Back to TopDescriptive Summary
- Repository
-
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
- Creator
-
Elliott family.
Gonzales family.
- Title
- Elliott and Gonzales Family Papers, 1701-1898
- Call Number
- 1009
- Language of Materials
- Materials in
English
- Extent
-
- Items: About 6000
- Linear Feet: 8.5
Abstract
Prominent members of the Elliott and Gonzales families of Beaufort and Colleton districts, S.C., included William Elliott
(1788-1863), planter, state legislator, and writer; Phoebe Waight Elliott (died 1855); Ann Elliott Johnstone (1824-1900);
Ralph Emms Elliott (1834-1902); Harriett Rutledge Elliott (1838-1869); Ambrosio José Gonzales (born 1818); Ambrose Elliott
Gonzales (1857-1926); Narciso Gener Gonzales (1858-1903); and William Elliott Gonzales (1866-1937). The Elliotts owned cotton
and rice plantations, houses in Beaufort and Adams Run, S.C., as well as a summer home in Flat Rock, N.C. Ambrose Elliott
Gonzales, Narciso Gener Gonzales, and William Elliott Gonzales founded The State, a newspaper published in Columbia, S.C.
The collection is chiefly correspondence, but also financial and legal papers, account books, maps and plats, a few writings
of William Elliott and others, and a small amount of other material. The bulk of the material before the Civil War is correspondence
of William Elliott Gonzales about South Carolina politics; sectional differences; his travels to Saratoga Springs and other
health resorts, the northern states, and Europe; plantation management; rice and cotton crops; slaves; the education of children;
summer at Flat Rock, N.C.; and various family matters. Only a few letters document William Elliott's career as a writer; four
are from William Gilmore Simms (1806-1870). Correspondence during the Civil War years discusses the lives of civilians and
soldiers in South Carolina and in western North Carolina. Post-Civil War correspondence reveals the Elliott's financial difficulties,
their struggles to educate the Gonzales children, and their efforts to rebuild their plantations. It also documents the education
and early professional lives of Ambrose and Narciso Gonzales. There are a few letters about the early years of their newspaper,
The State.
Back to TopAdministrative Information
- Restrictions to Access
- No restrictions.
- Alternate Form of Material
- All or part of this collection is available on microfilm from University Publications of America as part of the Records of
antebellum southern plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War, Series J.
- Acquisitions Information
- Gift of Harriett Rutledge Gonzales, Osborn, South Carolina, in 1945.
- Processing Information
- Processed by: Jane Adkins, May 1960; Linda Sellars and Lisa Tolbert, August 1990
- Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008
- Preferred Citation
- [Identification of item], in the Elliott and Gonzales Family Papers #1009, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
- Copyright Notice
- Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Back to TopOnline Catalog Headings
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.
- Agriculture--South Carolina--History.
- Beaufort (S.C.)--History--19th century.
- Colleton District (S.C.)--History--19th century.
- Confederate States of America--Social conditions.
- Cotton growing--South Carolina--History.
- Elliott family.
- Europe--Description and travel.
- Family--South Carolina--Social life and customs.
- Flat Rock (N.C.)--History--19th century.
- Gonzales family.
- Health resorts--New York (State)
- Johnstone, Mary Barnwell Elliott, 1824-1900.
- Northeastern States--Description and travel.
- Plantation owners--South Carolina.
- Plantations--South Carolina.
- Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)--South Carolina.
- Rice--Planting--South Carolina.
- Simms, William Gilmore, 1806-1870.
- Slavery--South Carolina.
- South Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
- South Carolina--Politics and government--1775-1865.
Back to TopRelated Collections
Hoyt, James A., "Death of N. G. Gonzales" (#2897); Thomas Rhett Smith Elliott Papers, Duke University Library; and Gonzales Manuscripts, South Caroliniana Library,
University of South Carolina
Back to TopBiographical/Historical Note
William Elliott, son of William Elliott and Phoebe Waight, was born 27 April 1788 in Beaufort, South Carolina, and died 3
February 1863 in Charleston, South Carolina. He was educated at Beaufort College, circa 1803-1807, and at Harvard, circa 1807-1808.
Ill health forced him to withdraw from the latter institution, but Harvard, citing his outstanding academic record, awarded
him an honorary bachelor's degree in 1810. Five years later, he received a master of arts degree from Harvard.
Elliott owned rice and cotton plantations in Beaufort and Colleton districts in South Carolina and on the Ogeechee River in
Georgia. Through marriage, he obtained at least five plantations in Colleton District: Balls (1,083 acres) in St. Bartholomew
Parish; Social Hall, the Bluff, and Middle Place (totalling approximately 3,400 acres) near the Ashepoo River and Chehaw Creek;
and Pon Pon, later called Oak Lawn (1,750 acres) on the Edisto River. Elliott also owned the following: Myrtle Bank plantation
on Hilton Head Island; Bee Hive and Hope tracts on the Edisto River; Ellis, Shell Point, The Grove, and Bay Point plantations
in Beaufort District; Farniente, a mountain house in Flat Rock, North Carolina; and houses in Beaufort and Adams Run. According
to the 1860 slave schedule, Elliott possessed 103 slaves in St. Helena parish and 114 slaves in St. Paul parish.
Although he spent much time at Oak Lawn, Elliott also traveled frequently to the northern states and on occasion to Europe.
His children sometimes accompanied him on trips. In search of improved health, Elliott traveled nearly every year to various
mineral springs and health resorts, especially Saratoga Springs, New York, and White Sulphur Springs, Virginia. He also frequently
visited Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. In 1853, Elliott took his daughters, Ann and Emily, to Europe, where they visited
Paris, Basle, Interlaken. In 1855, Elliott traveled to Europe again, this time as South Carolina's commissioner to the Paris
Exposition.
Elliott represented St. Helena in the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1814-1815 and in the State Senate in 1818-1821.
He was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States House of Representatives in 1822. Returned to the South Carolina House,
Elliott served from 1826 through 1829. Following a special election in St. Helena for the Senate, he qualified 1 December
1831 for the General Assembly. He resigned his Senate seat, however, in order to avoid voting against the majority of his
constituents on the issue of nullification. A Unionist, Elliott opposed nullification and expressed his views on this subject
publicly in his "Address to the People of St. Helena" (1832). In addition to his terms in the legislature, Elliott served the public as trustee for Beaufort College (circa 1814-1815)
and intendant for Beaufort (circa 1819-1824).
After his retirement from active politics, Elliott turned his attention to agriculture, writing, recreation, and issues of
the day. As president of the Beaufort Agricultural Society and vice president of the South Carolina Agricultural Society,
circa 1839, Elliott was zealous in his efforts to improve the South's agricultural system. Through articles and addresses,
Elliott urged crop diversification and industrialization; he sought the appointment of an agricultural professorship at South
Carolina College and the establishment of an experimental farm. In 1855 he represented South Carolina at the Paris Exposition
and spoke to the Imperial Agricultural Society of France.
Throughout the years, Elliott remained firm in his opposition to secession, believing the South's economy was insufficient
for independence. He defended slavery, however, as "sanctioned by religion, conducive to good morals, and useful, nay indispensable," and supported the Confederacy during the Civil War. Using the pen name Agricola, he expressed his ideas on slavery in a series
of letters which were later collected and published as The Letters of Agricola (1852). He frequently contributed other articles on various subjects to newspapers and magazines, including essays on somewhat
lighter matters. Assuming the pseudonyms of Piscator and Venator, he wrote sketches depicting hunting, fishing, and other
low country recreational activities; these popular stories were published (and reprinted) as Carolina Sports by Land and Water (1846, 1856).
