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Auction archive: Lot number 173

Letter Collection of Prominent Knoxville Family, 1830s-1920s

Estimate
n. a.
Price realised:
US$529
Auction archive: Lot number 173

Letter Collection of Prominent Knoxville Family, 1830s-1920s

Estimate
n. a.
Price realised:
US$529
Beschreibung:

Lot of 300+ letters, plus related ephemera, from three generations of the prominent Armstrong family of Knoxville, Tennessee, ca 1830s-1920s. Drury Armstrong, the patriarch of the family, Major Robert Houston Armstrong, his son, and Major L.D. Franklin, R.H. Armstrong's father-in-law, figure prominently in the letters, which were kept in the estate of Adelia Armstrong Lutz, R.H.'s sister, to whom many of the letters are addressed. The family resided in Bleak House, a large estate built by Drury Armstrong and L.D. Franklin as a wedding gift for their children, that came under fire from Union troops while being used as a headquarters for Confederate generals Longstreet and McLaws during the Battle of Knoxville in 1863. It is now called Confederate Memorial Hall, used as United Daughters of the Confederacy chapter 89, and listed on the NRHP. The letters are a mix of personal and business communication. Many are related to the Armstrong's law practice and civic involvement, though letters referencing the Civil War are conspicuously absent (none are dated 1861-64). Examples include: notes on an 1848 Supreme Court case, Sidney v. White, concerning the rights of a freed Tennessee slave whose child was sold into bondage in Alabama; several court documents, notes, and associated letters, including some to the General Assembly and Circuit Courts; 30+ ca 1830s letters to and from Drury Armstrong, including several regarding the construction of a new Knox County courthouse; an 1835 slave bill of sale; a 4pp 1851 letter from L.B. Armstrong to his brother Major R.H. Armstrong at Indian Commission, en route for El Paso, referencing law school and the upcoming Supreme Court session, and includes a relayed message from Adelia who fears the "Wild Man of the West" will get after you with a sharp stick, we may never see you again, and all such things - but you know this is the way that women always talk; an 1851 letter from Adelia to Major Robert expressing this fear directly, saying that, after reading Lynch's Expedition to the Dead Sea, that she would greatly prefer risking my life among the wild, ignorant, simple Arabs of the East, than those wily, cunning, faithless creatures with whom you have to deal; an 1857 printed circular to the voters of Knox County from James W. Newman candidate for the Tennessee General Assembly; several letters, starting April 12, 1865, at the fall of the Confederacy, from a director of a carriage company seeking R.H.'s influence with the local and state governments, and later appointing him to the board; an 1875 schedule of the property of R.H. Armstrong; an 1881 letter from a builder regarding the construction of a 38.5' boat for R.H.; several 1880s letters to and from Armstrong as a director of the Eastern Division Insane Hospital; an early letter from the trustees of Hampden-Sydney University; a 4pp May 1860 letter describing the viability of farmland along the Red River in Arkansas; bill of lading from the steamboat Enterprise, ca 1850s, for a piano and accessories sent by R.P. to Adelia, with an inked note on verso; a 4pp 1831 letter from J.S. Armstrong and Herman Cope, regarding the construction of a "banking house" in downtown Knoxville; letters from farmers seeking guidance on financing new land; a letter from Cincinnati art dealer Emery Barton regarding the sale of paintings; a partially printed certificate from the 1885 World's Industrial and Cotton Centenial Exposition in New Orleans, appointing Adelia an Assistant Commissioner from Knox County; a New Orleans newspaper clipping referencing Adelia's paintings; a 1915 E.R. Lutz letter regarding the annual Vanderbilt-Tennessee football game; and several letters regarding and certificates of various Marriage Benefit/State Marriage Aid/Life & Nuptial Unions, a sort of insurance that was the business of Adelia's husband R.E. Lutz. Overall, a great glimpse into the lives of an elite Southern family before and after the Civil War.

