See also UPA Microfilm:

MF 5322, Series I, Part 2, Reels 11-12

Benjamin Kendrick Papers

(Mss. 906)

Inventory

Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections

Special Collections, Hill Memorial Library

Louisiana State University Libraries

Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University

Reformatted 2007

Contents of Inventory

Biographical/Historical Note	4
Scope and Content Note	4
Series Description(s)	5
Index Terms	6
Container List	7

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Summary

Size.	611 items
Geographic locations.	East Feliciana Parish, La.; Jackson, La.; New Orleans, La.; Bourbon County, Ky.; Palmyra, Mo.; Alabama; Tennessee
Inclusive dates.	1806-1892
Bulk dates.	1810-1840
Language.	English
Summary.	Legal papers, bills, receipts, and correspondence document Kendrick's life as a cotton planter in St. Francisville and in Jackson, Louisiana, especially his business with New Orleans merchants and factors.
Organization.	Chronological.
Restrictions on access.	If microfilm is available, photocopies must be made from microfilm.
Related collections.	N/A
Copyright.	Copyright of the original materials is retained by descendants of the creators in accordance with U.S. copyright law.
Citation.	Benjamin Kendrick Papers, Mss. 906, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, LSU Libraries, Baton Rouge, La.
Stack location(s).	U:170
Also available on:	Microfilm 5322, Series I, Part 2, Reels 11-12

Biographical/Historical Note

Benjamin Kendrick was a cotton planter and slaveholder with land holdings in St. Francisville in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. In 1823, he moved to a location near Jackson in East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana; He established the Asphodel Plantation ca. 1830. Kendrick's daughter, Isabel Ann, married Colonel David J. Fluker.

Scope and Content Note

Legal papers, bills, receipts, and correspondence document Kendrick's life as a cotton planter in St. Francisville and in Jackson, Louisiana. The earliest materials in the collection reflect Kendrick's activities in St. Francisville and include bills and receipts for rents, storage, freight, blacksmithing, clothing, and merchandise purchased from the firms Joseph Gray & Company, McMicken and Ficklin, Smith and Mills, and Alexander and Lewis Sterling.

Papers (1810-1840) include receipts for medical care of family members and slaves, tax receipts, statements concerning the education of Kendrick's daughter Isabel Ann with tutors and at College Hill, Florida Institution (1824-1833), contracts for the manufacture of shoes for family and slaves (1826-1837), and receipts from a jailer in Fayette County for holding slaves (1833-1835). Correspondence includes letters from New Orleans merchants, a letter from a Missouri slave dealer discussing purchases and prices of slaves (1836), and a letter of Kendrick's son-in-law, David J. Fluker of East Feliciana Parish, concerning the estate of Caroline Kendrick and the inheritance of Fluker's wife, Isabel Ann Fluker.

Legal papers include Kendrick's promissory notes (1812-1835) to various individuals and land deeds for holdings in East and West Feliciana Parishes. Several papers (post 1840) including bills and correspondence pertain to David J. Fluker.

Series Descriptions

[The collection is arranged chronologically, but like items are described in groups below.

See the Container List for description reflecting physical arrangement]

Series I, Financial Papers, 1806-1838

Mercantile receipts contained in the collection reveal purchases from the following New Orleans firms (1820-1837): Peter Debuys; Townsend and Ogden; Turner and Woodruff; Yard and Blois, and Walton and Company. Accounts with St. Francisville firms (1810-1838) include those of Joseph Gray and Company; J.B. Smith and Mills; McMicken and Ficklin, and Davis and Barrow. Accounts with Jackson, La. (1824-1838) firms include those of Andrew Atchison; Brady and Martin; Nicholas and Christmas; and H.S. White.

Medical receipts for services rendered Kendrick’s family and slaves (1814-1838) as well as hotel receipts (1837) are also included. Receipts for taxes on Kendrick’s property in Feliciana Parish cover the period 1814-1835, and business correspondence of Kendrick and Lewis Stirling, including receipts for rent of Stirling’s Springfield Plantation, covers the period 1814-1819. Receipts signed by Elisah Andrews reveal that Kendrick’s daughter, Isabel, received educational instructions from Miss Jane Andrews (1825-1827).

Kendrick transacted business with the New Orleans commission merchant firms of Wilkins and Lenton; Lane, Lovett and Company; Flower and Finley; Debuys and Longer; Lambeth and Thompson; and Bullitt, Shipp, and Company (1816-1835). Correspondence of these firms pertains to the market for cotton, fluctuations of price for cotton, quality, and the sales of cotton during the months of December and January before the arrival at New Orleans of cotton from Alabama and Tennessee. Freight receipts during the 1830s reveal shipments of produce and plantation supplies via steamers Planter, Columbia, Huntsville, and Freedom. The collection contains contracts of Kendrick with John Field and Augustus Knapp for the making of shoes for Kendrick’s family and of brogans for his slaves (1826-1837). A letter to Kendrick from William G. Overton, slave dealer of Palmyra, Missouri, relates the purchase and price of slaves (1836).

Series II, Legal Papers, 1812-1884

Legal papers include promissory notes by Kendrick to Joseph Dunbar, John Stirling, Elijah Adams, and James Johnson (1812-1835), and land deeds in Feliciana Parish (1834-1853).

A letter to Kendrick from R.W. Walker of East Feliciana requests that Kendrick witness an arbitration agreement between Parsons Carter and Richard Cochran relating to the rent of land and hire of slaves (1834). Letters of D.J. Fluker, Black Creek, East Feliciana Parish, relate to the administration and division of the estate of Caroline Kendrick (1836). A number of legal papers relate to the suit of Ely R. Thomas versus Benjamin Kendrick for possession of a stolen slave (1823-1884).

Series III, Photograph, 1894

A miniature photograph of an unknown man is also found in the collection (New Jersey, 1894).

Index Terms

Asphodel Plantation (La.)

Commission merchants--Louisiana--New Orleans.

Cotton growing--Louisiana.

Cotton prices--Louisiana.

Cotton trade--Louisiana.

East Feliciana Parish (La.)--History.

Fluker, David J.

Legal documents.

Letters.

Merchants--Louisiana--New Orleans.

Plantation owners--Louisiana.

Receipts.

Slaveholders--Louisiana.

Slaveholders--Missouri.

Slaves--Louisiana.

Slaves--Medical care--Louisiana.

Stirling, Lewis.

Thomas, Ely R.

West Feliciana Parish (La.)--History.

Container List

Stack Location	Box	Folder(s)	Contents (with dates)
U:170	1a	1-5	1806-1824
	1b	6-8	1825-1829
	2a	9-13	1830-July 1835
	2b	14-17	September 1835-1872, undated
		18	Photograph 1894
MF:5322, Series I	Part 2	Reels 11-12