Title: Joseph A. Mabry Receipt

Date/Date Range :   1870 August 22

Extent: 0.1 linear feet

Abstract:

This collection contains a receipt to Joseph A. Mabry from Rolfe S. (?) Saunders, promising repayment of a loan, dated August 22, 1870.

Call number: MS-2426

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

Aquisition Information:

This item was donated to Special Collections.

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], Joseph A. Mabry Receipt, MS-2426. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Collection consists of a single folder.

Joseph A. Mabry was a wealthy merchant and importer in Knox County. Together with then-mayor William G. Swann, in 1853, he donated the land making up Market Square in Knoxville. In 1882, following a business disagreement with Thomas O'Connor, O'Connor shot and killed Mabry on Gay Street. Mabry's son, Joseph A. Mabry, Jr., was standing nearby. He immediately engaged O'Connor in a second gunfight and both died. The story fascinated author Mark Twain and appears in his Life on the Mississippi.

No biographical information is available on Rolfe S. Saunders.

This collection contains a receipt to Joseph A. Mabry from Rolfe S. (?) Saunders, promising repayment of a loan, dated August 22, 1870. The loan amounted to two thousand dollars and payment was to begin eighteen months for date on which the receipt was signed. Also on the receipt is a stamp featuring George Washington. It reads "1 dollar U.S. Inter. Revenue Life Insurance."

• Knox County (Tenn.) -- History.
• Legal documents.