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Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections LibraryEllen Welch
The collection is open for research use.
This collection was a gift from Caroline Epperson Mansur to the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia on February 12, 2004.
Celestia "Essie" Wade Butler Smith (Mrs. Cabell Smith) was born on November 18, 1872 to Zachary Taylor Wade and Catherine (Kitty) Bailey Greer of Rockymount, Virginia and died on January 23, 1963, after a lifetime of service to the United Daughters of the Confederacy. She was a teacher, librarian, genealogist, writer, and president of the Virginia Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. She was also a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Daughters of the American Colonists, the Confederate Memorial Literary Society, the New York Southern Society, the Society of Pocahontas, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, the League of American PenWomen, the League of Women Voters and women's clubs, and the Democratic National Committee. She wrote many articles for the United Daughters of Confederacy, including "Forty Years with the Virginia Division, U. D. C." and an unfinished history of Franklin County, Virginia.
In her work with the United Daughters of the Confederacy, she formulated a plan to build a replica of the Mississippi home of President Jefferson Davis, "Beauvoir", served on a committee to establish the custodianship of the Lee Chapel and Mausoleum at Lexington, Va., collaborated with Frances Parkinson Keyes for the restoration of General Robert E. Lee's home, petitioned for a memorial building for the Confederacy in Richmond, Va. and chaired a committee to procure a commemorative stamp honoring General Lee. She was appointed Matron of Honor by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and participated in their ceremonies.
She was also interested in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Colonial Dames of America, the Lee Memorial Foundation at Stratford, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, the National Woman's Party, the Women's Universal Alliance, The National American Women's Suffrage Association, The Women's National Radio Committee, and the Network Guild of America. She received a citation for her contributions to the cause of Woman Suffrage.
Mrs. Cabell Smith tracked her genealogy back to a descendant of Pocahontas. In addition to her work for the United Daughters of the Confederacy, she wrote many fictional and autobiographical stories and poems. She was married to Benjamin Waldo Butler, a construction engineer with the Roanoke and Southern railroad, and city engineer in Charlotte, N. C. where he died after only a few years of marriage. She then married Cabell Smith and had a daughter from each marriage, Laura Butler Moore, and Mary Cabell Smith. She also had a devoted sister Josephine Epperson, a niece Caroline Mansur, three grandchildren and nine great- grandchildren.
Celestia "Essie" Wade Butler Smith papers, 1793-2002, 2 cubic feet, consisting of correspondence about her work with the United Daughters of the Confederacy and many other Southern organizations to preserve the Confederacy. She was also involved with the Democratic Party, Womens' rights and genealogy. There are narratives of family histories and eighteen and nineteenth century papers including slave documents. There are also personal papers, correspondence with other writers and publishers, and drafts of stories and poems by Mrs. Essie Smith. Included are programs from many of the plays and concerts that she attended. Also of interest are letters with her daughter, Mary Cabell Smith, who was working for General Motors Continental in Europe in the 1920's and 1930's.
Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith personal and business correspondence about her work with the United Daughters of the Confederacy, honoring Southern Confederates, particularly Robert E. Lee, invitations from Governor and Mrs. Westmoreland Davis, and letters with other writers and publishers about her manuscripts and poems. Correspondents include Frances Parkinson Keyes, Sophie Carter Richardson, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Richard Wightman. There are also letters from her daughter Mary Cabell Smith who was working in Europe for General Motors as a stenographer and model in Europe in the 1920's. There is a miscellaneous account of a friend's (Frank Harrold, Jr.) meeting with the Duke of Windsor when he was a young man at a party in America.
Mostly letters from friends about Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith's activities or her daughter Mary Cabell Smith
Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith correspondence about publishing her stories, her work with preserving the Confederacy, including creating ways to honor Robert E. Lee with a memorial postage stamp and restoration of Arlington House. Correspondents include Edward W. Saunders, Captain John J. Crowley, J. E. Harper, Josephus Daniel, Fannie M. Tate, DuBose Heyward, Sophie Carter Richardson (who was corresponding with Eleanor Roosevelt to set up a meeting with the President), Mary Flournoy, William W. LaPoint, Louise Everett Scott, M. Bigelow (Good Housekeeping), Ambassador [Jean Jules] Jusserand, Frederick D.Losey, Paul Green, Maude Merchant, O. O. McIntyre, Gerald W. Johnson, Eleanor White (The Marion Publishing Company), Giles B. Cooke (and photographs), Arthur H. Fox, Herschel Johnson, Mrs. Charles B. Keesee, and Thomas G. Burch.
Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith correspondence about publishing her stories, her work with preserving the Confederacy, including creating ways to honor Robert E. Lee with a memorial postage stamp and restoration of Arlington House. Correspondents include Frances Keyes Parkinson, James A. Farley, letters to President and Mrs. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt (no signature), Irvin S. Cobb, Claude S. Swanson, Douglas S. Freeman, James A. Parham (The Charlotte Observer), Harry F. Byrd, Andrew J. Montague, Harllee Branch, C. B. Eilenberger, Robert Ramspeck, Clark Howell (The Atlanta Constitution), Mrs. Lyon G. Tyler, Robert F. Hutcheson, Mary D. Flournoy, A. Willis Robertson, Mary Joyner Cox, Pearle J. Guthrie, Herschel Johnson, Gregory J. Lock, Mrs. (Lucy) Charles B. Keesee, Clayton Torrence (Virginia Historical Society), O. P. Chitwood, G. F. Martineau, Ambasador David Bruce, N. Claiborne Hale, Albert H. Pretzfelder (Aladdin Books), Millard K. Bushong University of Richmond), Mrs. Leith Stanley Bremner, Kermit Sloan (The Curtis Publishing Company), Edna H. Fowler, Janet Randolph, Mrs. Leopold M. Bashinsky, and L. S. Hairston.
"Scrapbook of a Great Grandmother" containing copies of Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith correspondence with or about well known individuals, stories and poems by Essie Smith, and research notes on history, particularly the Confederacy. Correspondents and subjects include Richard Wightman, Alexander Jessup, the Readers Publishing Corporation, Dorothy Gogwell, John Farrar, Paul Green, Elbert Hubbard, Sophie Carter Richardson, J. Hoge Tyler, Edwin Booth, General John J. Pershing, and Edwin Anderson Alderman. There are also invitations to Essie Smith and letters to her niece, Caroliine Mansur.
Mostly correspondence of Mary Cabell Smith (nicknamed "Pie") from Europe in the 1920's and 1930's, with her parents Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith and Cabell Smith. Other family members include Mary's half sister Laura Butler Moore ("Muddie", who died in 1931) and Laura's husband Tom Moore. Mary Cabell Smith is working as a stenographer and a model for the advertising department of General Motors Continental in Belgian, Brussels. She describes her experiences including seeing Belgian royalty and a visit to the House of Commons in London as well as her enjoyment of working in Brussels.
Westmoreland Davis letters to Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith about the Virginia Conference on Governmental Efficiency, his political defeat in 1922, and invitations from his wife, Marguerite Davis who is a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Included is a letter from Thomas G. Burch recommending Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith for state delegate of the National War Savings Committee. There are also Westmoreland Davis campaign brochures, articles and pamphlets.
Frank W. Harrold letter to his father describing an event at the Magdalene College wine supper in which the Duke of Windsor attended the party in 1922. There is also an unsigned note from 1979 that was apparently sent to the Duchess (Wallis Simpson) telling her about the letter.
Mrs. Frank Harrold was the vice president-general of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and may have given a copy of this letter to Essie Smith.
Frances Parkinson Keyes letters to Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith about the United Daughters of the Confederacy plans to move the remains of Lee famly members to Lexington, Virginia, the restoration of Arlington House, and efforts to pay tribute to Robert E. Lee by creating a postage stamp. Included are letters from Sophie Carter Richardson, and Colonel Lee (copy). See also Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith business correspondence.
Richard Wightman corresponds with Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith giving her advice on her writing. Included is a manuscript that he edits for her as well as his own signed and printed work.
There are letters and research about the genealogy of the Wade, Greer and related families including Butler, Holland, Patterson, Coleman, Claiborne, Carter, Pugh, Saunders, Epperson, Callaway, Arnold, and Hopkins from 1793 to 1965 in Rocky Mount, Virginia. There are slave documents including a list of slave names, court documents, and marriage proposals. Individuals mentioned are John Wilkes Booth, Owen Henry Price, Giles Carter, and Pocahontas. There are also descriptions of Franklin County families and their homes. Included are applications for the United Daughters (and Sons) of the Confederacy, and the National Society of the Daughters of the American Colonists.
Caroline Epperson Mansur photocopies and notes with dates, photographs, and facts regarding the Butler family.
Caroline Epperson Mansur is the niece of Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith. "Essie" Smith married Benjamin Waldo Butler (1853-1895).
Letters from the Butler and Holland families. Included are a list of slaves called "Names of My Negroes" and other documents from the nineteenth century. There is also a letter from Benjamin Waldo Butler to Celestia Essie Wade Butler's father asking for her hand in marriage in 1891.
Letters to Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith about the Greer and related family histories including Patterson and Wade, and family doucments. There are also many genealogy inquiries about establishing family lineages for membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution. Some correspondents include Mrs. Charles Keesee, N. Claiborne Hale, Lyon G. Tyler, Jr. and Winfield Scott, Commissioner (Bureau of Pensions).
