Creator: Morrison, R. H. (Robert Hall), 1798-1889.
Collection number: 1131
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Abstract: Robert Hall Morrison was a Presbyterian minister and educator from Lincoln County, N.C., and father of Mary Anna (Morrison) Jackson (1831- 1915), wife of Stonewall Jackson. The collection includes letters written to and from members of the Morrison family, financial papers of R. H. Morrison, and miscellaneous papers. The letters, chiefly from R. H. Morrison to his cousin, James Morrison, discuss family matters; business of the Presbyterian Church in North Carolina; Robert Hall Morrison’s work in the establishment and administration of Davidson College; details of his congregations in Cabarrus and Mecklenburg counties, N.C.; his religious convictions; his views against slavery and secession; and agricultural activities on his Cottage Home Plantation. Morrison’s financial papers consist of letters from agents managing his property in Tipton County, Tenn., and Lafayette and Sevier counties, Ark., detailing his business concerns; problems in conducting business during secession, the Civil War, and Reconstruction; and the construction of the Cairo and Fulton Railroad and the Memphis and Ohio Railroad. There are also receipts for his expenses and tax payments in North Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee. Miscellaneous papers include letters from members of the Morrison family in Dallas County, Ala., and two letters from a chaplain in the Army of Northern Virginia during the war.
Repository: Southern Historical Collection
Collection Highlights: The bulk of the correspondence regards church matters and includes discussion of Morrison’s abhorrence of slavery and his support of the Colonization Society in Sierra Leone throughout the 1820s. Letters also discuss the low price of slaves in North Carolina and Morrison’s advocacy of cotton and woolen mills as a replacement for the slave-based cotton industry, particularly between 1837-1840 (Folder 4) and the buying and selling of slaves between 1820-1834 (Folders 1-4) .