This collection contains incoming and outgoing correspondence of J. Freeman Suttle, an early 20th-century merchant and farmer in what is now Marion, Alabama. He received 12 letters from a variety of correspondents, including members of his extended family. Etta Suttle, his niece, and H. G. Smith, his cousin, discussed aspects of their education. Etta noted the downside to teaching school in Marion, where she would know most of the students (May 17, 1909). On June 4, 1910, Alma L. Stewart of Camden, Alabama, wrote "Mr. J. F. Suttles" [sic] about a teaching position. The collection has drafts of Suttle's response and 2 letters that Suttle wrote to Camden residents inquiring about Stewart's qualifications. In November 1916, Suttle corresponded with Mrs. George Rutledge of Selma, Alabama, about a local well he owned; his draft response to Rutledge (November 23, 1916) is typed on the back of a letter from the Oak Grove Farm in Felix, Alabama. The final dated letters pertain to Ross D. Leverett's request for a job on Suttle's farm in December 1916.
James Freeman Suttle was born on January 2, 1866, the son of John White Suttle and Rebecca Jane Smith. On June 8, 1898, he married Angie Lucille Jones. They had at least five children: James, Pettus, John, Walter, and Roger. The Suttle family lived in Oak Grove, Alabama (now part of Marion), in the early 20th century, where J. Freeman Suttle was a merchant and farmer. He died on December 1, 1934.
