Collections

The Nimrod and Thomas Clark family collection contains correspondence, legal documents, financial records, and other items related to the Clark family of Montgomery County, Georgia. Some items pertain to slave labor.

This collection (78 items) is made up of correspondence, legal and financial records, and other items related to the Clark family of Montgomery County, Georgia.

The Correspondence series contains 27 letters between members of the Clark and Purvis families. The first item is a 1-page letter that William S. Clark wrote to his father while serving with a military unit on Jekyll Island, Georgia, in January 1861. Margaret Clark also received a letter from a nephew about his life in Patroon, Texas, in April 1882, as well as letters from nieces and nephews about their lives in Seward, Georgia. The letters from 1885-1887 largely concern Thomas R. Clark's legal difficulties after he shot a member of the Troop family, an African American family who lived near the Clarks. His mother, who hoped that the case could be settled out of court, offered advice and later reported to relatives that the matter had cost him $60. Margaret and Thomas Clark also received letters from members of the Purvis family. The final item is a letter that Alma Clark wrote to Ellen Murray in April 1939.

The Legal Documents series (23 items) contains contracts and other documents related to the Clark family and to land in Georgia. Ten indentures and deeds are dated before 1853, mainly in Telfair County, Georgia; one includes a sketch of a plot of land in Wilkinson County, Georgia (June 20, 1807). Four items relate to African American laborers who worked for Nimrod Clark, including 2 receipts for the sale of a female slave (October 16, 1844, and October 10, 1853). Nimrod Clark and Mary Clark, a "freed laborer," made a contract in April 1866, and a judge apprenticed Caroline Clark, an 11-year-old African American girl, to Nimrod Clark in December 1866. Other items pertain to Georgia property and to Lewis P. Allard's discharge from the United States Army (June 9, 1865).

Financial Documents (17 items) include 3 Confederate war bonds (1862-1864), 13 receipts pertaining to members of the Clark family, and a small hand-bound volume with undated accounts and genealogical notes about members of the Clark family.

The Portraits and Photographs series (4 items) contains a drawn portrait of a soldier, a tintype print of a soldier, and two cartes-de-visite of Abraham Lincoln and his family.

The Ephemera series (7 items) includes 2 buttons from the "Dragoons Infantry" (1860), printed pages from a Bible class curriculum, and a school copybook.

This collection is made up of correspondence, documents, financial records, and other items related to the family of Augustus D. Williams and Julia Ann Chamberlain and to their daughter Fannie. The Williams family lived in Ohio.

This collection is made up of correspondence, documents, financial records, and other items related to the family of Augustus D. Williams and Julia Ann Chamberlain, including their daughter Fannie. The Williams family lived in Ohio.

The Correspondence series (137 items) consists primarily of incoming personal letters addressed to Julia Ann Williams (née Chamberlain) and to her daughter Frances ("Fannie"). Julia corresponded with her siblings and other family members, who lived in New Hampshire and Ohio in the mid-19th century. Her sister Louisa, who married Samuel Durgin and moved to Gustavus, Ohio, in the mid-1830s, wrote often, sharing news of her social life and requesting news of relatives who remained in New Hampshire. After Julia moved to Maumee, Ohio, around 1835, she received letters from her mother Betsy (who married Joseph Baker after the death of Julia's father) and from various siblings. The Baker family lived in Boscawen, New Hampshire. Julia's stepsister Amanda shared social updates from Loudon, Ohio, and news of family health and of her experiences working in a school. On September 28, 1839, Joseph Baker told Julia of her stepsister Elizabeth's recent illness and death, and E. B. White, a friend of Julia's from Maumee, Ohio, included a drawing of a woman in a cloak in her letter dated October 1840.

After Julia's marriage to Augustus D. Williams in late 1840 or early 1841, the couple received letters from his siblings and extended family, including several from Mortimer H. Williams, who lived in Irwinton, Georgia. Sophia Williams, then Mrs. Henry Clark of Maumee, Ohio, corresponded frequently with Julia and Augustus. Other early material includes a letter regarding the estate of Reverend Nathan Williams of Tolland, Connecticut (May 19, 1830), and additional letters written by Williams siblings in New Hampshire and Ohio throughout the 1830s and 1840s.

During and following the Civil War period, most correspondence is addressed to Frances ("Fannie") Williams, the daughter of Julia and Augustus. Letters written by female cousins during the war include one from Memphis, Tennessee (September 3, 1864) and one from Ellen, who mentioned the recent death of a friend, then fighting in Alabama (October 27, 1864). Many of the postwar letters regard careers in education and social news in Wauseon, Ohio, home of Fannie's cousins Ellen and Libbie. Fannie Williams also received correspondence from friends, including a series of 10 letters and 2 postcards from Clara B. Whitton of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, written between October 22, 1887, and December 22, 1891. Fannie's cousin J. A. B. Parker sent a swatch of fabric on January 12, 1892, and a series of letters commencing on November 19, 1890, contains a lock of hair. In 1895 and 1896, Fannie received several items related to John Alexander Dowie of Chicago, Illinois, a practitioner of "divine healing." One of her cousins sent newspaper clippings related to Dowie's trial (February 5, 1895); the same cousin included a ticket for the Healing Room at Chicago's Zion Tabernacle (April 10, 1895). Margaret Snell Parsons enclosed newspaper clippings and a poem about the healing practice (June 30, 1896). Other later items include letters from Louisa Durgin to Julia Williams, written at her home in Wauseon, Ohio, and a few letters Burt Williams wrote to his sister Fannie in 1896.

The Documents and Financial Records series (109 items) contains accounts, receipts, and legal documents related to members of the Williams family, including many who resided in Tolland, Connecticut, and New York State during the early 19th century. Some of the legal documents pertain to real estate. A license signed by Mayor Cornelius W. Lawrence of New York City authorized David B. Williams to keep a tavern (May 31, 1834). One undated item documents Julia Ann Chamberlain's conversion to Christianity. An account book (91 pages) may have belonged to L. B. Williams of Murray's Commercial School in Maumee, Ohio. The decorated title page includes a drawing of a bird, and a second ink drawing of a bird is laid into the volume.

The Compositions series (102 items) consists primarily of essays by Julia Ann Chamberlain, Fannie Williams, and Mary F. Williams; poems and floral drawings are also present. Most of the essays concern moral topics, history, and religion, including multiple essays on topics such as "hope" and "morning." The series contains compositions about Native Americans, Christopher Columbus, and John Smith.

The Photographs series (16 items) includes cartes-de-visite, other card photographs, and tintypes. Most images are studio portraits of men, women, and children. Two larger tintypes (6" x 8") show the exterior of a home and a garden; one shows a group of people standing behind croquet wickets. One group photograph of school-age boys and girls, taken in May 1890, includes the names of each of the children present.

The bulk of the Newspaper Clippings (39 items) are poems, household hints, and recipes. Other items pertain to weights and measures and to Benjamin Harrison's return to Indianapolis after his presidency.

The Ephemera (45 items) includes invitations, notes, visiting cards, holiday greeting cards, and other items; most are visiting cards for residents of Ohio, some with illustrations. A series of 4 colored prints shows children's leisure activities. The series contains a large colored die-cut advertisement for Jacob Folger of Toledo, Ohio, showing a girl holding flowers.