Patrick J. Murray. According to a power of attorney dated 17 Sept. 1887, the Murray estate contained a town lot in Fort Mill, S.C., and 433 acres on nearby Sugar Creek; letter of 26 Sept. 1887, Quigley alluded to boyhood associations in the Fort Mill area: "I would like to get my gun shot bag and powder horn.... These are the relics of my youth...."; letter, 18 May 1888, Quigley mentioned that he had lately returned from a trip to Europe; and on 4 Dec. 1888 (just three weeks before Massey's death), he reported on damage in Charleston, "I have been repairing my residence which was considerably injured by the Earthquake [of 31 August 1886]."
