Allan McCaskill Kimbrough (b. 1850) was the son of O. L. Kimbrough (1804-1881), one of the early settlers of Carrollton, Mississippi, and Charlotte Grey Kimbrough (b. 1825). He married Mary Hunter Southworth (b. 1860), daughter of Judge Hunter H. Southworth (d. 1878) and Mary Morgan Southworth. Two of Mary Kimbrough’s brothers were H. H. Southworth and Louis M. Southworth, the latter a prominent lawyer and investigator of the railway land frauds in Manila, Philippine Islands, in 1914 and 1915. Her sister was Mrs. L. P. Yerger.

Allan Kimbrough was appointed judge of the Fourth Circuit Court District of Mississippi in 1903. He was also an attorney in Greenwood, Mississippi. The Kimbroughs were close friends of Jefferson and Varina Howell Davis. Allan Kimbrough also served as their lawyer for a number of years. Ashton Hall, the Kimbroughs’ summer home in Gulfport, Mississippi, was located near Beauvoir, the home of the Davises. Mary Kimbrough was largely responsible for establishing Beauvoir as a historical landmark with financial support from the Sons of Confederate Veterans. She was also one of the founding members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Allan and Mary Kimbrough had ten children, nine of whom are named here: Mary Craig (author of Southern Belle: The Personal Story of a Crusader’s Wife and the wife of novelist Upton Sinclair) of Pasadena, California; William Poindexter, an Itta Bena, Mississippi, cotton planter; Orman Lanier; Sallie Morgan (Mrs. W. K. Clements) of Greenwood; William Morgan; Mabel S; Hunter Southworth; Allan McCaskill, Jr.; and Marmaduke. Hunter Kimbrough married artist Sara Dodge. Her father, William de Leftwich Dodge, was an artist noted for his murals, especially those in the Library of Congress, and for his work with Tiffany Studios founder Louis Comfort Tiffany at the King Edward Hotel in Toronto, Canada. Mary Kimbrough died on March 23, 1930. Allan Kimbrough died in 1935.

This collection contains photocopies (some illegible) of correspondence, newsclippings, a wedding invitation, a funeral invitation, and a genealogy. The correspondence is predominantly family and social, but several letters concern legal and political topics. The newsclippings detail Mary Hunter Southworth Kimbrough’s work with the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Beauvoir, Ashton Hall, and Lewis Southworth’s wedding. There are also obituaries of Mary Kimbrough. Other families addressed in these papers include the allied families of Southworth, Morgan, and Fitz. A partial inventory of the collection is also available.

1. Papers. 1836-1930; n.d.