Inventory of the Margaret Ann Meta Morris Grimball Diary, 1860-1866

Collection Number 975-z

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

Collection Information

Descriptive Summary

Administrative Information

Online Catalog Headings

Biographical/Historical Note

Collection Overview

Detailed Description of the Collection

Diary, 1860-1866.

Related Collections

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/

Descriptive Summary

Repository: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.

Creator: Grimball, Margaret Ann Meta Morris, 1810-1881.

Title: Margaret Ann Meta Morris Grimball Diary, 1860-1866

Call Number: 975-z

Language of Materials: Materials in English

Extent: Items: 2

Abstract

Margaret Ann Meta Morris Grimball was the wife of John Berkley Grimball (1800-1892), rice planter of Saint Paul's Parish in the Colleton District of South Carolina, with connections to the Manigault and Lowndes families of South Carolina and to the Morris family of Morrisania, N.Y.

The collection is the manuscript diary, 1860-1866, of Margaret Ann ("Meta") Morris Grimball, with the greater part of the entries concentrated in 1861 and 1862. Mrs. Grimball wrote from the Grove Plantation (Colleton District, S.C.), primary Grimball residence until after the Civil War; from Charleston, where the family spent the summer months; and from Spartanburg, S.C., where they took refuge in May 1862 from anticipated Union attacks on the South Carolina coast. Topics include plantation life; slave management; the progress of the Civil War and its effects on the lives of those close to Mrs. Grimball, including the activities of her sons in the Confederate army and navy, and civilian relief efforts; sickness among the civilian and military population; the family's removal to the relative safety of Spartanburg, where they rented quarters at St. John's College; her husband's conversion from Presbyterianism to Episcopalianism; her daughters' teaching careers; and other family and community matters.

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Administrative Information

Restrictions to Access: No restrictions.

Alternate Form of Material: Microfilm copy available.

Alternate Form of Material: Full text of diary available from Documenting the American South website. See below for direct link.

Acquisitions Information: Received from Meta M. Grimball of Charleston, S.C., in May 1945.

Processing Information: Processed by: Roslyn Holdzkom, July 1990; Encoded by: Eben Lehman, May 2006

Preferred Citation: [Identification of item], in the Margaret Ann Meta Morris Grimball Diary #975-z, Southern Historical Collection, The 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.

Grimball, John Berkley, 1800-1892.

Grimball, Margaret Ann Meta Morris, 1810-1881.

Lowndes family.

Manigault family.

Morris family.

Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.

Confederate States of America. Navy--Sea life.

Episcopal Church--South Carolina--History--19th century.

Saint Johns College (Spartanburg, S.C.)--History.

Agriculture--South Carolina.

Diaries.

Plantation life--South Carolina.

Plantation owners--South Carolina.

Plantation owners' spouses--South Carolina.

Refugees--Confederate States of America.

Rice--South Carolina.

Slavery--South Carolina.

Teachers--South Carolina--History--19th century.

Women--South Carolina--Diaries.

Women--South Carolina--Social life and customs--19th century.

Charleston (S.C.)--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.

Colleton District (S.C.)--History--19th century.

Grove Plantation (Colleton County, S.C.)

Morrisania (N.Y.)--History--19th century.

Saint Pauls Parish (S.C.)--History--19th century.

South Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.

Spartanburg (S.C.)--History--19th century.

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Civilian relief--South Carolina.

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narratives, Confederate.

Related Collections

Grimball Family Papers (#980)
John Berkley Grimball Diary (#970)
Manigault, Morris, and Grimball Family Papers (#976)
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Biographical/Historical Note

Margaret Ann Meta Morris Grimball, 1810-1881, was a descendant of Lewis Morris, general in the Continental Army, member of the Continental Congress, and signer of the Declaration of Independence. Meta's father, also called Lewis Morris, married Elizabeth Manigault of South Carolina in 1807. Elizabeth was killed in a storm on Sullivan's Island, S.C., on 22 September 1822. In 1834, Lewis Morris married Aramintha Lowndes, who died in 1843. Through Meta's family, the Grimballs were, therefore, connected to the prominent Manigault and Lowndes families of South Carolina and to the Morris family of New York.