In May 1817, Elliott married Ann Hutchinson Smith, daughter of Thomas Rhett Smith (1768-1829) and Anne Rebecca Skirving. Elliott's
father-in-law, Thomas Rhett Smith, was a planter in St. Bartholomew Parish. Anne Rebecca Skirving Smith was the daughter of
William Skirving (fl. 1766-1795) and his second wife, Anne Holland Hutchinson (fl. 1769). Some of the land owned by William
Elliott was inherited by his wife from William Skirving, who received a Chehaw plantation as a gift from his father, James
Skirving; several plantations in St. Bartholomew from his first wife Mary Sacheverell (1750?-1768), daughter of Thomas Sacheverell
(1723?-764); and land in St. Bartholomew, in Georgia, and in Charleston on the death of his second wife's father, Thomas Hutchinson
(1714-1790?).
William Elliott and Ann Hutchinson Smith Elliott were the parents of nine children: William (1818-1832), Thomas Rhett Smith
(died 1876), Ann (1822-1916), Mary Barnwell (1824-1900), Caroline Phoebe (1827-1862), Emily (1829-1889), William (1832-1867),
Ralph Emms (1834-1902), and Harriett Rutledge (1838-1869). Of the eight Elliott children who survived to adulthood, three
married and had children; information on them follows.
Thomas Rhett Smith Elliott married Mary Cuthbert and lived at Balls plantation in St. Bartholomew parish. They had 13 children,
of whom Phoebe and William are the only ones whose correspondence appears in these papers.
Mary Barnwell Elliott married a widower, Andrew Johnstone, who had at least one son before their marriage. Johnstone was a
rice planter who owned property at Annandale, near Georgetown, South Carolina, and a house, Beaumont, at Flat Rock, North
Carolina. Mary Elliott and Andrew Johnstone had six children: Elliott (born 1849); Anne (1851-1869); Frances (born 1853);
Mary (born 1855); Emmaline (born 1857); and Edith (born 1858). Andrew Johnstone was killed at his home in Flat Rock in 1863
by Confederate deserters. His widow and children moved to Greenville, South Carolina. In 1868, Mary Elliott Johnstone moved
to Baltimore, where she worked at Edgeworth School, a boarding school for girls.
Harriett Rutledge Elliott married, in 1856, Ambrosio José Gonzales (born 1816), a Cuban revolutionary in exile in the United
States. The Gonzaleses had six children: Ambrosio José Junior, (1857-1926); Narciso Gener (1858-1903); Alfonso Beauregard
(1861-1908); Gertrude Ruffini (1864-1900); Benigno (1866-1937); and Anita (born 1869). The children of Harriett Rutledge Elliott
and Ambrosio José Gonzales all used more than one name in the course of their lives: Ambrosio usually signed his letters as
"Brosie" and was known in adulthood as Ambrose Elliott Gonzales. Narciso was known affectionately in the family as Nanno, called himself
Elliott during his school days, and used his initials, N. G., professionally. Gertrude Ruffini was called Tulita as a little
girl, and was later known as Trudie. Alfonso Beauregard was alternately called Fonsie, Beaury, or Bory. Benigno changed his
name to William Elliott and was called Minnie as a boy, Willie as a young man, and Bill as an adult. Anita's name was changed
to Harriett Rutledge soon after her mother's death, and the family often called her Hattie.
Before the Civil War, Harriett Rutledge Elliott Gonzales and Ambrosio José Gonzales lived primarily in Washington, D. C.,
although Mrs. Gonzales spent considerable time with her family in South Carolina. During the war, Harriett Gonzales and her
children stayed at Oak Lawn with the Elliott family while Ambrosio José Gonzales served in the Confederate army. After the
war, Gonzales bought Social Hall plantation from the Elliotts and moved his family there. In 1869, the Gonzaleses moved to
Cuba, where Harriett Elliott Gonzales died of yellow fever in October 1869. After their mother's death, Ambrosio José Gonzales
took four of his children to Oak Lawn, leaving Narciso and Alfonso in Cuba with friends for a year. In 1870, he moved the
two boys to Oak Lawn as well, where all the Gonzales children were raised by their grandmother, Ann Hutchinson Smith Elliott,
and their aunts, Ann and Emily Elliott.
In the aftermath of the Civil War, the Elliotts and Gonzaleses at Oak Lawn struggled to regain title to their land and to
make a living from their plantations. Lack of funds limited the formal education of the Gonzales children. The two older boys,
Ambrose and Narciso, worked as telegraphers and then as correspondents for the Charleston News and Courier to help support the family in the 1870s and 1880s.
Ambrose, Narciso, and William Elliott Gonzales are best known for establishing and publishing a daily newspaper, The State, in Columbia, S. C. They started the paper to lead the opposition to Benjamin R. Tillman after Tillman was elected governor
in 1890. The State took outspoken positions against lynching, for child labor laws, for better education, and for other social and political
reforms, but the anti Tillman campaign overshadowed all other issues. In 1903, N. G. Gonzales died from a gunshot wound inflicted
by Tillman's nephew, Lieutenant Governor James H. Tillman, who blamed Gonzales for his defeat in the Democratic gubernatorial
primary in 1902. After N. G. Gonzales's death, Ambrose Elliott Gonzales assumed additional editorial responsibilities and,
with his brother William Elliott Gonzales, continued to publish The State. William Elliott Gonzales published the paper until his death in 1937.
For additional information about members of the Elliott and Gonzales families, see Lewis Pinckney Jones, Carolinians and Cubans: The Elliotts and Gonzales, Their Work and Their Writings, Ph. D. dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1952, and L. M. Matthews, N. G. Gonzales, Ph. D. dissertation, Duke University, 1971; as well as biographical sketches of William Elliott and Ambrose Elliott Gonzales
in the Dictionary of American Biography; of various Elliott, Skirving, and Smith family members who served in the state legislature in Biographical Directory of the South Carolina House of Representatives; and of N. G. Gonzales in the Encyclopedia of Southern History
A chart illustrating the relationships of some of the Elliott and Gonzales family members whose papers appear in the collection
is in the control file, and is available on request.
Back to TopCollection Overview
This collection documents the lives of members of the Elliott and Gonzales families of Beaufort and Colleton Districts in
South Carolina. Although there is some other material, the majority of the collection consists of correspondence.
The central figure in the collection before the Civil War is William Elliott. The letters to his wife during sessions of the
state legislature or when he was travelling in the North or in Europe comprise a large part of the antebellum correspondence.
Political observations and discussion are most often found in letters written between 1818 and 1832, the period covering Elliott's
tenures in the state legislature. Elliott travelled frequently to health resorts, such as Saratoga Springs, and to northern
cities such as New York and Boston. His letters from these places describe customs, economic conditions, and prominent people,
as well as the countryside. Similar observations fill letters written during trips to Europe in 1853 and 1855. Letters to
William Elliott from his mother, his wife, and his children report on plantation management, crops, and slaves, and give news
of relatives and neighbors. Only a few letters about meetings with publishers in New York, two diary volumes, and a few drafts
of essays and poems document William Elliott's career as a writer.
Correspondence during the Civil War years documents the lives of civilians and soldiers in South Carolina. A considerable
number of letters written by Mary Elliott Johnstone from her home at Flat Rock describe her family's life in western North
Carolina during the war years.
Post-Civil War correspondence reveals the property entanglements and financial difficulties of the Elliotts as they tried
to rebuild their plantations in the aftermath of the war. Correspondence in these years also documents the education and early
professional lives of Ambrose and Narciso Gonzales. Ambrose and Narciso wrote letters filled with wide ranging political observations,
details of school and work activities, and laments about the prejudices they encountered against their Gonzales heritage.
