Chiefly land papers, family records, and correspondence of several generations of a free African-American family in South Carolina, east Texas, and elsewhere; topics discussed include social relations during antebellum, Civil War, and Reconstruction eras through early years of 20th century. Family records, 1763-1899, re birth, marriage, and death dates of Conway family members; land conveyances, 1800-1839 (Camden, S.C.), to Bonds Conway (10 documents); crop liens, 1876-1895 (8 documents); tax receipts, miscellaneous advertisements, religious periodicals; and letters, 8 July 1860 and 14 May 1863 (Henderson, in Rusk County, Texas) from Mrs. Amanda Davenport to James Dunlap re family news and death of Eliza Conway [McElroy], "Her remains were followed to the grave by a large company of white and black." Letter, 19 Aug. 1857 (Kansas), from Edward Conway to his sister, Epsey Conway Johnson, re life with military forces on the Kansas border; 21 letters, 1861-1865 (Charleston, S.C.), from Sergeant Thomas Scanlon, Confederate States Army, to Mrs. Epsey Johnson, re military activities and Civil War battles near Charleston; [Johnson lived with Scanlon, an Irishman, after separating from her husband]. Six letters, 18 Nov. 1865 - ca. 1 Jan. 1869 (Henderson, Texas), from Jesse McElroy to Epsey Johnson, re economic, labor, and social conditions during Reconstruction and his marriage to a former slave, "there is no regular system of labour here but everyone is left to make his own Contracts an[d] Consequently many are unemployed as yet but we think that things will be regular about Christmas when both whites and Coloured folks will know what to do, and it depends much on our polytical [i.e. political] authority what will be our Condition for wealth and happiness" and re his marriage, "We had the first license that were issued to colored people" and commenting on the uncertainty of the period, "We do not understand people. I think they are all colleagued together for gain. Just a stealing process... Just a stealing process... We have no Northern Preachers nor Teachers here, but there are soldiers in Shreveport [Louisiana], not far from here." Letter, 3 July 1868 (Charleston, S.C.), Celia Johnson to Epsey Johnson, re religious activities and social conditions, meetings at the "African Church" and deploring the fact there are "so many of the Camden citizens in jail here"; and certificate of merit, 31 May 1905, Haven Industrial School (Savannah, Georgia), awarded to Alwilda Boykin. Oversize papers, 1800-1868, include real estate / property documents and religious periodicals: consisting of two issues of a children's periodical newspaper, dated 13 Apr. 1867 and 11 July 1868, titled, The Children's Guest (published by the General Protestant Episcopal Sunday School Union and Church Book Society (New York, N.Y.); a newspaper, The Parish Visitor (New York, N.Y.), single issue dated Jan. 1867); one page fragment from newspaper [The Florida Home Companion (Ocala, Fla.), dated 21 Jan. 1860], with report, on death of S.C. native and Florida State Senator, "Dr. W.J. Keitt Brutally Murdered," by several of his slaves; an anecdote about a dream attributed to John C. Calhoun during 1850 in which, while writing of plans for secession, he was visited by the ghost of George Washington, who condemned him a traitor; and other matters. Undated broadside advertisement promoting benefits of Dr. E. Crain's Shoulder Brace & Supporter, "manufactured and sold wholesale and retail by M. Holton, Proprietor, New-York City." Lower portion of this poster was printed in Wadesboro, N.C., and includes names of physicians in South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, New York, and elsewhere who vouched for the brace's effectiveness.
