Creator: Leak, Francis Terry, 1803-1864.
Collection number: 1095
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Abstract: Francis Terry Leak was a cotton planter and businessman of Tippah (now Benton) County, Miss. Manuscript volumes containing entries of various types, most of which are presumed to have been written by Francis Terry Leak. With the exception of one volume consisting chiefly of work records of plantation hands, largely slaves, the greater portion of each volume contains Leak’s diary/plantation journal. Some entries contain brief references to the number of acres plowed and the weather on a given day, while others are substantive narrative passages about plantation, family, and community life, ranging from trips through the South that were undertaken by family or friends to the progress of the Civil War. Other sections of these volumes are devoted to records of miscellaneous accounts, including those relating to cotton shipped and sold, goods and services purchased from various sources, transactions involving the loaning or collecting of money, and other activities having to do with finances.
Repository: Southern Historical Collection
Collection Highlights: Diary of Leak, a Tippah (now Benton) County, Mississippi, planter consisting chiefly of the work records of plantation slaves (1841-1865). The collection also contains records of slave sales (1841-1865) and a description of a slave wedding, including the text of the ceremony (1856). Microfilm available.
Some of the materials in this collection have been digitized. Click here to link to the finding aid to access the digital items.