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Preferred Citation

Correspondence of the Breckinridge, Gamble and Watts Families, Accession #12170, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

This collection was purchased by the Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library from Jerry N. Showalter, Ivy, Virginia on February 2, 2002.

Biographical/Historical Information

Elizabeth Breckinridge, daughter of General James Breckinridge, married Edward Watts of Roanoke County, Virginia (then Botetourt County), and had several children, William Watts, James B. Watts, Ann S. Watts, Letitia G. Watts, Elizabeth B. Watts, and Mary Scott Watts who married her cousin, James Gamble (in 1834), and lived in Welaunee, Florida, near Tallahassee, until her death in 1840.

Scope and Content

This collection consists of the correspondence of the Breckinridge, Gamble, and Watts families, ca.1794-1850, but chiefly that of Mary Scott Watts Gamble (1814-1840), ca. 64 items. Mary Gamble wrote to her aunt, Emma W. Breckinridge, Grove Hill, Fincastle, Botetourt County, Virginia; her mother, Elizabeth Breckinridge Watts and her father, General Edward Watts, Oakland, near Big Lick, Botetourt County, Virginia; her brothers, William and James B. Watts; and her sisters, Ann S. Watts and Letitia G. Watts.

Most of the letters to her immediate family were written after her marriage and move to Welaunee, Florida, located near Tallahassee, except for several to her brother William Watts while he was away at the New London Academy, Campbell County, Virginia. Many of Mary Watts Gamble's letters are to her aunt, Mrs. Cary Breckinridge (Emma W. Gilmer), 1831-1838, and most of them were written prior to her marriage in 1834. All of her undated letters to her aunt appear to have been written before her marriage and are filed at the beginning of the year 1834 as [ante 1834].

Topics in the letters from Mary Watts Gamble at Flat Creek to family members include: a description of her horseback ride to McAfee's Knob with James, Mary, and Martha Johnston and the temptation to eat the orange she received as a gift from her Aunt Emma Breckinridge of Grove Hill, Virginia (March 10, 1831); her request for help in securing a pair of bronze gaiter boots, with purple tops and mention of "the dreadful affair in Liberty" involving a Mr. Jones (January 6, [1832?]; February 11, 1832); mentions her upcoming 18th birthday on September 26, a birth date that she shares with her Uncle William (February 26, 1832); attendance at three days of preaching at the Academy (May 19, 1832); the family's concern for William and Robert over an outbreak of scarlet fever near New London Academy, Campbell County, Virginia (January 12, 1833); reference to the deaths of Mary and Eliza Goode and the illness of her grandfather (March 15, 1833); notification of the death of their grandfather, General James Breckinridge (May 15, 1833); and the birth of her cousin Mary Ann to Emma W. Breckinridge (December 20, [ante 1834]).

Additional subjects in the letters from Mary Watts Gamble following her marriage and move to Florida include: her marriage to her cousin, James Gamble (June 17, 1834 and October 14, 1834); a description of their Christmas celebration and the climate in Florida (December 29, 1834); the purchase of 34 slaves by Uncle Gamble to prepare the ground for cotton (January 20, 1835); concerns over possible attacks by Osceola and his Seminole warriors in her neighborhood which caused her to learn how to load and shoot a gun (February 27, 1835); the unpopularity of the Reverend [Gyng?] in Tallahassee (March 30 and June 28, 1835); the birth of Peachy Gilmer at Catawba, Virginia, and a list of other recent births in the family (October 11, 1835); the death of an aunt and news about the beginning of the Second Seminole War in Florida, "Their history leaves a stain upon our national character, which cannot be eradicated by the noble deeds & virtuous actions of centuries." Both Robert [Watts?] and Robert Gamble joined the local militia to help remove the Seminoles from the swamps and send them out West (December 13, 1835).