Auction archive: Lot number 173
Auction:
Datum:
28 Jul 2011
Auction house:
Cowan's Auctions, Inc.
Este Ave 6270
Cincinnati OH 45232
United States
info@cowans.com
+1 (0)513 8711670
+1 (0)513 8718670
Beschreibung:

Lot of 300+ letters, plus related ephemera, from three generations of the prominent Armstrong family of Knoxville, Tennessee, ca 1830s-1920s. Drury Armstrong, the patriarch of the family, Major Robert Houston Armstrong, his son, and Major L.D. Franklin, R.H. Armstrong's father-in-law, figure prominently in the letters, which were kept in the estate of Adelia Armstrong Lutz, R.H.'s sister, to whom many of the letters are addressed. The family resided in Bleak House, a large estate built by Drury Armstrong and L.D. Franklin as a wedding gift for their children, that came under fire from Union troops while being used as a headquarters for Confederate generals Longstreet and McLaws during the Battle of Knoxville in 1863. It is now called Confederate Memorial Hall, used as United Daughters of the Confederacy chapter 89, and listed on the NRHP. The letters are a mix of personal and business communication. Many are related to the Armstrong's law practice and civic involvement, though letters referencing the Civil War are conspicuously absent (none are dated 1861-64). Examples include: notes on an 1848 Supreme Court case, Sidney v. White, concerning the rights of a freed Tennessee slave whose child was sold into bondage in Alabama; several court documents, notes, and associated letters, including some to the General Assembly and Circuit Courts; 30+ ca 1830s letters to and from Drury Armstrong, including several regarding the construction of a new Knox County courthouse; an 1835 slave bill of sale; a 4pp 1851 letter from L.B. Armstrong to his brother Major R.H. Armstrong at Indian Commission, en route for El Paso, referencing law school and the upcoming Supreme Court session, and includes a relayed message from Adelia who fears the "Wild Man of the West" will get after you with a sharp stick, we may never see you again, and all such things - but you know this is the way that women always talk; an 1851 letter from Adelia to Major Robert expressing this fear directly, saying that, after reading Lynch's Expedition to the Dead Sea, that she would greatly prefer risking my life among the wild, ignorant, simple Arabs of the East, than those wily, cunning, faithless creatures with whom you have to deal; an 1857 printed circular to the voters of Knox County from James W. Newman candidate for the Tennessee General Assembly; several letters, starting April 12, 1865, at the fall of the Confederacy, from a director of a carriage company seeking R.H.'s influence with the local and state governments, and later appointing him to the board; an 1875 schedule of the property of R.H. Armstrong; an 1881 letter from a builder regarding the construction of a 38.5' boat for R.H.; several 1880s letters to and from Armstrong as a director of the Eastern Division Insane Hospital; an early letter from the trustees of Hampden-Sydney University; a 4pp May 1860 letter describing the viability of farmland along the Red River in Arkansas; bill of lading from the steamboat Enterprise, ca 1850s, for a piano and accessories sent by R.P. to Adelia, with an inked note on verso; a 4pp 1831 letter from J.S. Armstrong and Herman Cope, regarding the construction of a "banking house" in downtown Knoxville; letters from farmers seeking guidance on financing new land; a letter from Cincinnati art dealer Emery Barton regarding the sale of paintings; a partially printed certificate from the 1885 World's Industrial and Cotton Centenial Exposition in New Orleans, appointing Adelia an Assistant Commissioner from Knox County; a New Orleans newspaper clipping referencing Adelia's paintings; a 1915 E.R. Lutz letter regarding the annual Vanderbilt-Tennessee football game; and several letters regarding and certificates of various Marriage Benefit/State Marriage Aid/Life & Nuptial Unions, a sort of insurance that was the business of Adelia's husband R.E. Lutz. Overall, a great glimpse into the lives of an elite Southern family before and after the Civil War.

Auction archive: Lot number 173
Auction:
Datum:
28 Jul 2011
Auction house:
Cowan's Auctions, Inc.
Este Ave 6270
Cincinnati OH 45232
United States
info@cowans.com
+1 (0)513 8711670
+1 (0)513 8718670
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