Collection Details:

Collection Name and Number: Crutchfield-Fearn-Steele Family Papers (Z/0063).
Creator/Collector: Crutchfield-Fearn-Steele family memmbers; and others.
Date(s): 1828-1946.
Size: xxx cubic feet; 2 microlfilm rolls.
Language(s): English.
Processed by: MDAH staff.
Provenance: Gift of Donor, of Place, State, on Date; Z/U/XXXX.XXX.
Repository: Archives & Records Services Division, Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

 

Rights and Access:

Access restrictions: Original materials are restricted due to their fragile nature; Microfilm roll # 38205 and # 38206 must be used.

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: Crutchfield-Fearn-Steele Family Papers (Z/0063), Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

 

Biography:

William Crutchfield

William Crutchfield, son of Thomas Crutchfield and Nancy Jane Williams, Jacksonville, Alabama, was born in Greenville, Tennessee, on November 16, 1826, and died in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on January 24, 1890. He was a prominent Chattanooga businessman and served as a Republican in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1873, to March 3, 1875. Many of the papers pertain to a claim against the United States for $37,255.60 which resulted from the confiscation of his property during the Civil War. 

Thomas Fearn

Dr. Thomas Fearn, son of Thomas Fearn and Sallie Bledsoe Shelby, was born near Danville, Virginia, on November 15, 1789, and died at Huntsville, Alabama, on January 16, 1863. One of his daughters, Sara Leeanna Fearn, married William S. Barry, Columbus. Another daughter, Catherine Erskine Fearn, married Matthew W. Steele. Another daughter, Ada Fearn, married Dr. George Steele, brother of Matthew W. Steele. The three sisters of Matthew W. Steele married as follows: Sarah Steele married Richard Winter, Canton; Susan Steele married Charles C. Shackelford, who served as circuit judge of the fifth and eleventh districts of Mississippi; and Ellen Steele married Edward Tracy who, as a brigadier general, was killed in the Battle of Port Gibson.

 Matthew W. Steele

Matthew W. Steele, who was born in Huntsville, Alabama, on November 17, 1824, the son of George Steele, and died at Avondale, Alabama, on July 25, 1907. He married Catherine Erskine Fearn, daughter of Dr. Thomas Fearn.

 
Scope and Content Note:

Family and business correspondence and business papers of the families of William Crutchfield, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Jacksonville, Alabama; Dr. Thomas Fearn, Huntsville, Alabama; and Matthew W. Steele, Huntsville, Alabama, who were related by marriage and who had numerous family and business connections in Mississippi. 

Among the letters are the following of special interest:

  • F.A.P. Barnard, University of Alabama (2), August 24 and September 24, 1849.
  • Phineas T. Barnum, Bridgeport, Conn. (1), September 6, 1889.
  • Lucretia R. Garfield, Mentor, Ohio (1), October 10, 1890.
  • John H. Lumpkin, Washington, D. C. (4), >January 3 and 28, March 6, April 13, 1848.
  • E. Tracy Steele, Fargo, N. D. (5), December 1, 1892, October 9, and December 31, 1894, December 17, 1895, January 6, 1896.
  • Lt. Col. Matthew F. Steele (6), January 6, 1884, June 1, 1897, December 21, 1898, August 10, 1900, September 8, 1837, and January 25, 1946.

The papers are divided by dates as follows:

  • n.d., 94 items
  • 1828, 1 item
  • 1835–1838, 2 items
  • 1840–1849, 71 items
  • 1850–1859, 106 items
  • 1860–1869, 168 items
  • 1870–1879, 74 items
  • 1880–1889, 36 items
  • 1890–1899, 22 items
  • 1900–1909, 18 items
  • 1910–1919, 6 items
  • 1920–1929, 5 items
  • 1930–1939, 7 items
  • 1940–1946, 2 items.

Filed chronologically in 66 folders in manuscript boxes. The volume which is entitled "Account, M. W. Steele, Executor, Estate of Geo. Steele," November 1855–August 17, 1860, contains 60 pages and is 29 x 36 cm. in size.