Sarah P. Weed to Anna Maria Otis Mead Chalmers, 1840-1870

The papers of Anna Maria (Campbell Hickman) Otis Mead Chalmers (1809-1891) and her family offer a deep look into a 19th century American family with a sharp focus on enslaved and formerly enslaved persons. The collection documents the life of a young, widowed woman, Anna Maria Mead Chalmers, who was the granddaughter of General William Hull (1753-1825). She was a mother of four children and became a businesswoman in Richmond, Virginia. She was a writer, an editor of the Southern Churchmen, an educator and founder of Mrs. Mead’s School for Young Ladies, and a director of The Southern Churchmen Cot (“Retreat for the Sick”), a hospital for children. Anna Maria’s family enslaved people who are represented in the papers including Othello “Tillo” Freeman (1790’s-1860’s?). It includes a letter from William written in [1875], who was their carriage driver, and letters about Sam the fiddler, who settled on the farm after escaping harsher enslavement in Louisianna, and Jordan who was described as being hired out in a letter dated September 8, 1841 from Thomas R. Blair.

In the correspondence of the Mead-Chalmers family, are letters describing Othello Tillo Freeman. There is also a will of Nancy “Ann” Binney Hull Hickman (1787-1847), mother of Anna Maria Chalmers, that left a stipulation providing room and board for Tillo.

Letters also show that the family inquired about slave laws for travelling so that they could bring Tillo with them when they moved from Newton, Massachusetts to Richmond, Virginia in 1838. The family is characterized as being kind to enslaved persons by providing for them and educating them however this description does not take into consideration that they never had the opportunities that existed for free white men.

There is also a leather-bound account book with the first names of enslaved persons. It is not clear who owns the book or the location of the enslaved persons, but it has an extensive list of first names and dates from 1767 to 1845. Also included in the account book are records for horses and business transactions.

The letters from William C. Mead (son of Anna Maria Chalmers) and his friends and family describe skirmishes and battles in the Civil War including Murfreesboro, Tennessee and Resaca, Georgia. Included in the collection are letters about succession and anxiety about the conflict between the states. Also included is a carte de visite of Lieutenant William Mead, n.d.; a testimony to the gallantry of William L. Mead signed by J.E.B. Stuart; an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy; a map of Chattanooga & Environs November 15, 1863; a notice that William Z. Mead has been appointed 1st Lieutenant, 1st Battalion Sharp Shooters; a pass allowing Mrs. Anna Maria Chambers to cross the lines with a hat box and carpet bag; and a memorandum sent to General Joseph Wheeler, concerning personal items taken from the body of Lieutenant William Mead following his death at Resaca, Georgia in 1864.

William Mead graduated from the University of Virginia in 1857 before the Civil War began. The collection has many references to Charlottesville and the University of Virginia, including comments about university professors Basil L. Gildersleeve, Gessner Harrison, Socrates Maupin, John Minor, Schele De Vere, James L. Cabell, Frederick George Holmes, and Alfred T. Bledsoe. Charlottesville families include Peter and Frances (“Fannie”) Meriwether, Frances Poindexter, Rector, and Mrs. Ebenezer Boyd, William Cabell Rives, Franklin Minor, Thomas Walker Gilmer and Elizabeth Anderson Gilmer, and Dr. Mann Page.

Anna Maria Otis Mead Chalmers was extraordinary in having been as well educated as any man in Boston (1) and was able to share her knowledge with other privileged young white girls through her school, including Amélie Rives Troubetzkoy, the famous writer.The collection includes examination questions,correspondence about the school and a newspaper article in the The Richmond Times Dispatch dated August 10, 1913 describing Mrs. Mead Chalmers. There are also handwritten poems, short stories, and miscellaneous writings in the collection, including an essay on "Virginia Before and After the Civil War."

The collection also includes correspondence from Anna Maria Mead Chalmer’s cousins, Samuel Clarke,James Freeman Clarke (1810-1888) and his sister, Sarah Ann Freeman Clarke (1808-1896). Sarah Clarke was a landscape artist, a world traveler, and a member of the transcendentalist movement.(2) James Clarke was an American theologian, author, and abolitionist.(3) Mrs. Mead Chalmers and her cousins were friends with literary authors including Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel P. Willis, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Oliver Wendell Holmes.The letters refer to these individuals but there is no correspondence with them.

Unrelated to anything else in the collection, is a miscellaneous item which is a specimen of the first telegraphic writing made on the first telegraph in this country by Professor Morse in 1847.

Also of interest in the collection are letters about General William Hull (1753-1825) who fought in the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. His work with the government involved taking land from indigenous persons. In the end, he was charged by the government of not properly defending Detroit in the War of 1812, but President James Madison commuted his sentence.(4) For years, the family and descendants refuted the charges and filed a claim to receive his backpay. In contrast to General Hull’s work with the government, is a newspaper clipping of a sermon by Bishop Henry Benjamin Whipple (1822-1901) printed in 1876 which displays Whipple's outrage at the United States government for taking lands from indigenous persons.

From the taking away of the lands of indigenous persons, to enslavement of African Americans, to a widowed woman trying to earn a living in the nineteenth century, with history about the War of 1812 and the American Civil War, as well as politics, religion, transcendentalism, local Charlottesville history and professors at the University of Virginia, this is a collection of letters rich in history that shows the inner workings of government, society, and people and its effects on everyday life. Collections like these help us to envision our collective past and broaden our perspective on our history and our future. This one is worth a deep dive into the history of the nineteenth century locally and nationally.

Sources:

1. Duval, Maria Pendleton. “The Lengthened Shadow of a Woman” Richmond Times Dispatch. August 10, 1913 (Description of Anna Maria Mead Chalmers education in William B. Fowle’s school as being the best in Boston and Mrs Chalmer’s school as being up to the standards of Harvard)

2. Maas, Judith. “Sarah Freeman Clarke: Artist, Traveler, Diarist” The Beehive. Massachusetts Historical Society. November 21, 2019 https://www.masshist.org/beehiveblog/2019/11/sarah-freeman-clarke-artist-traveler-diarist/

3.“James Freeman Clarke.” Wikipedia. Accessed June 7, 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Freeman_Clarke

4. “William Hull” Detroit Historical Society. Detroit Encyclopedia. Accessed June 7, 2022. https://detroithistorical.org/learn/encyclopedia-of-detroit/hull-william

Other articles of interest Martin, Susan. “The Unstoppable Anna Maria Mead Chalmers” The Beehive. Massachusetts Historical Society. June 7, 2022. https://www.masshist.org/beehiveblog/2015/03/the-unstoppable-anna-maria-mead-chalmers/