Creator: Arrington, Archibald Hunter, 1809-1872.
Collection number: 3240
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Abstract: Archibald Hunter Arrington, son of John Arrington (1764-1844), was a planter of Nash County, N.C., Democratic member of the 27th and 28th U.S. congresses, 1841-1845, and of the first Confederate Congress, 1861. He also served in the North Carolina Secession Convention and as a local official of Nash County. He first married Mary Jones Arrington (1820-1851); his second wife was Kate Wimberly Arrington (1834-1871). Archibald’s son John Peter Arrington (fl. 1851-1895), was a sheriff of Nash County, and his brother was Samuel L. Arrington (fl. 1806-1866), who ran the family plantations in Alabama. The collection is chiefly papers relating to Arrington’s agricultural and business pursuits in Nash County, N.C., and Montgomery County, Ala. They include many receipts for cotton sales; accounts with merchants; slave and freedmen documents, including records of provisions provided to slaves and freedmen, slave bills of sale and hiring agreements, lists of ages and birthdates of slaves, and sharecropping contracts; land records; wills and estate inventories; and items relating to the purchase and sale of other goods and services. There are also business letters relating to the running of the family’s plantations and personal letters that discuss family matters. Items relating to Arrington’s political activity include a few published speeches and some notes on laws regulating the oversight of slaves; a series of letters, 1857-1858, to Arrington from D. K. McRae (1820-1888) on the latter’s gubernatorial campaign and other matters; letters to Arrington reporting on voting and political alignment in Confederate regiments; a number of form letters to Arrington, in his capacity as a local official, from postwar military governments; and other letters that briefly comment on political matters, including letters from Bartholomew Figures Moore (1801-1878) and William Theophilus Dortch (1824-1889). Also included are several 1893 endorsements collected by J. P. Arrington in his quest for an appointment as deputy collector for the Internal Revenue.
Repository: Southern Historical Collection
Collection Highlights: Chiefly business and agricultural papers of Arrington, planter of Nash County, North Carolina, and Democratic member of the 27th and 28th U.S. Congresses (1841-1845) as well as of the first Confederate Congress (1861). Plantation records contain slave lists, slave bills of sale, hiring agreements, and birth dates; records of provisions given to, and contracts made with, freedmen (1866-1895); and overseer contracts (1789-1909). Materials relating to Arrington’s political career include notes on laws regulating the oversight of slaves (1841-1845). Microfilm available.