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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.
MSS 4966, Anna Maria Hickman Otis Mead Chalmers papers, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.
Part of this collection was a deposit from Ernest C. Mead on January 5, 1955 which became a gift in 1998, another gift from Ernest C. Mead on January 30, 2007, and in 2020. There was an additional gift from James Blizzard Mead on September 27, 2012 to the Small Special Collections library at the University of Virginia.
Othello Tillo Freeman (1) was enslaved by General William Hull before or at the turn of the nineteenth century. He moved with Nancy "Ann" Binney Hickman (1787-1847), daughter of General William Hull, from Newton, Massachusetts to Richmond, Virginia in 1838 and continued to be enslaved by the Mead Chalmers family until his death, which may have been in the 1860's. Sam had escaped from an enslaver in Louisiana and worked on the Hull farm for the last thirty years of his life [1800's to 1830's]. Jordan is described as hired out in a letter from Thomas R. Blair dated September 8, 1841.
Anna Maria Chalmers was the granddaughter of General William Hull (1753-1825) who recollects the memories of Tillo and Sam on her grandparents farm. She was a mother of four children and became a businesswoman in Richmond, Virginia. She was a writer, an editor of the Southern Churchmen , an educator and founder of Mrs. Mead's School for Young Ladies, and a director of The Southern Churchmen Cot ("Retreat for the Sick") a hospital for children. She wrote articles for the Boston Home Journal , the New York Tribune , and the Southern Literary Messenger
Her mother was Nancy "Ann" Binney Hull Hickman and her father was Harris H. Hickman who served as a captain in the War of 1812 and the United States Navy, and died in 1824 in St. Thomas, South America. Her grandparents General William and Sarah Fuller Hull helped raise her in Newton, Massachusetts. She attended William B. Fowle's school in Boston (2) and after her father and grandparents died, she lived with her Uncle Edward and Aunt Maria Campbell, who ran a school in Marietta, Georgia. Her sister Louisa "Louly" Hickman Smith was a published poet who died as a young mother aged 21, in 1832 leaving a husband, Samuel Jenks Smith and their two children.
Anna Maria Mead Chalmers survived three husbands, George Alexander Otis (1803-1831), Zachariah Mead (1800-1840), and David Chalmers (1779?-1875?), and had three sons, living during the American Civil War, George Alexander Otis, Jr. (1830-1881) who was a field surgeon in the Massachusetts 27th volunteers and assistant surgeon general of the army, William Zachariah Mead, (1838-1864) who fought at Murfreesboro and died fighting for the Tennessee Army in the Confederacy in the Battle of Resaca, Georgia, and Edward C. Mead (1837-1908) who traveled to Australia in search of financial independence with a stint in gold digging, and settled on a farm in Keswick, Virginia.
Anna Maria's first husband, George Otis was a young lawyer who died from consumption one year after their marriage in 1831. Their first and only son was Dr. George Alexander Otis. Zachariah Mead, her second husband was a reverend at the Grace Episcopal Church in Cismont, Virginia, an assistant clergyman at Monumental, Saint James's, and Saint John's Episcopal Churches in Richmond and the editor of the Southern Churchmen also in Richmond, Virginia. They had two sons Edward, and William, and a daughter Louisa who died as a child. She married a third time in 1856 to David Chalmers who was a plantation owner in News Ferry, (Halifax) Virginia. He enslaved people, and educated African Americans at his school. The collection does not mention the school by name and no further details were found in the papers.
In 1881, after her son Dr. George Otis died, Mrs. Chalmers moved in with her son Edward Mead on his farm in Keswick. They were close friends with many prominent Charlottesville families including Peter and Frances ("Fannie") Meriwether, Frances Poindexter, Rector, and Mrs. Ebenezer Boyd, William Cabell Rives, Franklin Minor, Thomas Walker Gilmer and Elizabeth Anderson Gilmer, and Dr. Mann Page. William Mead attended the University of Virginia and met with many of the University of Virginia's earliest professors including Basil L. Gildersleeve, Gessner Harrison, Socrates Maupin, John Minor, Schele De Vere, James L. Cabell, Frederick George Holmes, and Alfred T. Bledsoe.
