Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#M-4169
ELEONORE EULALIE CAY FLEMING PAPERS
Inventory
Abstract: Business correspondence, 1851-1855, of Raymond Cay
(1805-1880), general merchant and cotton factor of
Liberty County, Ga.; personal and family
correspondence, 1865-1920, of his daughter, Eleonore
Eulalie Cay Fleming (1848-1934) of Liberty and Harries
counties, Ga.; and family records of Raymond and Eliza
Ann Stetson Cay and their descendants. Family
correspondence includes letters to and from Eulalie
Cay before and after her marriage to Thomas Quarterman
Fleming in 1866. Letters from Eulalie Fleming's
mother Eliza Ann Cay, her cousin Mary Julia Eleanor
DeCosta, and her sister Nathalie Cay Hall, describe
their daily lives in Walthourville, Liberty County,
Ga., including detailed descriptions and sketches of
clothes being made, family and neighborhood news, and
their work as milliners and seamstresses. Scattered
family correspondence, 1882-1920, includes letters to
Eulalie Fleming from her sons Lawrence and Louis about
life at Georgia Military Academy, Savannah, 1882-1884;
her daughter Mamie about her social life; her son
Lawrence, 1919, about his military career at Fort Sam
Houston, Tex.; and more letters from her mother and
Mary Julia Eleanor DeCosta. There are also letters
from Lawrence Fleming to his siblings about his life
with the U.S. Cavalry at Fort Bayard, N.M. In
addition to correspondence, the collection includes
records copied from a Cay family Bible; Civil War
reminiscences of Raymond Cay, who served with the 5th
Georgia Regiment in Georgia and Tennessee; a
description of Salter's Creek Plantation in Liberty
County, Ga., and its slaves; and reminiscences of
individual Cay slaves.
Online Catalog Terms:
Cay, Eliza Ann Stetson, 1812-1896.
Cay, Raymond, 1805-1863.
Commission merchants--Georgia--History--19th century.
Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.
Confederate States of America. Army. Georgia Regiment, 5th.
DeCosta, Mary Julia E., 1817-1890.
Dressmaking--Georgia--History.
Family--Georgia--Social life and customs.
Fleming, Eleonore Eulalie Cay, 1848-1934.
Fleming, Susan O., d. 1879.
Fleming, Thomas Quarterman, 1830-1910.
Fort Bayard (N.M.).
Fort Sam Houston (Tex.).
Georgia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
Georgia Military Academy (Savannah, Ga.)--Students--History--
19th century.
Hall, Nathalie Alexine Cay, 1854-1949.
Liberty County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
Millinery workers--Georgia--History.
Plantations--Georgia--Liberty County.
Salter's Creek Plantation (Liberty County, Ga.).
Slavery--Georgia.
Slaves--Biography.
Tennessee--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal
narratives, Confederate.
United States. Army--Military life--History--20th century.
United States. Army. Cavalry--History.
Women--Georgia--Social life and customs.
Size: About 325 items (1 reel of microfilm).
Provenance: Lent for filming by Louis A. Fleming of Madison,
Fla., in March 1979.
Access: No restrictions.
Related Collections: William Oliver Fleming Papers (#2292).
Processing Note: This collection was processed with support
from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers,
or their descendants, as stipulated by United
States copyright law.
Table of Contents:
Biographical Note
Description
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Raymond Cay was born at Barricas, Cuba, in 1805, the son of
Jean Sauvern and Julia Pezant Cay, refugees from Santo Domingo.
In 1809, the family moved to Savannah, Ga., and in 1814, to
Charleston, S.C. On the recommendation of a Charleston merchant,
Raymond Cay came to Riceboro, Liberty County, Ga., to manage the
store of David Stetson, (1786-1836) who, with his wife Betsy
Butler Stetson (1796-1834), had moved to Riceboro from New
Bedford, Mass., in 1816. In 1834, Raymond Cay married their
daughter, Eliza Ann Stetson. Following the death of David and
Betsy Stetson, he became owner of their store and plantation.