In 1830, Meta married John Berkley Grimball, 1800-1892, of Charleston, S.C. Grimball was the son of John and Eliza Berkley Grimball and a descendant of Paul Grimball (d. 1696). Paul Grimball came to South Carolina from England in 1682 and was secretary and receiver general of the province. The Grimballs were rice planters in Saint Paul's Parish in the Colleton District of South Carolina, but also spent much of the year in Charleston. They had nine children: Elizabeth (1831-1914), who married William Munro (d. 1900) and lived in Unionville, S.C.; Berkley (1833-1899), who studied law; Lewis (1835-1901), a physician who married Clementina Legge; William (d. 1864); John (d. 1922), who attended the United States Naval Academy and married Katie Moore; Arthur (d. 1894); Gabriella (d. 1924); Charlotte; and Harry, who married Helen E. Trenholm, daughter of Edward L. Trenholm, in 1876.

Collection Overview

The collection is the manuscript diary, 1860-1866, of Margaret Ann Meta Morris Grimball, with the greater part of the entries concentrated in 1861 and 1862. Mrs. Grimball wrote from the Grove Plantation (Colleton District, S.C.), primary Grimball residence until after the Civil War; from Charleston, S.C., where the family spent the summer months; and from Spartanburg, S.C., where they took refuge in May 1862 from anticipated Union attacks on the South Carolina coast. Topics include plantation life; slave management; the progress of the Civil War and its effects on the lives of those close to Mrs. Grimball, including the activities of her sons in the Confederate army and Confederate navy, and civilian relief efforts; sickness among the civilian and military population; the family's removal to the relative safety of Spartanburg, where they rented quarters at Saint John's College; her husband's conversion from Presbyterianism to Episcopalianism; her daughters' teaching careers; and other family and community matters.

Detailed Description of the Collection

Diary, 1860-1866.

Full text of diary

Diary, 210 pp., of Margaret Ann Meta Morris Grimball, containing entries, 1860-1866. The greatest number of diary entries were written in 1861 and 1862, but there are scattered entries from 1863 through 1865. The last entry, dated February 1866, summarizes the events that had taken place since the penultimate entry, which is dated "near the end of September [1865]."

The summary below shows some of the topics Grimball discussed in her diary. It is by no means an inclusive list of subjects, but gives only a general idea of how the narrative proceeds.

1860	A few entries for December only.
1861	Daily life on the plantation, including the duties of a mistress, children's activities, social events. Rumors of war.
1861	Building of a fort, using slave labor, at the mouth of the Edisto River.
1861	Five eldest sons going off to serve the Confederacy: John resigning from the Naval Academy and entering the Confederate navy; Lewis, a physician, signing up as an army surgeon; William, Berkley, and Arthur entering other branches of the service.
1861	Capture of Fort Sumter.
1861	Activities of relief societies and news of death of soldiers.
1861	Fever in Charleston and among the troops.
1861	Report of Northern fleet at Hilton Head and Bay Point, S.C., (October) and at Tybee on the Georgia coast. Fire in Charleston (19 December).
1862	Difficulties with slaves, including anxiety about their safety, which resulted in the removal of the Grimball slaves to Monck's Corner in the interior of the state.
1862	News of military engagements, deaths, illnesses.
1862	Move to Spartanburg to escape expected attacks on the South Carolina coast. In Spartanburg, the Grimballs and their entourage rented quarters at Saint John's College. They remained in Spartanburg until the end of the war.
1862	General hardships due to shortages of many items necessary to the health and well being of the family and servants.
1862	Note on letter received from son John in which he described fighting in Arkansas (19 August).
1862	Reports of duels in Charleston (19 August and 16 September).
1862	Visit of daughter Elizabeth to an iron mill.
1863	Increasing hardships and their influence on activities of family members and friends.
1863	Confirmation of John Berkley Grimball, formerly a Presbyterian, in the Episcopal Church to which his family subscribed (30 August).
1863	Account of the death of Lewis Morris (30 September).
1864	General sadness and despair relating to progress and probable outcome of the war.
1864	Daughter Elizabeth going to Unionville, S.C., to teach school; daughters Gabriella and Charlotte teaching school in Spartanburg (January).
1864	Receipt of parcel from son John (in the Confederate navy), who had gone to Nassau and then to England, and distribution of the parcel's contents among family and friends (April).
1864	Account of the death of son William in the military hospital in Charleston (30 July).
1865	Reluctance to write in diary, since all of the news is bad (breaks off writing in September).
1866	Summary of the events that had taken place since September 1865, almost exclusively documenting the whereabouts and activities of members of Grimball's immediate family.

Folder 1

Original diary

Folder 2

Typed transcription