Z 1769.000 S
TAYLOR-BALLENTINE FAMILY PAPERS
1836-1972
Biography/History:
R. H. Taylor (b. 1838?) was a Tennessee native who became an attorney, merchant, and planter in Sardis, Mississippi. He also served as a Confederate army captain. Active in politics, Taylor was a member of industrial and labor commissions. He and his wife, Belle E., had four daughters: Blanche, Daisy, Edith, and May Belle Taylor.
John G. Ballentine (d. 1915) was a Giles County, Tennessee, native who served as a colonel in the military. He was also president of the People’s National Bank of Pulaski, Tennessee. He married Mary E. Laird (d. 1917), daughter of Henry and Sarah Laird of Pulaski. The Ballentines had five children: Adelaide, Andrew M., Henry L., John G., Jr., and Sallie L. The couple’s real-estate holdings included plantations in Panola and Quitman counties and in Tennessee.
Andrew M. Ballentine (1872?-1943) was a Tennessee native who moved to Mississippi in the early twentieth century. He was a businessmen and planter in Sardis. Ballentine married Daisy Taylor (1878-1940). The couple had two sons: John Goff and Robert Taylor Ballentine.
Scope and Content:
This collection contains approximately 2,500 items dating from the 1830s to 1970s. The papers document the business, legal, and social activities of the Ballentine, Taylor, and allied families. The business and personal correspondence forms a significant portion of the collection. It mainly concerns Ballentine family members, especially Andrew M. Ballentine, but it also includes correspondence of Henry Laird and various Taylor family members. The Ballentine and Taylor financial and legal papers range from household and tax receipts to records of land transactions. The Ballentine farm records reflect crop and livestock production in Panola and Quitman counties, Mississippi, and in Giles County, Tennessee. Of interest is a post-Civil War list of former slaves of the Ballentine family. Account books relating to the Taylor family are included among the farm records, and financial records document the settlement of the Ballentine and Taylor business partnership. The certificates, maps, and petitions concern Ballentine family land holdings. There are records of Ballentine and Laird family business interests and land holdings in the now-defunct town of Belmont, Panola County. Other records concern the Daisy Taylor Ballentine and Newsom estates, and they reflect the role Andrew M. Ballentine played as an administrator or receiver. The literary papers provide insights into the personal activities and career interests of the Ballentine family.
Series Identification:
- Correspondence. 1853-1972.
Box 1:
- Personal correspondence.
- Henry Laird (1882) and Andrew M. Ballentine (1891-1907).
- Andrew M. Ballentine (1908-1928).
Box 2:
- Personal correspondence.
- Andrew M. Ballentine (1931-1943).
- Daisy Taylor Ballentine (1900-1918).
- G. W. Ballentine (1972).
- John G. Ballentine (1905-1916).
- Robert Taylor Ballentine (1960).
- Mr. and Mrs. Robert Taylor Ballentine (1978).
- Sallie Ballentine (1877-1940).
- Ruth McClellan (1928).
- Mr. and Mrs. Thomas C. McClellan (1928).
Box 3:
- Business correspondence.
- Henry Laird (1866-1884).
- Andrew M. Ballentine (1895-1942).
- Ballentine Brothers (1901).
Box 4:
- Business correspondence.
- Daisy Taylor Ballentine (1904).
- G. W. Ballentine (1904).
- John G. Ballentine (1877-1910).
- John G. Ballentine, Jr. (1906).
- John G. Ballentine, Jr. (1918-1922).
- Mary E. Ballentine (1899-1905).
- Miscellaneous (1880-1941).
- Robert Taylor Ballentine (1939-1945).
- Sallie L. Ballentine (1907-1943).
- Alston family correspondence (1885).
- Taylor family correspondence (1880-1904; n.d.)
- Legal Papers. 1836-1954.
Box 5:
Box 6:
- Deed (1950). Agreements and contracts (1866-1943).
- Abstracts-of-title (1904-1934).
- Court-case briefs (1903-1944).
Box 7:
- Divorces; oil, gas, and mineral leases (1952).
- Legal notices (1941).
- Powers-of-attorney (1871-1916).
- Sworn affidavits (1904-1954).
- Legal vouchers (1945).
- Right-of-way instruments (1932-1945).
- Report of appraisers (1943).
- Financial Papers. 1834-1951.
Box 7:
- Insurance policies and correspondence (1860-1932).
- Taylor family business receipts (1834-1922).
- List of stocks owned by May Belle Taylor (n.d.).
