About the Collection
The James Simons Papers, 1832-1879, collection contains one bound volume and loose papers pertaining to James Simons (1813-1879).
A South Carolina attorney, military leader and legislator, James Simons was the son of James Simons (1761-1815), a Continental Army officer who practiced law in Charleston, South Carolina and was the commander (general) of the 4th Brigade of the South Carolina militia. In 1861, General Simons was in command at Morris Island in Charleston. He was Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives for twelve years and married Sarah Lowndes Wragg (1814-1901) in 1835. Their son, James Simons Jr. (1839-1919), also became an attorney. After the American Civil War, he practiced law with his father in the firm of Simons & Simons in Charleston, S.C.
The James Simons Account Book, 1838-1854, contains financial information for Mrs. Harleston Simons in account with her brother James Simons. Accounts include payments made for shoes, clothing, slave badges, and wages for enslaved persons. The names of the enslaved persons are written as Martha, Billy, John, Sammy, Annette, Lydia, Charlotte, and Richard.
Loose papers include a mortgage for forty-five enslaved persons, bills of sale for enslaved persons sold to individuals such as James Sinkler, Keating Simons, William H. Sinkler and J.B. Waring, two notices for an estate sale which includes a “prime gang” of forty-nine and sixty-two enslaved persons, and an estate dispute over the sale of the enslaved man Sam.
