Slavery; Slaves; Child rearing; Southern States -- Identity; Plantation life; Gerdine, Thomas Cobb;
Roxana writes of her baby Tom Cobb Gerdine; Tom's nurse (slave) and the differences between ""northern"" and ""southern"" children; their sister Lucy Chapin (who came to teach at the Lucy Cobb Institute in January 1859; William L.C. Gerdine's...
Birth; Gerdine, Chapin McKinstry; Sykes, Robert Emmett;
Roxana writes of the birth of Chapin McKinstry Gerdine (August 7, 1870); also writes of the birth of Robert Emmett Sykes, son of Roxana's step-daughter Lizzie Gerdine Sykes
Chapin explains that due to losses incurred by recent heavy flooding they are forced to ask ""Uncle Ed"" [E.E.C. Chapin, Roxana's half-brother], to pay the interest on a loan
This is Roxana's last surviving letter to Emily before her stroke in April 1891. She writes mostly about family matters, especially of her sons Chapin and Lynn and stepchildren Mary, Joe and Jane White
Roxana describes the unusually rainy winter they have had; gathering rents from the plantation and estate matters; her children's health and smallpox scares in Mississippi; their half-brother Edward's financial difficulties, and Emily's fellowship...
Roxana writes about her school; financial affairs; high rate of taxes; the cotton crop; the financial problems of their half-brother Edward and she advises him to sell Aunt Roxey's place
Education; Women in education; Loneliness; Greenwood Cemetery (West Point, Miss.)
Roxana writes about the end of the school semester and returning to the plantation. She notes the loneliness of the plantation (Mr. Gerdine would have died after 1878); she mentions Greenwood Cemetery; her step-daughter Lucy coming to visit from...
Roxana mentions that she is not so enthusiastic about travel as she gets older; they have rented out the plantation to freedmen; mentions the trend of plantation owners to rent out their plantations to freedmen; they pay with cotton for their rent;...
Roxana writes of their sister Lucy's spending habits while she visited up north; she mentions ""Lizzie""(possibly her step-daughter Elizabeth Gerdine, later Mrs. William Sykes); mentions slaves in household; Thanksgiving and food for the holiday;...
Most likely written by Tom Gerdine, Roxana and W.L.C. Gerdine's first born son, while she was on vacation up north visiting family. Tom mentions town events, and talks about his father's grave and Greenwood Cemetery
Roxana writes of the Christmas holidays and presents; she notes the general financial panic and the talk of several fore-closings; her step-son Joe Gerdine is closing his affairs in West Point and people are paying their notes with mules. She also...
Roxana writes of the business surrounding her school. The letter is after 1870 because she mentions her niece (Emily's daughter) Carra Chapin, who was born that year. Roxana also writes in detail about several suicides of neighbors in the area
Inheritance and succession; Assets (Accounting); Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877);
In this letter Roxana discusses family business matters; she responds to the family's question regarding how much she spent on Lucy's doctors and burial; division of assets; their ""Mother""(step-mother Sarah); mentions how the South was not...
Health; Secession; Homefront; Gerdine, Thomas Cobb; Cobb, Thomas Read Rootes, 1823-1862; Newspapers; Communication;
Roxana writes of the improvement in Lucy's health since her coming to Mississippi; talk of secession in surrounding areas; calling her son Tom Cobb ""a little black Republican"" the secession of Mississippi; her desire to read northern newspapers;...
Roxana writes of her recent trip north to Chicopee, MA; her husband's favorable impression of the north, especially ladies who work; return home; visiting Waverly, MS; complains of their sister Lucy Chapin not helping with household work enough;...
Crops; Pregnancy; Death; Sykes, Robert Emmett; Cholera;
Roxana is possibly pregnant with her fourth child, Lynn Van Horn Gerdine (b. 1873). She writes about the death of her step-daughter Lizzie Gerdine Sykes' son Emmett and she notes her son Chapin's reaction to the death. She writes of cholera...
Travel; Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877); Gerdine, William Louis Crawford, d. 1878;
Joe writes to Roxana while she was visiting family in Chicopee, MA. He discusses the Mississippi gossip and mentions seeing quite a number of Confederate veterans recently (Col. Chalmers, Col. Sims, Col. Young). Joe also write about ""Pa"" in some...
Roxana writes in detail about what is happening in post-Civil-War Mississippi; freedmen; death of (daughter-in-law) Maddie (married to Joe Gerdine) and their baby; death of a freewoman's baby that morning; the sending of a former slave ""Aunt...
