Letters and receipts, 1800 and 1831-1905, of the Jennings family re antebellum plantation management, the Civil War and Reconstruction eras, including 23 labor contracts, 1866-1867, with African American freedmen establishing conditions of employment and responsibility of both parties. Topics discussed in papers, 1831-1860, include: bills and receipts for hire or sale of African American slaves; household and plantation supplies; legal papers; promissory notes; subscriptions to newspapers; guardianship accounts; medical and dental bills; tax receipts; blacksmith accounts; tuition charges; and bills for ginning and packing cotton from firms in Charleston and Sumter, S.C. Letter, 30 Nov. 1800, from Larking Jennings to his sister Anna Spann, comments on illness in the Sumter area; Letter, 28 Aug. 1836, Columbia, S.C., from J.W. Jennings, re his health, a visit from his brother, and hiring himself out as day laborer; receipt, May 1857, issued to William H. Jennings for purchase of African American slave named Isham. Certificate, 25 Jan. 1858, issued to M[ary] E. Dinkins entitling her to work as a "Free-School teacher" in Darlington County, S.C.; letter, 25 Oct. 1860, Charleston, S.C., from A. Smith, to W.H. Jennings, re Jennings' cotton shipment and cotton market conditions; letter, 23 Sept. 1861, Sumter, S.C., from W.H. Jennings, to M.E. [Dinkins], re courtship and his participation in the Civil War. Receipts for slaves, including, 2 Feb. 1860, issued to W.H. Jennings for purchase of slave named "Dennis"; and 1861, from L.H. Dinkins, to W.H. Jennings, re rental of Jenning's slaves identified by name, days worked, length of work, and estimated costs; letter, 17 Feb. 1862, [Deacon] Bridge, from W.H. Jennings, to "Mollie," re cotton sales, courtship, and military camp life. Series of 23 Civil War letters, Feb. 1862-Aug. 1864, of William H. Jennings from various camps in S.C. and Va., to Mary E. Dinkins, re his disagreeable situation, plans to secure a substitute in order to return home to marry her, and arrangements to send his servant back to S.C.; letter, 20 Feb. 1862, Camp Stevens, New Adams, from W.H. Jennings, re military campaigns in Virginia and Tennessee, loneliness of military life, Confederate failures in Tennessee, and capture of 77 slaves on Edisto Island, S.C.; letter, 11 June 1862, Adams Run, S.C., from W.H. Jennings, re battle plans, troop movements, and home sickness. Letter, 25 Aug. 1862, Richmond, Va., from W.H. Jennings, re troop movements, Stonewall Jackson, and hospitality of confederate women; Jennings received his parole at Appomatox, Va., 10 Apr. 1865, and signed an oath of allegiance to the U.S. 20 July 1865; labor contract, 1 Jan. 1866, Sumter County, S.C., between W.H. Jennings and freed African-Americans Matthew, Rose, Amos, and Katherine; 7 labor contracts, 8 Jan. 1867-16 Jan.1867, between W.H. Jennings and various African Americans identified by name. Also including receipts, 5 June 1857 - 7 Jan. 1858, re medical fees and purchase of household goods and plantation equipment; and genealogical information, ca. 1811 - 1847, photocopied from family Bible [see folder 30; volume, which is missing its title page, is housed at Annex]; and essay, c. 1935, compiled by Susan B. Hill, Edgefield, S.C.; family lineage, 1983, of John Jennings.