Information, articles, and notes about the genealogy of the Greer, Patterson, and Wade families.
Mostly genealogy information about Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith's family and applications for her and her sister into the Daughters of American Colonists through her ancestors Giles Carter and her mother Katherine "Kitty" Greer Wade. Also mentioned are the Harrison, Pugh, and Saunders families, Owen Henry Price, John Wilkes Booth, and Pocahontas.
Genealogy histories, articles, documents, and information for Greer, Patterson, Wade, and Carter families, applicatons to the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and the National Society of the Daughters of the American Colonists.
Genealogy information and records of the Epperson, Callaway, Arnold, and Hopkins families.
Research of families and Works Progess Administration of Virginia inventories for houses in Franklin County, Pittsylvania County, and Danville, Virginia, including narratives about specific families and their homes. There are too many to list including the birthplace of Jubal Anderson Early, the Wade family home, the Saunders family at "Bleak Hill", the Boone family (relatives of Daniel Boone) at "Old Mansion", the Claiborne family at "Claybrooke", the Callaway family at "Ocalusa" or "Blackwater Place", the Greer and Turnbull family home, the Patterson home, and the Hurt family home at "Oak Knoll". Also included are membership applications for the Epperson family to join the Colonial Dames of America, The Jamestown Society, and a certificate for membership in the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Correspondence, articles, programs, invitations, speeches, and newspaper clippings related to organizations such as Camp Meade, Martinsville Literary Club, National Society United States Daughters of 1812, Stone Mountain Confederate Monumental Association (and Gutzon Borglum proposal to create a sculpture), the United Daughters of the Confederacy (including Jubal Anderson Early Chapter), the University of Virginia and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, Virginia League of Women Voters, Virginia Military Institute, Virginia Historical Pageant Association, Stratford Hall, Confederate Memorial Literary Society, Pocahontas Memorial Association, Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, William and Mary College, Bull Run Battlefield, Virginia Historical Society, and the Women's Democratic Organization of Virginia. This list is not exclusive.
There are also speeches by Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith, letters from Sophie Carter Richardson about Robert E. Lee and his family (see also Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith business correspondence), articles by Mrs. A. J. Ellis, and correspondence from Edwin Anderson Alderman, Woodrow Wilson (copies), J. Hoge Tyler, George C. Peery, and Westmoreland Davis about speaking engagements. John Wilkes Booth is also mentioned.
Correspondence, assignments, memos, information and ephemera related to Camp Meade while Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith worked there in 1919.
Correspondence, invitations, programs, reports, applications, newspaper clippings related to the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Children of the American Revolution.
Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith address to the Martinsville Literary Club and guided tour of Richmond, Virginia.
Includes by-laws, applications, programs, invitations, and correspondence which is mostly to announce meeting times and events.
Letters to the Daughters of the Confederacy, articles, brochures, newspaper clippings and other printed material about Gutzon Borglum sculpting a monument on Stone Mountain honoring Robert E. Lee, Jackson Davis and, Stonewall Jackson. Included are some notes on memories of the Civil War and a famous relative, John Wilkes Booth.
Printed information about Stratford Hall and letters from Sophie Carter Richardson about ways to honor Robert E. Lee and his concerns about avoiding controversy with the government. Also mentioned is information about removing the remains of Annie Carter Lexington to Lexington, Va. This correspondence is also in Series 1. Correspondence Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith business correspondence).
Correspondence and printed materials related to the United Daughters of the Confederacy including meeting minutes from the 1917 22nd Annual Convention. There is correspondence of Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith, and Arlene Walker Harrold about the politics of the Georgia Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and their officers.
There are also personal accounts about the Civil War such as, "Southern Women in the War Between the States", written by Mrs. A. J. Ellis, and others.
Of interest is a brief mention of Governor of Virginia, Lindsay Almond, and the closing of the schools due to desegregation in 1959.
There is also a photograph of Mrs. James Alexander.
United Daughters of the Confederacy and Children of the Confederacy correspondence, programs, and newspaper clippings. Many of the items are related to the family of Mrs. Edward Earl Mansur Jr. (Caroline).
Research and articles about Jubal Anderson Early for the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Correspondence from the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, and individuals such as Woodrow Wilson (copy and unsigned), Edwin Anderson Alderman, J. Hoge Tyler, and the governor of Virginia George C. Peery about appointments, speaking engagements, and events. There are also invitations, programs, newspaper clippings, and printed materials inclding a program for the inauguartion Colgate W. Darden, Jr. as president.
