Transcript of a letter1 from William Jones Kittrell2 to his brother, Pleasant Williams Kittrell3 dated 13 January 1861
Selma, Dallas County, Ala
Jany 13th, 1861
Dear Bro. I am pretty well assured that as is usually the case you are one or 2 letters in my debt. If you don't think enough of us to write once in 6 months (for I think it has been so long since we have recd a letter) you need not trouble yourself to do so, but I think it my duty nevertheless to write occasionally on our mother's4 account if for nothing Else
We have changed our residence again On the 2nd inst5 we bid adieu to Camden6 & in 6 hours were in our new home in this place, with less trouble & fatigue than ever experienced in moving before Last Spring I bought
out James Marlow & Co.7 of this place Terms $1500 cash and bal amounting to $3600 in 3 notes payable $ of $1200 each payable 1st Jany inst 1st July next & 1st Jany 1862 After agreeing upon these terms put it in writing, I returned to Camden to get money & security & with the names of 3 of our best men in Wilcox & the cash payment returned in company with Ben8 engaged board for him and myself called upon Marlow & Co. was cooly informed by them that they had changed their mind & had concluded not to sell or rather not to carry out the contract With the advice of a lawyer I took 2 witnesses made them a tender of the notes & money & upon their refusal to comply brot suit for damages for violation of contract Upon which I was beset by
repeated overtures on the part of the responsible member of the firm to return & he would carry out the contract if I wd 9 dismiss the suit I paid no heed at first & went on to Ark10 but he went so far as to shut up his store & come to Camden to get me back I had left for Ark a few days before He urged Ben to write to me I was induced for various reasons to prefer a business here to one in Ark one reason was my family were opposed to moving to that country So I rented out my land & returned to this state I expect to open in a few days I had obtained before leaving for Ark very flattering letters of credit to a first class house in N York but owing to the state of political affairs
did not avail myself of the offer in answer to those letters to send on my orders Since then the said house has failed Prospects are at present rather gloomy for business but I must try to do something My only resource is the excellent credit that I had established in New Orleans & Mobile for I have not $500 in the world in cash Ala seceded on the 11th inst There is but one spirit animates the hearts of our people and pervades all classes—men women & children There is intense excitement The general impression is that war is inevitable but it is the universal determination to meet the crisis as becomes men determined to be free & if our enemies are bent on their fell purpose to effect our ruin We are resolved if they rule over our homes the[y] shall rule over our graves Hope you will write & write at length to make up for long silence
All well Yr Bro affly Will
Ben in New Orleans attending 2d course lectures
[written vertically in the left margin of page 1]
Sallie returned to Monroe same school Mollie in Missi All well + doing well
Our best love to all Tell Sallie11 to write
[written vertically in the top margin of page 1]
Florida & Miss have seceded by almost a unanimous vote of their conventions12
[written upside down in the top margin of page 3]
Governor Moore has ordered out the military companies all over the state to take possession of and man the forts 2 companies have gone from this place
[written upside down in the top margin of page 2]
Endnotes
1. The letter is now in the collection of Don C. Stone. The letter is written on a larger piece of paper, folded vertically giving 4 pages, each about 5 x 8 inches. The transcription was completed on 11/24/08 by Catherine M. Stone using the guidelines available online at http://docsouth.unc.edu/true/about/transcriptions.html.
