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Biography/History:
Alonzo Gustavus Mayers was born in Winchester, Wayne County, Mississippi, on March 6, 1821. He was the son of James Mayers (1797-1834) of Richmond, Virginia, and Jane Cole Mayers. James Mayers was judge advocate of the Eleventh Regiment, Mississippi Militia, in 1831, and he was sheriff of Wayne County in 1832.
Receiving his early education in the Wayne County schools, Alonzo G. Mayers left home at the age of fourteen to work as a clerk in a general store in Garlandsville, Jasper County, Mississippi. After reading law, he was admitted to the bar in Paulding, Jasper County, Mississippi, around the age of twenty-one. Mayers moved to Raleigh, Smith County, Mississippi, in 1844. He was an unsuccessful Whig candidate for district attorney in 1845. Mayers moved to Paulding in 1846. He married Elizabeth Clotilda King of Rankin County, Mississippi, in 1848. She and their two children died in 1852. Later that year, Mayers moved to Brandon, Rankin County, Mississippi, where he bought a home that he called Wisteria Hall.
Mayers married Nancy (Nannie) L. McLaurin of Covington County, Mississippi, on February 14, 1856. She was the daughter of Judge Daniel McLaurin. They had four children: Daniel, Henry, Mary, and Nannie. Mayers formed a law partnership with Robert Lowry in 1850. He also became part owner of the Brandon Republican, and he was its editor for several years. Mayers also worked for the United States Treasury Department, serving as assessor of internal revenue for the second district of Mississippi in 1866. Governor John M. Stone appointed him circuit judge of the eighth district in 1876, and he served on the bench until 1900. Judge Mayers presided over a number of important cases, including the 1888 trial of Colonel Jones Stewart Hamilton for the murder of Roderick Gambrell. Alonzo G. Mayers died in Brandon on February 5, 1905.
Scope and Content:
This collection contains correspondence, photographs, a scrapbook, legal and financial records, and printed materials related to Judge Alonzo G. Mayers and his family.
Some of the letters in the collection were written by Minerva Sharkey, wife of William Lewis Sharkey, provisional governor of Mississippi during Reconstruction. She wrote to Judge Mayers in 1875 concerning an upcoming lawsuit that he was assisting her with. Part of an undated letter from Mrs. Sharkey, including the salutation, is missing. A third letter from Judge M. Thompson to Judge Mayers in 1875 concerns Mrs. Sharkey’s lawsuit regarding the settlement of her late husband’s estate.
There are four black-and-white photographs, including an 1892 image of Judge Mayers, his wife, and other family members on the front porch of Wisteria Hall. Accompanying the photograph is a letter from Susan Mayers Crosby and Mary L. Johnson that identifies most of the fifteen subjects. Three other annotated photographs depict Wisteria Hall, and two of these photographs are dated 1941.
There is a scrapbook entitled "The Life and Times of Judge Alonzo G. Mayers" that includes correspondence, newsclippings, photographs, certificates, and receipts. The scrapbook covers the years 1831 to 1944 and includes explanations for most of the materials that concern the lives of Judge Mayers, James Mayers, and Daniel Mayers. Most of the letters in the scrapbook were written to Judge Mayers in the 1860s and 1870s concerning cotton claims or other legal matters. A number of letters are from William Lewis and Minerva Sharkey, L. Q. C. Lamar, and Gray and Mary Ellis of New Orleans. Much of this correspondence concerns business and personal matters.
The newsclippings in the scrapbook include an 1894 article about the appearance of Daniel McLaurin Mayers as grand marshal of a Biloxi parade. There are several newspaper articles; two obituaries; and photocopies of several biographical sketches of Judge Mayers, including a selection from Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi. The photographs in the scrapbook depict Judge Alonzo G. Mayers, Daniel McLaurin Mayers, Nancy (Nannie) McLaurin Mayers, Sara B. Mayers, and Wisteria Hall.
The scrapbook contains a number of commissions for James Mayers, including his 1831 appointment as judge advocate of the Eleventh Regiment, Mississippi Militia, and his 1832 appointment as sheriff of Wayne County. Other documents reflect the activities of Alonzo G. Mayers as a judge and citizen of Rankin County. There is an 1865 presidential pardon and an appointment as a federal tax assessor. Additional items include various financial receipts; an undated petition signed by Judge Mayers concerning the purchase of land for Richardson College; an undated poem entitled "The White Haired Giant"; and several agreements between Judge Mayers and a freedman named Carlos Mayers.
The legal records include a number of deeds, indentures, and wills from Rankin County and one deed from Smith County. Most of the records are land deeds, but there are also wills and a power-of-attorney. Several of the documents are related to the cotton claims that Mayers often handled, and there are a number of land deeds concerning Judge Mayers. A December 1903 land deed concerns Nancy (Nannie) L. McLaurin Mayers and Sara B. Mayers.
The financial records include a document entitled "Returns and Assessments of Confederate Tax on Property, Moneys, and Credits Under the Tax Act of February 17, 1864," which lists tax returns for about thirty taxpayers. There is also a receipt dated 1866 and several rental receipts for property in Fannin, Rankin County, Mississippi, dating from June through October of 1879.
The printed materials consist of a 1905 funeral notice for Judge Mayers and a book entitled Our Brother in Black: His Freedom and His Future by Atticus G. Haygood. The book was presented to Judge Mayers in 1881, and it contains a few penciled annotations.
Series Identification:
Box 1, folder 1
Box 2, folder 1
Box 3, item 1
Box 1, folder 3 (1852-1903; n.d.)
Box 3, folder 2 (1824)
Box 1, folder 2 (1866; 1879)
Box 3, folder 2 (1864)
Box 1, folders 4-5