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Biography/History:
Mosley John Posey Drake was originally from Missouri. He was married to Caroline Agee Drake of St. Louis. They had two daughters, Alma M. and Caroline Love Drake. M. J. P. Drake was a close friend and business partner of Love S. Cornwall. They were engaged in a variety of business ventures and mercantile enterprises in Missouri prior to the Civil War and in Louisiana and Mississippi after the war. Drake moved his family to Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi, where he purchased the Elms in 1869. He died on July 19, 1899, and Caroline Agee Drake died on March 17, 1901.
Albert Gallatin Cassell was born on August 1, 1845. Cassell was married to Caroline Love Drake, on July 17, 1886. Formerly of Lexington, Kentucky, Cassell was a Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi, druggist and merchant. The Cassells had three daughters, Alma Stratton, Caroline Drake, and Lizzie Etheline. Following the death of their mother on December 21, 1894, the three Cassell girls were sent to live with their aunt, Alma M. Drake, at the Elms in Natchez. Lizzie Etheline Cassell died of diphtheria on November 4, 1896, and Caroline Drake Cassell died of pneumonia on February 28, 1902. Albert Gallatin Cassell died August 20, 1902, and John Cassell, his brother, became the legal guardian of Alma Stratton Cassell.
Scope and Content:
This accretion to The Elms Papers consists of a day book, correspondence, an obituary, and newsclippings related to the Drake and Cassell families of Natchez and Vicksburg.
The daybook of Mosley John Posey Drake contains a written account of Drake family history from 1853 to 1883, entitled “Experience of Traveling and all cash paid out to for [sic] Henry Elliot.” A brief history of the Drake family’s journey from Missouri to Mississippi, written after the event, is divided into yearly increments. The family left Missouri during the Civil War because they were accused by Union General Charles Ewing of being Southern sympathizers. They eventually settled in Natchez, where Mosley John Posey Drake established himself as a merchant and businessman. The daybook also contains Drake’s accounting of his money-lending and expenditures.
The correspondence consists of letters addressed to Alma M. Drake and her niece, Alma Stratton Cassell, from various correspondents, mostly from Alma Stratton Cassell’s father, Albert Gallatin Cassell. Albert Gallatin Cassell’s sister-in-law, Alma Drake, raised Alma Stratton and Carrie Drake after the death of their mother. Cassell’s letters to his daughters concern their health, clothing, and behavior. The letters to Alma Drake from Albert Cassell address similar topics, especially questions and suggestions about the health of Caroline Drake Cassell. There are also a commencement invitation and a 1901 Montgomery Ward catalog.
The accretion also contains a draft of the obituary of Caroline Drake Cassell, who died at the age of thirteen on February 28, 1902, of pneumonia. The writer includes poetic verses as well as a brief biography of Caroline Cassell.
The newsclippings from the Natchez Daily Democrat and the Vicksburg Evening Post are announcements for the weddings of Laura Stephenson Drake to Milling Marion Satterfield and Dr. C. J. Gordon to Eva Chisum.
Series Identification:
Folder 1: Day Book, 1853-1880.
Folder 2: Day Book Loose Items, 1868-1887, n.d.
Folder 4: 1877; 1897-1898.
Folder 5: January 1900-March 1900.
Folder 6: April 1900-November 1900.
Folder 7: January 1901-February 1901.
Folder 8: March 1901-June 1901.
Folder 9: July 1901-August 1901.
Folder 10: September 1901.
Folder 11: October 1901-December 1901.
Folder 12: January 1902-Feburary 1902.
Folder 13: March 1902-August 1902.
Folder 14: n.d.
Box List: