Perry County, Alabama Papers, MSS.0139

Abstract: Letters and other documents donated by a source in Perry County, Alabama. The collection consists of eight letters to Elias Benson. There is also one summons order included in the Elias Benson series. Another series contains the will of Philip Smith of South Carolina. The Thomas and Mary Jones series contains three statements of debt made to John E. Cook, along with an indenture statement and draft. The final series includes miscellaneous documents including deed certification, court records, official statements, indenture papers, excerpts from company minutes and poems.Scope and Content Note: The papers of Elias Benson (9 items) are primarily correspondence spanning the years from 1821--1841 although there is also a legal paper and an IOU. The papers of Mary and Thomas S. Jones (5 items) are statements of debt and indentures, all from 1882.There is also an 1821 copy of a 1796 will of South Carolina planter Philip Smith, as well as assorted legal papers, all of which may have belonged to the Smith family's papers.Printed poems and rough drafts of poems, that all seem to be from the 1890s, are also in the collection.The John F. Thompson papers were originally part of this collection, but were separated because they dealt wholly with the Alabama militia in the 1830s.Biographical/Historical Note: Not much could be discovered about Elias Benson except that he originally came from South Carolina. He had many brothers, some of which are represented in this collection. Gabriel, Abner, and Nimrod Benson are represented, but there was also a Robert Benson. Nimrod and, it is suspected, Gabriel, also moved to Alabama. Elias was not in the 1850 census record, so it may be assumed he died in the 1840's.Nothing whatsoever could be discovered about Thomas and Mary Jones.Philip Smith, represented in these papers by a will, died in 1796 at the age of 68. He was a planter of St. Bartholemew Parish. On April 17, 1766, he married Elizabeth Stobo, a widow. He had three children, Charlotte, Mary and Philip Skiruing Smith