Inventory of the James McFadden Gaston Papers, 1852-1946

Collection Number 1470

Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Contact Information:

Manuscripts Department

CB#3926, Wilson Library

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890

Phone: 919/962-1345

Fax: 919/962-3594

Email: mss@email.unc.edu

URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/

Processed by

SHC Staff

Date Processed

November 2002

Encoded by

Matthew Turi

Date Encoded

November 2002

Descriptive Summary

Repository

Southern Historical Collection

Creator

Gaston, James McFadden, 1824-1903.

Title

James McFadden Gaston Papers, 1852-1946

Call Number

1470

Extent

About 400 items (6.0 linear feet)

Abstract

James McFadden Gaston (1824-1903), Confederate surgeon and physician from South Carolina, left the United States immediately after the Civil War and settled his family in Brazil where he practiced medicine in the city of Campinas. After almost two decades, Gaston returned with some family members to Atlanta, Ga., and re-entered American medical life, teaching at Southern Medical College, publishing articles, and conducting research. Gaston's son, James McFadden Gaston (1868-1946), was also a physician and surgeon. From 1908 until 1936, the younger Gaston and his wife, Annie Bunn Gay Gaston, worked as a medical missionaries in Laichowfu, China, under the auspices of the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. In 1936, they returned to the United States and retired in Deland, Fla., where Gaston was involved in local church activities, especially the No Liquor League. Materials relating to James McFadden Gaston (1824-1903) date from 1852 to the 1890s and include letters to his wife, Susan Greening Brumby, detailing his experiences in the Civil War and in Brazil; a journal kept during his initial visit to Brazil; several manuscripts of novels about the antebellum American South; and other papers, including Brazilian Masonic certificates, lecture notes, broadsides advertising the Southern Medical College, and newspaper clippings. Materials relating to James McFadden Gaston (1868-1946) include letters about his work in China, his business affairs, and Gaston family history; an unpublished biography of his father; a series of journals documenting his boyhood in Brazil through retirement in Florida; and other papers, including religious pamphlets. Also included are a few photographs of Gaston family members and their friends.

Administrative Information

Restrictions to Access

No restrictions.

Alternate Form of Material

Microfilm copy (filmed June 2003) available.

Reel 1: Folders 1-14
Reel 2: Folders 15-25
Reel 3: Folders 26-48
Reel 4: Folders 49-73
Reel 5: Folders 74-95
Reel 6: Folders 96-129
Reel 7: Folders 130-159
Reel 8: Folders 160-187; P-1470/1

Provenance

Received from J. Gaston Gay of Atlanta, Ga., in July 1948, and from Annie B. Gay Gaston of Deland, Fla., in October 1950.

Processing Information

This collection includes materials that were formerly identified as the James McFadden Gaston Biography (#1469).

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the James McFadden Gaston Papers #1470, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Online Catalog Headings

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

Gaston, James McFadden, 1824-1903.

Gaston, James McFadden, 1868-1946.

Gaston family.

Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.

Confederate States of America. Army--Medical care.

Confederate States of America. Army--Surgeons.

American Confederate voluntary exiles--Brazil.

Medicine--Practice--Georgia--History--19th century.

Medicine--Practice--South Carolina--History--19th century.

Medicine--Study and teaching--Georgia--History--19th century.

Southern Medical College--Faculty.

Southern Baptist Convention. Foreign Mission Board.

Missionaries--China--History--20th century.

Physicians--United States--Diaries.

Physicians--Brazil--History--19th century.

Physicians--China--History--20th century.

Physicians--United States--History.

Physicians' writings, American.

Brazil--Description and travel.

Brazil--Social life and customs--19th century.

China--Social life and customs--1912-1938.

Diaries.

Temperance--Florida--Societies--History--20th century.

Family--South Carolina--Social life and customs.

Family--Georgia--Social life and customs.

Family--Florida--Social life and customs.

Biographical Note

James McFadden Gaston (1824-1903) was a Confederate surgeon and physician from South Carolina. He organized medical services while serving as Chief Surgeon of South Carolina Forces and later as Divisional Surgeon General of the South Carolina Volunteers during campaigns in Virginia and Pennsylvania, which included the battles of Manassas and Gettysburg. Immediately after the conclusion of the Civil War, Gaston left the United States and settled his family in Brazil where he practiced medicine in the city of Campinas. After almost two decades, Gaston returned with some of his family to Atlanta, Ga., where he successfully re-entered American medical life, teaching at the Southern Medical College, publishing articles, and carrying out research. He died in 1903.