On 19 December 1866, Eleonore Eulalie Cay married Thomas
Quarterman Fleming, the son of John Sidney and Jane Quarterman
Fleming of Liberty County, Ga. Lalie Cay Fleming had been a
life-long friend of many of T. Q. Fleming's cousins, especially
Susan Olivia "Livie" Fleming. Following their marriage, T. Q.
Fleming ran a general store and farmed in Liberty County, Ga.,
and worked on railroad construction in Harris County, Ga.
[For additional biographical information, see the list of
correspondents compiled by Joseph Martin filed at the beginning
of the collection and the family history compiled by Raymond Cay,
Jr., filed near the end.]
Cay Family
Jean Sauvern Cay + Julia Pezant
Josephine (b. 1781) + Charles Nicholas DeCosta
Mary Julia Eleanor "Nennen" (1817-1890)
Alexine (b. 1787)
Eulalie (b. 1790)
John Eugene (b. 1802)
Raymond (1805-1883) + Eliza Ann Stetson (1812-1896)
Julia Elizabeth (1835-1864) + McLeod King
Josephine Mariah (b. 1838) + Thomas M. Stuart
John David (1840-1916) + Georgia Winn
Louis Eugene (1843-1857)
Raymond Jr. "Raymie" (1846-1937) + Jeannette W. McCall
Eleonore Eulalie "Lalie" (1848-1934) + Thomas Quarterman
"Que" Fleming (1841-1917)
Lawrence Julian (1868-1923)
Louis Alfred (1869-1898)
Mary Eulalie "Mamie" (1871-1957)
Ernest Fortson (1874-1965)
Charles Cay (1876-1963)
Thomas Quarterman "Quzie" (1878-1972)
Sidney Stetson "Stets" (1881-1954)
Tallulah DeCosta (1886-1960)
Charles Alfred (1851-1935) + Minna Montgomery
Nathalie Alexine (1854-1949) + Phillip H. Hall
Fleming Family
William Fleming + ?
Thomas W. + Susan E. (1819-1888)
Susan Olivia "Livie" (d. 1878) + F. M. Blount
Peter Winn
William Bennett (1803-1886) + Eliza Ann Maxwell
William Oliver (1835-1881) + Georgia Williams
Mary Catherine
John Sidney (1812-1847) + Jane Quarterman (1813-1874)
Thomas Quarterman (1841-1917) + Eleonore Eulalie Cay
DESCRIPTION
Papers, 1836-1855 (about 160 items), are primarily letters to
Raymond Cay, general merchant and cotton factor of Riceboro, Ga.,
from merchants, especially R. and W. King, of Savannah, Ga.,
about the cotton market and the sale of Cay's cotton shipments;
purchase of goods for Cay's stores; Cay's accounts with the
merchants; and other notes handled by the merchants for Cay.
There are also accounts and receipts for merchandise purchased by
Cay, many with detailed lists of cloth, books, furniture, and
other goods; scattered accounts of merchandise sold by or for
Cay; a copy of Savannah Shipping and Commercial List, December
1836; and a receipt, 1855, for payment of an overseer.
There is one letter, 1860, from William Howe, Columbia,
S.C.(?), about political affairs and the degeneracy of the
country's leadership, and a retrospective account (original and
transcription) of the 1864 raid by Wheeler's cavalry on Sherman's
army near Dalton, Ga., written by Raymond Cay, Jr., then a
private with the 5th Georgia Cavalry.
Papers, 1865-1879 (about 110 items), are primarily personal
and family correspondence of Eulalie "Lalie" Cay before and after
her marriage to T. Q. Fleming in 1866. Lalie Cay lived in
Walthourville, Liberty County, Ga., 1865-June 1872 and February
1873-June 1879, and in Hamilton, Harris County, Ga., July 1872-
January 1873, and July-December 1879. Thomas Q. Fleming during
this period appears to have been a merchant and a farmer while
they lived in Walthourville and a contractor with a railroad
(North-South?) while in Hamilton.
