Smith family papers, 1860 Dec. 4-1926 Dec. 26 ; (bulk, 1860 Dec. 4-1876 Nov. 8).

ArchivalResource

Smith family. Smith family papers, 1860 Dec. 4-1926 Dec. 26 ; (bulk, 1860 Dec. 4-1876 Nov. 8).

Smith family papers, 1860 Dec. 4-1926 Dec. 26 ; (bulk, 1860 Dec. 4-1876 Nov. 8).

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50083758

Letters, both original (Sept. 1861-7 Mar. 1866 and Dec. 1926) and transcribed (4 Dec. 1860-3 Oct. 1867, 8 Nov. 1876 and 1926) of Eliza Carolina Middleton Huger Smith; letters were transcribed before 1926 and published in 1950 as Mason Smith Family Letters, 1860-1868. Letters discuss impact of Civil War on home front as family members relocated from Charleston to upstate South Carolina and Georgia, enlisted in the Confederate Army, etc.; places represented include Greenville, Anderson, and a home rented "near the Charlotte Depot" in Columbia, S.C.; Athens and Savannah, Ga.; Richmond, Va.; New Orleans, La.; and elsewhere. Eldest son William Mason Smith was a cadet at The Citadel prior to joining Confederate Army; letters discuss his enlistment, service, and wounding at Cold Harbor and death in Richmond in 1864; letters also discuss related Wells family of New York, including Edward Laight Wells, who left New York to enlist in South Carolina at outbreak of Civil War, and reported many South Carolinians returning to the state in Dec. 1860 in preparation for war. Six typescript volumes of transcribed and annotated letters, 4 Dec. 1860-3 Oct. 1867, and 8 Nov. 1876 include several for which the originals have been lost; an introductory essay discusses persons, places, and chronology of relocations, and also identifies provenance of various pieces of furniture, portraits, etc. Volume VI ends with several unpublished items, including letter, 8 Nov. 1876, from Lawrence Wells to his father, Thomas L. Wells, in New York, in which he expresses his satisfaction with the end of Reconstruction in S.C. following his day working at the polls, and his anticipation of election of Wade Hampton as governor; poem by D.E.H. Smith, Aug. 1925, Non Omnis Moriar, reflecting on his 80th birthday; and essay, June 1926, "A tribute by D.E. Huger Smith to the memory of his mother," which discusses later lives of his mother and other family members, including participation in World War I. Original papers, Sept. 1861-7 Mar. 1866 and Dec. 1926, include letter, 26 Dec. 1926, William Mason Smith, Staten Island, N.Y., to his sister Alice R.H. Smith, hoping that the family Christmas was not affected by "the shadow of the S.C. Loan and Trust Company's failure," and reporting his trip to Massachusetts during which he would oversee a coporate reorganization, after which he would accompany his daughter to "her first big ball, 'The Benedicts, ' in Philadelphia," which was scheduled to begin at midnight.

6 typescript v.

University of South Carolina, System Library Service, University Libraries