Correspondence, land papers and other items, consisting of an unusal collection of antebellum courtship letters, 1851-1853, documenting the uneasy relationship between future in-laws, concerns over dowry rights, and questions of ownership and management of valuable property inherited from the estate of her wealthy planter father by a daughter not yet of legal age. Letters, 21 July 1851- 5 May 1853, document the turbulent courtship of Dr. J.H. Furman, a widower in Georgia with two small children, and Susan Emma Miller (1832-1892), daughter of Col. John Blount Miller and Mary Elizabeth Murrell Miller. Correspondence records evidence of disagreements between future in-laws connections between members of the couple's extended families through their ties to Bethel Baptist Church, a congregation pastored by Samuel Furman, the groom's father. Letter, 20 Dec. 1852, from J.H. Furman comments on his visit to Sumter District, S.C., to visit his parents, he noted that the bridge over the Wateree River was near collapse. By Christmas day, 1852, he was back in Scottsboro, Ga., and told Sue about Osborne, an African-American slave formerly owned by her father, who had been sold to Judge Johnson, "He says Judge Johnson bought his wife but finding she was unsound he returned her to her former owners," further noting that Osborne was to visit him and could deliver in person a message from Sue's mother; regarding their wedding plans (attendants, location for the ceremony, either church or home, and whether by candlelight), Furman noted that he would leave these details up to Sue but stated his preference to be wed in church by candlelight. Letter, 20 Jan. 1853, reflects Mrs. M.E.M. Miller's determination not to relinquish claim to her late husband's property, and references the ongoing disagreement between prospective mother-in-law and son-in-law, as Sue wrote that her mother found John's response on the matter of management of the plantation showed "a want of confidence in her ... I beg you to be calm when the subject is mentioned, and not to say that which might seem unkind to her, please don't reproach for any thing, you will be sorry for it afterwards." Labor contract, 4 Jan. 1866, between John H. Furman of Sumter District, S.C., and "the freedmen & women whose names are hereunto attached," stipulating that the former African-American slaves would "hire their time as house, yard & family servants on the Plantation of Dr. John H. Furman from the first of January 1866 to the 1st of January 1867." They were to "conduct themselves faithfully, honestly & civilly & to discharge all the duties of such," and in return Dr. Furman agreed "to pay said servants the same rates of wages as shall be received by his plantation laborers, of same class, for their shares of the crop." Signed by the marks of freed women Mary and Emma. Property conveyance, 8 Dec. 1873, [Clarendon County], S.C., deeding real estate from J.H. Furman to Williams L. Manning, Levi R[hame] Tindall, and John H. Mahony of Sumter County, S.C. Conveyance of five acres of land at Hungry Hall branch in "Sumter County" [property now located in Clarendon County], S.C., for use as a farmers' grange hall. Furman's wife, Susan E. Furman, "freely, voluntarily, and without any compulsion, dread, or fear of any person or persons whatsoever ..." relinquished any legal claims to the property as well.
