Manuscripts

Records and plats of land in the Natchez area owned by George Selser and papers pertaining to a controversy between him and John Griffing concerning land ownership.

Two diaries of Claudius Wistar Sears, commandant of cadets, professor of mathematics and president of St. Thomas Hall, Holly Springs; brigadier-general, Confederate States Army; and professor of mathematics, University of Mississippi. The first diary was written at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, January 30, 1840–December 9, 1841; the second diary was written after the surrender of Vicksburg, but entries made from memory begin April 28, 1863. The diary ends January 1, 1865.

Correspondence, principally in December 1883 and January 1884, and papers of the family of Judge Isaac W. Scarborough, of Kosciusko. Seventeen of the family letters were written to S. S. Scarborough, who was in Texas and Florida for his health, by his father, his brothers (Isaac W., Jr., and Othello C.), and his sister (Fenton G.). Othello C. Scarborough wrote from Wilmot and Nodena, Ark., and Isaac W. Scarborough, Jr., wrote from Trenton and Jamesport, Mo.

Collection Details:

Collection Name and Number: Cordelia Lewis Scales Letters (Z/0603).
Creator/Collector: Cordelia Lewis Scales.
Date(s): 1861-1863.
Size: 0.20 cubic feet.
Language(s): English.
Processed by: MDAH staff, unknown.
Provenance: Gift of unknown donor.
Repository: Archives & Records Services Division, Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

Recollections of stories which she heard as a child, have been recorded in this journal by Ellen Steele Satterfield, Port Gibson. The sketches are headed "Miss Addie," "Windsor," "Irwin Russell," and "The War and Reconstruction Days." Of interest in the sketch of Irwin Russell, is the construction of "The Blue Tail Fly Grange," a "secret society" formed by young Russell and a group of friends, which was dictated to Miss Satterfield by Watt Magruder, a member.

Letters from servicemen of Laurel, and vicinity, to Miss Ellen Steele Satterfield, their former English teacher in the Laurel High School. Letters are from Rd. M 1/c Francis Ross; Lt. W. B. Hosey; Roy E. Michael; Bernerd Weber; Glen Holifield; Lt. Dave Bartram; Corporal Thomas Montgomery; George Quinnelly; and "Billy" and "Floppy," otherwise unidentified. The letters cover training periods in the States, and service in both the European and Pacific theaters.

A copy of Winthrop Sargent's will.

Copy (typewritten, 35 pp.) of notes on the Bethea family of Mississippi and of allied families.

Business papers of A. J. Sanderson of Shongalo, Carroll County. The papers include bills of sale for slaves, invoices, and bills of sale for cotton. One item dated March 3, 1860, gives complete data for the New Orleans market.

Dates: 1862-1864; 1881-1886.