Collection Details:

Collection Name and Number: William D. Elder Papers (Z/0856).
Creator/Collector: William D. Elder; and others.
Date(s): 1854-1910.
Size: 0.33 cubic feet.
Language(s): English.
Processed by: MDAH staff; Laura Heller, 2025.
Provenance: Gift of Edwin Schell of Jackson, Mississippi, on June 6, 1966.
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: William D. Elder Papers (Z/0856), Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

 

Biographical Sketch:

William D. Elder and Family

William Demoss Elder was born in 1838, the son of Mary Davis Steel (1803 - ) and Colonel Jordan Elder (1809-1884), and the brother of Sarah J. Elder (1823-), Pennina Elder (1825-1859), Susan Steel Elder (1827-1868), and Ellen Louisa Elder (1838-1897).  Prior to the war, William D. Elder worked as a bookkeeper in 1860 in Raymond, Hinds County, and boarded at his sister Susan's home.  W.D. Elder enlisted in the Confederate States Army on April 30, 1861 at Corinth.  He entered service as a Private in Company "C", 12th Regiment, Mississippi Volunteers, CSA, and later served in Headquarters, Light Artillery Regiment, Withers's Light Artillery Regiment, and Forrest's Cavalry. 

William's sister Susan Steel Elder married George William Gibbs (1815-1881) on March 4, 1843 in Raymond, Hinds County.  The couple had six children.  George was the son of Charles Gibbs and Lydia Rambo North, and had one brother, Charles Hanson Gibbs (1827-1855).  Charles married Susan's sister Ellen Louisa Elder and the couple had one child, Charley Ellen Gibbs (1856-1938). Ellen died in 1897 in Hazlehurst, Copiah County.  Both Susan and George W. Gibbs are buried in the Raymond Cemetery in Hinds County.

 

Scope and Content Note:

Forty-three letters dated 1861-1865 were written during the Civil War by William Demoss Elder to his sister, Susan Gibbs, and to her husband George William Gibbs, of Raymond, Hinds County, Mississippi. His letters remark on the war, other soldiers, and communications from home.

Additional letters include one letter is from a C. H. Robertson to Susan Gibbs in 1854, and another letter is from George W. Gibbs to his wife in 1858.  There is one "special orders" concerning Elder's discharge in 1861. There is a letter from J.L. Power to W.D. Elder in 1862, a 1863 copy letter from Lt. General Polk, and an undated envelope addressed to George W. Gibbs which likely belongs to one of the enclosed letters. Lastly, there are two letters to Millard F. Stipes concerning genealogy from S. Lydia Gibbs Dillon and C.S. North, from 1909 and 1910.

 

Box and Folder Inventory:

Box 1:
Folder 1: Letter, C.H. Robertson to Susan Gibbs, July 20, 1854.
Folder 2: Letter, George W. Gibbs to Susan Gibbs, August 10, 1858.
Folder 3: Letter, W.D. Elder to Susan Gibbs, May 30, 1861.
Folder 4: Letter, W.D. Elder to Susan Gibbs, June 15, 1861.
Folder 5: Letter, W.D. Elder to George W. Gibbs, June 29, 1861.
Folder 6: Letter, W.D. Elder to George W. Gibbs, August 20, 1861.
Folder 7: Special Orders No. 234: Discharge of W.D. Elder, Private, August 31, 1861.
Folder 8: Letter, W.D. Elder to George W. Gibbs, January 20, 1862.
Folder 9: Letter, W.D. Elder to George W. Gibbs, March 26, 1862.
Folder 10: Letter, W.D. Elder to George W. Gibbs, April 12, 1862.
Folder 11: Letter, W.D. Elder to George W. Gibbs, May 1, 1862.
Folder 12: Letter, W.D. Elder to George W. Gibbs, [May] 15, 1862.
Folder 13: Letter, W.D. Elder to George W. Gibbs, June 17, 1862.
Folder 14: Letter, W.D. Elder to Susan Gibbs, July 19, 1862.
Folder 15: Letter, W.D. Elder to Susan Gibbs, August 4, 1862.
Folder 16: Letter, J.L. Power to W.D. Elder, October 17, 1862.
Folder 17: Letter, W.D. Elder to George W. Gibbs, October 30, 1862.
Folder 18: Letter, W.D. Elder to Susan Gibbs, August 10, 1863.
Folder 19: Letter, W.D. Elder to [Susan and George W. Gibbs], August 25, 1863.
Folder 20: Letter, W.D. Elder to [Susan and George W. Gibbs], August 28, 1863.
Folder 21: Letter, W.D. Elder to Susan and George W. Gibbs, September 12, 1863.
Folder 22: Letter, W.D. Elder to [unknown recipient], October 22, 1863.
Folder 23: Letter, W.D. Elder to [Susan Gibbs], December 19, 1863.
Folder 24: Letter, W.D. Elder to [Recipient; George W. Gibbs?], December 23, 1863.
Folder 25: Letter (copy), Lt. General Polk, December 26, 1863.
Folder 26: Letter, W.D. Elder to [Susan Gibbs], December 26, 1863.
Folder 27: Letter, W.D. Elder to [Susan Gibbs], January 14, 1863 [1864].
Folder 28: Letter, W.D. Elder to Susan Gibbs, January 25, 1864.
Folder 29: Letter, W.D. Elder to Susan and George W. Gibbs, March 12, 1864.
Folder 30: Letter, W.D. Elder to Susan and George W. Gibbs, April 24, 1864.
Folder 31: Letter, W.D. Elder to George W. Gibbs, May 12, 1864.
Folder 32: Letter, W.D. Elder to George W. Gibbs, May 14, 1864.
Folder 33: Letter, W.D. Elder to George W. Gibbs, May 20, 1864.
Folder 34: Letter, W.D. Elder to Susan and George W. Gibbs, May 29, 1864.
Folder 35: Letter, W.D. Elder to George W. Gibbs, June 27, 1864.
Folder 36: Letter, W.D. Elder to Susan Gibbs, July 4, 1864.
Folder 37: Letter, W.D. Elder to Susan and George W. Gibbs, August 10, 1864.
Folder 38: Letter, W.D. Elder to Susan and George W. Gibbs, August 24, 1864.
Folder 39: Letter, W.D. Elder to Susan and George W. Gibbs, October 20, 1864.
Folder 40: Letter, W.D. Elder to Susan and George W. Gibbs, November 4, 1864.
Folder 41: Letter, W.D. Elder to Susan and George W. Gibbs, November 21, 1864.
Folder 42: Letter, W.D. Elder to Susan and George W. Gibbs, December 1, 1864.
Folder 43: Letter, W.D. Elder to Susan Gibbs, December 15, 1864.
Folder 44: Letter, W.D. Elder to George W. Gibbs, December 15, 1864.
Folder 45: Letter, W.D. Elder to Susan and George W. Gibbs, January 27, 1865.
Folder 46: Letter, W.D. Elder to Susan and George W. Gibbs, March 9, 1865.
Folder 47: Letter, W.D. Elder to George W. Gibbs, n.d.
Folder 48: Letter, W.D. Elder to [unknown recipient], n.d.
Folder 49: Envelope addressed to George W. Gibbs, n.d.
Folder 50: Letter, S. Lydia Gibbs Dillon to Millard F. Stipes, April 12, 1909.
Folder 51: Letter, C.S. North to Millard F. Stipes, March 2, 1910.