Collection Details:

Collection Name and Number: George Wilson Humphreys and Family Papers (Z/0029).
Creator/Collector: Humphreys family; and others.
Date(s): 1823-1898; 1910-1913.
Size: 0.40 cubic feet.
Language(s): English.
Processed by: MDAH staff.
Provenance: Gift of unknown donor, unknown date.
Repository: Archives & Records Services Division, Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

 

Rights and Access:

Access restrictions: Collection is open for research.

Publication rights: Copyright assigned to the MDAH. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to Reference Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the MDAH as the owner of the physical items and as the owner of the copyright in items created by the donor. Although the copyright was transferred by the donor, the respective creator may still hold copyright in some items in the collection. For further information, contact Reference Services.

Copyright notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code).

Preferred citation: George Wilson Humphreys and Family Papers (Z/0029), Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

 

Biography:

Humphreys Family

Names in bold are primary correspondents in the collection.

George Wilson Humphreys, Sr., was born on March 23, 1771, in Laurens County, South Carolina, the son of Agnes Ann Wilson and Ralph Humphreys (1735-1789). His father Ralph was a Revolutionary War Solider, serving under Captain B.C. Spiller and Lieutenant Quarles in the 2nd Virginia Regiment. George emigrated to Claiborne County, Mississippi. On January 17, 1792, George married Sarah Terry Smith (1776-1817) in Claiborne County, and the couple’s children include Margaret Humphreys (1806-1841), Benjamin Grubb Humphreys (1808-1882), and David Smith Humphreys (1813-1845). George Wilson Humphreys, Sr. died on December 15, 1843, and both are buried in the Humphreys Cemetery at Oaklawn in Claiborne County.

Benjamin Grubb Humphreys was born on 1808, in Claiborne County, the son of Sarah Terry Smith (1776-1817) and George Wilson Humphreys, Sr. (1771-1843). He served as a representative of the Mississippi State Legislature in 1837, and senator of the Mississippi State Senate in 1839. During the Civil War he served as a Confederate Brigadier General in the Confederate Army. He also served as the Governor of Mississippi from 1865 to 1868. He was removed from the office of Governor by armed force under the orders of the United States military commander of Mississippi. Benjamin’s first wife was Mary McLaughlin (1814-1835), possibly during or immediately after childbirth, as the couple had only two children: Thomas McLaughlin Humphreys (1833-1838) and Mary Elizabeth Douglas Humphreys (1835-1900). Benjamin married his second wife, Mildred Hickman Maury (1823-1899), in 1839. She was president of the Mississippi Daughters of the Confederacy when she died. The couple had nine children: Julian Maury Humphreys (1840–1849), Sarah Smith Humphreys (1843–1845), James Maury Humphreys (1845–1851), Benjamin George Humphreys (1848–1852), John Rose Barnes Humphreys (1853–1912), Elizabeth Fontaine Humphreys (1856–1878), David Smith Humphreys, (1860–1912), Benjamin Grubb Humphreys (1865–1923), and Mildred Maury Humphreys (1897–1970). Benjamin Grubb Humphreys died on December 20, 1882, in Jackson, and was buried in Wintergreen Cemetery in Port Gibson, near his second wife Mildred. His first wife Mary was buried in the Humphreys Cemetery at Oaklawn.

David George Humphreys was born on May 17, 1794, in Claiborne County, the son of Sarah Terry Smith (1776-1817) and George Wilson Humphreys, Sr. (1771-1843). David married Mary Cobun (1794-1874) in 1816. David and Mary’s children include George Wilson Humphreys (1819-1907), John Cobun Humphreys (1821-1875), Samuel Cobun Humphreys (1823-1853), and Daniel Burnet Humphreys (1838-1886). Mary Cobun died on July 19, 1874, and David George Humphreys died on January 11, 1871. Both are buried in Wintergreen Cemetery in Port Gibson, Claiborne County.

George Wilson Humphreys was born on September 16, 1819, in Claiborne County, son of Mary Cobun (1794-1874) and David George Humphreys (1794-1871). George married Catharine Baylissa Prince (1825-1870) in 1844. George and Catharine’s children include William Prince Humphreys (1845–1864), David George Humphreys (1847–1915), Samuel Cobun Humphreys (1849–1895), Baylis Earl Humphreys (1851–1927), Katesie Prince Humphreys (1853–1879), Benjamin Humphreys (1857–1878), and Mary Cobun Humphreys (1860–1864). Catharine Baylissa Prince Humphreys died on November 24, 1870, and George Wilson Humphreys died on December 26, 1907. Both are buried in Wintergreen Cemetery.

Baylis Earl Humphreys, was born on November 23, 1851, the son of Catharine Baylissa Prince (1825-1870) and George Wilson Humphreys (1819-1907). He married Elizabeth Belknap Hamilton (1859-1933) in 1881. The couple’s children include Elizabeth Belknap Humphreys (1881–1958), Mary Cobun Humphreys (1882–1945), George Wilson Humphreys (1884–1919), and Bobbie Earl Humphreys (1888–1956). Elizabeth Belknap “Bettie” Hamilton Humphreys died on December 23, 1933, and Baylis Earl Humphreys died November 29, 1927. Both are buried in Wintergreen Cemetery in Claiborne County.

