Dates: 1890-1953.

Biography/History:

William Morrison Kimmons (1819-1857) married Catherine Crawford Hope (1825-1889) on January 14, 1846. Both of their families had moved from Cabarrus County, North Carolina, to Oxford, Lafayette County, Mississippi, around 1837. The Kimmonses had several children, including Edgar H. (1847-1924) and John H. Kimmons.

John Hall Kimmons was born in Mississippi on October 29, 1849. He married Emma Sue Andrus (1859-1923) in Lafayette County on December 2, 1880, and they lived in Oxford. She was the daughter of Dr. Elam Andrus of Tennessee and Emma Louise (Cragin) Andrus of Georgia. The Kimmonses had eleven children, including Lillian L. (b. 1881), Emma (1883-1932), Robert Andrus (1885-1886), Nellie S. (b. 1886), Annie L. (b. 1888), John H. (b. 1890), Matty (1893-1978), and Elizabeth (b. 1899). By the 1890s, John H. Kimmons was practicing law with his cousin, Robert F. Kimmons, and their law firm, Kimmons and Kimmons, was located in nearby Water Valley, Yalobusha County, Mississippi. He was also mayor of Oxford. Kimmons died on April 22, 1918, and he was buried in Lafayette County.

Natives of North Carolina, Dr. Harvey Kimmons (b. ca. 1817) and Cornelia Jane Hope (b. ca. 1828) were married in Lafayette County, Mississippi, on August 12, 1851. Cornelia Jane (Hope) Kimmons was the sister of Catherine Crawford (Hope) Kimmons. The Kimmonses had at least six children: Mary, Walter, Cornelia J. (1857-1907), William (1859-1932), Lizzie Catherine (1861-1944), and Robert F. Dr. Kimmons was living in Lafayette County in 1860, and he owned over thirteen thousand dollars in real estate and personal property. Dr. Kimmons was also employed as a teacher.

Robert F. Kimmons was born in Lafayette County, Mississippi, on December 12, 1862. He was census-enumeration commissioner for Yalobusha County in February of 1890. Kimmons was also employed as an attorney by Judge Anderson B. Fly of Water Valley around that time. He married Callie Douglass (1864-1950) about 1893, and the Kimmonses moved to Water Valley. Kimmons practiced law with his cousin, John H. Kimmons. Robert F. Kimmons was city attorney of Water Valley for several years, and he was mayor from 1905 to 1906. He was also an elder in the Water Valley Presbyterian church. Kimmons died on September 23, 1943, and he was buried in St. Peters Episcopal Church Cemetery in Oxford.

 

Scope and Content:

This collection contains correspondence, financial and legal records, and newsclippings related to the Kimmons and Kimmons law firm.

 

Series Identification:

Series 1: Correspondence. 1891-1898; n.d. 3 folders.

Most of the correspondence was written to Robert F. Kimmons, a partner of the Kimmons and Kimmons law firm in Water Valley, Mississippi. Various individuals and businesses wrote from a number of states, including Arkansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Virginia regarding pending lawsuits. Several letters were also written to John H. Kimmons in Oxford or Water Valley. Some of the more frequent correspondents include Carl Berglund of St. Louis, Missouri, who wrote in response to his guardianship case. J. W. T. Falkner of Oxford also wrote several letters regarding another legal case. There are also several empty envelopes that were primarily addressed to Robert F. Kimmons or the Kimmons and Kimmons law firm in Water Valley.

 

Series 2: Financial Records. 1894-1919; n.d. 1 folder.

The financial records include an 1894 tax receipt from Lafayette County, Mississippi, signed by Robert F. Kimmons. There are a number of checks from the Mechanics Savings Bank in Water Valley that were signed by Robert F. Kimmons in 1896 and 1897. There are also several chancery court fee bills from Lafayette and Panola counties for Carl Berglund and others, and a financial note signed by two members of the Whitfield family of White Plains, Kentucky.

 

Series 3: Legal Records. 1890-1953. 1 folder.

The legal records may have been from some of the firms clients. Included are several deeds from Kentucky, Indiana, and Mississippi. There is also a home mortgage and indenture and a life-insurance policy for Lucile Whitfield of White Plains. The parties involved in the legal claims may have employed Kimmons and Kimmons as counsel.

 

Series 4: Newsclippings. 1938; n.d. 1 folder.

The newsclippings are primarily obituaries for several people from White Plains, including Flora, James L., John L., and Nannie Elizabeth Whitfield; Edward and Mark Smith; and Eddie Gerald Lovan.