Mayo family papers

Content Description

The collection includes letters, receipts, legal documents, deeds, drafts, pamphlets, and a daguerreotype from the bookbinder Frederick Augustus Mayo (1785-1853) and his family members, including Charles, his son, and James Mayo. The materials give a broad overview of their financial, business, and personal lives from the 1830s to the 1860s. The documents shed light on Frederick's and Charles's personal and business life. In particular, they document Frederick's transition from bookbinding to land speculating, with several documents relating to land deals and many business receipts showing the breadth of his business dealings. A few letters deal with financial and legal matters relating to enslaved African Americans, including one document detailing a legal case involving the procurement of clothing for an enslaved individual. There is also a series of letters written back and forth between Frederick and Elizabeth G. Mayo, his second wife, in which he alleges, in quite graphic terms, infidelity of Elizabeth with a married man named Larkin Ford at the home of Elizabeth's grandmother Ann Hudson. Three folders of materials pertain to Frederick, three folders pertain to Charles, one folder pertains to James, and a final folder is a miscellaneous items which includes the hiring of African-American laborers who were involved in a legal matter and an unhoused daguerreotype of two women, possibly family members. Also included is a folder of transcripts of a few of the letters made by the vendor.

Acquisition Type

Purchase

Provenance

Purchased from Auger Down Books, 17 January 2024.

Language of Description

English

Script of Description

Latin

Restrictions Apply

No