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...
Roxana writes about the sickness of their sister Lucy [Lucy would die on March 21, 1862]; writes about the ban on the communication of war news north; says she is limited to only one page; tells her sister to direct her letters via Fort Monroe;...
This letter was written after Roxana visited her family in Chicopee, MA. She writes to let Emily know that the piano has been delivered; how excited her children are waiting for the ""box"" of goodies from the north to arrive
Slavery; Slaves; Lumpkin, Joseph Henry, 1799-1867; Plantation life; Gerdine, Thomas Cobb; Travel;
Roxana writes about the move from Athens, GA to the Mississippi plantation outside of West Point; behavior of slaves; possibility of traveling north next summer; Tom Cobb Gerdine's boyhood antics; their father's resemblance to John P. Calhoun; and...
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 writes about a Ku Klux Klan incident and lynching at Macon, GA which involved her step-grand-daughter Ella. She describes the repercussions felt from this incident in West Point, MS. She talks about how white men view southern white women in...
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 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...
Roxana writes of wanting the image Emily has of ""Pet"" her daughter who died in on October 17, 1863; this letter was possibly written after the death of their father Titus Chapin in 1865 as Roxana speaks about division of assets; Roxana is clear...
Roxana writes about her worries over what to do with the remains of their sister Lucy who died on March 21, 1862 of tuberculosis and is then buried at the Gerdine plantation. Lucy's remains would not be returned to Chicopee, MA until after the...
Southern States -- Identity; Homefront; Confederate States of America; Hanging; Executions and executioners; Travel;
Roxana writes about the differences between northern and southern newspapers; explains what her family is doing on behalf of the Confederacy; the possibility of making Mr. Gerdine a Colonel; departure of Miss Eaton for Ohio; the dangers of travel,...
Secession; Homefront; Cobb, Thomas Read Rootes, 1823-1862; Gerdine, Thomas Cobb; Southern States -- Identity; Railroads; Communication;
Roxana writes of talk of secession; their step-mother Sarah Chapin; T.R.R. Cobb; Tom Cobb Gerdine; the feelings of southerners via the north; her desire to obtain reliable northern news; talks of the new railroad through West Point; and writes of...
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;...
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...
Roxana writes of her children and cooking for such a large family; Thanksgiving celebrations; alludes to the death of their brother Titus Chapin, Jr. who at 26 drowned in the Kansas River; speaks of the arrival of their sister Lucy Chapin; talks...
Slavery; Slaves; Secession; Toombs, Robert Augustus, 1810-1885; Religion; Families; Mount Holyoke Female Seminary;
Roxana writes about the beauty of Washington, GA; in-depth talk of slavery; feelings of guilt; talk of the union and possible secession; Senator Robert Toombs; a local Baptist revival meeting; her sister Lucy attending Mt. Holyoke 'Seminary'; her...