Correspondence and literature about the South from many Virginia and women institutions including the Virginia Division of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Virginia League of Women Voters, Virginia Military Institute, Bull Run Battlefield, Virginia Historical Pageant Association, Virginia Social Science Association, The Social Recorder of Virginia, Virginia Historical Society, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Confederate Memorial Literary Society, Confederated Southern Memorial Association, The Pocahantas Memorial Association, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, The Westmoreland Club, William and Mary College, and The Woman's Democratic Organization of Virginia. There are programs honoring Richard Snowden Andrews, Sam Houston, and Edward Virginius Valentine.There is also a speech by Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith, and invitations from Governor Harry F. Byrd.
Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith descriptions of her trip to a historic meeting of the legislature which was honoring Mr. Rockefeller and her attendance at a party at the Governor's mansion with Governor and Mrs. Westmoreland Davis.
Papers related to the United Confederate Veterans, League of Women Voters, Democratic National Committee, New York Society of Women, Ford Motor Company speech about Robert E. Lee, American Education Foundation, Women's National Radio Committee, National Society Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America, The Southern Society of Washington, Woman's Universal Alliance, Conference on Governmental Efficiency, the League of American PenWomen, Washington Day Committee of North Carolina, and the United States Commission for the Celebration of the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of George Washington.
Personal papers of Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith including address books, biographical information, miscellaneous newspaper clippings, photographs, school papers, legal papers, political pins, railroad tickets, and war ration books.
Includes tributes to Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith, and biographical notes,and newspaper clippings about her.
The New York Herald Tribune December 24,1939 pictures of the war; The Charlotte Observer May 20, 1922 about the Mecklenburg Declaration by Alexander Graham, The Charlotte Observer May 20, 1896 on the Woman's Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.
Personal papers of Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith include school report cards, teaching certificate, birth and death certificates, last will and testament, and correspondence about the donation of her papers. Also included are war ration books, political pins, and railroad tickets.
Autobiographical and fictional stories, notes, poems, and drafts of speeches by Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith from 1904 to 1961. Included is a printed copy of a book, "Roses in December" by Frances Keyes Parkinson and "Forty Years with the Virginia Division United Daughters of the Confederacy" by Essie Smith. There are also many printed programs and playbills from concerts and plays that Mrs. Smith attended on the East Coast. Of interest is an original program from the first release of "Gone With The Wind" in 1939.
Includes autobiographical writing notes about her experiences and drafts of speeches. Topics include Woodrow Wilson, pardon of Frank James, New York, Washington, and Virginia.
There are poems, manuscripts and untitled drafts by Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith, including "The Scepter of Ahazuerus", "The Natural Bridge", "Lexington", "A Wish", "Gathered Rosebuds", "The Pictures", "The Most Unique Museum in the World", "The Return", "Drury's Bluff Battle", "The Mystery of a Pack of Cards", "Your Friend and Mine", "Beyond Despair", "The Man Who Has Won", "The Making of Arms and Ammunition's in the Confederacy", "Stars and Heaven", "Mystery", "A Christmas Wish", "The South's Part in Establising the United States", and "The House By the Side of the Road". There are also poems by other individuals including her brother Thomas Greer Wade, Sam Walter Foss, Elizabeth Reid Hill, and Alexander Jessup. There are also a few letters from various publishers.
Writings, poems, notes, untitled pages, composition notebooks, and titled stories including "Lletters of a Vacationist", "Peace, Peace, Peace", "The Trial of Henry Wirz of Andersonville Prison", "Khaki", "The Khaki Line", "The Ex Perdita", "Letters of a Flapper Grandma", "The Pioneer Picture", "The Autobiography of a Failure", "My Road", "The Persian Kitty", "Bait for Bachelors", "Arlington", "My Daughter Across the Water", and "In A Silence". Some publishers' correspondence included.
Brochures, church and exhibition programs, dictionaries, articles, histories, maps, menus, and plates.
Playbills from the Lyceum Theatre, Winter Garden, Henry Miller's Theatre, Forrest Theatre, St. James Theatre, and the Fulton Theatre.
Playbills from the Lyceum Theatre, the National Theatre, Winter Garden, The Music Box, Biltmore Theatre, John Golden Theatre,and the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.
Playbills from the Booth Theatre, the Cort Theatre, the Plymouth Theatre, the Windsor Theatre, and the St. James Theatre.
"Gone With The Wind" program issued at movie theatres when the movie was released. The program is illustrated and contains narratives by each of the lead actors. Included is a letter from Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith documenting that this program came out with the first release of "Gone With The Wind".
United Daughters of the Confederacy certificate for Caroline Epperson Mansur, Sons of Confederate Veterans certificates for Peter Saunders, Commonwealth of Virginia certificate delegating Peter Saunder to represent the Commonwealth at the Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia (1932), and Commonwealth of Virginia certificate appointing Peter Saunders Secretary to the Commonwealth (1930). ALso included is a World War II Buy Bonds poster.