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Childress Family Papers, Accession 6435-b, Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library
This collection was given to the Library by Atcheson L. Hench of Charlottesville, Virginia, on December 14, 1961.
Funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities
This collection of 317 items, 1823-1930, contains chiefly letters to Fannie Tompkins Childress . Fannie was originally from " Caroline " in Spotsylvania County , but after her marriage to J. Waller Childress she moved around quite frequently.
Letters to Fannie Tompkins Childress from her relatives are mainly concerned with family affairs. One of February 19, 1872 mentions the marriage of Aurelius Rose to Bettie Bearyley on January 20. Another mentions the marriage of Fannie's nephew Thomas Durrett (born September 23, 1873) to Jessie Frazer on November 14, 1893 (October 19, 1893).
Letters to Fannie Tompkins Childress from her sister Margaret J. Tompkins Childress Durett are mostly concerned with family relations. A number of the letters refer to Margaret's experience raising chickens which was not very profitable for her; from the references Fannie also engaged in this occupation. In addition, a number of the letters refer to the poor health of Margaret and her family. Two letters speak of the marriage of Margaret's daughter Fannie Durett to William Tribble in January 1900 (January 5 and February 21, 1900.) Margaret and her husband were greatly upset at this marriage, but later restored normal relations. A n.d. letter mentions the death of Margaret's husband and the pain it caused.
Letters to Fannie Tompkins Childress from her husband J. Waller Childress are courtship letters. They met on November 2, 1871 and were married November 6, 1872. During most of that period they did not see each other.
Letters to Fannie Tompkins Childress from her sons, Robert Waller Childress and Clifford Childress , are mostly requests for their mother to do something for them.
Letters to Fannie Tompkins Childress from Dr. James B. Manson are love letters. James was originally from Georgia , and met Fannie during the Civil War. Manson, a married man with one child, became quite infatuated with Fannie. The early letters mention Sherman's drive through Georgia ; letters of January 9 and March 10, 1870 mention the postwar conditions of farmers in Georgia . A January 13, 1871 letter mentions a black revolt and the Ku Klux Klan, the success of the Democrats in congressional elections of 1870, and the Franco-Prussian War.
Letters to Fannie Tompkins Childress from her cousin James Tompkins were written during the Civil War. However, very little of interest was discussed. One, September 26, 1862, mentions all the people in his regiment that have been killed or wounded.
Miscellaneous letters to Fannie Tompkins Childress contain two letters referring to Robert E. Lee , and two letters, 1868-1869, to Thomas Garland of Albemarle County from Henry Horatio Wells and Ale[xander?] Rives re appointments and political amnesty.
Miscellaneous Papers of the Terrell family contain epitaphs for two children who died, Junius Smith Tyler Terrell on August 22, 1833 and Lucy Ann Terrell on November 1, 1837.
Business Papers contain bills and receipts and some letters concerning the sale of property owned by Frances C. Marshall after her death.
Miscellaneous material contains four photographs and an obituary of Fannie Tompkins Childress .