Collection Details:

Collection Name and Number: Mayes-Dimitry-Stuart Family Papers (Z/0069).
Creator/Collector: Mayes-Dimitry-Stuart family members.
Date(s): 1840-1948.
Size: 8.00 cubic feet.
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: 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: Mayes-Dimitry-Stuart Family Papers (Z/0069), Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

 

Biography:

Mayes-Dimitry-Stuart Family

Colonel Oscar J. E. Stuart married Miss S. J. E. Hardeman and to them were born five children: Adelaide L. Stuart, Annie E. Stuart, Edward Stuart, James H. Stuart, and Oscar Ewing Stuart. 

In 1867, Robert B. Mayes (July 28, 1820 - November 3, 1884), Yazoo City, son of Daniel Mayes and Cynthia Bowmar, married Annie E. Stuart. Mayes, a lawyer, lived in Yazoo City from 1852 to 1885 and served as probate judge of Yazoo County from 1855 to 1858 and from 1863 to 1867. 

In 1871, John Bull Smith Dimitry (December 27, 1835 - September 7, 1901), New Orleans, Louisiana, son of Alexander Dimitry (February 7, 1805 - January 30, 1883) and Mary Powell Mills, married Adelaide L. Stuart. Dimitry was an author, historian, soldier, employee of the Confederate Post Office Department, teacher in Barranquilla, Colombia, and newspaperman in New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington. Adelaide E. Stuart was an employee of the Confederate Treasury Department and of the United States mint at New Orleans and author who wrote under the name of Martha Goodwyn.

 

Scope and Content Note:

Letters, business papers, pictures, notes, manuscripts, and newspaper clippings of the family of Colonel Oscar J. E. Stuart, of Summit, Mississippi. 

The collection of papers is divided into three files: correspondence, manuscripts, and newspaper clippings. The file of 1070 pieces of correspondence is distributed by dates as follows:

n.d., 188 pieces 
1840-1849, 3 pieces 
1850-1859, 12 pieces 
1860-1869, 315 pieces 
1870-1879, 154 pieces 
1880-1889, 111 pieces 
1890-1899, 92 pieces 
1900-1909, 135 pieces 
1910-1919, 37 pieces 
1920-1929, 1 piece 
1930-1939, 5 pieces 
1940-1948, 17 pieces

Letters or copies of letters written by members of the family are as follows:

  • Florence Bowman Carson, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (16 pieces, April 9 - June 2, 1945)
  • John B. S. Dimitry (85 pieces, June 26, 1854 - November 17, 1898
  • Mrs. John B. S. Dimitry (175 pieces, November 19, 1863 - November 24, 1910)
  • Ann L. Hardeman (27 pieces, July 7, 1864 - December 9, 1867
  • Ellen L. Hardeman (July 3, 1866)
  • Mary M. Hardeman (2 pieces, July 18, 1866 - July 22, 1867)
  • Thomas M. Hardeman (2 pieces, July 28, 1866 - October 5, 1876)
  • Adelaide E. Mayes (6 pieces, August 13, 1929 - October 22, 1946)
  • Robert B. Mayes (27 pieces, May 8, 1861–February 1, 1878)
  • Mrs. Robert B. Mayes (52 pieces, September 27, 1864 - September 12, 1901)
  • Edward Stuart (48 pieces, June 29, 1864 - November 10, 1909)
  • James H. Stuart (8 pieces, October 11, 1856 - July 11, 1862)
  • Oscar E. Stuart (6 pieces, February 13, 1861 - April 17, 1863)
  • Oscar J. E. Stuart (43 pieces, May 9, 1856 - January 1885)

Dimitry and James Redpath assisted Mrs. Jefferson Davis in preparing her Jefferson Davis, Ex-President of the Confederate States of America: A Memoir by His Wife (New York: Belford Company, ©1890, 2 vols.). Three pieces are letters and cards from Dimitry to Mrs. Davis (n.d. and May 6, 1896), and ten letters are from Redpath to Dimitry (n.d. and March 29, 1886–August 23, 1890). Other letters of interest are as follows:

  • H. M. Alden, New York, N.Y. (2 pieces, March 22, 1881–December 8, 1888)
  • G. Barnes, Middleton, Conn. (May 28, 1892)
  • Robert J. Belford, New York, N.Y. (2 pieces, September 26, 1889, April 11, 1890)
  • N. C. Blanchard, Washington, D.C. (April 11, 1886)
  • D. Caffrey Washington, D.C. (3 pieces, March 31, 1893–June 30, 1894)
  • J. F. H. Claiborne, Natchez, (2 pieces, May 3, 1880)
  • S. A. Cunningham, Nashville, Tennessee (2 pieces, August 27, 1902, March 11, 1903)
  • Charles A. Dana, New York, N.Y. (April 19, 1876)
  • Clement A. Evans, Atlanta, Georgia (5 pieces, April 5, 1898–September 13, 1901)
  • Charles Gayarre, New York, N.Y. (September 25, 1882)
  • W. P. Harris, Jackson (July 20, 1879)
  • Murphy J. Foster, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (March 31, 1893)
  • James Grant Wilson (June 16, 1881)
  • J. L. Power, Jackson (2 pieces, September 6, 1870, February 6, 1885)
  • S. S. Prentiss, New Orleans, Louisiana (June 11, 1907)
  • John H. Reagan, Palestine, Texas (June 20, 1887)

