This collection contains family letters sent to Jilson Payne Harrison, a native of Mount Sterling, Kentucky who later resided in Mississippi and Louisiana. Most are from his father, Micajah Harrison, a local official in Mount Sterling. The collection contains letters with local and personal news (of the Harrisons), several of significant interest. The cholera epidemic of 1833 is well documented, in Kentucky, Missouri, and Mississippi. Micajah's letters are especially interesting, as they are filled with his opinions on political and social events. He vents typically Jacksonian tirades on the national banking system, evidently attempting to sway his son, who apparently did not hold the same views. Local gossip, primarily of Mount Sterling in the 1830s, is included. Among the events described are unwed pregnancies, elopements, and duels. Micajah also made many religious references and sought heavenly blessings for himself and his family but expressed his disenchantment with most preachers. The conditions of blacks, both slave and free, are also included in these letters. Specifically, the activities of two of their slaves, Charlotte and Milly, are frequently described, as well as those of Frederick Ringo, a free black who married Milly. Many letters discuss land claims, particularly in the Louisiana Purchase, where various family members apparently held property. Albert's letters chronicle his career and ambitions while James' letters consider his eventual move from Lexington to Vicksburg to practice law and the offer of Secretary to the U.S. Legation to Spain with William T. Barry, who was named minister to that country. The last letter in the collection was written by Jilson Payne Harrison to a Nashville minister. It discussed the decision by their (unnamed) church's general conference to institute total abstinence from liquor as a test of membership. Harrison took strong exception to the plan, as he believed there was no Biblical or theological basis for such a requirement. The letter was unfinished and unsigned, however, as a note on the back by Harrison's son Jilson stated his father died while writing it.
