Collection Details:

Collection Name and Number: Priscilla Daniell Magruder Collection (Z/2434).
Creator/Collector: Priscilla Daniell Magruder.
Date(s): 1856; 1905-1906, n.d.
Size: .75 cubic feet.
Language(s): English.
Processed by: Miranda Vaughn, 2026.
Provenance: Gift of Samuel B. Magruder, Jr. of St. Francisville, Louisiana, on July 10, 2025; Z/U/2025.023.
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: Priscilla Daniell Magruder Collection, Z/2434, Mississippi Department of Archives & History..

 

Biography:

Priscilla Daniell Magruder

 

Priscilla Daniell Magruder was born April 3, 1851 in Claiborne County, Mississippi. She was the eldest daughter of Smith Coffee Daniell II and Catherine Skinner Freeland Daniell Williams. Her father commissioned the building of Windsor in Claiborne County in 1859 and died shortly after it was completed in 1861. The Daniell family continued to live in the home for another 29 years. 

Priscilla married Joseph Moore Magruder at Windsor in 1888. Windsor burned down in 1890, at which time Priscilla and her husband were residents of the house, along with her mother and stepfather (Dr. W.G. Williams), her brother (Thomas) and his wife (Carrie), and Mrs. [Elizabeth] Ross. Following the fire, the Daniell family moved to Retreat Plantation near Alcorn State University. 

Priscilla’s husband passed away in 1894, and she inherited the Windsor estate following her mother’s death in 1903. According to family members, she lived at the Albena plantation outside of Port Gibson until she passed away on January 5, 1932 at the age of 80.

 

Related Materials:

An interview with Sam Magruder / Jim Stone (AU 0156)

Daniell (Smith Coffee IV) Collection (Z/1075.000)

Ross (Elizabeth Magruder) Letters (Z/1480)

 

Scope and Content Note:

The collection contains two pocket-size diaries, a pocketbook copy of Apples of Gold, Gathered by Fenelon (1856), and a glass tile portrait of Priscilla Daniell Magruder. Items in this collection are fragile.

 

Series Identification:

Series 1: Pocketbook and glass tile portrait. 1856, n.d.

This series consists of a copy of Apples of Gold, Gathered by Fenelon (1856), and a glass tile portrait of Priscilla Daniell Magruder. 

Box 1, folders 1-2

 

Series 2: Diaries.  1905, 1906.

This series consists of two pocket-size diaries from 1905 and 1906. Dimensions: 4 x 2.5 x 1.

Box 1, folders 3-4

 

Box List:

Box 1
Folder 1: Pocketbook, Apples of Gold, Gathered by Fenelon, published 1856.

Folder 2: Portrait on glass tile. Magruder, Priscilla Daniell, n.d. 

Folder 3: 1905 diary. Magruder, Priscilla Daniell. 

Folder 4: 1906 diary. Magruder, Priscilla Daniell. 
 

 

END