2. William Jones Kittrell (b. 1813 in Chapel Hill, Orange County, NC—d. about 1 October 1863 in Camden, Wilcox County, AL) was the seventh child and fourth son of Bryant and Mary Norman Kittrell. He was an educator and physician. He married Elizabeth Martha Cain (b. 1 December 1819 in Abbeville, SC or Tuscaloosa, AL—d. 29 December 1892 in Black Hawk, Carroll County, MS) on 6 February 1835 in Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County, AL. They had nine known children, eight of whom were surviving at the time of this letter. In order, their children were:
1. Benjamin Franklin Kittrell
(b. 24 December 1837 in Greensboro, Greene County, AL—
d. 27 April 1897, Black Hawk, Carroll County, MS),
2. Sarah “Sallie” Bryant Kittrell, wife of Rev. Anson West
(b. 9 April 1839 at Shongalo, Carroll County, MS—
d. 29 January 1880 at Talladega, Munford County, AL);
3. Mary “Mollie” Norman Kittrell, wife of Emmet E. Craig
(b. 17 November 1842 in MS—
d. 31 August 1921 in Dallas, Dallas County, TX);
4. William Patrick Kittrell
(b. about 1845—
d. 22 August 1891 at Atlanta, Fulton County, GA);
5. Charles Kittrell
(b. about 1847 in Dayton, Marengo County, AL—
d. 6 April 1858 in Camden, Wilcox County, AL);
6. Bryant Jones Kittrell
(b. 13 November 1849 in Dayton?, Marengo, AL—
d. 16 August 1880 in Gadsden, Etowah, AL);
7. Laura Williams Kittrell, wife of James D. “Jefferson” Pate
and (after his death) of Dr. William G. Stone
(b. February 1854 in AL—
d. 29 May 1937 in Columbus, Franklin County, OH);
8. Alice Herndon Kittrell, wife of Dr. Milton C. Marshall
(b. 2 November 1857 in Camden, Wilcox County, AL—
d. 2 October 1877 in Winona, Montgomery County, MS);
9. Robert Norman Kittrell
(b. 6 February 1860 in Camden, Wilcox County, Al—
d. 18 May 1900 in Memphis, Shelby County, TN).
3. Pleasant Williams Kittrell (b. 13 April 1805 in Chapel Hill, Orange County, NC—d. 29 September 1867 in Huntsville, Walker County, TX) was the third child and second son of Bryant and Mary Norman Kittrell. Pleasant Williams Kittrell married first, [Mary?] Anna Pegues Evans. Following her death, he married Mary Frances “Sis Frank” Goree, daughter of Langston Goree, in Greene County, AL on 12 Oct 1847. They moved to Walker County, Texas after being enumerated in Greene County, AL in the 1850 U. S. Census. Dr. Pleasant Williams Kittrell was an 1822 graduate of the University of North Carolina, a medical doctor trained at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, and was elected and served as a legislator in three different states: North Carolina, Alabama, and Texas. See also http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/KK/fki40.html.
4. Mary Norman Kittrell (b. 10 January 1776—d. between Oct 17-19, 1867 in Huntsville, Walker County, TX) was the daughter of Thomas Norman and Sarah Williams Lowe of Granville County, NC. She married Bryant Kittrell (b. about 1773 in Granville County, NC—d. 21 September 1837 in Greene County, AL at age 64) in Granville County, NC on 16 January 1798 according to their marriage bond #4589 filed in the latter county. She and Bryant had 8 known children, all likely born in Chapel Hill, Orange County, NC. Those children were:
Margaret Kittrell (b. about 1801—d. October 1836 in near Greene County, AL), Jonathan Bryant Kittrell (b. about 1803—d. before 1860, probably in MS), Pleasant Williams Kittrell (b. 13 April 1805—d. 29 September 1867 at Huntsville, Walker County, TX), Sarah Williams Kittrell Goree (b. about 1807—d. 17 June 1903 in Mifflin, ?, TX), Thomas Jefferson Kittrell (b. about 1809—d. 1836 in Greene County, AL), Tabitha Bryant Kittrell (b. about 1811—d. before 1830 in Chapel Hill, Orange County, NC), William Jones Kittrell (b. about 1813—d. about 1 October 1863 in Camden, Wilcox County, AL), and Mary B. Kittrell Scott (b. 3 May 1817—d. 29 September 1843 in Perry County, AL.) Following her husband's death, she resided with her son, Dr. Pleasant Williams Kittrell, and moved with his family to TX. Mother and son both died of yellow fever during the epidemic in Huntsville in September and October of 1867. More information about this family and particularly Mary Norman Kittrell is available in an article by Helen F. M. Leary titled “Resolving Conflicts in Direct Evidence: Identity and Vital Dates of Mary Kittrell,” in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 87, September 1, 1999, p. 199-205.
