Documents from a Southern Gentleman

[JonnyReb]

 In the mid 1800's, Joeseph f. Smith was doing very well. His influential father in law, A. Crane, as well as his own familys successful roots assured that he'd be successfull himself. He owned a prominent plantation house in Laurens S.C., and then on Congress st in York S.C. He had apprx 20 slaves and worked many many acres of land, in addition to co-owning a local bank, Medford and Smith. Life was pretty darned good until the rumbling of war were heard.

Smith himself signed up quickly to protect the ways of the South, as did every ablebodied man acrosss the states. Because of his status and possibly some connections, He was made Confederate Postmaster of Laurens county, by the Confederate General Postmaster John H. Reagan. This allowed Smith to stay at home during the war, to manage the plantation, the bank and now the Post office. Records don't show much till late in the war, He did purchase many thousands of dollars of worthless confederate war bonds during this time, he also incurred great losses as all the men who owed his bank money were off and gone during the following 4 years. He accumulated hundreds of "cheques", basically IOU's from those loans that were outstanding. As the war ended with the Souths defeat, Joe Smith also eventually freed every slave he owned after april of 1865, granting them a piece of land each on their plantation, or the offer of a paid for move to any of his families plantations, as they wished. From the letter written, he was very fond of his slaves and they were family to him.
As the war came to a close, the Yank troops rolled through Laurens and a slave who witnessed this later wrote of it in his Memoirs. I can quote word for word when i go dig it out of storage, but basically he stated that the negroes happily ran torward the oncoming Yank troops, overjoyed at these moments that these men riding in had freed them. This slave wrote(was in his 80's when this was written, was a boy when it occured) that the Yanks screamed at the slaves to get back to their farms or go anywhere they wanted but not to bother them. He speaks of it in forcefull terms. Quite interesting to piece all together from a bunch of documents but all that i write of i read within them and see the documents to back up the story told. This is a short version, the documents range from 1813 with a famous(relatively) Revolutionary war captain, A. Crane Jones last will and testament all the way through his grandson Joe Smith, the civil war postmaster, through his son and grandsons, both judges, all the way to 1980 when the last surviving Smith of this lineage died off. The plantation house still stands in York S.C.

  Heres a few documents of interest ranging from 1815- 1861.
Confederate General John h. Reagans signature and confederate foil stamped seal is of considerable interest, as is the spectacular handwriting all these folks prided themselves with. Interesting to note that handwriting from the 16th and 17th century appears the most ornate and i can literally see it get worse by the mid 1800's, although still beautiful by todays standards. By these 20th century documents its becoming the chickenscratch we're used to now. Soon it will become an antiquated method of communication altogether i'm afraid.. J

[singletree45]

JonnyReb: Very interesting post. My ancesters came from Virginia and moved to Ky. then to Northern Missouri. During the CW we were in Quantril and Jay-Hawk country. Lot of history in this part of the country too. I have heard that there was a CW General with the last name of Grimes in your part of the country. Have you heard anything about him? Wonder if he is a distant relative?

[JonnyReb]

 Hey thanks Singletree, most of mine never went west, just one i can think of actually and he disappeared in CA during the gold rush.  Wish my folks had gone out your way. Wouldn't mind a bit being in the sane center part of this country. East and West coast is changing to fast and yes,those midwestern states right through Kentucky played their part during the Great war for sure.   J

[JonnyReb]

 Here is a picture of an 1850's version of a pocket filing cabinet. This belonged to Mr. Smith and on the flip side, is the handwritten name of his "bank" Medford and Smith. This multipocketed folding wallet of sorts, contains hundred of the promisary notes i mentioned in the first post. These were signed and retained by Mr. Smith as he loaned money, IOU's basically.

I don't know what material the paper is, its very high quality though, both in printing and the paper itself. Its consistency seems very similar to rice paper. The folder is soft yet shiny slightly, could be cotton but i don't think so, not sure what hemp would feel like..linen perhaps? Is still quite strong 150 + years after it was made.

When i pull out a "check" and unfold it, its obvious in most cases these were folded by Mr. Smith, then inserted into the wallet, not to be unfolded again. With certainty, its the first time these have seen the light of day in a century and a half. They are as crisp and the ink as strong as brand new. Amazing to behold the writing and the signatures of the long long dead and forgotten men, some who died in the Great War and some who returned home to shambles and a whole new economic situation that undoubtably did in the tiny "bank" of Medford and Smith in post war York S.C.. I believe Mr Smith probably never looked at these promisary notes again as the war loomed and overtook the tiny town, state and Country.

Here is one i unfolded, all are more or less identical, so perfectly preserved they look brand new, except the ink itself has eaten through spots in the paper... the dates, amounts and signatures differ, most are dated between 1855 and 1861, amounts reange from 5.00 to 75.00ish, i've only looked at 20 or so out of all. Signatures range from average to stunning in their form, all writing would be of quill and ink i'm sure and theres no doubt many had practiced long and hard as the flowing lines show much skill.

[Hawken50]

  Dang neihbor  that is some awesome history there.

[JonnyReb]

 It is Hawken, its incredible to crack the boxes on this stuff. No one other than a family member in the 1930's delved into these artifacts, that family member tracked down all kinda stuff and added LOADS to the written history i'm finding as i go through it. Eventually it needs to go to a museum or to proper humidity controlled storage but actually it all did pretty well considering it sat in the basement of a plantation house from at least the 1950's till the late 80's. Before that it was all kept upstairs i'm sure. No heat and no A\C for over 100 years and some of these documents look brand new. Others, like whats i the first pics, are about to fall apart. There is much more, and as i get to it i'll continue to add treasures as i find em again. Some items, like the slave lists and the letter written that frees them, are really historically mindboggling and i'll post them, as i dig them out. Thanks for the comment!  J.

[Hawken50]

 Well ol boy looks like you have become the caretaker of these historical items. I would consider it an honor that you have them. Cant wait to see more.

[JonnyReb]

 Yes sir its a blessing to caretake them for awhile. Weird to read some of the online stuff concerning this fellow and his family, to see clerk of court copies of these wills and other documents that amazingly are online, then go dig out the original and read word for word what your holding in your hand. Pretty amazing.

Heres anothe unique IOU. Evidently by 1870 when this one was dated, Mr. Smith was out of his blue printed IOU's and so this ones just written on a scrap of paper, an IOU for 3.05.  Times must have been hard. This is unique too, as there is a 1870 5 cent "inter revenue" stamp folded into the paper. Also, whomever folded up the scrap of paper had dirt on his hands, which can be seen caught in the center crease. The paper is suprisingly thick and of high quality in my opinion. The stamp and dirt both are folded right back up the way they came.