Caffery Family Papers, 1838-1925

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Summary

Creator:
Caffery (Family : Iberia Parish, La.)
Abstract:

The Caffery and Richardson families of Iberia Parish, La. Prominent family members include Bethia Liddell Richardson (d. 1852); her husband, Francis DuBose Richardson (b. 1812), sugar planter at Bayside Plantation on Bayou Teche and state legislator; their daughter, Bethia (Richardson) Caffery (fl. 1866-1907); and her husband, Donelson Caffery (1835-1906), son of Donelson Caffery (fl. 1830s) and Lydia Murphy Caffery McKerall (fl. 1835-1881), lawyer of Franklin, La., sugar planter, Confederate soldier, state legislator, and U.S. senator, 1892-1901.

Chiefly personal correspondence among Caffery and Richardson family members. Most of the Richardson family papers are dated 1838-1852 and cover topics such as sugar planting, purchases and settlement of land, and family activities. The bulk of the Caffery family papers fall between 1866 and 1906. Their letters are chiefly about family activities, but also include Donelson Caffery letters about politics in Louisiana and Washington, D.C. There are a number of letters written to Donelson while he was a U.S. senator that congratulate him for his stand on the gold standard, two letters from Grover Cleveland, and letters concerning Democratic Party matters. Letters from later years deal chiefly with Donelson's efforts in the face of financial difficulties, including work on his sugar plantations and attempts at establishing oil wells.

Extent:
350 items (1 linear feet)
Language:
Materials in English
Library Catalog Link:
View UNC library catalog record for this item

Background

Biographical / historical:

The major figures in these papers are Donelson Caffery (1835-1906), and his wife, Bethia Richardson Caffery (fl. 1866-1907).

Bethia was the daughter of Francis DuBose Richardson (b. 1812) and Bethia Liddell Richardson (d. 1852). The Richardsons lived first near New Iberia and later at Bayside Plantation on the Bayou Teche near Jeanerette in Iberia Parish. Francis was a sugar planter and also served in the Louisiana state legislature during the early 1850s.

The Richardsons' daughter, Bethia, married Donelson Caffery in 1869. Caffery was the son of Donelson Caffery (fl. 1830s) and Lydia Murphy Caffery (fl. 1835-1881). After the death of his father, his mother married Watson McKerall. Donelson Caffery attended school in Franklin, Louisiana, and St. Mary's College in Baltimore. He later studied law in the office of Joseph W. Walker and at Louisiana University in New Orleans. After completing school he apparently began sugar planting on Bayou Cypremont near the Gulf of Mexico.

Caffery joined the Crescent Rifles in New Orleans in January 1862. He was transferred to the 13th Louisiana Regiment and fought in the battle of Shiloh. Later he was made lieutenant on the staff of Brigadier General W.W. Walker and remained in that position until the end of the war.

After the war Caffery began to practice law and continued in sugar planting. He became involved in Louisiana politics and in 1879 was elected to the Louisiana state constitutional convention. In 1892 he was elected to the state Senate and that same year was appointed to the U.S. Senate when Randall L. Gibson died. Two years later he was reelected and served until the expiration of his term in 1901. As a senator, Caffery opposed free silver and the war with Spain. He was active in the formation of the National or "Gold" Democratic party and was nominated as that party's candidate for president in 1900; he declined in order to return home and resume the practise of law and cultivation of his sugar plantation. He died in 1906.

The exact location and number of plantations owned by Donelson Caffery is not known. However, it is believed he owned at least two, Haifleigh and Bethia Plantation, both of which were located in St. Mary's Parish near Franklin, Louisiana.

Genealogical information follows.

Judge Moses Liddellof Elmslie, near Woodville in Wilkinson County, Mississippi. His children were

A.C. (Nancy) Griffin, widow, lived at home with her father.

Jane (Mrs. J.H.) Randolph, lived at Baywood, on Bayou Goula, near Plaquemine.

Martha Gibson, lived at "Forest Home".

John, married Mary in 1841, lived when first married on the Black River.

Bethia (d. 1852), married Francis D. Richardson (b. 1812), lived near New Iberia and then near Jeanerette. Among her children was Bethia, who married Donelson Caffery in 1869.

Lydia Murphy married Donelson Caffery and later married Watson McKerall. Her children were:

Louisa Lou Chambers

Maria Drew, who lived at New Orleans.

Emma Caffery Thomson, who married Patrick Hardiman Thomson and lived in Tennessee and many other places.

Donelson Caffery (1835-1906), who married Bethia Richardson in 1869.

The children of Donelson Caffery and Bethia Richardson Caffery were:

Donelson, lawyer, Franklin, Louisiana.

Bethia

Gertrude (Mrs. Henry H.) Glassie, Washington, N.C.

John, in U.S. Navy, then oil business in Louisiana.

Frank, sugar planter in Louisiana.

Earl, sugar planter in Louisiana.

"Tide" or "Lide", a daughter.

Charles, Colonel, U.S. Army.

Edward, chiefly at school in this collection.

Liddell (Del), died young in 1901.

(See the sketch on Donelson Caffery by Eugene M. Violette in the Dictionary of American Biography, pp. 402-403).

Scope and content:

This collection is divided into two series, papers of Francis and Bethia Richardson, and papers of the Caffery family. The first series is the smaller of the two and consists chiefly of correspondence on personal and family affairs to Bethia Richardson from her sisters, her father, and her husband.

The second series consists chiefly of personal correspondence of Donelson Caffery, his wife, Bethia Richardson Caffery, and their children between 1866 and 1906. Other prominent correspondents during this period include Bethia's father, Francis DuBose Richardson, and Donelson's sister, Emma Caffery Thomson. A small amount of professional correspondence relating to Donelson Caffery's term in the United States Senate is also included.

Acquisition information:

Received from Bethia Caffery and Colonel Charles S. Caffery of St. Petersburg, Florida, and John Caffery of Franklin, Louisiana, in 1925 and 1940. Addition received from Don T. Caffery of Franklin, Louisiana, in December 1957. Later additions received from Bethia L. Caffery (Acc. 92061, Acc. 92152).

Processing information:

Processed by: Shonra Newman, September 1990

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

This inventory was adapted from an original inventory prepared sometime prior to 1963, and from a cover sheet prepared by E. Ragan in March 1963.

Updated because of addition, November 2018

Sensitive materials statement:

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Access and use

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This collection contains additional materials that are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.

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Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

No usage restrictions.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], in the Caffery Family Papers #2227, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Location of this collection:
Louis Round Wilson Library
200 South Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27515
Contact:
(919) 962-3765
wilsonlibrary@unc.edu