Few letters about the early years of their newspaper The State are included here. Many letters about the genealogies of the Elliott and Smith and related families are included in files
for the 1890s.
There are many undated letters in the collection. The largest number of these are letters of Mary Elliott Johnstone, written
to her mother, Ann Hutchinson Smith Elliott, and her sisters, Ann and Emily Elliott, between 1848 and 1900. These letters
are filled with news of her children, friends, and neighbors, but are identified only by place of writing and not by date.
In addition to the correspondence, there are some financial and legal papers, account books, some maps and plats, a few writings
of William Elliott and of others, and some other material in the collection.
Back to TopArrangement of Collection
Series 1. Correspondence
Subseries 1.1 1759-1786
Subseries 1.2 1807-1817
Subseries 1.3 1818-1832
Subseries 1.4 1833-1843
Subseries 1.5 1844-1855
Subseries 1.6 1856-1860
Subseries 1.7 1861-1865
Subseries 1.8 1866-1869
Subseries 1.9 1870-1879
Subseries 1.10 1880-1890
Subseries 1.11 1891-1898
Subseries 1.12 Undated
Series 2. Financial and Legal Material
Subseries 2.1 Financial and Legal Papers
Subseries 2.2 Account Books
Series 3. Maps and Plats
Series 4. Writings
Subseries 4.1 Writings by William Elliott
Subseries 4.2 Writings by Others
Series 5. Other Material
Subseries 5.1 William Elliott's Plantation Book for Pon Pon, 1840-1851
Subseries 5.2 Travel Journals
Subseries 5.3 Tariff of 1828
Subseries 5.4 Theological Exercises, Mary Barnwell Elliott
Subseries 5.5 Recipes
Subseries 5.6 School Reports
Subseries 5.7 Genealogical Material
Subseries 5.8 Clippings
Subseries 5.9 Calling Cards
Subseries 5.10 Miscellaneous Material
Back to TopItems Separated
OP-1009/1-68
Detailed Description of the Collection
1. Correspondence, 1759-1898 and undated.
About 5200 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
 |
Digital version: Selected personal correspondence, 1861-1865 |
Back to Top
1.1. 1759-1786.
6 items.
Chiefly business letters of ancestors of Ann Hutchinson Smith Elliott and one letter of Josiah Tattnall to a Mr. Elliott.
Two letters addressed to Thomas Sacheverell, one written by Thomas Hutchinson, one from James Skirving apparently to William
Skirving, one unsigned fragment.
Folder
1
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1.2. 1807-1817.
About 70 items.
Chiefly correspondence of William Elliott and some correspondence of Thomas Rhett Smith. The early letters in this subseries
are Elliott family letters written while William Elliott was at Harvard College, one from his mother dated 5 December 1807
about a duel fought at Camden, South Carolina, some from William to his father and his sister in 1808 about his studies and
professors at Harvard. There are also letters to Elliott from Harvard professor Levi Hedge in 1812 about Elliott's receiving
his degree and in 1815 about Elliott's brother Ralph who was then at Harvard and about the relative strengths of the Democratic
and Federalist parties in Massachusetts and South Carolina.
William Elliott's correspondence of 1813 and 1814 includes letters to and from his sister Caroline Elliott Pinckney and her
husband Charles Cotesworth Pinckney Junior. Of particular interest are a letter from Elliott to Pinckney dated 18 August 1814
about land values in Beaufort and other effects of the British blockade of the South Carolina coast and a letter from Elliott
to Mrs. Pinckney about fortification of Beaufort and the results of an election in which he won a seat in the state legislature.
Elliott's letters in 1816 and 1817 are primarily love letters to his cousin Ann Hutchinson Smith. There are also a few letters
to his sister Mary Barnwell Elliott.
Correspondence of Thomas Rhett Smith in this subseries includes a letter dated 7 June 1810 from William Skirving to Thomas
Rhett Smith and his wife Ann Rebecca Skirving Smith about Skirving's will and a letter of 29 October 1813 to Thomas Rhett
Smith, Intendent of the City of Charleston, signed with the initials G. H. deN. about control of fishing boats in the harbor
while enemy vessels were blockading.
Folder
2
1807-1812
Folder
3
1813-1815
Folder
4
1816-1817
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1.3. 1818-1832.
About 300 items.
Primarily correspondence of William Elliott, some correspondence of Elliott's sisters Mary Barnwell Elliott and Caroline Pinckney,
his uncle Stephen Elliott, his father-in-law Thomas Rhett Smith, and a few letters of other individuals.
The majority of the letters in this subseries are letters that William Elliott wrote to his wife when he was away from home,
either travelling for his health or living in Columbia during the sessions of the state legislature. When Elliott travelled
he wrote letters to his wife that contain vivid descriptions of the people he met and places he saw. In 1823, for example,
Elliott wrote letters from Saratoga Springs describing New York City and the people he met there as well as the fashionable
people at Saratoga--Van Buren, Poinsett, Clinton, General Scott, etc. From Saratoga, Elliott travelled to Niagara Falls, Rochester,
Lake Champlain, and Quebec, all of which he described to his wife in his letters. (See also the diary in Subseries 5.2.) In
a letter of 24 July 1828, Elliott described New York City and contrasted its prosperity to South Carolina's financial problems.
During the years that William Elliott served in the state legislature, he wrote to his wife in November and December from
Columbia about the legislative sessions. In 1828, he wrote several letters about the debate on the tariff and in 1831 about
the nullification debate. He often described his living situation and the other legislators. In a letter of 28 November 1829,
Elliott described a meeting with Vice-President Calhoun.
Elliott received letters about politics from his uncle Stephen Elliott (1771-1830) of Charleston. On 27 July 1820, for example,
Stephen Elliott wrote to William about the Missouri question and on 22 July 1822 about the recent slave plot and the differences
in opinion between legislators representing the country and the city. Beginning in 1827, Stephen Elliott and his son Stephen
Elliott Junior. (1806-1866), both wrote to William Elliott about the Southern Review.
Also included in this subseries are some letters to Ann Elliott from her parents Thomas Rhett Smith and Ann R. Smith. Correspondence
between Thomas Rhett Smith and William Elliott is also found here. Several letters in 1824, 1825, 1826, and 1827 discuss the
property and financial problems of Thomas Rhett Smith. In letters of 8 February 1827, William Elliott reported to Thomas Rhett
Smith and to Ann Elliott on the sale of some of Smith's slaves, Elliott's success in buying some families requested by Mrs.
Smith, the sale of Smith's crop, efforts to sell the Social Hall plantation, and Stephen Elliott's plan to edit a quarterly
review.
Several of William Elliott's letters to his wife indicate Elliott's confidence in his wife's management of his affairs while
he was away. Although Elliott's letters frequently requested reports on the plantations or acknowledged receiving such reports,
none of Ann Elliott's letters to her husband during this period are preserved here. The only letter of Ann Elliott in this
subseries is one to her mother, Ann R. Smith, dated 12 October 1829, in which Mrs. Elliott advised her mother that the crop
at Social Hall plantation would probably not be a good one and that her mother should make only necessary expenditures, hire
out some slaves, or cut wood to sell.
Folder
5
1818
Folder
6
1819-1820
Folder
7
1821
Folder
8
1822
Folder
9
1823-1824
Folder
10
1825
Folder
11
1826
Folder
12-13
1827
Folder
14-15
1828
Folder
16
1829
Folder
17
1830
Folder
18
1831
Folder
19
1832
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1.4. 1833-1843.
About 200 items.
