Miller, Furman, Dabbs and family papers

John Blount Miller (1782-1851) was the patriarch of these families and is the principal correspondent in the collection. Miller served as Commissioner in Equity for Sumter District, S.C., over a forty-year period and was active in legal affairs. He was also a planter whose estate, probated in 1851, included thirty-three slaves and substantial lands.

Letters addressed to J.B. Miler and other family members, chiefly from former residents of Sumter District who migrated to other Southern states, convey descriptions of life, economic matters, and personal concerns.

Correspondents include William Aiken, John Ewing Colhoun, Francis DeLiesseline, Henry W. DeSaussure, William F. DeSaussure, J.K. Douglas, John W. Dubose, Charleston factor Duke Goodman, Davison M. Heriot, Job Johnston, John Kirkpatrick, David Robert Lide, A.M. Manigault, Samuel Mathis, Stephen Decatur Miller, William Murrell Miller, Joshua Reynolds, John M. Roberts, Miranda E. Scarborough and her husband, artist William H. Scarborough, John Singleton, Richard Singleton, and Thomas Sumter, Jr. Bound volumes contain information on the estates of John MacNair and Daniel Rose; John B. Miller's record of household and professional expenses and legal fees received; a record of funds received as Commissioner in Equity; a "Family Album," containing genealogical information, drawings and other original art work; and two undated volumes re membership of Bethel Baptist Church, including slave members.

Also includes plantation journal, 1860-1866, of John H. Furman, recording experiments with soil improvement and cotton yields.

For more complete description of this collection, see "A calendar of the Miller-Furman-Dabbs Family Papers, 1778-1931," prepared by Allen H. Stokes (1978).