Box 8:
- Ballentine household receipts (1901-1942).
- Inventories of Ballentine family members (n.d.). Ledger sheet, n.d.
Box 9:
- Taylor family household receipts (1834-1922). Loans (1844-1942).
Box 10:
- Taylor family tax receipts (1868-1951).
Box 11:
- Ballentine family tax receipts (1866-1945).
Box 12:
- Ballentine family tax receipts (1867-1940).
- Farm Records. 1857-1944.
Box 13:
- Accounts of cotton-bale sales (1858).
- Advances made to farm hands (1900).
- Agreement between Andrew M. Ballentine and E. E. Chapman (1940).
- Application for crop production (1933).
- Corn receipts (1938).
- Correspondence (1900-1940).
- Cotton-ginning record; cotton-production notes (1933-1938).
- Cotton-production pool (1833).
- Cotton-sale certificate (1935).
- Expenses (n.d.). Government land lease (1941).
Box 14:
- Bill of lading (1934). List of former slaves of the Ballentine family.
- List of papers sent to Andrew M. Ballentine regarding property in Quitman County (1909).
- Map showing proposed line dividing Ballentine land from the Bell estate.
- Offers for sale--War Department (1941-1942).
- Offers to enter into cotton-benefit contracts (1933).
- Papers relating to the sale of Ballentine property (1866-1909).
- Promissory note (1929).
- Receipts (1859-1941).
- Return of cotton production (1934).
- Surveys of land owned by the Ballentine family (1833-1910).
- War food program (1944).
Box 15:
- Accounting ledger. Account books and memorandum books; Taylor farm records.
Box 16:
- R. H. Taylor in account with P. L. Alston (1874).
- Correspondence (1869-1898). Receipts (1871-1905).
- Ballentine and Taylor Business Partnership Settlement. 1917-1924.
Box 16:
- Ledger sheets (1923-1924).
- Canceled checks (1924).
- Promissory notes (1917-1919).
- Bank records; bad debts (1923).
- Totals.
- Belmont, Panola County, Mississippi, Properties. 1836-1913.
Box 16:
- Description of Belmont property.
- Deed of John G. Ballentine.
- Deed of Henry Laird.
- Title bond of John G. Ballentine.
- Tax receipts (1876-1895).
- Certificates of interest in the Belmont Company (1836).
- Title bond to Volney Peel (1836).
- Tallahatchie River.
- List of taxable real estate of John G. Ballentine in Mississippi.
Box 17:
- Block map describing Belmont.
- Daisy Taylor Ballentine Estate, Andrew M. Ballentine, Administrator. 1921-1941.
Box 18:
- Receipts (1921-1941).
- Itemized accounts of bills paid.
- Legal vouchers (1941).
- Status of taxes (1940-1941).
- Bank records (1940-1941).
- Certificates; Maps; and Petitions. 1857-1917.
Box 18:
- Certificates of redemption (1880).
- Certificate of stock ownership (1859-1872).
- Certificate of achievement (1917).
- Certificates of land ownership (1857-1909).
- Confederate flags.
- Maps of land owned by the Ballentine family.
- Matriculation certificate and bursar's receipt from Vanderbilt University (1891-1892).
- College entrance examination board (1921-1922).
- Petition requesting permission for Matthias Elmore to remain in Lafayette County (1863).
- Plat of subdivision in Sardis (1871). Grade report of Robert Taylor Ballentine (1914).
- Literary Papers. 1868-1924.
Box 18:
- Referral of H. H. Hymett … by John G. Ballentine.
- Speeches of John G. Ballentine. Newspaper clippings (1868-1924).
- Newsom Estate, Andrew M. Ballentine, Receiver. 1936-1939.
Box 19:
- Correspondence (1936-1937).
- Bankers and Shippers Insurance Company (1936).
- >Caldwell and Caldwell (1936).
- Lease contracts (1936).
- Subordination and non-disturbance agreement (1938).
- Notice of trustee's sale (1936).
- Federal Land Bank v. Mary Jane Newsom, et al. (1937).
- Federal Land Bank v. Mary Etta Newsom, et al. (1938).
- Receipt from T. A. Ross, C.P.A. (1936).
- Panola County Bank account of Mary Jane Newsom (1937-1939).
- Bank of Sardis account of Mary Etta Newsom (1936-1939).
- Tax statement (1936-1938).
- Receipts (1936).
- First annual accounting (1937).
- Records for Newsom lands, sections 7-18. Estate description.