Chiefly correspondence of William Elliott, his brother Ralph Elliott, his sister Mary Barnwell Elliott, and his mother Phoebe
Elliott. William Elliott wrote to his wife from Charleston and from Hilton Head about fishing there. In 1836, Elliott wrote
numerous letters while on a trip north. In a letter of 6 July 1836 to his daughter Annie, Elliott described his first ride
on a railroad. In letters to his wife, Elliott commented on the increase of wealth around New York (11 July 1836), described
his visit to Mount Holyoke seminary and a Shaker worship service in Lebanon (Boston, 18 August 1836), and told her of labor
saving machines he saw in Boston (25 August 1836). In 1839, Elliott traveled north again, this time taking his daughters Annie
and Mary with him. Elliott usually left room on his paper for one or both of the daughters to add a note to Mrs. Elliott from
Norfolk, Philadelphia, Saratoga Springs, Boston, or New York.
William Elliott corresponded during this period with Ann R. Smith about disposition of property. On 14 March 1834, he wrote
to her about land in Georgia. On 10 April and 18 May 1839, he wrote to her about disposition of the Pon Pon property. Other
letters appear in 1840 and 1841 about difficulties in settling the Pon Pon property.
Some letters of William Elliott's mother Phoebe Elliott are included in this subseries. One notable letter of Phoebe Elliott,
dated 26 July 1833, is addressed to William Elliott and describes her trip to Greenville and the Blue Ridge, the road through
the mountains, her stop at Flat Rock, where she stayed at Mitchell King's hotel, and her visit to Asheville, and travel along
the French Broad River.
Letters of Ralph Emms Elliott, brother of William Elliott, to William Elliott and to Phoebe Elliott report on Ralph's farming
endeavors and financial concerns in Pendleton District, South Carolina. On 20 February 1839, Ralph wrote to William about
the advantages and disadvantages of selling "Prairie" and buying a plantation on the Savannah River.
Folder
20
1833-1834
Folder
21
1835
Folder
22-23
1836
Folder
24
1837-1838
Folder
25-26
1839
Folder
27
1840-1841
Folder
28
1842-1843
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1.5. 1844-1855.
About 500 items.
Correspondence of William Elliott and other Elliott family members. As in earlier correspondence, the largest number of letters
are from William Elliott to Ann Elliott. In these years, however, William Elliott also wrote letters to and received letters
from his daughters. The daughters also wrote to their mother. In 1844-1845, Elliott's daughter Emily wrote from school at
the Montpelier Institute in Georgia. Daughters Ann and Mary travelled with Elliott on occasion during these years and wrote
to their mother or sisters from Charleston, Saratoga Springs, New York, and other places they visited. Beginning in 1848,
Ann Elliott and some of her children spent most of their summers at Flat Rock, N. C., where the Elliotts owned a house they
called "Farniente." William Elliott also spent the summer months at Flat Rock when he was not travelling to the North or to Europe.
The publication of William Elliott's book Carolina Sports in 1846 stimulated numerous friends and acquaintances to write to him in 1846 and 1847. Notable is an exchange of letters
with Elliott's Harvard classmate William Plumer of New Hampshire about the courses their lives had taken since college and
concerning ideas and attitudes of Northerners and Southerners about slavery and slaveholders (Plumer to Elliott, 25 January
1847 and 15 April 1847, draft of Elliott to Plumer, April? 1847).
Elliott occasionally received other letters that contrasted the North with the South or discussed the increasing tension between
the sections. A letter from Samuel A. Eliot of Boston dated 10 October 1850, for example, bemoans the precarious state of
the Union and expresses the fear that disastrous results would follow a civil war. A letter of 5 February 1854 from Senator
Andrew Pickens Butler describes the coming debate on the Nebraska-Kansas bill and what Butler supposed to be the attitude
of the northwestern states.
William Elliott travelled in the northern United States and wrote letters to his wife and family in 1844, 1845, 1847, 1850,
and 1851. Elliott's letters describe the social scene at health resorts and record his observations of northern life. A letter
of 9 September 1844, for example, describes the introduction of the polka at a ball in Saratoga Springs and a letter of 11
September in the same year describes the prosperity and manufactures of New England.
One of the purposes of William Elliott's trip to the North in 1847 was to take William Elliott Junior, to Harvard. His letters
to his wife in August and September of that year describe the arrangements he made for his son in Cambridge. In a letter dated
8 October 1847, he advised his son on his studies, behavior, drinking, and expenses. Letters from William Elliott to his son
continue in 1848 and 1849 until William Elliott Junior, left Harvard late in 1851. A few letters from the son to the father
or to other family members may also be found here.
In 1853 and 1855, William Elliott travelled to Europe. In the summer of 1853, Elliott wrote descriptive letters from Paris
and from Interlaken, Switzerland, about his travels with his daughters in France, Germany, and Switzerland. In 1855, Elliott
went to Paris as South Carolina's commissioner to the Paris Exhibition. He hoped to promote trade in sea island cotton. Letters
written in the winter and spring of 1855 discuss preparations for the Exhibition. His letters to his wife and his children,
especially his son Ralph, in July and August 1855 describe Paris, the Exhibition, his address to the Imperial Agricultural
Society of France, and his glimpse of Queen Victoria's legs. (See also the diary in Subseries 5.2).
While William Elliott was travelling, he wrote to and received letters from his mother, Phoebe Elliott, giving him news of
his plantations, cotton prices, and other business, as well as news of family and friends. In a letter of 25 September 1847,
William Elliott urged his mother to apply for his father's Revolutionary War pension. Occasional letters following this mention
their efforts to establish her right to the pension. In her reports on plantation affairs, Phoebe Elliott often referred to
what she had been told by Isaac and Ben. Letters from Ben (11 November 1848) and Isaac (22 October 1849) to William Elliott
appear to indicate that they were slaves who were drivers on Elliott's plantations.
Beginning in 1849, there is correspondence about William Elliott's legal dispute with his neighbors, Haskell and Edmund Rhett,
about drainage of his land. Richard DeTreville acted as Elliott's attorney in Elliott's suits against the Rhetts.
The education of the Elliott children is an important theme in the correspondence in this subseries. There are letters from
Emily at Montpelier Institute, which she called the "Protestant nunnery," in 1844-1845, and from Bishop Stephen Elliott about Emily's education in 1845 and 1846. In 1847-1850, there are letters about
William Elliott Junior's, studies at Harvard. A letter of 26 December 1847 from William Elliott Junior, at Harvard to his
brother Ralph at school in Charleston contains brotherly advice on gentlemanly behavior. Ralph Elliott began attending the
University of Virginia in 1852 and corresponded with his family about his studies and life in Charlottesville. On 1 January
1855, William Elliott wrote to his wife about the rules and requirements of Madame Togno's school in Charleston, where he
had placed their daughter Harriett.
Until her sudden death in 1850, William Elliott's sister Mary (Mancy) was a regular family correspondent. She wrote from Beaufort,
Battery, or Rest Park, to William Elliott and to his wife and children. Her letters were usually filled with news of epidemics
or lack thereof in Beaufort, of neighbors, and of the families of her brothers Stephen and George Elliott and her sister Caroline
Elliott Pinckney.
Folder
29
1844
Folder
30
1845
Folder
31
1846
Folder
32-33
1847
Folder
34-35
1848
Folder
36-37
1849
Folder
38-40
1850
Folder
41-42
1851
Folder
43
1852
Folder
44-45
1853
Folder
46-47
1854
Folder
48-51
1855
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1.6. 1856-1860.
About 200 items.
