Z 1758.000 S
GILL-PRICE FAMILY PAPERS


Biography/History:

The Gill family moved from South Carolina to Mississippi in 1811. John Gill settled in Amite County before buying the Cold Springs farm, which was located near Bogue Chitto, Lawrence County. His youngest son, William Thomas Gill (b. 1810) ran the farm from 1857 until 1869, when he moved to Greensburg, Louisiana, where his son, William Alexander Gill, had purchased a farm. William Alexander Gill was employed at the Greensburg land office when he married Tabitha Tull in 1860.

After the Civil War, William Alexander Gill opened a mercantile store in Greensburg and soon opened other branches in Louisiana and Mississippi. He added a coeducational school to one of the stores, which was located in Gillsburg, Amite County. The school was known as the Gillsburg Collegiate Institute, and its first president was Gills daughter, Ella. William Alexander Gill later moved his family to Gillsburg to better manage the school. He also opened banks in Magnolia in 1895 and in Kentwood in 1903. Gill died in 1905.

William Alexander Gill had several children, including Ella Gill Phillips (d. 1891); Mary Ida Gill Price (1865-1903); and Lucie Abbie Gill Price (b. 1871). Mary Ida Gill Price was the wife of James H. Price, assistant director of the Gillsburg Collegiate Institute, and herself a teacher at the school. James H. Price later attended law school and was an associate justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court. Lucie Abbie Gill Price was married to Willis Preston Price, brother of James H. Price. Willis Preston Price (b. 1866-1927) was the son of deacon Aaron and Frances Dear Price of Rankin County. He attended the Gillsburg Collegiate Institute, Mississippi College, and the University of Chicago. The Magnolia Baptist Church ordained Price in 1893. He served as pastor of Baptist churches in Magnolia, Osyka, Brookhaven, Summit, Winona (1898), Jackson (1900), Waycross (Georgia), Bessemer (Alabama), Alexandria (Louisiana), and again at Magnolia (1926). Lucie Abbie Gill Price began writing in 1920. She mainly composed poetry, and many of her poems were published. Price was also a correspondent for the Birmingham Post. Willis Preston and Lucie Gill Price had three children: Dorothy, Ralph L., and Ruth.

Scope and Content:

There are letters written by William Alexander Gill when he was courting fourteen-year-old Tabitha Tull in 1860. Included are detailed letters from Gill to his wife, Tabitha, at Bogue Chitto during the Civil War. These letters contain news from home and information on the land office that Gill was managing in the absence of receiver McClendon, including instructions from the land commissioner at Opelousas, Louisiana, and details on land sales, stamp prices, and envelope-making.

Perhaps of greatest interest are Gills letters concerning the fighting around Greensburg and regimental activities at nearby Camp Moore during the Civil War. He describes the Old Beaver Creek Rifles commanded by Captain O. P. Amacker (July 7, 1862) and the army of General John C. Breckinridge and generals Allen, Clark, and Ruggles passing through Greensburg (July 31, 1862). Gill also mentions that he helped to establish a hospital next to his home in early August of 1862 and that he was wardmaster of the hospital. Meanwhile, Tabitha Tull Gill had been teaching school in Bogue Chitto, and her husband's letters are full of advice on education. Gill also discusses bringing his wife, Tabitha, back to Greensburg (August 8, 1862).

In June of 1877, William Alexander Gill spent time at Brown Wells, Mississippi, in an attempt to restore his health. A number of letters to his wife describe how his days were spent at the resort. The remainder of the correspondence is related to his children; life in Greensburg, Magnolia, and Oak Ridge; and occasional trips to Jackson.

There are relatively few papers relating to Willis Preston Price. Those of interest include letters from his son, Ralph, at the University of Virginia (1917); from training camps in Georgia and Texas and from France where he was an aeronautical supply sergeant major during World War I (1917-1918). The only materials documenting Prices career as a Baptist minister are an 1891 letter from the Chicago Baptist Seminary to Tabitha Tull Gill; an 1893 commencement program; letters of condolence to Prices wife upon his death in 1927; and photographs and newspaper clippings.

The papers of Lucie Gill Price are more extensive. There are letters from her son, Ralph, regarding his education and experiences at the University of Virginia and his military training and service in France during World War I. Lucie Gill Price received a number of letters of condolence following the death of her husband. Letters from niece Inez Gill Carroll contain many details about her marriage to artist John Carroll in New York, Washington, and Paris; as a piano student of Robert Casadeus in Paris, and her career as a pianist at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and with the Maverick concerts. Finally, the correspondence of Lucie Gill Price with editors and publishers of magazines and newspapers reflect her aspirations as a poet and writer. Both published and unpublished works of Price are present, including a history of the Gill family.

Of additional interest are photographs, including images of Gill and Price family members and the first faculty members of Gillsburg Collegiate Institute (1885-1886). There are photograph albums and images of home and family, churches under construction, and views of Jackson. There is also a brief diary kept by Ralph L. Price upon his arrival in France during World War I. A small collection of oils and watercolors and various printed materials reflect the artistic activity of Ruth Gill Price.

Series Identification:

  1. Correspondence. 1860-1919. 430 items.
    2. Correspondence of William Alexander Gill, wife Tabitha Tull Gill, and daughter Lucie Gill Price; correspondence of Willis Preston Price, son Ralph L. Price, daughter Ruth Gill Price, and brother James H. Price; arranged chronologically according to recipient:

    William Alexander Gill (1877; 1892; 1903):

    Letters from wife Tabitha Tull Gill with news from Greensburg, Louisiana; while William Alexander Gill was staying at Browns Wells (June 1877); and while visiting her daughter in Jackson in 1903; letter from S. Frank relating to business (June 1877); letter from brother Thomas U. Gill about Gillsburg property; letters from son Ewell Gill (1892).

