James E. Williams papers
Scope and Content
This collection documents Williams family members and their businesses, including letters, bills, and receipts. There are three bound books: a checkbook from 1854, Williams company account book from 1859, and a scrapbook from 1904-1905. There are also several Confederate bond receipts and checks, letters from the field, a parole, monthly subsistence papers, a land indenture, and a broadside of a speach James's WIlliams gave in Atlanta. Other items include a fire insurance policy dated October 16, 1865; an invitation to Fanny Gordon's wedding, daughter of John B. Gordon; and graduation programs from Boys' High and Girls' High. Of particular note is a bill of sale for an enslaved person.
Dates
- 1820-1905, undated
Creator
- Williams, James Etheldred (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. All requests to publish, quote, or reproduce must be submitted through the Kenan Research Center.
Administrative/Biographical History
James Etheldred Williams (1826-1900), born in Granger County, Tennessee, in 1826, came to Atlanta, Georgia in 1851. He established a business as a commission merchant of produce and established a theatre on the second floor of the building he constructed at Pryor and Hunter Streets in 1854. Before the Civil War, he was one of the founding members of the Georgia and Western Railroad, and a vestryman of St. Phillip's church. In 1862, he represented the 2nd ward on the City Council. He served as Mayor of Atlant afor two terms, beginning in 1866. Additional biographical information about James E. Williams has not been determined.
Extent
2.09 linear ft. (one document case, one oversize box, one oversize folder, and one FF folder)
Language
English
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift, 1969, with subsequent additions
- Associations, institutions, etc. -- Georgia -- Atlanta
- Atlanta Public Library. Ida Williams Branch
- Business records -- Georgia
- Deeds -- Georgia -- Atlanta
- Education -- Georgia
- Georgia -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
- Merchants -- Georgia -- Atlanta
- Slave bills of sale -- Georgia
- Slaveholders -- Georgia
- Slavery -- Georgia
- Southern Railway (U.S.)
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives, Confederate
- Williams family
- Title
- James E. Williams papers
- Author
- Melanie Stephan
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is written in English.
Repository Details
Part of the Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center Repository