Buckingham Smith papers, 1613-1941.

ArchivalResource

Smith, Buckingham, 1810-1871. Buckingham Smith papers, 1613-1941.

Buckingham Smith papers, 1613-1941.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/475929980

Collection, ca. 1613-ca. 1941, of miscellaneous papers related to Buckingham Smith or from his collection of historical documents. The bulk of the collection consists of Buckingham Smith's own notes and correspondence, but there is also a typed biography of him, and miscellaneous historical documents from his collection, mostly relating to the history of Florida. The correspondence, 1852-1872, pertains to Smith's researches, personal matters, public affairs and legislation in Florida in 1870, his library of books and manuscripts after his death, and includes a 12-page draft of a letter about the political convulsion in Spain, written July 28, 1856. It includes letters from George H. Moore, George W. Atwood, and Francis Parkman. His other papers include a prospectus and subscription list for his "Collecion de varios documentos para la Historia de la Florida y Terras Adyacientes"; proofs of his "Relation of Alvar Nuñez Cabeça de Vaca"; notes, including a transcript of the life story of "Uncle Jack," an African slave, describing his childhood in Africa and his experiences in the U.S.; passports, clippings, scrapbooks, and miscellaneous ephemera, including some Confederate paper money issued by the Fairmont Bank, Virginia and other items related to the Confederacy. There are also some maps, including a printed map of the Mexico City area, prabably eighteenth-century, and ninetenth-century watercolor copies of early maps of North America. The earliest printed document is a four-page pamphlet entitled La prodigiosa nauegacion de la naue Santa Elena, que venia de la India de Portugal. Malaga: Antonio René, 1613. Manuscripts in Spanish related to the history of Florida include legal documents, some with sixteenth-century dates but perhaps transcribed later, and a number of sevententh- and eighteenth-century documents related to Franciscans in Santa Elena, Florida. Manuscripts in English include diaries of John Hambley, an Indian agent, interpreter, and trader in Florida. One section of the diary, January 14, 1794 - April 2, 1794, was kept while he was on a mission from Governor Juan Nepomuceno de Quesada to deliver letters to John Kinnaird, one of the chiefs of the Lower Creeks, and to Don Pedro Oliver, informing them of an impending expedition against Florida. He writes of meetings with Indians, the reaction and attitude of James Seagrove, the Indians' opening of Seagrove's mail, word that Americans were coming, and distrust of Seagrove. In the other part of the diary, June 29, 1794 - August 27, 1794, written while delivering letters from Governor Quesada to John Kinnaird and other Creek chiefs, he writes of the uneasiness of the Indians at the incursion of General Elijah Clarke and some men, the robbery and humiliation of James Seagrove, meetings with the chiefs, the murder of George Welbank, and travel difficulties. The correspondence of John Leslie, a merchant in St. Augustine, Florida, 1781-1800, deals with such matters as trade with soldiers and Indians; conflict between Indians and Georgians; activities of William Augustus Bowles; driving and sale of cattle and horses; trade with England and the West Indies; runaway slaves; disputed land titles; local shipping; supplies for the Indians; travelling difficulties; personal and family matters; and politics in Nassau. Correspondents include Thomas Forbes, Alexander McGillivray, Robert Leslie, William Pengree, John Wells, William Panton, James Taylor, and John Hambley. The correspondence of Joseph M. Hernandez, a militia general in Florida, 1815-1838, includes several letters from Zephaniah Kingsley, Fort George, Florida, in 1821, mostly about efforts to break the will of the deceased John Fraser. Many others pertain to the war with the Seminole Indians during 1835-1838, including letters from Major Benjamin A. Putnam, orders and instructions from General Thomas Sidney Jesup, and Lieutenant Colonel J.W. Mills's report of the battle of Withlacoochy. Other miscellaneous documents include: a letter in Spanish, from the Conde de Revilla Gigedo to Antonio Porlier, dated November 30, 1789, and describing the panic caused by the sight of the aurora borealis in Mexico City on November 14 of that year; and two letters in Greek to Ioannes Xenos, one, undated, addressed to him in care of Pierre Paradis, the other, dated 1781 from a correspondent in Livorno, Italy, addressed to him in London.

1.2 linear feet (3 boxes)

eng,

spa,

gre,

Churchill County Museum