Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

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

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Jason Niles Papers #950, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Microfilm of some volumes available.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Mrs. Swanson Niles of Kosciusko, Miss., in February 1945.

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The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• California--Description and travel.
• Canada--Description and travel.
• Diaries (Blank-books)
• Kosciusko (Miss.)--History.
• Lawyers--Mississippi--History--19th century.
• Migration, Internal--United States--History--19th century.
• Mississippi--Politics and government.
• Mississippi--Social life and customs.
• Niles, Henry C., fl. 1869-1871.
• Niles, Jason, 1814-1894.
• North Carolina--Description and travel.
• Ohio--Description and travel.
• Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)--Mississippi.
• Schools--Mississippi--Kosciusko--Records and correspondence.
• Scrapbooks--Mississippi--History--19th century.
• Teachers--Ohio--History--19th century.
• Teachers--Tennessee--History--19th century.
• Texas--Description and travel.
• United States--Politics and government--19th century.
• Vermont--Social life and customs.

Jason Niles was born 19 December 1814 at Hatley, Quebec. He lived in the vicinity of Burlington, Vt., from 1831 to March 1838, attending the University of Vermont from 1834 until his graduation in 1837. He lived in Massachusetts, Ohio, and Tennessee from 1838 to 1848, teaching school. He married Harriet "Qu" McRee of Shelbyville, Tenn., on 15 August 1847.

Niles moved to Kosciusko, Miss., on 20 July 1848. Having started reading law in January, he was admitted to the bar in 1851 and practiced intermittently throughout his residence in Kosciusko. He was editor of the Kosciusko Chronicle, 1851-1853; a delegate to the state constitutional conventions of 1851, 1865, and 1868; a member of the state House of Representatives in 1870; a circuit judge in 1871 and 1872; and Republican member of the United States Congress March 1873 to March 1875 (he was defeated in the 1874 election). Niles died at Kosciusko, Miss., on 7 July 1894.

Diaries, scrapbooks, and other records of Niles, who practiced law for 46 years in Kosciusko, Miss., and served as a Republican U. S. representative from 1873-1875. The diaries, 34 V. (estimated 6,800 or more pages), cover Niles's early life and education in Vermont, 1831-1838; teaching school at several places in Ohio and Tennessee, 1838-1848; residence in Mississippi, 1848-1890; and numerous trips: to Canada, 1864; Ohio and North Carolina, 1871; California, 1872; and Texas, 1873. The diaries are an unusually full and articulate record of the experiences and opinions of a New Englander residing in the South. Fifteen scrapbooks, 1847-1888, of clippings, pamphlets, broadsides, and other items, contain material on Mississippi and national politics, particularly during Reconstruction, on Niles's New England literary interests, and on many other events and subjects. Also included are a diary and scrapbook, 1869- 1871, of Henry C. Niles, and a Kosciusko town school record, 1853-1854.

• V-950/S-3