John Cobun Humphreys was born on June 8, 1821, son of Mary Cobun (1794-1874) and David George Humphreys (1794-1871). John married Sarah A. G. Stuart (1825-1863) in 1844. The couple’s children included David George Humphreys (1844–1899), Kate Coburn Humphreys (1846–1919), Moreau Stuart Humphreys (1848–1903), John Cobun Humphreys (1850–1866), James Leon Humphreys (1852–1888), and Blount Stuart Humphreys (1855–1891). Sarah A. G. Stuart Humphreys died on February 4, 1863, and John Cobun Humphreys died December 5, 1875. Both were buried in Wintergreen Cemetery.

Samuel Cobun Humphreys, Sr. was born on April 8, 1823, son of Mary Cobun (1794-1874) and David George Humphreys (1794-1871). Samuel married Ruth Davenport (1826-1857), and the couple’s children included John Cobun Humphreys (1847–1849), Infant Son Humphreys (1849–1849), Mollie Humphreys (1851–1853), Balesie Humphreys (1852–1853), and Samuel Cobun Humphreys, Jr. (1853–1857). Sadly, none of their children survived childhood. Ruth Davenport Humphreys died January 19, 1857, and Samuel Cobun Humphreys died November 22, 1853. Both were buried in the Humphreys Cemetery at Oaklawn.

Daniel Burnet Humphreys was born on January 14, 1838, son of Mary Cobun (1794-1874) and David George Humphreys (1794-1871). Katharine Watson Shelby Jefferies, was born April 5, 1841, and married Daniel Burnet Humphreys in 1860. The couple had three children: Katharine Flynn Humphreys (1861–1864), Nathaniel Jefferies Humphreys (1865–1921), and Evana Jefferies Humphreys (1874–1878). Katharine was a yellow fever victim and died October 21, 1878, at the age of 37. Daniel Burnet Humphreys died July 3, 1886. Both are buried in Wintergreen Cemetery, Claiborne County.

Charles E. Hooker

Charles E. Hooker was born April 9, 1825, in Union County, South Carolina. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1846, was admitted to the bar in 1848, and commenced to practice law in Jackson, Mississippi. He was district attorney of the Mississippi River District from 1850 to 1854, and he was a member of the Mississippi State House of Representatives in 1859. During the Civil War, he served as Colonel in the Confederate Calvary. After the war, he was elected Attorney General of Mississippi, serving 1865-1868. In 1875, he was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-fourth Congress and to the next three succeeding Congresses, serving until 1883. He was again elected to the Fiftieth Congress and to the next three succeeding Congresses, serving 1887-1895, and elected to the Fifty-seventh Congress, serving 1901-1903. He died on January 8, 1914, at the age of 88, in Jackson, and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery of the same city.

Steamboats

Magenta was a sidewheel packet steamboat built in 1864 at New Albany, Indiana, and eventually was burned at New Orleans on January 1, 1871.

Columbia was a steam-powered sidewheeler built around 1835 and was the first coastal steam packet in the United States, with service terminating in New York City and Charleston, South Carolina. As early as 1837, its service ran between New Orleans and Galveston. In January of 1840 the steamboat was sold to Henry Windle.

Fashion was built in 1877 at Jeffersonville, Indiana, its service route was between Pittsburgh and St. Louis, until 1885 when it was sold to run a Cincinnati-Pittsburgh trade route.

Robert E. Lee was a steamboat nicknamed the "Monarch of the Mississippi," was a steamboat built in New Albany, Indiana, in 1866. In the summer of 1870, Robert E. Lee won a famed steamboat race against Natchez, going from New Orleans to St. Louis, Missouri, a distance of 1,154 miles, in 3 days, 18 hours and 14 minutes. It usually ran between New Orleans and Natchez, Mississippi. However, during spans of bad business, it would forsake Natchez and instead go to St. Louis or Louisville, Kentucky. In 1876, the boat was delivered to Portland, Kentucky for dismantling.

 

Scope and Content Note:

Letters, indentures, petitions, notes, receipts, descriptions of land, and other business papers of George Wilson Humphreys, son of David George Humphreys (May 17, 1794 - January 11, 1871), of Claiborne County. The papers pertain largely to the planting interests of the Humphreys family in Claiborne and Bolivar counties, and they concern David George Humphreys, George Wilson Humphreys, S. C. Humphreys, Benjamin G. Humphreys, John C. Humphreys, Mrs. C. B. Humphreys, B. Earl Humphreys, Daniel B. Humphreys, Mrs. Kate W. S. Humphreys, and others.

Among the bills and receipts are items from the following steamboats: Magenta, Columbia, Fashion, Emperor, General J. A. Quitman, and Robert E. Lee. One letter of note is from Congressman Charles E. Hooker to George Wilson Humphreys, September 25, 1894. There are only 14 items in the collection dated before 1850, and the others are distributed as follows:

  • n.d., 32 pieces
  • 1850–1859, 31 pieces
  • 1860–1869, 188 pieces
  • 1870–1879, 89 pieces
  • 1880–1889, 18 pieces
  • 1890–1898, 10 pieces.

Some 35 of the items are pasted in a "Weekly Time Book," October 22, 1910–December 6, 1913, which contains 95 pages and is 21 cm. x 35.5 cm. in size.

 

Series Description:

Series description to be completed at a later date.

 

Box List:

Box list to be completed at a later date.