Consisting chiefly of materials relating to two generations of the Lemmond family of Lancaster County, S.C., including letters of William J. Lemmond, a tailor by trade, who left South Carolina in 1849 for the California gold fields, and his son, W.D. Lemmond, a merchant and cotton farmer. Two items document William J. Lemmond's occupation as a tailor: indenture, 19 Sept. 1837, by which fourteen-year-old William Barber was apprenticed to Lemmond to learn the tailor's trade; and document, 18 Apr. 1840, concerning a patent for "Improvement in Tailors measuring instruments." Letters, 23 Sept. 1849-28 Feb. 1853, concern William J. Lemmond's journey to California, participation in the California gold rush, and travels to the gold fields in company with Albert and Augustus Tryon. His letters from California were written from Culloma, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and Coon Hollow mining camp; several were printed in the Camden Journal newspaper. Lemmond found little success as a miner and died in San Francisco on 5 June 1853, a suicide victim. Materials, 1860-1925, concern the family and activities of W.D. Lemmond, including courtship letters and items documenting his mercantile and cotton planting interests. Items concerning his involvement as a layman in the Methodist church include letters from Methodist ministers and two letters, 10 Jan. 1885 and 16 Jan. 1890, from James H. Carlisle, president of Wofford College.
