Z 1979.000 McLendon (Elizabeth Spencer) Collection

Z 1979.000
MCLENDON (ELIZABETH SPENCER) COLLECTION

Elizabeth Spencer McLendon, daughter of Meredith Jones and Lillie Mason Spencer, was born in Port Gibson, Claiborne County, Mississippi, on October 15, 1911. She was the eldest of five children born to the Spencers. Elizabeth Spencer was married to Douglas Franklin McLendon on June 6, 1937. Her husband was the son of J. E. and Beulah McLendon of Crystal Springs, Copiah County, Mississippi. For many years, she worked for the United States Post Office at Port Gibson, serving as postmaster from 1959 to1970. McLendon and her mother helped to establish the first Claiborne County Historical Society. She was a board member of the Mississippi Historical Society in the late 1960s, and she served as its president for the 1969-1970 term. McLendon was a founding member of the board of commissioners of Grand Gulf Military Monument Park near Port Gibson. She was one of the editors of the local history, Claiborne County--The Promised Land, by Katy McCaleb Headley. McLendon was a member of the Pathfinder Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and of St. James Episcopal Church, its altar guild, and Women of the Church. She died of heart failure on November 26, 1993.

McLendons paternal grandparents were James Grafton and Lucy Jones Spencer. The parents of Lucy Jones Spencer were Joseph E. and Martha A. Jones, both of whom were originally from Virginia. Joseph E. Jones was a planter in Claiborne County. Lucy Jones Spencer was their youngest daughter. Among her elder siblings were Eugene D., Archibald K., and Merriwether L. Jones, and Sarah V. Jones (Mrs. W. P.) Hughes. James Grafton Spencer, Archibald K. Jones, and Merriwether L. Jones served in the Confederate States Army. Spencer was also a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1892 to 1894 and a member of the United States Congress from 1895 to 1897. During the Civil War, Archibald K. Jones was captain of the Claiborne Guards, Company H, Twelfth Regiment, Mississippi Infantry. He remained an active member of the United Confederate Veterans, writing historical articles for the Port Gibson Reveille and other publications. Jones was also a parish officer, church-school superintendent, and teacher at St. James Episcopal Church in Port Gibson. For many years, Jones was chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee of Claiborne County. Along with his elder brother, Merriwether L. Jones enlisted in the Claiborne Guards in the spring of 1861. He was killed while serving in the Sixth Brigade, Longstreets Division, in the engagements near Richmond, Virginia, between June 26 and July 1, 1862.

This collection consists of family papers of the paternal ancestors of Elizabeth Spencer McLendon of Port Gibson, Claiborne County, Mississippi, including correspondence, photographs, typewritten transcriptions of wills and other probate records, printed material, certificates, newspapers, newsclippings, and Civil War rosters. The correspondence clarifies many family relationships, as the writers discuss weddings, births, deaths, Civil War news and events, business ventures, farming, taxes, and Confederate veterans affairs. The wills and other probate records delineate many Davenport, Humphreys, Jefferies, Jones, and Prince family relationships. Most of these records are from Claiborne County. Many slaves are listed by name and family relationship, along with those of property owners and their families.

1. Correspondence. 1848-1964 (scattered); n.d. 5 folders.

This series includes original correspondence and annotated typewritten transcripts of correspondence. Two letters written by Merriwether L. Jones illustrate the stark contrast between the life of a student at the University of Mississippi and the life of a Civil War soldier a few months later. One letter from Archibald K. Jones to Sissie, written from camp in Virginia in 1862, describes Joness visit to Red Hill, the home of Patrick Henry. A fragment of another letter, probably by Jones, describes events at Petersburg, Virginia, shortly after the Battle of the Crater that occurred on July 30, 1864. Several letters pertain to the participation of Claiborne County in the Mississippi exhibit of the 1884 Worlds Cotton Centennial in New Orleans. Other letters addressed to Jones are from Confederate veterans who read about him in various publications and who wrote to recount their service together and to inquire after other veterans. There are also two copies of an honorable discharge for Major Charles Thompson Chamberlain, Medical Corps, United States Army, dated August 16, 1919. Some of the other correspondents include Sarah E. Archer, Eliza Ker Prince of Pine Bluff plantation (located in the Mississippi Delta, probably on the Yazoo River), and G. W. Humphreys of Oak Lawn plantation in Claiborne County. Walter Colton, L. C. Harris, O. A. Hastings, W. T. Jefferies, and A. C. Wharton are a few of the other correspondents.

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2. Wills and Other Probate Records. 1825; 1854; 1857; 1860; 1874. 1 folder.

This series includes one original and several typewritten transcriptions of documents from the estates of Ruth D. Humphreys, Priscilla Jefferies, Bayliss E. Prince, and Catherine S. Prince of Claiborne County, Mississippi; and Martha A. Jones of Brown and Highland counties in Ohio.

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3. Photographs. n.d. 1 folder.

This series contains three unidentified photographs of what appear to be teachers and students. In two of the photographs, the group of teachers and students is standing on the front steps of a building. Some individuals are included in both photographs. In the other photograph, a group of boys is standing next to a building.

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3. Certificates. 1883; 1900; 1912; 1928. 1 folder.

This series includes a teachers license, baptism and confirmation certificates, receipts for burial plots, a marriage license, and a commission for John M. Jones as mayor of Port Gibson, Mississippi.

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4. Printed Material. 1888; 1910; n.d. 1 folder.

This series contains a commencement program from the Port Gibson Female College; verses to "Dixie Land" and "The Little Bronze Cross"; a resolution to the Mississippi legislature from the Claiborne County members of the United Confederate Veterans who were critical of Dunbar Rowlands recently published Military History of Mississippi, 1803-1898; and a magazine illustration of Robert Toombs and Howell Cobb.

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5. Civil War Rosters. n.d. 1 folder.

This series contains two rosters and one list of Confederate graves. One roster is a handwritten roll of the members of the Jefferson Light Artillery, Jefferson County, Mississippi, William L. Harper, captain, who were paroled on May 4, 1865. The other roster is of the Warren and Claiborne Guards, Company I, Wirt Adams Brigade, George Barnes, captain. The graves listed were marked with Confederate States Army memorial tablets on October 2, 1907.

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6. Newspapers. 1741; 1929; 1939. 2 folders.

This series consists of a 1741 issue of the Dublin News-Letter that is stamped "Compliments of Edward L. Slattery, Genl Agt., New Orleans, La.," and two issues of the Church News of the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi for November 1929 and November 1939, published in Brandon, Mississippi.

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7. Newsclippings. 1902; 1913; 1941; n.d. 1 folder.

This series contains articles by Archibald K. Jones; obituaries of Lucy Jones Spencer; and an article on the yellow fever epidemic of 1878 by Dr. James F. McCaleb.

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8. Broadside. ca. 1886. 1 folder.

This broadside was published to outline controversies arising during a political convention of the Seventh Congressional District of Mississippi held at Port Gibson on July 12, 1886. Captain Archibald K. Jones was chairman of the Claiborne County Democratic Executive Committee at the time of the convention.

9. Manuscript. n.d. 1 folder.

This series contains an anonymous, typewritten essay on Confederate president Jefferson Davis.

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10. Miscellaneous. n.d. 2 folders.

This series includes notes, two paper cutouts, and a small religious bookmark with the name of Kate Jefferies on the verso. The notes are from the Claiborne County Democratic Executive Committee, and they may pertain to either the Cotton Centennial or the state fair.

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