    Tabitha Tull Gill (1860-1903):

     Letters from husband William Alexander Gill during their courtship (1860); from Bogue Chitto during the Civil War with details on fighting around Greensburg, Louisiana, and Camp Moore; while visiting children and when husband was away in Jackson (1876); from Brown's Wells (1877) and Oak Ridge (1891-1892); from children Ella, Ewell, Mary Ida, and Wirt Alvin; son-in-law Willis Preston Price in Chicago (1891); and granddaughter Inez Gill Carroll.

    Lucie Gill Price (1885-1949):

     Letters from father and mother in Magnolia (1903); brother Edwin Gill; sister Ella Gill Phillips in Pickens; husband Willis Preston Price; son Ralph L. Price at the University of Virginia and during and after World War I; daughter Dorothy Price; niece Inez Gill Carroll while in New England, New York, Washington, and Paris; and nephew Bill Gill in the 1940s; letters from friends and relatives after the death of her husband in 1927; poetry-related correspondence with editors and publishers of magazines and newspapers: Florence E. Barns, Alice K. Bennett, Jack Bethea, M. M. Conlon, N. H. Crowell, John G. Hartwig, Howard W. Jones, Lilith Lorraine, C. B. McAllister, Alice McFarland, W. F. Melton, Irl Morse, Allan F. Pater, Clara C. Prince, Daniel Ryerson, Henry Schmittkind, Ruth Stevens, Annie Southerne Tardy, Charles L. Tumash, Edward Uhlan, William H. Vann, and H. B. Williams.

    Willis Preston Price (1895-1927):

     Letters from son Ralph L. Price at the University of Virginia (1917); from training camps and in France during World War I (1917-1919); and from friends serving on the front, including Ernest K. Bennett; letter from friend W. A. Russel about the birth of his son.

    Ralph L. Price (1917):

     Letter of recommendation from Dean W. M. Lile of University of Virginia.

    Ruth Gill Price (1918-1981):

     Letter to cousin Bill Gill (1912); letters of Ralph L. Price from France; letters relating to father's death in 1927; family correspondence relating to genealogy.

    Judge James H. Price (1927):

     Letters of condolence addressed to Judge Price on the occasion of his brother's death, including one from J. H. Lane.Box 1; box 9 (oversize items): William Alexander Gill (1877-1903); Tabitha Tull Gill (1860-1903).

    Box 2: Lucie Gill Price (1885-1917).

    Box 3; box 9 (oversize items): Lucie Gill Price (1927-1949).

    Box 4: Willis Preston Price (1895-1927); Ralph L. Price (1917); Ruth Gill Price (1918-1982); James H. Price (1927).

  2. Certificates; Official Papers; Announcements. 1887-1937. 30 items.
    3. Marriage announcements of James H. and Mary Ida Gill Price (1887) and of Ralph L. and Jamie Jones Price; school and college grades of Ralph L. Price (1901-1914); military records of Ralph L. Price (1917-1919); funeral notice of Willis Preston Price (1927); membership certificates of Lucie Gill Price in the Poetry Society of Texas.Box 4.
  3. Manuscripts and Notes.

    4. Diary of Ralph L. Price (December 1917-March 1918) and after; poetry of Lucie Gill Price, including Brief Parole, published and unpublished poems, etc.; notes of Lucie Gill Price on poetry, including "Comments of William Alexander Percy upon some verses of mine" and two notebooks relating to "The Natchez Saga"; prose of Lucie Gill Price entitled "On the West Coast" and "The Thrown Away Baby"; family histories of Lucie Gill Price on the Gill, Tull, and Price families (1910-1949); the Gill, Tull, and allied families of Bennett, Germany, Faust, Paul, Porter, etc. (1953), edited by Ruth Gill Price; and the Calvitt and Roudebush families.

    Boxes 4-7; box 9 (oversize items).
  4. Printed Materials. 1893-1981. 51 items.

    5. Church bulletins, commencement exercises, and programs (1893-1981); concert programs--Inez Gill, pianist (1916-1922); poems edited by Let Us Sing and Poetry Society of Texas; yearbook of Poetry Society of Alabama (1932-1933), Folklore of the King Ranch Mexicans (1931) by Frank Goodwin; Allisons Wells art-colony programs (1950-1954); The Palette (1950); French postcards.

  5. Newspaper Clippings. 1903-1981. 46 items.

    6. Newspaper clippings relating to Willis Preston, Lucie Gill, Dorothy, Ralph L., and Ruth Price; James H. Price, Mary Ida Gill Price, and Maureen O'Hara Price; Aileen Phillips Shannon; Gillsburg; Calvary Baptist Church and the Oaks (Jackson); Plane News (April 1918-January 1919).

    Box 8; Box 12 (oversize items).
  6. Photographs.

    7. Images of William Alexander Gill, wife Tabitha, and children Adah, Edith, Ella, Ewell, Mary Ida, and Wirt Alvin, and grandchildren Inez Gill Carroll and Wirt Gill II and Aileen and Lois Phillips; images of Willis Preston Price, wife Lucie Gill Price, and children Dorothy, Ralph L., and Ruth Price; images of Ralph L. Price during World War I; images of faculty of Gillsburg Collegiate Institute (1885-1886); Price family albums.

    Boxes 9-10; 11 (oversize items).