Arrangement: chronological.

Family correspondence of the family of Henry McCall Holmes, a physician of Charleston, S.C., and business papers of his wife, Eliza F. Gibbes Holmes of Washington Plantation, S.C., executrix of her husband's estate after his death in 1854. Earlier papers, 1781-1820, consists of deeds, indentures, bills, receipts, notes, and business communications, which are apparently the papers of Edward Pasteur, as well as the Benson and Wigginton families of Greenville district, S.C. There are scattered Pasteur family letters from 1849-1851 and in the late 1880s and 1890s.

The Holmes family papers include letters, beginning in 1844 between Eliza Holmes and her father W. S. Gibbes and letters to both parents from the Holmes' children; letters, chiefly 1864-1875, between Eliza Holmes and her sons Wilmot G. Holmes who was a commission merchant in Charleston, S.C., and Henry M. Holmes who was a physician of Silver Springs, Fla., and Limestone Springs, S.C.; letters, business, and professional papers of Henry M. Holmes in Florida beginning in 1866; and business letters between the two brothers chiefly about business affairs Wilmot Holmes handled for Henry while in Limestone Springs, S.C., such as finances, accounts, and includes family news, 1874-1897. There is also a letter, 1912, to Wilmot S. Holmes giving information about the Cherokee Indian language, suggestions for place names in Western North Carolina, and a large Cherokee vocabulary written from his memory.

The papers of Eliza Ford Gibbes Holmes consist of accounts, statements, legal documents, and correspondence, chiefly with her uncles and advisers H. A. DeSaussure and Louis D. DeSaussure, about her financial affairs. Correspondence with Daniel Heyward, who had given her a bond before the Civil War for payment for slaves of a period of time, centers around the payment of this debt and his attempts to work out a compromise in which Eliza would share the loss with him. There is also a lease for a house in Charleston, 1871; correspondence to her father W. S. Gibbes; accounts of Eliza with King and DeSaussure relatives and with Daniel Heyward, 1872; and scattered business papers about the sale of real estate.

Adams, Hammond, Holmes, Pasteur, Gibbes, DeSaussure, and Blanchard family data. chiefly compiled by Caroline Holmes Bivins. There is a printed family chart of the Holmes family of Charles Town, S.C. and Holmes family data; a list of the children of Henry and Magadeln DeSaussure and the children of their son David DeSaussure and his wife Mary; a genealogical chart of the Gibbes family of South Carolina from 1899; a copy of an inscription about the DeSaussure family on a tablet in the French Protestant (Huguenot) Church in Charleston; a pamphlet on the Heyward Washington House in Charleston with pictures of some of the rooms with annotations identifying some Holmes' furniture and portraits; selections of Alexander Garden's Revolutionary Anecdotes about Mary Anna Gibbes and John Edwards; a newspaper clippings about Captain William Wilmot in the Gibbes family folder; and numerous other family charts.

Adams and Hammond family history, compiled by Caroline Holmes Bivins include Adams family chart listing the children of Robert Adams (1852-1930) of Georgia, and his wife Eudocia Moore Hammond (1853-1936), and traces their descent from ancestors in Georgia, Virginia, and England. There are also additional information, explanations, sources, information of the homes and household furnishings of some of the persons listed, and a list of members of the Adams and Hammond families whose descendants are entitled to join the Colonial Dames, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and other societies.

Four manuscript writings, "Life Sketches of the Revolution," "Reminiscences," and "Tales of a Grandmother, No. 1 and No. 2" and a bound typescript volume of three. "Life Sketches of the Revolution" consists of short, unsigned incidents of the days of the Revolutionary War concerning the family of Robert Gibbes in Charleston, S.C., their taking refuge in their island home when the British army invaded Charleston in 1780, and in turn having that retreat captured by the enemy. There is an anecdote of a young daughter, Mary Anne Gibbes, who escaped with the family from the main house to the slave quarters nearby but returned to rescue a small child left behind in the flight.

"Life Sketches of the Revolution" also includes an account of the family of Dr. Alexander Garden, physician and naturalist, who was a friend of Linneaus (Karl Von Linne (1707-1778), Swedish naturalist), and was the man for whom the gardenia was named. The narrative tells of the friendship between the Gibbes and Garden families, of the marriage later between a son, Alexander Garden, and Mary Anne Gibbes, and of the separation of that son from his own family because of his participation in the Revolutionary War on the side of the colonies. The writer made an error by confusing the Reverend Alexander Garden, who was rector if St. Phillip's and appointed commissary of the Bishop of London, and Alexander Garden, M.D., who was the son of another Alexander Garden who was a minister. The latter came to South Carolina about 1754 and practiced medicine there until his return to Europe. He died in London in 1791.

"Reminiscences" by Emma Edwards Holmes tells of a remarkable escape of her grandmother, Anna Frances DeSaussure, wife of Wilmot Stuart Gibbes, and mother of Eliza Ford Gibbes. The account is of a tornado in Charleston, 1811, which tore down a whole corner of the DeSaussure house, pinning Anna under furniture close to the spot where a slave maid was completely crushed.

"Tales of a Grandmother" is also by Emma Edwards Holmes and the first part tells about Mary Anna Gibbes and her rescue of John Fenwick during the Revolutionary War and about Captain William Wilmot's friendship with the Gibbes family and his death in a skirmish in 1782. The second part tells of the Garden family after the Revolutionary war and of the death of Alexander Garden.

Arrangement: chronological.

Volumes of Henry M. Holmes, his wife Eliza Ford Gibbes Holmes, their daughter Emma Edwards Holmes and their son Henry M. Holmes.