Chiefly correspondence of William Elliott, some correspondence of Harriett Rutledge Elliott Gonzales, her husband Ambrosio
José Gonzales, and other Elliott family members. During this period, William Elliott wrote numerous letters to his wife and
occasionally to others from his plantations--Bay Point, the Bluff, Social Hall, Myrtle Bank, and Oak Lawn--describing his
crops and plantation management. In 1860, Elliott received several letters from his factor William Bee about legal and financial
matters. In 1858 and 1859, William Elliott wrote to his wife and family from Saratoga Springs and from New York, where he
was meeting with publishers to try to get Carolina Sports published again.
Some letters in this subseries discuss the growing sectional tension in the country. For example, in a letter to William Elliott,
dated 8 December 1859, William Plumer, III, son of Elliott's Harvard classmate, wrote from Boston about relations between
North and South and about John Brown's raid, and requested Elliott's advice on Plumer's projected move to the South. William
Elliott wrote from New York about the political situation in letters to Ann dated 18 September 1860 and to Ralph dated 26
September 1860.
Correspondence of Harriet Rutledge Elliott Gonzales in this subseries includes a few love letters from Ambrosio José Gonzales
before their marriage in the spring of 1856. After their wedding, the Gonzaleses moved to Washington, D. C. While in Washington,
Harriet wrote letters to her mother and sisters and received letters from them. In the summer of 1858, when her son Narciso
Gener was born, Harriett Gonzales was apparently at Edingsville on Edisto Island with her mother and sisters, whose letters
to William Elliott gave news of her.
Correspondence of Ralph Emms Elliott in this subseries includes mostly letters to and from his father about plantation management.
On 25 November 1859, Ralph wrote to his father that he would like to strike out on his own as a planter. His father, as a
result, sold him the Pon Pon plantation. Some of Ralph's letters in these years mention politics. In 1860, Ralph Elliott was
elected to the South Carolina state legislature. A letter to his mother dated 10 December 1860 gives Ralph's view of the legislature
in 1860.
Folder
52-54
1856
Folder
55-56
1857
Folder
57-58
1858
Folder
59-60
1859
Folder
61-62
1860
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1.7. 1861-1865.
About 400 items.
Correspondence of Elliott family members documenting their lives during the Civil War years. William Elliott, his wife, and
his unmarried daughters, together with Mrs. Harriett Gonzales and her children lived at the plantation called Oak Lawn near
Adams Run, S. C., during the war. The majority of the letters in this subseries are letters they received from Mary Elliott
Johnstone, who was living with her family in Flat Rock, N. C., and then in Greenville, S. C., and from Thomas Rhett Smith
Elliott, Ralph Emms Elliott, and William Elliott Junior
A number of letters, mostly in November and undated 1861, concern construction of fortifications in the Beaufort and Port
Royal area. Other letters of 1861 describe the Beaufort area planters' destruction of cotton to prevent its being taken by
the Yankees, the losses of crops, slaves' refusal to work, and concerns that slaves would run away to the Union army.
There are relatively few letters of William Elliott in this subseries. Several letters in 1861 describe his concerns about
the approach of Union forces, efforts to protect his property and to retain or, later, to recapture his slaves. Only two letters
written by William Elliott in 1862 and none in 1863 may be found here. William Elliott died in February 1863.
All three of William Elliott's sons served in the military during the war. Thomas Rhett Smith Elliott was on General Donelson's
staff, but wrote to his mother (4 February 1862) that the general gave him leave whenever needed to attend to the affairs
of his plantation. Indeed, Thomas R. S. Elliott's letters throughout the war contain more family, plantation, and neighborhood
news than military news, although he did describe the defense of Charleston in a letter dated 18 August 1863 to his sister
Emily.
Ralph Emms Elliott also wrote frequently about family business. It was Ralph who was called to Charleston during his father's
final illness and who took care of much of his mother's business after that. Late in 1863, Ralph wrote to his mother from
Accabee, S. C., about her business and about the shelling of Charleston. In 1864, Ralph continued to write to his mother about
business, from Charleston and then from Wilmington, N. C. A letter of 15 June 1864 from Ralph to his mother describes how
his sister Mary's husband, Andrew Johnstone, was murdered in his home at Flat Rock, N. C., by deserters.
William Elliott Junior, served in Drayton's company and wrote to his family in 1861 and 1862 from camps in the Beaufort area--Red
Bluff, Hardee's Place, Camp Sturgeon (three miles from Hardeeville, S. C.), Camp Mcpherson, and Fort Johnston (on James Island)
about camp life, fortifications, maneuvers, and other topics. In April-August 1863, William Junior, wrote from Greenville,
S. C., to his mother about catching conscripts and deserters in the up-country. Late in 1863, William Elliott Junior, moved
to Georgetown, S. C., where he continued to work as a recruiter of conscripts and deserters.
Mary Elliott Johnstone wrote frequently to her family at Oak Lawn during the war years, first from her home in Flat Rock,
N. C., and later from Greenville, S. C. Mrs. Johnstone's letters clearly describe daily life and domestic concerns, such as
prices, health, and neighbors.
Folder
63-65
1861
Folder
66-68
1862
Folder
69-71
1863
Folder
72-76
1864
Folder
77-79
1865
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1.8. 1866-1869.
About 400 items.
Elliott family correspondence documenting efforts to rebuild their lives and their plantations after the war. The house at
Oak Lawn had been destroyed by Sherman's army. William Elliott Junior, and Ralph Elliott both wrote to their mother in 1866
about their efforts to get clear title to their land, money to buy seed and supplies, and laborers to work on the land. William
Elliott Junior, died early in 1867.
Some letters of 1867 and 1868 document the efforts of the Elliott family, especially Ralph and Annie, to raise money from
friends in the North. In February 1867 Ralph traveled to Boston to try to borrow money. Several letters in 1867 and 1868 from
William Amory of Boston to "Miss Elliott" concern money collected among Boston friends for the Elliott family.
Mary Elliott Johnstone continued to write from Flat Rock and Greenville about her struggle to maintain her home and support
her children. She moved to Baltimore in 1868 to live and work at the Edgeworth School for Young Ladies. She lived there until
1885. During this period, she wrote about one letter each week to her family at Oak Lawn. The vast majority of these letters
were undated and are filed in Subseries 1.12.15. In the immediate postwar years, Mrs. Johnstone's daughters wrote letters
to their mother at her home and to their grandmother and aunts at Oak Lawn from school in Baltimore at the Convent de Notre
Dame. Their brother William Elliott Johnstone attended Georgetown College and wrote letters from there in 1866-1867.
Ambrosio José Gonzales apparently bought Social Hall plantation from the Elliotts in 1866 (see Gonzales to Ralph Elliott,
7 February 1866). Letters in 1867 and 1868 include letters from Harriett Elliott Gonzales at Social Hall to her mother and
sisters. In a notable letter of 9 March 1867 Harriett compared the capability and willingness to work of white and black laborers.
The Gonzales family moved to Cuba in January 1869. Mrs. Gonzales's letters from Havana and other places in Cuba describe her
life there until her death of yellow fever in October 1869. In November 1869, Ambrosio José Gonzales brought four of his children
to Oak Lawn, leaving Alfonso Beauregard and Narciso with the Dalcour family near Matanzas, Cuba, for a year before they too
were sent to Oak Lawn.
Folder
80-83
1866
Folder
84-89
1867
Folder
90-93
1868
Folder
94-98
1869
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1.9. 1870-1879.
About 800 items.