Gaston's son and namesake, James McFadden Gaston (1868-1946), was also a physician and surgeon. Little is known about his practice of medicine in the United States beyond the fact that he worked with his father in private practice as well as at the Southern Medical College. From 1908 until 1936, under the aegis of the Southern Baptist Convention's Foreign Mission Board in Richmond, Va., the younger Gaston and his wife, Annie Bunn Gay Gaston, worked as medical missionaries in Laichowfu, China, at the Mayfield-Tyzzer and Kathleen Mallory hospitals. In 1936, he and his wife returned to the United States and retired in Deland, Fla., where he was involved in local church activities, especially the No Liquor League. He died in 1946.

Collection Overview

The materials chiefly relate to physician James McFadden Gaston (1868-1903) and his son, physician and missionary James McFadden (1868-1946). They include letters; manuscript writings; daily journals; and a wide variety of other documents, among which are Brazilian Masonic certificates, religious pamphlets, broadsheets advertising the Southern Medical College in Atlanta, Ga., and newspaper clippings.

Letters dated between 1852 and 1865 were primarily written by James McFadden Gaston (1824-1903) to Susan Greening Brumby, who was to become his wife. Pre-Civil War letters dwell on local affairs in South Carolina, religious themes, and the doctor's professional activities and travel. Letters written while Gaston served in the Confederate Army discuss his role in organizing medical services after a number of battles, including Manassas, Gettysburg, and Chickamauga. There are also discussions of the deaths of his brothers at the Battle of Seven Pines, military life among officers, and family matters.

Between 1865 and 1883, Gaston and his family lived in Brazil. There are a number of letters that Gaston wrote to family members in South Carolina while scouting out Brazil, but most letters from this period reflect family matters, including arrangements that were made for the education of the Gaston children.

In 1883, Gaston and his family returned to the United States and settled in Atlanta, Ga. Letters from the 1880s and 1890s reflect Gaston's re-entry into American medical life.

Beginning in 1908, there are reports and letters of James McFadden Gaston's (1868-1946) as a medical missionary in Laichowfu, China, at the Mayfield-Tyzzer Hospital and Kathleen Mallory Hospital. Among these are a number of letters from a Chinese friend and tax official discussing his impressions of Christianity and the Bible. Gaston and his wife, Annie Bunn Gay Gaston, retired to Florida in 1936, and the letters after this date are chiefly concerned with Gaston family history and genealogy.

Writings include unpublished copies of the elder Gaston's novel about the antebellum American South entitled, "The Hoiden's Triumph: Virtus in Arduis" and fragments of a similarly themed work labeled "The New Regime." The younger Gaston's works are primarily about his father and include an unpublished biography entitled "A Pathfinder of Yesterday: James McFadden Gaston, Patriot...Explorer...Scientist" and an article entitled "The Beginning of a War that Succeeded," on the role his father played in the effort to eradicate yellow fever.

Journals of James McFadden Gaston (1824-1903) record his initial visit to Brazil, 1865-1866, to evaluate the suitability of Brazil as a new home. Also included is a notebook that contains information regarding the doctor's medical practice in the early 1880s.

Journals kept by James McFadden Gaston (1868-1946) are extensive, but sporadic. Items from the 1870s and early 1880s were created by Gaston as a boy living in Campinas, Province of São Paulo, Brazil. One journal contains entries from 1882-1883 and 1928-1935 when Gaston was a medical missionary in China. The journal from around 1916 contains details about his medical practice. Most of these journals, however, were written by Gaston during his later years in Deland, Fla. These volumes, 1938 until his death in 1946, record Gaston's routine activities, which largely consisted of reading, listening to the radio, and attending to church-related business. The volumes from 1943 contain details of his activities in support of the No Liquor League.

Also included are a few photographs of Gaston family members and their friends.

Organization of Collection

1. Letters and Other Papers
2. Original Manuscripts and Research Items
3. Journals and Notebooks
3.1. Journals and Notebooks of James McFadden Gaston (1824-1903)
3.2. Journals and Notebooks of James McFadden Gaston (1868-1946)
4. Photographs

Detailed Description of the Collection

Items Separated

Items separated include photographs (P-1470).

Related Collections

James McFadden Gaston Correspondence, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, Nashville, Tenn.