T. C. Wier Family Papers

Correspondence, diaries and journals, photographs, sermons and other church materials, receipts, memorials, poems and other writings, programs and other memorabilia, school materials, genealogical materials, clothing, publications and other materials documenting the lives and contributions of the extended family of Methodist minister Dr. T.C. (Thomas Coke) Wier (1827-1920), who served as presiding elder and pastor in Alabama and Mississippi churches from 1859-1906 and also served as principal of Verona Female College and Grenada Institute. The papers were found in the attic of the Bonnell family home in Muskogee, Oklahoma, where Elizabeth (Bessie) Wier Bonnell (1869-1944) and her husband, Dr. Albert E. Bonnell (1865-1936), lived. T.C. Wier and his sister, Mary Elizabeth Wier (1822-1909), lived with the Bonnells until their deaths; many of the letters are to and from T.C. Wier and Mary Elizabeth Wier. Included are circa 400 letters between Wier family members, 1836-1936 and undated, from Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi, Oklahoma Territory, the state of Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and other localities. Of these, 13 are letters from Civil War soldiers and civilians, including letters of surgeon J. Benson Wier and prisoner of war letters of Dabney S. Wier from Johnson's Island, Ohio. Many of the letters are to and from T.C. Wier's sons: Frank Lampkin Wier, a prominent citizen and Mayor of Starkville, Mississippi, and Robert Koger Wier, owner of Wier Jewelry and then Wier Drugstore. Diaries and journals in the collection date from 1824-1885 and include the Civil War diaries of T.C. Wier and his brother J. Benson Wier (1832-1863), who died at McMinnville, Tennessee. The "Record of the Wier family", a journal of William Wier (1792-1853), Methodist minister and father of T.C. Wier, contains a rare transcript of the family's 1850 census return, including names, ages and birth places of the enslaved persons they owned. Sermons and sermon notes, Bibles, church bulletins, diaries, writings, clippings and other materials document the Methodist Church in Alabama and Mississippi. The collection is enriched by circa 164 photographs, primarily portraits and snapshots of Wier family members taken in Starkville, Columbus, Selma, Mobile, Jackson (Tennessee), Oklahoma Territory and the state of Oklahoma, but also including images of Wier homes and church scenes in Starkville and Coldwater, Mississippi, and Muskogee, Oklahoma, a rare snapshot of Columbus homes and the Tombigbee River, and postcard scenes taken on Deer Creek near Lake Vista (Delta and Pine Land), Mississippi.