Lalie Cay Fleming's most frequent correspondents were her
mother Eliza Ann Cay; Mary Julia Eleanor DeCosta (called Nennen),
a much older cousin, who appears to have helped raise Lalie; and
her sister Nathalie, who married Phillip H. Hall in 1873. These
three women, all in Walthourville, wrote of their daily lives,
especially detailed descriptions and sketches of clothes being
made; their health and that of others; family and neighborhood
affairs, including visits to Savannah and elsewhere; visitors
including a traveling photographer, August 1872; and their work
as milliners and seamstresses. There is also occasional mention
of novels read, church affairs, management of their farm and
property, and job-hunting by family members.
There are also a number of letters to Lalie Fleming before and
after her marriage from her friend Susan Olivia "Livie" Fleming,
Red Bluff, Baker County, Ga. Livie Fleming's letters are similar
to those described above, but she also writes of visiting
Confederate prisoners in Savannah, Ga., in 1865; Yankee
depredations in her area in 1865; sewing for hire for African-
Americans in 1872; her courtship by F. M. Blount and plans for
their marriage in 1876; and her extensive dental work in 1876.
Livie Blount died in January 1878; there are two letters from her
father, Thomas W. Fleming, to his brothers William and Peter
describing her illness and death and an obituary.
Also included in papers, 1865-1879, are letters to Lalie
Fleming from her other siblings, especially letters, 1872, about
the illness of their mother, and a letter, 1873, from Charles Cay
about his work in railroad camps; scattered letters to Eliza Ann
Stetson Cay from her son Raymond about his farm and crops; a song
and poem, 1872, used in the Walthourville May Day festival; and a
brief school essay, 1879, on fishing by Lawrence Fleming, son of
Lalie and T. Q. Fleming.
From May to August 1879, there is considerable business
correspondence and papers of T. Q. Fleming including letters from
Raymond Cay, Jr., about his management of the Flemings' farm and
store during their absence; bills for supplies and mule rental; a
letter giving reduced rates for Fleming's laborers on the Macon
and Brunswick Railroad; and three payrolls for his crew.
From 1882 to 1920, there is scattered family correspondence
(about 30 items), including letters to Lalie Fleming from her
sons Lawrence and Louis about life at Georgia Military Academy,
Savannah, 1882-1884; her daughter Mamie about her social life;
and her son Lawrence, 1919, about his military career at Fort Sam
Houston, Tex. There are also letters, 1883, to Lalie Fleming
from her mother and Nennen similar to those described above; an
1888 death notice of Susan E. Fleming (b. 1819); letters, 1890,
from Lawrence Fleming to his sibling about his life with the U.S.
Cavalry at Fort Bayard, N.M.; letters, 1893, to Mamie Fleming
from F. E. C., a suitor whose proposal she rejected; a letter,
1915, from Sidney Fleming to his nephew Ernest Fleming about a
Confederate pension for T. Q. Fleming, Sr.; and letters, 1919-
1920, from Josephine Cay to her brother Raymond and her sister
Lalie Fleming.
Undated material (about 25 items) consists of family
correspondence similar to that described above, primarily letters
to Lalie Fleming from her mother, Nennen, and her siblings; two
social notes to T. Q. Fleming and "Mr Cay"; and an unsigned poem.
Following the correspondence is filed the "Family Record of
Raymond Cay and his wife Eliza Ann Stetson" compiled by Raymond
Cay, Jr. (1846-1937) in Tallahassee, Fla., in 1918. The volume
includes records copied from the Cay family Bible; records of
David and Betsy Butler Stetson; a record of Cay descendants
serving in World War I; notes on each of the children of Raymond
and Eliza Ann Cay; brief Civil War reminiscences of his service
and his brother David's with the 5th Georgia regiment in Georgia
and Tennessee; a description of Salter's Creek plantation in
Liberty County, Ga., and its slaves and of the effect of war and
Reconstruction on the plantation; a family record of Cay
descendants; and reminiscences of individual Cay slaves.
Enclosed is a typed list of the descendants of John David (1840-
1916) and Georgia Winn (b. 1874) Cay.