Correspondence and related materials, 1845-1869

Early materials include deeds; Civil War letters from Matt W. Ransom to his wife, Martha "Pattie" Exum Ransom; and other items. Later letters relate to farming and business, with a few 1869 letters from George William Swepson.

Correspondence, 1870-1875

Topics include plantation news, senate bills, and railroad business. There are letters from Matt W. Ransom to his wife and children while in the Senate that describe feelings between the North and the South, letters of congratulations to Matt Ransom on his speech in defense of the South, and letters from Matt Ransom Jr. while in college at Lexington, Va., describing college life there. A number of the 1870-1871 letters relate to railroad fraud committed by George William Swepson, treasurer of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad and president of the western division of the Western North Carolina Railroad. Of note are a letter of 3 December 1873 from Jennie [last name not included] of Asheville, N.C., commenting on local politics, especially Asheville's Republican representation and local officials who were advocating for another war; a letter of 29 June 1874 from William Cawthorne in Philadelphia, Pa., commenting on differences between his reception as an African American at all-white Good Templar lodges in Philadelphia and in North Carolina; and a 10 December 1975 letter from former slave and former Union Army Chaplain Garland H. White, requesting that Pierce Lafayette, an African American Democratic preacher, be appointed police officer in Washington, D.C.

Correspondence, 1876-1877

Includes letters from family and friends on political events, plantation news, and the price of cotton. There are also some June 1876 letters from Zebulon B. Vance regarding criticisms of Vance.

Correspondence, 1878-1879

Topics include depression in business, the tariff question, pension bills, railroad business, and Senate reports. There are also letters from Robert Ransom on college life at the University of North Carolina and from Matt Ransom Jr. on crop conditions.

Correspondence, 1880-1885

Includes family letters, petitions to Congress, and topics such as river and harbor bills, the condition of state education, the dedication of the New Oxford Orphan Home, the success of the Democratic Party, and Ransom's re-election to the Senate. There are also letters from Matt W. Ransom to his son advising on managing the farm. 1884-1885 correspondence also includes family letters on plantation news, price and sales of cotton, the election of Grover Cleveland, the oyster industry in North Carolina, the death of Ulysses S. Grant, the rice industry, improving the lower Mississippi River, and tobacco and brandy taxes.

Correspondence, 1886

Topics include the debate over silver-backed currency, an act to incorporate an American college for the blind, and bills regarding the sale of artificial butter.

Correspondence, 1887

Topics include abuse of the Internal Revenue System, an appeal for women's suffrage in America by Sallie Clay Bennett, a bill to remove the tax upon trade and commerce between the United States and Canada, a visit to North Carolina by President Grover Cleveland, and political discord among various North Carolina counties. Also included are many requests to Matt W. Ransom for political influence. Includes a letter of 16 May from A. M. Noble of Johnston County, N.C., expressing outrage that the Democratic administration had not removed an African American mail agent serving on the Greensboro to Goldsboro route.

Correspondence, 1888

Topics include the value and condition of the mica industry in North Carolina, the building up of North Carolina ports, pension cases, state election, the crash of the State National Bank, the tariff question, prohibition, stock law, labor, the Farmer's Alliance and Industrial Union, and Grover Cleveland's defeat in the presidential race. There are also requests for Matt W. Ransom to make political speeches and a letter from W. M. Grant describing life in Alaska.

Correspondence, 1889

There are many letters congratulating Ransom on his re-election to United States Senate and requests for favors, as well as letters that discuss changes under the Benjamin Harrison administration and the struggling money market.

Correspondence, 1890-1892

Topics include the plantation life, references to Leonidas Polk and the National Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union, the early history of the Democratic Party, references to the life and character of North Carolina Governor D. S. Reid, the struggles of cotton growers, the death of General Robert Ransom, and the debate regarding women's suffrage and its effect upon the North and the South. There is also a letter of 3 February 1892 from Susan B. Anthony, sending a questionnaire to get Matt W. Ransom's opinion on women's suffrage, and a 4 June 1891 letter from F. S. Faison of Garysburg, N.C., notifying Ransom that "the opposition" would be holding a meeting, at which several African Americans were going to speak, and asking if Ransom would join them in "capturing the meeting." Includes a handwritten formula for making guano written by John Ramsay dated 7 January 1882.

Correspondence, 1893

Topics include the presidential re-election of Grover Cleveland (including a letter from Cleveland, 26 February 1893), the value and growth of cotton mills in North Carolina, Egyptian cotton seeds, farm activities, the cotton market, complaints about African American postmasters, the value of income tax, the debate over silver-backed currency, comments from J. S. Carr on the desperate financial situation in North Carolina, fears that Farmers' Alliance members would vote for the People's Party, and the beet sugar industry in America. Of note is a 3 November letter from Garland H. White of Alexandria, Va., a former slave and former Union Army chaplain, describing his work with the Democratic Party and requesting to confer with Matt W. Ransom on organizing local African American Democrats following the next election.

Correspondence, 1894-1895

Includes an appeal from Sallie Southall Cotten to Matt W. Ransom to aid the Virginia Dare Association in establishing a national school for girls in Raleigh, N.C.; an account of the death of Senator Zebulon B. Vance; Ransom's Senate race and defeat; the political tide among African Americans in North Carolina; and Ransom's appointment as minister to Mexico.

Correspondence, 1895

Includes several letters (some photostat copies) regarding Matt W. Ransom's salary as minister to Mexico.

Correspondence, 1896

Topics include Matt W. Ransom's work as minister to Mexico; the Ransom family's mortgages, debts, and sales of land; and the death of Tom Ransom.

Correspondence, 1897-1898

Topics include the conduct of African Americans on the plantation and references to issues between the United States and Spain. There are also letters from Matt Ransom Jr. from Hot Springs, Ark.

Correspondence, 1899-1900

Includes reports on the cotton market and requests for Ransom's support for J. S. Carr in his race for United States Senate.

Correspondence, 1901-1905

Topics include claim settlements, finances, Whitaker family genealogy, Matt Ransom Jr.'s appointment as delegate to the Farmer's National Congress in Niagara Falls, and Theodore Roosevelt's presidential nomination. There are also comments on politics, especially in North Carolina, from F. M. Simmons and H. G. Williams. 1904 correspondence also relates to Matt W. Ransom's death.

Correspondence, 1906-1914

Includes letters from Matt W. Ransom's wife, Martha "Pattie" Exum Ransom, to their children and other materials regarding the settlement of debts and Ransom's estate.

Correspondence and related items: Undated

Printed matter

Bills and receipts

Matt W. Ransom's presidential pardon for his involvement in the Confederate Army signed by Andrew Johnson, 13 December 1866

Other papers

Includes newspaper clippings; congressional records, 1879-1886; a small notebook of scattered notes; an 1880 plantation ledger; and an article by C. A. Upchurch regarding Matt W. Ransom's appointment as minister to Mexico. The contents of folder 673, which is labeled "1895 Addition," are missing.