Mary Friederike Quitman Ogden Smith Papers (Z/2056)

Biography:

Mary Frederica Quitman, the youngest child of John Anthony and Eliza Turner Quitman, was born on May 30, 1844. Her father, who was a native of New York, served as a Mississippi legislator and governor, United States congressman, and United States Army general during the Mexican War. Quitman was also a lawyer and planter with several large properties, including Monmouth, an estate near Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi. The Quitmans had ten children, only six of whom survived to adulthood: Annie Rosalie (Posie or Rose), Eliza Theodosia (Lidie), Frederick Henry, Johanna Antonia (Tonie), Louisa Turner (Darling), and Mary Frederica (Freddie).

In January of 1864, Frederica Quitman married Francis Eugene Ogden, a first lieutenant and adjutant in the Seventh Regiment, Louisiana Infantry. A family servant drove the wedding party from Monmouth through Union lines to Fayette, Jefferson County, Mississippi, for the marriage ceremony. When his furlough ended, Ogden returned to his unit in Virginia. He was captured in the Wilderness campaign in May of 1864, and he spent the rest of the war at the Union prison, Fort Delaware. The Ogdens had no children. Francis Eugene Ogden died on October 25, 1867. He is buried in the Natchez City Cemetery.

Frederica Quitman Ogden spent most of her life managing her interest in the family plantations and occasionally traveling. Shortly after 1900, she became secretly engaged to Austin Williams Smith, a Confederate veteran and owner of Saragossa, a plantation near Natchez. He owned other properties in Louisiana, and he held some public offices there. Smith had three children from his first marriage to Clara Ann Montgomery: Anna Clotilde, Davidson Routh, and Willie Madison. His first wife died sometime between 1891 and 1901. Frederica Quitman Ogden, who now spelled her name "Friederike," lived in West Virginia during the summer and fall of 1902 to escape the sweltering Mississippi climate. She moved to New York City in November of 1902 to furnish an apartment for herself and Smith. They were married on January 1, 1903, but after six or seven weeks, Austin Williams Smith returned to Natchez. By late fall of 1903, Friederike Quitman Ogden Smith had joined her husband in Mississippi, and he was managing her properties along with his. Austin Williams Smith died on his wife's plantation at Lake Palmyra, Warren County, Mississippi, on April 14, 1911. He was buried in the Routh cemetery on Homochitto Street in Natchez. Friederike Quitman Ogden Smith died at Saragossa plantation on August 25, 1911. She is buried in the Natchez City Cemetery.

Scope and Content Note:

This collection primarily consists of letters written by Friederike Quitman Ogden to Austin Williams Smith in 1902 while she was making plans for their forthcoming wedding and establishing a household in New York City. Several more letters were written in the spring of 1903 during a period of separation after the Smiths were married. The letters mainly concern the Smiths personal relationship and finances and Friederike Quitman Ogden Smiths interest in astronomy, literature, music, and nature. However, they also contain material about the Confederacy, Varina Howell Davis, Mrs. Sidney Lanier, and agricultural conditions and plantation labor in turn-of-the-century Mississippi. The letters also contain descriptions of West Virginia mountains in summer and autumn, and New York City in late autumn and early winter.

Other correspondence includes a typewritten letter from David N. Greer, St. Bartholomew's Rectory, New York City, to Austin Williams Smith, Natchez, Mississippi, on March 9, 1903, regarding a letter from Friederike Quitman Ogden Smith to the church; a photocopy of a letter from Varina Howell Davis to Austin Williams Smith regarding a misunderstanding between the Smiths; and letters from sister Annie Rosalie Quitman Duncan and sister-in-law Mary Louise Gardner Quitman to Friederike Quitman Ogden Smith, who was then visiting at Brierfield, Warren County, Mississippi. Those letters concern a dispute over property lines of family plantations and neighboring properties, including Hurricane, Ingomar, Palmyra, Rosedale, and Waverly in Warren County.

There is a bound photocopy of typewritten transcriptions of the above letters by Robert E. May, who also wrote a brief but informative introduction to them. There is also a pencil sketch of the floor plan of the New York City apartment where Austin Williams and Friederike Quitman Ogden Smith first lived. Another item is a poem entitled "The Noble Heart."

Series Identification:

Series 1: Correspondence. (Incoming and Outgoing). 1901-1903; 1909; n.d. 0.24 cubic ft.

This series contains forty letters from Friederike Quitman Ogden Smith to Austin Williams Smith; two letters from Annie Rosalie Quitman Duncan and one letter from Mary Louise Gardner Quitman to Friederike Quitman Ogden Smith; and one letter each from Varina Howell Davis and David N. Greer to Austin Williams Smith. This series also includes a bound photocopy of Robert E. Mays typewritten transcriptions of these letters.

Series 2: Miscellany. n.d. 2 items.

This series consists of a pencil drawing of the floor plan of the Smiths New York City apartment and an anonymous handwritten poem entitled "The Noble Heart."

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