This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit December 17, 2013 English Describing Archives: A Content Standard University Libraries Division of Special Collections, The University of Alabama December 2013 Box 870266 Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 35487-0266 205.348.0500 archives@ua.edu
Table of Contents Summary Information... 3 Biographical/Historical note... 3 Scope and Contents note... 4 Administrative Information... 4 Controlled Access Headings... 5 General note... 5 Collection Inventory... 6 - Page 2 -
Summary Information Repository: University Libraries Division of Special Collections, The University of Alabama Creator: Gaillard, Catherine, 1816-1821 Creator - Author: Hurtel, Alphonse John, 1825-1877 Creator - Author: Hurtel, Gordon Noel, 1858-1921 Creator - Collector: Title: Physical Description: General Physical Description note: Location note: Language of the Material: ID: W.0090 Williams, A. S., III Date: 1838-1885 Abstract: Preferred Citation note papers 0.2 Linear feet Letters are very fragile; many have split or are in danger of splitting along folds. The A. S. Williams III Americana Collection, Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library, The University of Alabama English Commonplace book, letters, and other documents and items collected by these Mobile and Claiborne, Alabama, families. papers, A. S. Williams III Americana Collection, University Libraries Division of Special Collections, The University of Alabama Biographical/Historical note Author and historian, Thomas Gaillard was born on April 25, 1793, in St. Stephens Parish, South Carolina. On May 12, 1812, Gaillard married Marianne Gendron Palmer in Pineville, South Carolina. The couple had thirteen children: Thomas Palmer, John, Catherine, Edmund, Charles, Richebourg, - Page 3-
Samuel Septimus, Elizabeth Octavia, Harriett Porcher, Franklin, Lydia Henrietta, Marianne Gendron, and Peter James. Their son John married Caroline Rachel Gordon. The couple had eight children: Catherine Marianne, Henrietta Porcher, Thomas, Sara Blakely, William McConnell, Elizabeth Richebourg, John, and Lydia Hamilton. Thomas and Marianne's daughter Catherine married Alphonse Hurtel in 1855. The couple had five children: Octavia Richebourg, Gordon Noel, Odalie Leclaire, Feliz Gage, and Katherine Marianne. Scope and Contents note This collection contains a commonplace book, letters, and other items compiled by the extended Gaillard and Hurtel families of Claiborne and Mobile, Alabama. The commonplace book, written by Alphonse Hurtel, contains images and approximately thirty-five pages of handwritten quotations. Two obituaries are handwritten on pages 220 to 226: a biography of John Hurtel written by members of Mobile's Get-Away Club and an obituary for Thomas Noel. The collection contains approximately twenty letters, all written or received by members of the extended and dated between 1838 and 1885. Frequent correspondents include Thomas Gaillard and his wife Marianne Gendron Palmer and their children Edmund Gaillard and Martha Rebecca Gaillard (referred to as Bec or Becca in the letters). The letters report family news, describe outbreaks of disease, the purchase or rent of new homes, and the birth and death of family members. In one interesting letter addressed to Bec Gaillard, a friend named Mollie outlined her reasons for breaking off her engagement with her fiance and asked for Gaillard's advice. The collection also contains miscellaneous documents and items compiled by family members, including genealogical materials, a typescript biography of Thomas Gaillard, a lock of Catherine Gaillard's hair, and an 1879 abstinence pledge written by Gordon Hurtel. Administrative Information Publication Statement University Libraries Division of Special Collections, The University of Alabama December 2013 Box 870266 - Page 4-
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 35487-0266 205.348.0500 archives@ua.edu Provenance Gift of A. S. Williams III, 2010 Conditions Governing Access note None Processed by Haley Aaron, 2013 Controlled Access Headings Gaillard, Edmund, 1818-1894 Gaillard, Henrietta Porcher, 1837-1930 Gaillard, John, 1814-1860 Gaillard, Marianne Gendron Palmer, 1793-1860 Gaillard, Martha Rebecca, 1839-1910 Gaillard, Thomas, 1790-1864 Hurtel, Odaline Leclaire, 1859-1918 Williams, A. S., III Commonplace books Correspondence Daily Life and Family Mobile (Ala.) Monroe County (Ala.) General note Title on Spine: Papers of Thomas Gaillard and his Hurtel Descendants of Claiborne and Mobile, 1838-1908 - Page 5-
Collection Inventory Title/Description Commonplace book Gaillard family letters Instances Box W0090.01 Box W0090.01 Folder 2 - Page 6-