Creator: Oaksmith, Appleton, ca. 1825-1887.
Collection number: 2193-z
View finding aid.
Abstract: Appleton Oaksmith, North Carolina state legislator from Carteret County, N.C., was the son of Seba Smith (1792-1868), Maine and New York political humorist, and Elizabeth Oakes Prince Smith (1806-1893), author, lecturer,
and reformer, who used the name Ernest Helfenstein. Scattered papers, consisting chiefly of postwar legal papers and letters concerning the Carolina City Land Company of Carteret County and Oaksmith’s detailed diary of an unsuccessful shipping venture in 1855 in which his ship was seized near Mobile, Ala., apparently while carrying arms to Cuba. Other papers include a dozen letters, 1874-1877, written by Elizabeth Oakes Prince Smith from North Carolina to William J. Spence, Long Island, N.Y., concerning race relations and the temperance movement. Also included is a broadside, 1825, advertising for the return of runaway slaves in Maryland.
Repository: Southern Historical Collection
Collection Highlights: The collection includes letters written by Elizabeth Oakes (Prince) Smith that discuss North Carolina race relations between 1874-1876 (Folder 1). Also included is an 1825 broadside advertising two runaway slaves in Maryland. There is also a photograph of the 1874 NC House of Representatives that includes African American members (Image P 2193/3).
Materials from this collection have been digitized and are available online. Click here to link to the finding aid for this collection and to access the digital material.