Papers of the Odell and Mitchell families, 1850-1855 and undated.
Title:
Papers of the Odell and Mitchell families, 1850-1855 and undated.
Chiefly family correspondence, including courtship letters exchanged by Fannie Odell and John Andrew Jeter Mitchell. Other correspondents include Hattie Mitchell, John Odell, and Sarah "Sally" Eleanor Odell. Includes letter, 21 Apr. 1850, [Mountville], Laurens District, [S.C.], John Odell, to daughters Frances and Emily, Salem, N.C., giving news of the family, all of whom were in good health except for their sister, who was recuperating from an illness; letter, 19 Aug. 1853, [Laurens District, S.C.], Sally [Odell], to "My dear Sisters," noting that this likely would be the last letter she wrote to them before they returned from Salem, discussing the state of various churches in the area (Bethabara, Mount Pleasant, Liberty Springs, Beaverdam), urging her sisters to "lay aside all your girlish follies" and strive to lead godly lives, and noting the many changes in the community since they had gone away to school, including her own family of children. Letter, 26 Aug. 1853 (Berger's Store [Pittsylvania County], Va.), from Bettie to Fannie Odell (Salem, N.C.), expressing disappointment in not having received a letter from Fannie with her photograph or "[daguerreo]type" and inquiring about fellow classmates and teachers at Salem. Also includes printed invitation, June 1854, Laurensville, [S.C.], to a "Social Party" on "Thursday Evening, 15th instant," with list of managers, Maj. B.R. Campbell, S.F. Vance, Dr. J.H. Henry, and W.H. Garlington; letter, 22 June [18]54, from Hattie to "My Dear Fannie," inquiring whether Fannie was a member of a church and noting that she would like "to join some branch of the Christian church, for it is my desire to live more devoted to Christ than I have heretofore," so that she might again see George [presumably her younger sister, Georgeanna, who died in May 1854 while a student at Barhamville]; and letter, 31 May [1854], Leesville, Lexington District, S.C., from J.A. Mitchell, to "Miss Fannie," conveying news of the death of Georgeanna. Other items include letter, 9 June [18]55, Big Hill, Madison County, Kentucky, J.A. Mitchell, to Mrs. Fannie M. Mitchell, Chucky Bend, Jefferson County, East Tennessee, apologizing to his wife for not have written while he had been away in Kentucky buying hogs, explaining that hogs were difficult to procure due to the lack of clover which meant that the hogs had to forage for masts or nuts of forest trees; letter, 21 Mar. [n.y.], Barhamville, from Elliot, to Misses F[annie] & E[mily] Odell, Milton P.O., Laurens District, S.C., noting that she had only recently arrived at Barhamville [S.C. Female Collegiate Institute (Columbia, S.C.)], which she did not like as well as Salem, noting her participation in the wedding of Permelia Young and Dr. McCray, and naming the girls she had known at Salem who were students at Barhamville as well as those with whom she was living. Letter, 23 Aug. [1850s?] (Chucky Bend, Tenn.), from Fannie, to J.A. Mitchell (Leesville, Lexington District, S.C.), giving her opinion of Cocke County in East Tennessee, where her father owned plantation property on the Nolichucky River, "...I could not be hired to remain here any length of time, from what little I have seen of the people they are very uncivilized, every gentleman I have heard talk, curse more or less... old white headed men are just as profane as any. On Monday about a mile there was preaching, we went and I was perfectly disgusted at the ill behavior, not half so refined as our Southern servants. The preachers were baptists, two in number, we were very much pleased indeed with them; they were the most erudicious Bap I have ever heard, they were missionarys."
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