Creator: Colhoun, John Ewing, 1750-1802.
Collection number: 130
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Abstract: John Ewing Colhoun was a planter, lawyer, South Carolina legislator, and U.S. Senator. The collection is mostly papers and correspondence related to Colhoun’s law practice and to his plantations, including Santee, Bonneau’s Ferry, Pimlico, 12 Mile, Keowee, and Mount Prospect, in the St. Stephen’s and St. John’s parishes and the Charleston and Pendleton districts, S.C. There are also limited records, 1830s-1850s, for Midway and Millwood plantations in Abbeville District, owned by son James Edward Calhoun (who changed the spelling of his surname), and several letters, 1816-1820, addressed to William Moultrie Reid of Charleston (relation to Colhoun unknown). Financial and legal papers include plantation accounts, slave lists, overseer contracts, warrants, bonds, indentures, affidavits, deeds, estate papers, clippings, and miscellaneous items.
Repository: Southern Historical Collection
Collection Highlights: Papers relate to plantation management and contain information on slave conditions, frequently mentioning runaways, their reasons for leaving, and their punishments, along with tasks assigned to particular slaves. The diary of James Edward Colhoun discusses the execution of two slaves for poisoning their master (1825-1826). Microfilm available.