Creator: Bryan and Leventhorpe family.
Collection number: 3994
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Abstract: Represented are members of the related Bryan, Leventhorpe, Davenport, and Avery families, including Edmund (1791-1874) and Ursilla (Hampton) Bryan of Rutherfordton, N.C.; their daughters, Ann Eliza (Bryan) Mills and Louise (Bryan) Leventhorpe; Louise’s husband, Collett Leventhorpe (1815-1899), an English-born officer in the Confederate Army; and their descendants, including members of the Hampton family of Henry County, Tenn., and the Avery family of North Carolina. Personal and business papers of the Bryan, Leventhorpe, and related families. Material prior to 1860 includes Edmund Bryan’s journal during the Creek Indian War in Alabama, 1814; annual returns addressed to him as a general in the North Carolina militia, 1827-1838; and nine letters, 1812-1816, from Israel Pickens discussing the War of 1812, taxes, and Washington, D.C., politics. There are also papers pertaining to slaves and to the Leventhorpe family’s iron and gold mining interests. Scattered Civil War items concern the secession crisis, Collett Leventhorpe’s career as a Confederate brigadier general in eastern North Carolina, and civilian affairs in Rutherfordton. After 1880 the papers relate principally to Judge Alphonso Calhoun Avery (1835-1913) of Burke County, N.C.; and newspaper editor Johnston Avery.
Repository: Southern Historical Collection
Collection Highlights: Material prior to 1860 includes many documents relating to the buying and selling of slaves (See Folders 1-6 particularly, for items from 1797 to 1842). There is also a documented dated 18 February 1843, which is an agreement to transfer slaves in partial payment for construction of William Davenport’s home (See Folder 9).
Civil War documents also the secession crisis (See Folders 19-22 for documents from 1861 to 1865).