Two major streams of correspondence documenting on one hand the education and early work experience of Ambrosio José Gonzales
Junior, and Narciso Gener Gonzales, and on the other hand the property entanglements and financial difficulties of the Elliott
family in the aftermath of war. Ann Hutchinson Smith Elliott and her unmarried daughters, Ann and Emily, are chief recipients
of correspondence for this period. Ambrosio and Narciso become its most frequent correspondents, filling their letters from
an early age with wide ranging political observations, details of school and work activities, and laments about the prejudices
they encountered against their Gonzales heritage. These attitudes, added to an apparent family predilection for nicknaming
and ambivalence toward their wandering father, motivated the Gonzales children to change their given names, in some cases
more than once. Ambrosio usually signed his letters as "Brosie" and was known in adulthood as Ambrose. Narciso was known affectionately in the family as Nanno, called himself Elliott during
his school days, and used his initials, N. G., professionally. Gertrude Ruffini was called Tulita as a little girl, and was
later known as Trudie. Alfonso Beauregard was alternately called Fonsie, Beaury, or Bory. Benigno changed his name to William
Elliott and was called Minnie as a boy, Willie as a young man, and Bill as an adult. Anita's name was changed to Harriett
Rutledge soon after her mother's death, and the family often called her Hattie.
In 1870, Narciso and Alfonso Beauregard Gonzales were living with the Dalcour family near Matanzas, Cuba. Narciso's meticulously
written letters to his family in South Carolina provide a glimpse of the brothers' life in Cuba. They rejoined their siblings
at Oak Lawn late in 1870. Letters from Ambrosio Jose Gonzales Senior, document his growing estrangement from the Elliott clan.
Ambrosio and Narciso attended various schools in South Carolina and Virginia during the early 1870s. Although Ambrosio was
an indefatigable student, letters show that Narciso was a more successful scholar than his elder brother. In particular, Narciso
excelled at St. Timothy's Home School for Boys in Herndon, Virginia, administered by David S. Johnston. During the latter
half of the 1870s, Ambrosio worked as a telegrapher in Grahamville and Varnesville, South Carolina. His letters often include
advice about farming at Oak Lawn in addition to descriptions of long hours and dull routines. Narciso wrote about his work
as a telegrapher in Savannah (1877) and Valdosta (1878), Georgia.
Other significant family correspondents include Ralph Emms Elliott, who worked in a sawmill at Altman's Station, South Carolina
during the 1870s; Thomas R. S. Elliott who died alone at his Balls plantation in July 1876; Mary Elliott Johnstone, who worked
at Edgeworth School in Baltimore (a great deal of her correspondence is undated, see Subseries 1.12.15); and the young Gertrude
Gonzales, who entered her aunt's Baltimore school in 1877. That same year Ann Hutchinson Smith Elliott died at the age of
74.
Mrs. Elliott, with her daughters Ann and Emily, had spent the better part of the decade fighting to recover clear title to
the family estate. Family correspondence offers vivid accounts of financial struggles to maintain their way of life at Oak
Lawn. Occasional letters from William Bee, a cousin and former factor for William Elliott Senior, who rescued Oak Lawn from
its creditors in 1873, and from William Elliott, Beaufort attorney and eldest son of Thomas R. S. Elliott, who helped the
Oak Lawn Elliotts disentangle their property affairs, document legal maneuvers to establish clear title to Elliott lands.
In November 1879, Ann and Emily Elliott finally secured title to Oak Lawn, and Ambrosio gave up his unfeelingly job as a telegrapher
to help rebuild the Elliott plantation.
Also of interest in this subseries is a letter (29 December 1876) from Edward Stephens, a former slave of the Elliotts, who
had sent them a box of oranges to wish the family a merry Christmas.
Folder
99-102
1870
Folder
103-105
1871
Folder
106-110
1872
Folder
111-115
1873
Folder
116-119
1874
Folder
120-123
1875
Folder
124-126
1876
Folder
127-131
1877
Folder
132-135
1878
Folder
136-137
1879
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1.10. 1880-1890.
About 500 items.
Chiefly family correspondence documenting the maturing professional lives of Narciso and Ambrose Gonzales; the education of
their younger siblings; and schemes to bolster family finances. In 1880, Narciso abandoned his unrewarding career in telegraphy
and took a job as reporter for the News and Courier in Columbia, South Carolina. His letters from assignment in Washington, D. C. (1881-1882), and subsequently in Columbia,
South Carolina at the state legislature contain many observations about contemporary politics and reveal his interest in learning
as much as possible about the newspaper business.
Ambrose meanwhile struggled in vain to revive farming operations at Oak Lawn and by 1881, he abandoned the plantation to work
as a telegrapher for Western Union. Except for several months during 1882-1883 when the company sent him to New Orleans, Ambrose
lived in New York City. Although the family often complained to him about the brevity of his letters, Ambrose's correspondence
reveals an often exhausting work schedule coupled with poor nutrition which significantly weakened his health. See his letter
of 29 August 1883 for his description of a stroke that paralyzed the left side of his face and which he treated under a doctor's
supervision with electric shock and strychnine. In spite of his usual terseness, Ambrose did sometimes comment about life
in the city beyond work, as on 9 April 1882, when he described immigrants of "half dozen nationalities" entering at Castle Garden with their various possessions. In October 1885, Ambrose left his job at Western Union, his health
impaired by years of overwork, to become the fourth member of the Gonzales family to join the staff of the News and Courier in Columbia, South Carolina. Ambrosio had been preceded at the newspaper by his brother William (November 1884) and his uncle
Ralph (May 1885) in addition to his brother Narciso.
Throughout this period, family correspondence laments the financial difficulties of maintaining Elliott property. Emily and
Ann opened their Flat Rock home to boarders for several summers during the early 1880s. In 1883, tiring of the effort to keep
intact the family's extensive but unproductive land holdings, the Elliott sisters asked their cousin William Elliott to help
them sell the property at Flat Rock, the Bluff, and Middle Place.
This subseries also documents William Elliott Gonzales's education at Kings Mountain Military School in Yorkville, South Carolina
(1881) and at the Citadel in Charleston (1883). Harriett Rutledge Gonzales entered Edgeworth School in Baltimore in 1883 and
wrote several letters (1883-1886) to her South Carolina family about her educational progress. Mary Elliott Johnstone wrote
frequently from Baltimore during this period, but most of her letters are undated (see Subseries 1.12.15). Gertrude Ruffini
Gonzales replaces her aunt Emily Elliott as chief recipient of correspondence, but after 1885 family letters become less frequent
and less informative. Although Emily Elliott died in 1889, no letters document that event.
Of particular interest for this period are letters documenting the initial relationship between Narciso Gonzales and a member
of the Tillman family. Narciso's editorial feud with the Tillmans led to his assassination in 1903. Narciso's early impressions
of the Tillmans appear to have been much more favorable than his later opinions proved to be. His letters from Washington
(1881-1882) reveal a burgeoning friendship with Congressman George D. Tillman, who occupied rooms adjoining the young reporter's.
Narciso wrote his Aunt Emily (25 January 1882) that Tillman had given him "the run of his books and papers, and better than all, his hard sense and legislative experience, which things are of advantage
to me." By 1890, however, the Gonzaleses seemed to be less enamored of the Tillmans. Writing from the Headquarters of the Advisory
Committee for Straightout Democracy in Columbia, South Carolina, Ambrose criticized the faction of the state's Democratic
Party led by Ben Tillman (brother of Congressman George D. Tillman). He complained to his sister Gertrude that "the Tillman party has captured the machinery of the Democratic party in this State, illegally maybe and unjustifiably certainly...." He went on to describe the division between the Tillmanites and the Straightouts within the South Carolina Democratic party
(see 23 August 1890). Narciso left the News and Courier after the election of Ben Tillman in 1890.
Folder
138-140
1880
Folder
141-147
1881
Folder
148-151
1882
Folder
152-155
1883
Folder
156-157
1884
Folder
158-159
1885
Folder
160
1886-1887
Folder
161
1888-1890
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1.11. 1891-1898.
About 150 items.
