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Collection: PATE, BURWELL S., PAPERS VC. 2lq»l-2bl.7
Northampton County, North Carolina N. P. 161-163
1815-1898
Physical Description: Letters, bills, receipts, advertisements, poems,
promissory notes, judgments, deeds, estate settlements, liens, almanacs,
election propaganda. 1,588 items.
Acquisition:. Gift of Walter Lee Pate through Dorothy W. Watkins, 7 East
Lane Street, Raleigh, North Carolina..
July 23,' 1959.
Description: These are the papers of two generations of Pates in
Northampton County and several members of the Jackson family, as
well as a few other miscellaneous items. Burwell and Nancy Pate
had ten children - Martha, Rebacah, Mary E., Lucy, Henry E., Louise,
William Franklin, John Wesley, Alexander, and Thomas B. The majority
of the records are divided between Burwell Pate (1820-1871) and his
son John W. Pate ( 18U7— 1896) • ^
In the correspondence are business letters (1870-1890)
of John W. Pat.e to and from commission merchants in Norfolk, Petersburg,
and Baltimore; letters relative to cutting and sale of railroad ties
to an agent in Portsmouth, Virginia and to commission merchants in New
York. John W. Pate's son, S. J. Pate,, writes describing his travels in
North Carolina and Virginia selling and installing lightening rods;
another son, W.' L. Pate, writes of his work for the railroad in Portsmouth;
a daughter and her. husband, Mollie and Barney Fi^i , write from Varina
and Holly Springs, telling of their daily life. Other correspondence
of John W. Pate deals with legal matters.
The papers of Burwell Pate include tax receipts; accounts, •
paid and due, to merchants and individuals for articles purchased and
services rendered; promissory notes; judgments; and records involved
in the settlement of his estate (1860-1870). Those of John W. Pate
contain accounts of necessities purchased; tuition and board for his
children, Samuel, Mary, Maggie, and Mollie; records of cotton liens
and cotton shipments; and of lumber and railroad ties cut and delivered.
