Large early Tennessee and West Virginia archive of approximately four hundred (400) items related to the Taylor and Feamster families, including letters, postcards, empty envelopes, bills, tax receipts, photographs, and other ephemera, dated circa 1829-1934, including Civil War, Slave taxes, the 1918 Flu Pandemic, and World War I. The Taylors were a prominent family that lived in Russellville and Morristown, Hamblen and Jefferson County, Tennessee and the Feamsters were a prominent family that lived in Lewisburg, Greenbrier County, West Virginia. The two families intermarried when Laura Ann Feamster Taylor (1860-1947) married Franklin Walter "F. W." Taylor (1854-1919) in 1890. 1st-88th items: Group of approximately eighty-eight (88) World War I era related letters, postcards, and empty envelopes dating circa 1911-1920 related to Joseph "Feamster" Taylor (1892-1965), who served as private in the 105th Field Signal Battalion and then transferred to the Quartermaster Depot at Camp Sevier in Greeneville, South Carolina. Approximately forty (40) of the letters are correspondence between Feamster while he was at Camp Sevier in Greeneville, South Carolina, and his parents Franklin Walter "F. W." Taylor and Laura Ann Feamster Taylor, Morristown, Tennessee, circa 1917-1919. In the letters he describes his daily duties, his purchasing of Liberty Bonds, as well as descriptions of the Spanish Flu quarantine in the camp and in Greeneville. On October 5, 1918 he writes" I have heard of an officer and 2 nurses who have died from the flu in the past 2 days. Capt. Gillespie is in the hospital with the flu and there are several men in my co[mpany] who have it or are getting over it." Many of the letters from Feamster are written on Knights of Columbus or Y.M.C.A. stationary. The World War I correspondence also includes a letter to Feamster from his father while he was stationed at Camp Gordon, Atlanta, GA, approximately fourteen (14) letters, primarily from his mother and his aunt Catherine "Kittie" Ann Taylor Miller (1852-1951), and five (5) letters from Feamster while he was working in Oklahoma to his mother, all dated circa 1917. Also included are approximately fifteen (15) letters primarily written by his father and mother, several on Fairmount, Morristown, TN stationery, to Feamster while he was attending Washington and Lee University in Alexandria, VA, with one (1) letter from his brother Franklin William Taylor (1891-1975) while he was in Dallas, Texas, circa 1912-1913. The letters primarily discuss Feamster's spending habits and academic progress. Approximately five (5) miscellaneous letters and ephemera items are also included, such as one (1) letter from his sister Laura Ellen Taylor Harrell (1895-1984) while she was attending school in Danville, TN, dated 1911 and one (1) letter from the University of Tennessee Bursar's Office listing Freshman class fees for a total of $53, dated 1914. Most letters include original envelopes. 89th-194th items: Group of approximately one hundred and five (105) Feamster letters, postcards, empty envelopes, bills, tax and other receipts, dated circa 1840-1880, including Civil War era. The majority of the items pertain to Joseph McClung Feamster (1799-1877), his wife Sarah Ann Craig Feamster (1823-1891), their children Laura Ann Feamster Taylor and Joseph Samuel Feamster (1863-1885), their ward Bettie McClung, and other family members and acquaintances. The forty-two (42) letters mostly discuss family matters, including several letters to and from Laura, writing from Augusta Female Seminary, Staunton, VA, addressing her need for money, circa 1880. Also includes nineteenth (22) tax receipts paid by Joseph Feamster to the Sheriff of Greenbrier County, dated 1848-1875, several of which include taxes on slaves ranging from 38 cents to 120 cents and a Sheriff of Greenbrier County summons for Joseph Feamster and others, dated 1868. Most letters include original envelopes. 195th-358th items: Group of approximately one hundred and sixty-three (163) Taylor family letters, envelopes, postcards, and receipts, dated circa 1844-1908. The majority of the items pertain to Franklin William "Frank" Taylor, Sr. (1810-1886), his wife Eliza Jane Graham Taylor (1821-1897), Russellville and Morristown, TN, their children Confederate soldier Samuel Milton Taylor (1842-1875), Private, 2nd Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry, Company E (see Lot 719), Franklin Walter "F. W." Taylor, Louise "Lula" Kershaw Taylor Forgey (1863-1932), Catherine "Kittie" Ann Taylor Miller, Franklin's brother Walter Caldwell Taylor (1827-1868), Eliza's sister Mary Shields Graham Nance (1824-1907), Franklin Jr.'s daughter Laura Ellen Taylor Harrell (1895-1984), and other family members and acquaintances. The letters mostly discuss family matters, including twenty-one (21) post Civil War letters sent between Samuel Milton Taylor, Atlanta, Georgia, and his parents, circa 1874-1875, several sent between Louise Forgey and Catherine Miller, Yellow Store, TN, and their parents, circa 1879-1884. Another letter sent from Catherine, Winchester, TN, to her mother Eliza, Russellville, TN, references a speech made by General John Calvin Brown (1827-1889) circa 1870. The latest letter dates to 1908 and was written by Catherine Miller to her nephew, F. W. Taylor Jr., detailing her recent trip to Kristiania, Norway. Also includes a group of twelve (12) postcards concerning both business and family related matters, dating from 1879-1881, ten (10) are addressed to F. W. Taylor, with correspondents such as Ellen Holsom, Hon. N. Hacken, G. Taylor, possibly a sibling of F. W. Taylor Sr., A. J. Mountcastle, W. R. Hicks, and B. A. M. Farlance, and a group of nine (9) business related correspondence, including letters, receipts, and two checks, most are addressed to F. W. Taylor. Many letters include original envelopes. 359th-400th: Group of approximately forty-two (42) photographic images and ephemera related to the Taylor and Feamster families, dated 1829-1935, including one (1) photographic image of Fairmount, the Morristown, TN home of Franklin Walter "F. W." Taylor, Laura Ann Feamster Taylor, and their children, dated circa 1902, two (2) photographic images of an early 20th century football team, one (1) identifying Joseph "Feamster" Taylor and Franklin William Taylor as team members in the front row, two (2) photographic Lookout Mountain, TN souvenir, circa 1888, one (1) WII era photograph of a young man in uniform, possibly Feamster, one (1) leather bound autograph album belonging to Laura Ann Feamster Taylor, circa 1888, one (1) Grainger County, TN marriage certificate between Aaron Bean and Catharine Careviles, dated 1829, and more. Most items are housed in an old Cheroots cigars box. Provenance: Estate of Anne Harrison Taylor & Joseph F. Taylor, Morristown, TN.

All items in overall good, legible condition, paper ephemera with toning, dampstaining, foxing spots, insect damage tears, to be expected from age. Two letters with pest chew.