The file of 593 manuscripts consists principally of reminiscences (76 pieces, typewritten) of Florence Bowmar Carson about Vicksburg and Oasis Plantation, Coahoma County; notes and manuscripts (80 pieces) of John B. S. Dimitry; notes and manuscripts (109 pieces) of Mrs. John B. S. Dimitry; notes and manuscripts (32 pieces) of Adelaide E. Mayes, who wrote under the name of Dorothy Dempell; political and religious notes and essays (87 pieces) of Robert B. Mayes and Robert B. Mayes III; and notes and essays (124 pieces, many are fragments) of Oscar J. E. Stuart.

The file of 135 newspaper clippings, which cover the period from May 27, 1878, to August 13, 1911, contains principally obituaries of Alexander and John B. S. Dimitry and newspaper articles by Mr. and Mrs. John B. S. Dimitry. The 36 volumes are as follows:

  1. F. B. Carson, "Memoirs of Vicksburg," typewritten, pp. 1–66, 80–103
  2. F. B. Carson, "Oasis, a Mississippi Plantation Fifty Years Ago," typewritten, pp. 119
  3. F. B. Carson, "These Were My Homes," typewritten, pp. 16
  4. Diary (unidentified), January 1, 1899–December 1, 1900, pp. 160, 13.5 x 29 cm.
  5. Adelaide E. Mayes Diary, January 1–December 20, 1881, pp. 262, 10.5 x 23 cm.
  6. R. B. Mayes Notebook, n.d., pp. 62, 20 x 32.5 cm.
  7. R. B. Mayes Notebook, n.d., pp. 19–56, n.d. and "Lichenhurst Journal," January 7, 1886–May 8, 1889, pp. 57–205, pp. 179, 23 x 28.5 cm.
  8. R. B. Mayes, Land Record Index, June 7, 1827–November 24, 1843, pp. 78, 20 x 32 cm.
  9. R. B. Mayes, Land Record Index, February 22, 1830–August 9, 1844, pp. 241, 20 x 32 cm.
  10. R. B. Mayes, Legal Notebook, n.d., pp., 72, 13 x 20.5 cm.
  11. Robert Burns Mayes III, "In All Generations," a volume of poems, typewritten, pp. 459
  12. R. B. Mayes, Jr. (ed.), "Aunt Ann's Boys: Memorials of James, Oscar and Edward Stuart, Three Soldiers in the Army of Northern Virginia," typewritten copies of letters, November 23, 1848–November 10, 1866, pp. 74
  13. John M. Clark Notebook, Bethany College, Virginia, 1845, pp. 203, 14.5 x 18.5 cm.
  14. O. Ewing Stuart Notebook, 1857–1859, pp. 12, 10 x 15 cm.
  15. J. B. S. Dimitry Scrapbook, August 4, 1869–April 8, 1894, pp. 142, 26 x 34 cm.

  16. J. B. S. Dimitry Scrapbook, September 27, 1877–March 19, 1911, pp. 103, 18 x 24 cm.

    Volumes 17–22 are undated notebooks of J. B. S. Dimitry, as follows:

  17. pp. 46, 9.5 x 15 cm.
  18. pp. 34, 20 x 25 cm.
  19. pp. 144, 14 x 24 cm.
  20. pp. 114, 14 x 24 cm.
  21. pp. 159, 11 x 18.5 cm.

  22. pp. 126, 13 x 20 cm.

    Volumes 23–36 are undated (except vol. 23) notebooks of Oscar J. E. Stuart, as follows:

  23. April 24, 1856–January 1, 1867, pp. 40, 10 x 17 cm.
  24. pp. 109, 11.5 x 19 cm.
  25. pp. 110, 11.5 x 19 cm.
  26. pp. 110, 11.5 x 19 cm.
  27. pp. 246, 9 x 14.5 cm.
  28. pp. 110, 11.5 x 19 cm.
  29. pp. 19, 9 x 15 cm.
  30. pp. 28, 10 x 17 cm.
  31. pp. 39, 10 x 17 cm.
  32. pp. 38, 7 x 12.5 cm.
  33. pp. 45, 9.5 x 15.5 cm.
  34. pp. 107, 11.5 x 19 cm.
  35. pp. 114, 8 x 12 cm.
  36. pp. 38, 9.5 x 15 cm.

Letter from Miss Mayes identifying members of these families added 1-14-1966.