Draper Manuscripts: Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina Papers, 1782-1878

Container Title
Draper Mss V
Series: 1 V (Volume 1)
Scope and Content Note

Relating to Georgia are letters and notes on William Candler, Elijah and John Clarke, Benjamin Few, Richard McGriff, and Micajah Williamson accompanied by a few pieces of original correspondence, 1782-1794, of Elijah Clarke on land, legislative, and militia business.

Alabama papers concern Alexander McGillivray, George Stiggins, and William Weatherford. The reminiscent narrative about the Creek Indians written by George Stiggins (1788-1845), but unfinished at the time of his death, was obtained by Draper in 1874 from the author's son and fills nearly one-third of this volume. Stiggins, a brother-in-law of Weatherford, was the son of Joseph Stiggins, a Virginian, and his Creek wife, Mrs. Nancy Grey; in the early 1830s he served as Indian agent to the Creek nation. Commemorative poetry by his granddaughter Fannie S. Stiggins is among the papers. Genealogical data on several of the Georgia and Alabama families occur in letters to Draper.

The few South Carolina papers are original manuscripts, 1786-1790, of Alexander Moultrie and Richard Winn pertaining primarily to the South Carolina Yazoo Land Company. Included is a printed broadside proclamation by Winn concerning regulation of the Indian trade south of the Ohio River, as authorized by an ordinance of Congress, August 7, 1786.