Chiefly correspondence relating to genealogy. Also included are scattered letters from Ambrose and Narciso Gonzales mentioning
activities at their young newspaper, The State. Narciso and Ambrose started The State in pursuit of greater editorial freedom after Ben Tillman was elected Governor of South Carolina in 1890. Their uncle Ralph
Emms Elliott continued to work in the circulation department of the News and Courier, and their brother William left the newspaper business altogether to become a real estate developer near Asheville, North
Carolina.
Family correspondence for this period is sparse and offers only occasional glimpses of the effort to launch The State. Narciso became the paper's editor and Ambrose worked as general agent, travelling the state to sell stock, advertisements,
and subscriptions in a job similar to the one he had held at the News and Courier. In a letter to his sister Gertrude (8 February 1891), Ambrose declared that he expected fundraising for the aborning paper
to be "the hardest work of my life." Few such letters about the work of The State have survived in this collection and surviving letters reveal little of the political battles between the newspaper and Governor
Tillman. Instead, much of the correspondence for this period concerns Gertrude's collection of genealogical information.
Also included are letters from Johnstone cousins, Emmaline, Edith Johnstone Coleman, and Frances (Fannie) Johnstone Dent.
Letters for 1894-1896 relate to Gertrude's marriage to Frank Hampton of Columbia, South Carolina, and the birth of their son
in April 1896. In May 1898, Narciso wrote from Cuba as a member of the staff of General Emilio Nuñez during the Spanish-American
War. Thereafter, family correspondence consists almost exclusively of letters from Gertrude to her Aunt Ann ("Nannan").
Folder
162
1891
Folder
163-164
1892
Folder
165
1893
Folder
166-167
1894
Folder
168
1895-1898
Folder
169
1895-1898 (undated)
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1.12 Undated Correspondence
About 1700 items.
Arrangement: alphabetical by writer.
Undated letters and fragments are arranged by writer when the writer could be identified. When individual writers cannot be
identified or when there are only a few letters from each individual but a considerable number from a family, letters are
grouped by family.
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1.12.1 Lena Cary
About 30 items.
Folder
170
Lena Cary
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1.12.2 Edith Johnstone Coleman
About 10 items.
Folder
171
Edith Johnstone Coleman
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1.12.3 Frances Johnstone Dent
About 20 items.
Folder
172
Frances Johnstone Dent
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1.12.4 Anne Hutchinson Smith Elliott
About 40 items.
Folder
173-174
Anne Hutchinson Smith Elliott
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1.12.5 Annie Elliott
About 10 items.
Folder
175
Annie Elliott
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1.12.6 Emily Elliott
About 20 items.
Folder
176
Emily Elliott
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1.12.7 Phoebe Elliott
5 items.
Folder
177
Phoebe Elliott
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1.12.8 Ralph Elliott
About 20 items.
Folder
178
Ralph Elliott
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1.12.9 William Elliott
About 80 items.
Folder
179-182
William Elliott
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1.12.10 Ambrosio J. Gonzales
4 items.
Folder
183
Ambrosio J. Gonzales
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1.12.11 Gertrude Gonzales
About 10 items.
Folder
184
Gertrude Gonzales
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1.12.12 N. G. Gonzales
4 items.
Folder
185
N. G. Gonzales
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1.12.13 Elliott Johnstone
4 items.
Folder
186-187
Elliott Johnstone
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1.12.14 Emmaline Johnstone
About 60 items.
Folder
188-190
Emmaline Johnstone
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1.12.15. Mary E. Johnstone
About 600 items.
Letters from Mary Barnwell Elliott Johnstone written chiefly to her mother, Ann Hutchinson Smith Elliott, and to her sister,
Emily Elliott, over a period of several decades, beginning before her marriage in 1848 and ending just before her death in
1900. Mary wrote often, especially after moving to Baltimore in 1868; however, she rarely dated her letters, most of which
are contained in this subseries. Although Mary failed to date her letters, she frequently noted her residence at the time
of writing. Since she moved permanently to Baltimore in 1868; it is possible to estimate a date range for some letters based
on her location.
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1.12.15.1. Undated Letters of Mary E. Johnstone, before 1868.
About 100 items.
Chiefly letters headed Annandale, Beaumont, and Flat Rock. In 1848, when she was twenty-four years old, Mary Barnwell Elliott
married Andrew Johnstone. A widower with a half-grown son named William, Johnstone was a prosperous rice planter of Annandale
near Georgetown, South Carolina. Like the Elliotts, he also owned a summer home, called Beaumont, at Flat Rock, North Carolina.
The Johnstones' six children were all born before the start of the Civil War: Elliott (born 1849), Ann (1851-1869), Frances
("Fannie" or "Fan," born 1853), Mary ("Mamie," born 1855), Emmaline ("Emma," born 1857), and Edith (born 1858). In 1864, Andrew Johnstone offered dinner to three deserters who returned the favor by
murdering him at his Flat Rock home. Mary's letters for this period detail family activities, difficulties caused by war,
and problems of supporting and educating her children after her husband's death. In 1868, Mary moved to Baltimore to work
at Edgeworth, a boarding school for girls.
Folder
191
Undated letters of Mary E. Johnstone, Annandale
Folder
192
Undated letters of Mary E. Johnstone, Beaumont
Folder
193
Undated letters of Mary E. Johnstone, Beaumont
Folder
194
Undated letters of Mary E. Johnstone, Flat Rock
Folder
195-196
Undated letters of Mary E. Johnstone, Before 1868
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1.12.15.2 Undated Letters of Mary E. Johnstone, After 1868.
About 500 items.
Letters written from Baltimore or the homes of Mary's daughters. From 1868 until her retirement in 1885, Mary Johnstone worked
at Edgeworth School for Young Ladies at No. 64 Mount Vernon Place in Baltimore. Much of her correspondence for this period
was composed at that address. After her retirement she moved into the Baltimore home of her daughter Emma, where she lived
until her death in 1900. A few letters for this period also originated from Brookland, the Pennsylvania home of her daughter
Fannie Johnstone Dent. Mary apparently wrote her mother and sister Emily weekly accounts of her activities and freely expressed
her low opinion of Northerners, especially those residing in Baltimore.
Folder
197-202
Undated letters of Mary E. Johnstone, Baltimore
Folder
203-204
Undated letters of Mary E. Johnstone, Brookland
Folder
205
Undated letters of Mary E. Johnstone, Cornwall, Pa.
Folder
206
Undated letters of Mary E. Johnstone, Darlington, Md.
Folder
207-208
Undated letters of Mary E. Johnstone, 59 Franklin St.
Folder
209-218
Undated letters of Mary E. Johnstone, 64 Mount Vernon Place
Folder
219-220
Undated letters of Mary E. Johnstone, 173 Park Ave.
Folder
221-231
Undated letters of Mary E. Johnstone, Other places or no place
Folder
232
Undated letters of Mary E. Johnstone, Fragments
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1.12.16 Sallie L. Johnstone
1 item.
Letter of Sallie L. Johnstone, Savannah, to "Grandmother" (possibly Mrs. Ann H. Elliott).
Folder
233
Sallie L. Johnstone
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1.12.17 William Gilmore Simms
4 items.
Letters of William Gilmore Simms to William Elliott about Elliott's writings.
Folder
234
William Gilmore Simms
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1.12.18 James Skirving
1 item.
Letter of James Skirving to William Skirving about the rice crop.
Folder
235
James Skirving
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1.12.19 Mary Johnstone Thompson
About 30 items.
Folder
236
Mary Johnstone Thompson
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1.12.20 Burnet Family
About 20 items.
Folder
237
Burnet Family
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1.12.21 Elliott Family
About 40 items.
