This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities; this finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO; this collection was reprocessed with support from Elizabeth Moore Ruffin.
Size | 0.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 500 items) |
Abstract | Kenneth Rayner was a lawyer, North Carolina state legislator, member of the Alabama Claims Commission, solicitor of the United States Treasury, and United States Representative from North Carolina. The collection includes correspondence and personal, family, and legal papers relating to lands in Bertie County and other northeastern North Carolina counties acquired by KennethRayner's family. Included is some correspondence of William Polk, Rayner's father-in-law. Rayner's papers, beginning in 1842, reveal little information on his varied activities; papers from 1870-1884 consist chiefly of recommendations for appointment to office, but include copies of letters exchanged by Bartholomew Figures Moore and Rayner concerning the surrender of the city of Raleigh, N.C., to General Sherman in 1865. Later papers include family items and Polk genealogical information. |
Creator | Rayner, Kenneth, 1808-1884. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: SHC Staff
Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007
Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, September 2009
This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.
This collection was reprocessed with support from Elizabeth Moore Ruffin.
Back to TopThe 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.
Kenneth Rayner (1808-1884) was a lawyer and a member of the Whig Party, serving as a North Carolina state legislator, United States Representative from North Carolina, and member of the North Carolina convention of 1861. In 1848, Rayner ran against Millard Fillmore for the vice-presidential nomination to Zachary Taylor. Submitting to a caucus of Whig party leaders, Rayner lost to Fillmore by one vote. Had he won, he would have become president of the United States when Taylor died after a year in office. After the Civil War he became a Republican and moved to Tennessee, then to Mississippi, and finally to Washington, D.C., serving as a member of the Alabama Claims Commission and solicitor of the United States Treasury.
Back to TopThe collection includes correspondence and personal, family, and legal papers of Kenneth Rayner. Early papers are related to property acquired by the Rayner family in Bertie and other northeastern North Carolina counties. Rayner family items include the will of Richard Rayner, Amos Rayner, and scattered deeds. Also in the early papers are scattered items of the Polk family, especially of William Polk, Kenneth Rayner's father-in-law. These include accounts of Thomas Polk and William Polk with the North Carolina land office. There are also letters from William Polk to his wife, Sarah Hawkins Polk, and a few items related to Andrew Jackson, including a letter from Jackson to William and Sarah Polk.
Kenneth Rayner papers begin in 1842 and are somewhat scattered. A few letters, 1867, exchanged between Bartholomew Figures Moore and Rayner discuss the surrender of the city of Raleigh, N.C., to General William T. Sherman in 1865. Items 1870-1884 consist chiefly of recommendations for appointment to office. Notable correspondents include James Lusk Alcorn, John Baxter, George Washington Brooks, William J. Clarke, Robert Paine Dick, Charles Foster, Joseph S. Fowler, William Mercer Green, Eugene Hale, Isham Green Harris, R. R. Heath, William Woods Holden, J. F. Manning, Bartholomew Figures Moore, James K. Polk, Leonidas L. Polk, John Pool, Thomas Settle, William Tecumseh Sherman, Zebulon Baird Vance, and John Thomas Wheat.
Back to TopFolder 1a |
Original finding aid |
Folder 1 |
1675-1713 |
Folder 2 |
1725-1770 |
Folder 3 |
1771-1790 |
Folder 4 |
1800-1819 |
Folder 5 |
1820-1847 |
Folder 6 |
1852-1869 |
Folder 7 |
1870-1876 |
Folder 8 |
1877 |
Folder 9-10
Folder 9Folder 10 |
1878 |
Folder 10 |
1879 |
Folder 11 |
1880-1881 |
Folder 12 |
1882 |
Folder 13 |
1883-1898 |
Folder 14 |
1901-1905 |
Genealogy |
|
Folder 15-17
Folder 15Folder 16Folder 17 |
Letters of Recommendation to the President of the United StatesEndorsements of Kenneth Rayner for the Court of Claims, sent to President Rutherford B. Hayes, containing many signatures, chiefly of lawyers, many of them from North Carolina. |
Folder 18 |
Undated |
Folder 19 |
Photograph and plan of House of Representatives |
Folder 20 |
Clippings |
Oversize Paper Folder OPF-625/1 |
Oversize papers |