Daniel Williams Family Papers

Collection

Identifier: MSS-20

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Daniel Williams family papers document the history of the family from 1823 to1966. The papers consist of correspondence, Civil War tax documents, bills and account statements, contracts, newspaper clippings, genealogical material, essays, poetry, cards, and miscellany. The bulk of the materials is dated from 1870 to1914. Most of the correspondence in the collection consists of letters between the brothers, their friends, and other family members. The collection provides valuable insight into one family’s experience during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in Mississippi, from the Civil War and a yellow fever epidemic to college life and politics.

Dates

1823 - 1966

Biographical / Historical

Campbell “Cammie” Alexander Williams (1866-1940) and Mims Williams (1875-1939) were born in Dry Grove, Mississippi. Their parents were John Calvin Williams (1846-1878) and Virginia J. “Jennie” Banks (1848-1917), the daughter of Matthew Alexander Banks (1818-1886). Cammie became a cotton merchant in Dry Grove. Mims attended Millsaps College in the 1890s, working at the Davis-Ellis Co. in Magee during the summers he was a student; he later established himself in Magee, Mississippi. Among their cousins were Willie Hollingsworth, who worked in Chicago, and George H. Douglas, who practiced medicine in Morgan City, Louisiana. Cammie married Hattie Carmichael (1866-1935), the daughter of William Carmichael and a graduate of Whitworth Female College in Brookhaven, Mississippi. Their son, Daniel Williams, married Martha Hill, whose grandmother, Martha Louisa “Lulu” Starr, came from a family that lived in Georgia and South Carolina. The papers include an 1859 Canadian land grant certificate for a James Tighe; Tighe’s connection with the Williams family is not known.

Extent

0.66 Cubic Feet : 2 ms. boxes, 1 SMO folder, 1 OS folder Cubic Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The Daniel Williams family papers document the history of the family from 1823 to 1966, most notably Campbell “Cammie” Williams and his brother, Mims Williams. The papers consist of correspondence, Civil War tax documents, bills and account statements, contracts, newspaper clippings, genealogical material, essays, poetry, cards, and miscellany.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into three series:

Series I. Correspondence, 1849-1936 and undated — Box 1.

Series II. Documents, 1823-1957 and undated — Box 2.

Series III. Oversized materials — Small Oversize Manuscripts Box 41; Oversize Manuscripts Box 13.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Daniel Williams and Martha Hill Williams, 1958-1970.

Processing Information

Newspaper clippings were photocopied on to acid-free paper and disposed of.

Initial donation was processed and boxed March 3, 1958. The papers received until 1970 were processed by Willie D. Halsell and the 1970 addendum was processed by MSB; completed January 7, 1971. A calendar of correspondence was created at this time. The Canadian land grant document was processed by Carrie Head in 1991. DeeDee Baldwin completed processing and wrote the finding aid in April 2008. The finding aid was revised by Carrie Mastley and Brett Barnhill in December 2019.

Subjects

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title: Daniel Williams Family Papers
Status: Completed
Author: DeeDee Baldwin originally built this finding aid in April 2008. It was revised by Carrie P. Mastley and Brett Barnhill in December 2019.
Description rules: Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description: English
Script of description: Latin
Language of description note: English