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Collection: BADGETT PAPERS
Caswell County, N. C.
1777-1889
p r 137.1
Physical Description: 394 items; includes correspondence, deeds, wills,
estates papers, court records, bills, receipts, bills of sale, promis¬
sory notes, account books, and miscellaneous papers.
Acquisition: July 12, 1935, gift of correspondence, legal and business
records, and miscellaneous papers, from Mrs. Van Daniel, Ruffin, N. C.
(per Richard D. White, Baltimore, Maryland); February 21, 1972, gift
of xerocopies of correspondence and an account book from Mr. Van W.
Daniel, Jr., Carolvan Farm, Ruffin, N. C. .
Description: This collection contains personal correspondence, business
papers, and miscellaneous records of the Badgett family, planters in
Caswell County. There are also a few papers of the Glass and Cobb fam¬
ilies, associates of the Badgetts.
There are records of 4 generations of Badgetts in the collection.
The first is John Badgett whose children were Benton, Jonathan, James,
Peter, Drucilla, Andrew, Jesse, and William. The last son, William,
was the father of John, Henry, Alfred, Mary, Sally, Elizabeth, Recey,
and Drucilla. The bulk of the papers were created by Henry Badgett,
his wife Martha S. Glass, his father-in-law and business associate
John Glass, and children, Thomas J., A. S., Mary E.t Emma, John D.,
and William H. (See genealogical chart.)
The largest category of papers in the collection is correspondence,
both incoming and outgoing; most of it is personal in nature, dealing
with family matters. Correspondents include family members Henry
Badgett, his brother Alfred, and his children John D., Thomas J., Mary E.,
and William H. , as well as John Glass and other business associates.
Personal correspondence includes a number of letters written by
Thomas J. Badgett while an undergraduate at the University of North
Carolina (1857-1859) and a medical student at the University of Pennsyl¬
vania (1859-1861). These describe life in Chapel Hill and Philadelphia;
the reaction of Philadelphians to the execution of John Brown (Dec. 10,
1959); an attempt by a group of Philadelphia abolitionists to rescue a
fugitive slave who was being returned to his master (Apr. 6, 1860); and
a visit to New York (during which he boarded the Great Eastern) , Boston,
