Title: Maynard Family Letters (transcripts)

Date/Date Range :   1841-1913

Extent: 0.1 linear feet

Abstract:

This collection of the Maynard Family Letters, 1841-1913, is a typed transcription of a series of correspondence between or to members of the Maynard family. These 42 letters tell the story of the Maynard from Horace and Laura Maynard through their children, primarily Washburn and Edward, down to their grandchildren, like Eddie Maynard.

Call number: MS-2359

Repository: University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN

Aquisition Information:

Collection was found in the papers of Mrs. Elizabeth Lindsay King, great-granddaughter of Edward Maynard, Sr., in 1997 and is property of the UT Special Collections Library.

Access Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Copyright:

The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of Item], Maynard Family Letters (transcripts), MS-2359. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Collection consists of a single folder.

Horace Maynard (1814-1882) graduated as valedictorian from Amherst College (1938), taught mathematics and ancient languages, and was principal of the preparatory department of East Tennessee University (now the University of Tennessee). He was a noted Unionist and member of House of Representatives from 1857 through 1863, when Governer Andrew Johnson appointed him as attorney general of Tennessee. In 1865, Horace returned to Congress where he served until 1875, when President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him minister to Turkey. From 1880 to 1881, Horace was postmaster general under President Rutherford B. Hayes.

The Maynard family starts with the marriage of Horace Maynard (1814-1882) and Laura Ann Washburn (b. 1813) on August 30, 1840. The couple moved to Knoxville, TN, where he taught at the East Tennessee University (now the University of Tennessee), practiced law, and became a politician. He was also the U.S. Minister to Turkey, living in Constantinople, from 1875 to 1880. In 1843, the couple had Edward. He married Lida Harper of Hamilton, Ohio, in 1866, fought for the Union during the Civil War as Lieutenant Colonel, worked for the Tennessee Secretary of State office in Nashville, TN, and became U.S. Consul in the Turk Islands, where he died in January 1868. Lida bore their only child, Edward or "Eddie," a month later. Horace and Laura had Washburn Maynard in December 1844. He was a member of the U.S. Navy, from which he retired as captain in 1902, and married Bessie Brooks, having three children in the 1870s. Horace and Laura also had Eleanor (1845-1848), Ephraim (1848-1850), Laura (b. 1850) James (b. 1852), and Anne Mary (b. 1854). Anne Mary moved to Washington, D.C., and married Dr. [Jerome Henry] Kidder. Her mother Laura lived with the family after Horace's death in 1882.

This collection of the Maynard Family Letters, 1841-1913, is a typed transcription of a series of correspondence between or to members of the Maynard family. These 42 letters tell the story of the Maynard from Horace and Laura Maynard through their children, primarily Washburn and Edward, down to their grandchildren, like Eddie Maynard. The five letters from the 1840s are primarily from Horace and Laura Maynard to her parents Axel and [Sally or Sarah] Washburn in Royalton, Vermont. Eight of the letters are from Edward Maynard, Sr., son of Horace and Laura, to his parents or other family. Many items from the children of Horace and Laura contain information about their experiences in the army or navy, including during the Civil War. About 19 of the letters were written to Edward Maynard, Jr., son of Edward Sr. and Lida Maynard; these were primarily from his grandmother Laura Maynard and his uncle Washburn Maynard, son of Horace and Laura, written between 1872 and 1913, although most were between 1889 and 1913. There are 5 letters from the 1840s, 3 from 1850s, 10 from 1860s, 4 from 1870s, 2 from 1880s, 12 from 1890s, 0 from 1900s, and 4 from 1910s.

There are several collections in the UT Special Collections Library with documents pertaining to Horace Maynard. There is the Horace Maynard Collection in MS-415, The Horace Maynard Letter, 1857 (to W. G. "Parson" Brownlow) in MS-2231, The Horace Maynard Letter, 1866, in MS-2245, and The Horace Maynard Letter, 1869 in MS-2253. There are also many letters from or regarding Horace Maynard in MS-21: the O.P. Temple Papers, 1832-, and in MS-1940: Correspondence of William Gannaway Brownlow.

• Maynard family.
• Maynard, Horace, 1814-1882.
• Tennessee -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Knoxville (Tenn.).