Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
Crawford Family Letters
Date(s)
- 1852-1900 (Creation)
Extent
1 box
Name of creator
Biographical history
Charles P. Crawford, lawyer, Confederate officer; son of Joel Crawford. Charles P. Crawford served in the Confederate Army and entered the service of the State of Georgia on July 6, 1861, in Company A Battalion 11 as a fourth sergeant. He was promoted to the rank of Captain of Company B Battalion 11 on April 16, 1862.
On January 8, 1855, Crawford married his first wife, Martha "Mattie" Williamson, the daughter of Capt. W. T. Williamson of Milledgeville. She was born at McIntosh Reserve, Coweta County, GA on January 8, 1836. On May 4, 1880, Crawford married again to Anna Ripley Orme, the daughter of Richard M. Orme publisher of the Southern Recorder & Milledgeville Mayor.
Captain Crawford died at his home on Liberty Street in Milledgeville, Georgia, January 1900. According to the news article "Captain Crawford was one of the best-posted lawyers of this section, and leaves a wife, one son and three daughters and hosts of friends all over the state to mourn his death."
Name of creator
Biographical history
George Walker Crawford was the only Whig governor of Georgia from 1843-1847. Crawford was a Representative from Georgia; born in Columbia Country, GA on December 22, 1798. He graduated from Princeton College in 1820; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1822 and commenced practice in Augusta, GA. He became attorney general of the State from 1827-1831; served as a member of the State House of Representatives (1837-1842); elected as a Whig to the Twenty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Richard W. Habersham and served from January 7, 1843, to March 3, 1843. Crawford was appointed Secretary of War in the Cabinet of President Taylor and served from March 8, 1849, to July 23, 1850. He presided over the State secession convention in 1861.
Crawford died in his estate, "Bel Air," near Augusta, GA on July 27, 1872, and is buried in Summerville Cemetery.
Bio info from Len G. Cleveland's Ph. D. dissertation, "George W. Crawford of Georgia, 1798-1872" listed on the Biographical Directory of the US Congress website: http://bioguide.congress.gov/
Name of creator
Biographical history
Joel Crawford, a U.S. Congressman, 1817-1821 is the brother of George Walker Crawford. He served as Representative from Georgia; born in Columbia County, GA on June 15, 1783; completed preparatory studies; studied law at the Litchfield Law School; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Sparta in 1808; moved to Milledgeville, GA in 1811; served in the war against the Creek Indians as second lieutenant and aide-de-camp to Brigadier General Floyd in 1813 and 1814; resumed the practice of law in Milledgeville; member of the State house of representatives 1814-1817; elected as a Republican to the Fifteenth Congress and reelected to the Sixteenth Congress ( March 4, 1817-March 3, 1821); returned to Sparta, Hancock County, in 1828; member of the State senate in 1827 and 1828; appointed a commissioner to run the boundary line between Alabama and Georgia in 1826; unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Georgia in 1828 and 1831; delegate to the International Improvement Convention in 1831; elected in 1837 a State commissioner to locate and construct the Western & Atlantic Railroad; died near Blakely, Early County, GA, April 5, 1858; interment in the family burying ground on his plantation in Early County, GA.
Joel Crawford was a slaveholder of over 100 slaves in Hancock County, Georgia.
Biography information available via the Biographical Directory of the US Congress website: http://bioguide.congress.gov/
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
This collection comprises twenty-seven autograph letters from various family members, three autograph documents written by Joel Crawford, additional unsigned correspondence, fout vintage photographs, five black and white photograph reprints, thirteen mailing envelopes, and a number of other address panels on the letters, some with quite scarce postal stamps from small towns in Georgia and Florida. Short excerpts of some letters are included in the description listing.
The collection also includes biographical information on the Crawford family, a photocopy of a marriage certificate for Charles P. Crawford's marriage to Anna Ripley Orme, and a page from the estate of Joel P. Crawford, signed by his executors James Buchanan and Charles P. Crawford admitting it into the record.
Postal history envelopes contained throughout the correspondence: cancellation stamps from La Grange, Fort Gaines (1855), Bainbridge (1855), Blakely (1855), and Macon (1858), Georgia, Orange Mills (1858), Florida, and Richmond (1862), Virginia. There are also five additional undated envelopes from members of the Crawford family.
System of arrangement
This collection is organized into the following 5 series:
- Series 1. Correspondence, 1854-1867
- Series 2. Biographical Information, 1858; 1880; 1900
- Series 3. Photographs, Undated
- Series 4. Postal History Documents, 1899; Undated
- Series 5. Miscellaneous Documents, Undated
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
Physical access
These materials are stored offsite and require additional time for retrieval.
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Languages of the material
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Purchased from L&T Respess Books, January 2004.
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
Related descriptions
Notes element
Specialized notes
Alternative identifier(s)
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Sources used
Archivist's note
Processed by Rebecca Hankins, August 2004. Rehoused by Jaime Janda, October 2022.