5. Inst is an abbreviation for the term instant, meaning “ the same as is given”, in this case meaning 2 January 1861. (Ancestry's Concise Genealogical Dictionary, Harris, Maureen and Glen, compilers. Salt Lake City, Utah: 1989, p. 118.) William Jones Kittrell used other abbreviations in this letter, including Jany for January and recd for received on page 1, and bal for balance, brot for brought on page 2, all of which may be more easily deciphered by the reader.
6. Camden is in Wilcox County, Alabama, near Selma in Dallas County. The accidental death of the Kittrell's son Charles was reported in the Camden Republic on 8 April 1858. William Jones and his family are in Wilcox County in the 1860 U. S. Census for Alabama. (1860 U. S. Census, Wilcox County, Eastern Division, Rehoboth P.O., Alabama, population schedule, page 1037 (stamped), dwelling 155, family 167, digital image, HeritageQuest.com (http://www.heritagequest.com, accessed 14 November 2008), citing NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 26.) William Jones Kittrell was buried in Camden Cemetery following his death in Camden on about 1 October 1863, and Charlie probably was buried there in 1858 also.
7. James Marlow and George Marlow and their families are found living next door to each other in the 1860 U. S. Census in Selma, AL. Both list their occupations as druggist and George Marlow's son's occupation is listed as apprentice, probably at the store. These are probably the Marlows that William Jones said that he bought out as no others by that name are listed in Selma at that time. (1860 U. S. Census, Dallas County, Alabama, population schedule, Selma, p. 815 (stamped), dwellings 377 & 378, families 370 & 371, James Marlow & George Marlow, digital image, HeritageQuest.com (http://www.heritagequest.com, accessed 14 November 2008), citing NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 8.)
8. Ben was Dr. Benjamin Franklin Kittrell, the first child and oldest son of William Jones Kittrell and Elizabeth Martha Cain Kittrell, born in Greensboro, Greene County, AL on Christmas Eve, 1837. He completed medical studies in New Orleans and then, in the fall of 1861, joined the Black Hawk Rifles, Company G, 22 nd Mississippi Regiment, Featherston's Brigade, Loring's Division, Polk's Corps, Army of Tennessee, CSA and was appointed Assistant Surgeon (Military Annals of Carroll County, MS (Expanded), W. F. Hamilton & Betty Wiltshire, compilers, Carrollton, MS: Pioneer Publishing, July 2004). He married Maud Narcissa Pate on 24 April 1866 at Hard Times, her parents' estate in Carroll County, MS. He was a noted physician in Mississippi, a fellow of the Mississippi Medical Association and a permanent member of the American Medical Association. (The Physicians and Surgeons of the United States, William B. Atkinson, M.D., ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Charles Robson, 1878, p. 460.)
9. On page 3, wd is likely to be an abbreviation for would in this sentence.
10. Ark is probably an abbreviation for Arkansas on page 3, but the particular place he went to in Arkansas is not known at this time.
11. Sarah “Sallie” Williams Kittrell Goree (b. 26 April 1807 in Chapel Hill, Orange, NC—d. 17 June 1903 at Midway, Madison, TX), the fourth child and second daughter of Bryant and Mary Norman Kittrell, married Langston Goree (b. 19 September 1793 in SC—d. 5 July 1853 in Midway, Madison County, TX). They also moved to Texas in about 1850, at the same time as her brother, Dr. Pleasant Williams Kittrell, and his family did. The Gorees settled near the Kittrells, but in Madison County, TX.
12. South Carolina had seceded on December 20, 1860, followed by Mississippi on January 9 and Florida on January 10, 1861. Alabama seceded on January 11, 1861. William Jones Kittrell's letter to his brother in Texas is dated January 13, 1861—just 2 days after Alabama seceded.