Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the William M. Byrd Papers #119, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

All or part of this collection is available on microfilm from University Publications of America as part of the Records of ante-bellum southern plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War, Series J.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Maude Pitts of Selma, Alabama, before 1940.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Shonra Newman, May 1991

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, November 2020

This inventory is based in part on an inventory previously compiled by a member of the Southern Historical Collection staff. This collection was rehoused under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Byrd, William M. (William McKendree), 1817-1874.
• Constitutional Union Party (Miss.)
• Ewing, Edwin, fl. 1860.
• Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874.
• Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872.
• Land grants--Alabama--History--19th century.
• Lawyers--Alabama--History--19th century.
• Linden (Ala.)--Social life and customs.
• Marengo County (Ala.)--History--19th century.
• Plantations--Mississippi--Marengo County.
• Real property--Alabama.

William M. Byrd (1817-1874) was the son of William H. Byrd of Richland, Mississippi. He was born on 6 December 1817 in Perry County, Mississippi. He attended La Grange College and, after his graduation, settled at Holly Springs, Mississippi. He later moved to Linden, Alabama, where he began the practice of law and soon became prominent in the political life of his state. In 1851, he was elected to the state legislature. In 1865, he was elected to a seat on the bench of the state supreme court, which he held until displaced by the reconstruction measures of Congress. At the Methodist Conference of 1870, he advocated the establishment of a Methodist university which later became Vanderbilt University. He died on 24 September 1874.

William Byrd married Maria Hawkins Massie (b. 1818) on 14 June 1838.

This collection consists chiefly of deeds, indentures, and land grants for sales of land in Marengo County, Alabama. There is also scattered political, business, and personal correspondence of William Byrd, and certificates presented to various members of the Byrd family.