Other topics in the letters from Mary Watts Gamble include: their Christmas celebration and more concern about Seminole attacks (December 25, 1835); her disapproval of the plans of General [Winfield?] Scott for delaying the pursuit of the Seminole War to a later time and mention of the recent Texas disasters at [the Alamo?] and the loss of [James Walker] Fannin's detachment at the Massacre at La Bahia (Goliad), including concern about the fate of her acquaintances Burr and John Duval. A website on the history of Texas records that they were both captured and executed (April 24, 1836); details of an attack by the Seminoles on the property of Judge Randall while only the overseer, his wife, and the slaves were home, resulting in the theft of all their horses from the stable and the death of a slave, the burning of buildings in Magnolia and Hickstown and attacks on the surrounding area by the Indians, the actions of Territorial Governor Richard Keith Call (1792-1862), and the Gambles forced evacuation from Welaunee to Tallahassee for safety (May 9, 1836); their plan to sail on the Brig Orion from St. Marks to New Orleans, take a steamboat to Louisville, and then proceed by mail [coach?] to White Sulphur Springs, [West] Virginia (May 21, 1836).

Additional subjects include: her return to Florida and attempts to persuade her brother James to begin his law practice in Tallahassee (December 13 and 29, 1836); comments about the presidential election, her brother James' visit to Washington, [D.C.], and an attack seven miles away by the Indians, killing a woman and her two children (March 5, 1837); the romantic affairs of her brother James (March 5, 1837 and April 14, 1837); her illness and plans to recover in Virginia (May 15, 1837); an attack by the Seminoles upon the home, family, and slaves of Mrs. Purifoy, wife of a Methodist minister and daughter of Captain Byrd, and her severe wounds and loss of her children just four miles away from Welaunee (April 13, 1838); her stay in St. Joseph [Bay?] for the summer because of her health, reading the works of Hannah More (1745-1833) while staying in St. Joseph, especially The History of Hester Wilmot and description of the area (July 30, 1838); her return to Tallahassee, mention of the removal of the Apalachicola tribe of Indians to the West, and her husband's new store (October 22, 1838); and her stay in a boarding house near the store (December 15, 1838).

Correspondents in the folder of general correspondence of the Breckinridge, Gamble, and Watts families include: Robert Breckinridge to James Breckinridge concerning business matters (March 20 and July 23, 1794; n.d.); John Breckinridge to James Breckinridge concerning business matters, his lawsuit with Isaac Robinson, and a reference to the Whisky Rebellion at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania (August 19, 1794); William Breckinridge to James Breckinridge (September 1794); James Breckinridge to Ann Breckinridge discussing the sickness of Lewis and news about others of their acquaintance (January 24, 1819); James Breckinridge to Edward Watts mentions the James River bill and the death of Judge Fleming which left a vacancy on the court (February 22, 1824).

Mary Page Randolph discusses her unexpected trip to Montpelier, Orange County, and Edgehill, Albemarle County, Virginia, with Thomas Jefferson Randolph, and sympathy for Mary S. Watts' "late bereavement" (July 22, 1833); Robert Gamble to Colonel Edward Watts discusses the visit of Mary Scott Watts and the death of his niece Laura (January 13, 1834); Edward Watts to his daughter, Elizabeth B. Watts, announcing the death of Mary Watts Gamble on May 22, 1840 (1840); Emma W. Breckinridge to her niece Letty [Letitia G. Watts?] (December 21, 1850); and John Wickham to James Breckinridge, notifying them of a death which has greatly distressed Betsy (August 14, n.y.).

There are several letters from Nannie Gamble to her cousin, Letitia G. Watts, in which she describes her return visit from New York to Savannah, Georgia by ship (November 13, 1843) furnishes news of the family while in the mountains, near Abingdon, Virginia (January 20, 1845); expresses her sorrow at the news of the death of their friend, Lizzie Peyton, and describes the difficult journey home from Abingdon to Tallahassee which took five weeks (March 4, 1845); mentions the death of Lucy Gilmer (May 31, 1845); and a final letter from Nannie Gamble with a note written by Letitia on the bottom, "The last letter ever received from my darling cousin N.S.G. who is now numbered with the dead" (September 9, 1845).

Arrangement

This collection is arranged in chronological order within the two groups of papers, 1) the letters of Mary Scott Watts Gamble to her family members and 2) the general correspondence of the Breckinridge, Gamble, and Watts families.