Folder
238-239
Elliott Family
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1.12.22 Habersham Family
About 40 items.
Folder
240-241
Habersham Family
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1.12.23 Johnstone Family
About 20 items.
Folder
242
Johnstone Family
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1.12.24 Manigault Family
About 60 items.
Folder
243-245
Manigault Family
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1.12.25 Pinckney Family
About 40 items.
Folder
246-247
Pinckney Family
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1.12.26 Other Writers, Before 1860.
About 40 items.
Folder
248-249
Other Writers, Before 1860
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1.12.27 Other Writers, After 1865.
About 60 items.
Folder
250-252
Other Writers, After 1865
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1.12.28 Unidentified Other Writers
About 30 items.
Folder
253
Unidentified Other Writers
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2. Financial and Legal Material, 1701-1898 and undated.
About 450 items.
Arrangement: by type, then chronological.
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2.1. Financial and Legal Papers, 1701-1898.
About 430 items.
Unbound materials relating to financial and legal matters. Included are letters that are essentially receipts or confirmations
of purchase orders. Other business letters are filed in Series 1. Also included are maps or plats attached to deeds or indentures.
See Series 3 for other maps and plats.
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2.1.1. Thomas Sacheverell, James Skirving, William Skirving, and Others, 1701-1810.
About 140 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Records of Thomas Sacheverell, his son-in-law William Skirving, and William Skirving's father James Skirving. Material prior
to 1747 consists chiefly of indentures relating to land in Colleton district, South Carolina, which was eventually acquired
by Sacheverell and the Skirvings.
Items relating to Thomas Sacheverell begin in 1747. In addition to records concerning land, these materials include bills
for personal expenses, an itemized bill for construction of a brick kitchen, and Sacheverell's will (1764).
Items relating to James Skirving begin in 1764 and include deeds and indentures; documents concerning Skirving's rice crop
(1764); and his will (1771, 1785).
Items relating to William Skirving begin in 1769 and consist of deeds and indentures; property taxes (1787) paid for Pon Pon,
Ashepoo, and Balls plantations; and Skirving's will (1810).
Folder
254
1701-1737
Folder
255
1745-1760
Folder
256
1763-1769
Folder
257
1770-1777
Folder
258
1783-1789
Folder
259
1790-1796
Folder
260
1803-1810
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2.1.2. William Elliott and Others, 1812-1863.
About 180 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Records of William Elliott and others, including Thomas Rhett Smith and various Smith family relatives, Stephen Elliott, Phoebe
Elliott, and the children of William Elliott. Papers include slave bills of sale, wills and estate papers, other legal papers,
bills and receipts, accounts for sales of rice and cotton, passports, and other items.
Documents relating to William Elliott include many bills of sale for slaves, mortgages, bonds, accounts for sales of rice
and cotton, bills for supplies and other plantation expenses, an opinion in the case of William Elliott vs. Haskell Rhett
(1852), passports (1855, 1857, 1860), bills and receipts for expenses of European trips in 1853 and 1855, a pew assessment
(1859), publication agreement and bill for printing Carolina Sports (1859), and a tax return for Hilton Head property (1861). Civil War papers of William Elliott in this subseries include a
Confederate War Tax receipt dated 31 July 1862, a pass dated 3 December 1862 allowing Elliott to leave the city of Charleston
to go to Adams Run, a Confederate stock certificate, and a list dated 26 September 1863 of scrip in Confederate 8 percent
stock sent to William Elliott by Mr. Bee.
Most of the Smith family papers concern settlement of estates. They include papers about litigation concerning the estate
of William Skirving, the wills of Thomas Rhett Smith and Ann Rebecca Smith, and papers relating to the estates of Thomas Rhett
Smith (1830-1833), Caroline Smith (1850-1852), and Bethia Smith (1858).
A few papers of William Elliott's mother Phoebe Elliott are included in this subseries, e. g., a bill for food in 1842 and
a list of her slaves in 1855.
Documents relating to William Elliott's children include a bill dated 12 November 1845 from Montpelier Institute for Emily
Elliott; bills and receipts for purchases, notably those made in Paris in 1855; and passports (1855, 1857). Also in this subseries
are some papers of Ralph Emms Elliott, including a bill for his uniform in 1862 and an account with his mother dated 15 October
1863. On the back of this account is a list of the Elliotts' slaves and their locations as of that date.
Folder
261
1812-1819
Folder
262
1822-1829
Folder
263
1830-1833
Folder
264
1835-1838
Folder
265
1840-1849
Folder
266
1850-1852
Folder
267
1853-1858
Folder
268
1859
Folder
269
1860-1863
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2.1.3. Descendants of William Elliott and Others, 1864-1898.
About 100 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Receipts, bills, mortgages, inventories, and other financial and legal papers of William Elliott's children, Ann Elliott,
Emily Elliott, Mary Elliott Johnstone, and Ralph Elliott; his grandson Ambrose Elliott Gonzales; his wife Ann H. Elliott;
and others. There are no papers of N. G. Gonzales in this subseries. Many items relate to property lost during the Civil War
and to the Elliotts' attempts to recover their property, especially their land. Ann Elliott's application to the Bureau of
Refugees, Freedmen & Abandoned Land for restoration of her land is dated 9 December 1865.
The majority of the papers for the 1870s are papers of A. E. Gonzales, Ann Elliott, and Emily Elliott. There are also a few
documents of Mary Johnstone. Papers of the 1880s include tax receipts and bills for supplies. Papers for the 1890s include
a brief by the claimant's attorney in the case of Anne H. Elliott vs. the United States (1891), and papers relating to rental of land owned by the Elliotts on Hilton Head Island.
Folder
270
1864-1865
Folder
271
1866-1869
Folder
272
1870-1879
Folder
273
1880-1887
Folder
274
1891-1898
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2.1.4. Undated Financial and Legal Papers.
About 20 items.
Chiefly slave lists and miscellaneous accounts before the Civil War.
Folder
275
Undated
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2.2. Account Books, 1822-1887.
21 items.
Arrangement: chronological by date of latest entry.
Account books kept by members of the Elliott family. The account books are listed in chronological order by date of latest
entry. The keeper of the volume is indicated if known. Most of these books contain financial information only, but a few include
copies of correspondence, school exercises, or miscellaneous remarks.
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2.2.1. 1822-1866.
15 items.
Account books kept by Ann Hutchinson Smith Elliott, William Elliott, Phoebe Elliott, and Ann and Emily Elliott.
Folder
276
Household Account Book, 1832-1833. 28 pages. Ann Hutchinson Smith Elliott. Household expenses and income showing purchases,
often in Charleston and Savannah, of food, textiles, personal items, and other goods, and proceeds from sale of land and crops.
Also includes payments to Mrs. Snow, the Elliott children's nurse.
Folder
277
William Elliott Travel and Farm Expenses, 1847-1850. 42 pages. Travel and farm expenses, including brief memorandum of work
performed at Flat Rock in 1849.
Folder
278
Account Book, 1848-1851. 38 pages. Ann Hutchinson Smith Elliott(?). Accounts of "Miss Elliott" and William Elliott Junior, with A. Johnstone, chiefly for travel expenses for a trip north in 1848. Also includes clothing
expenses for 1850 and 1851.
Folder
279
Register of Receipts and Plantation Accounts, 1852-1853. 48 pages. Ann Hutchinson Smith Elliott(?). Chiefly plantation expenses.
Also includes list of blankets distributed at Pon Pon; instructions for nurses at Cheeha; and a register of receipts on hand
(some dating back to 1845).
Folder
280
Account Book, 1853. 19 pages. Mrs. Phoebe Elliott(?). Household and personal expenses, including an unfinished "List of househol |