Her grandfather, General William Hull was born in Derby, Connecticut in 1753 and moved to Detroit Michigan when his government work which involved the taking of land from indigenous persons led him to become the Governor of the Territory of Michigan and the commander of the Army of the Northwest Territory during the War of 1812. He was appointed by Thomas Jefferson and was a friend of General Lafayette. After being unsuccessful in fighting off the Canadians, (however claiming that the government did not give him the resources to defend Michigan) he was court-martialed by James Madison who later commuted his sentence. (3) He died in 1825 in Newton, Massachusetts. He was married to Sarah Fuller Hull. Their children were Nancy Ann Binney Hickman, Sarah McKesson (1783-1810), Maria Campbell (1788-1845) Abraham Fuller Hull (1786-1814), Rebecca Parker Clarke (1790-1865), Caroline Hull (1793-1824), Julia Knox Wheeler (1799-1842), Eliza McClellan (1784-1864), and Cornelia Page.
Sources:
1. Hurd, D. Hamilton. "History of Middlesex County Massachusetts with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men" Volume III. Philadelphia:J. W. Lewis and Company. 1890. https://books.google.com/books?id=mZU6AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA33&lpg=PA33&dq=othello+%22tillo%22+freeman&source=bl&ots=4_Drct_uRZ&sig=ACfU3U21FUtYLt8aQ7PklsGdRfOnEJ09RQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjRqtK1sYr5AhV0EFkFHRYkAg0Q6AF6BAgdEAM#v=onepage&q=othello%20%22tillo%22%20freeman&f=false
2. Duval, Maria Pendleton. "The Lengthened Shadow of a Woman" Richmond Times Dispatch. August 10, 1913 (Description of Anna Maria Mead Chalmers education in William B. Fowle's school as being the best in Boston and Mrs Chalmer's school as being up to the standards of Harvard) From the collection.
3. "William Hull" Detroit Historical Society. Detroit Encyclopedia. Accessed June 7, 2022. https://detroithistorical.org/learn/encyclopedia-of-detroit/hull-william
Other articles of interest Martin, Susan. "The Unstoppable Anna Maria Mead Chalmers" The Beehive. Massachusetts Historical Society. June 7, 2022. https://www.masshist.org/beehiveblog/2015/03/the-unstoppable-anna-maria-mead-chalmers/
The papers of Anna Maria (Campbell Hickman) Otis Mead Chalmers (1809-1891) and her family offer a deep look into a 19th century American family with a sharp focus on enslaved and formerly enslaved persons. The collection documents the life of a young, widowed woman, Anna Maria Mead Chalmers, who was the granddaughter of General William Hull (1753-1825). She was a mother of four children and became a businesswoman in Richmond, Virginia. She was a writer, an editor of the Southern Churchmen, an educator and founder of Mrs. Mead's School for Young Ladies, and a director of The Southern Churchmen Cot ("Retreat for the Sick"), a hospital for children. Anna Maria's family enslaved people who are represented in the papers including Othello "Tillo" Freeman (1790's-1860's?). It includes a letter from William written in [1875], who was their carriage driver, and letters about Sam the fiddler, who settled on the farm after escaping harsher enslavement in Louisianna, and Jordan who was described as being hired out in a letter dated September 8, 1841 from Thomas R. Blair.
In the correspondence of the Mead-Chalmers family, are letters describing Othello Tillo Freeman. There is also a will of Nancy "Ann" Binney Hull Hickman (1787-1847), mother of Anna Maria Chalmers, that left a stipulation providing room and board for Tillo.
Letters also show that the family inquired about slave laws for travelling so that they could bring Tillo with them when they moved from Newton, Massachusetts to Richmond, Virginia in 1838. The family is characterized as being kind to enslaved persons by providing for them and educating them however this description does not take into consideration that they never had the opportunities that existed for free white men.
There is also a leather-bound account book with the first names of enslaved persons. It is not clear who owns the book or the location of the enslaved persons, but it has an extensive list of first names and dates from 1767 to 1845. Also included in the account book are records for horses and business transactions.
The letters from William C. Mead (son of Anna Maria Chalmers) and his friends and family describe skirmishes and battles in the Civil War including Murfreesboro, Tennessee and Resaca, Georgia. Included in the collection are letters about succession and anxiety about the conflict between the states. Also included is a carte de visite of Lieutenant William Mead, n.d.; a testimony to the gallantry of William L. Mead signed by J.E.B. Stuart; an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy; a map of Chattanooga & Environs November 15, 1863; a notice that William Z. Mead has been appointed 1st Lieutenant, 1st Battalion Sharp Shooters; a pass allowing Mrs. Anna Maria Chambers to cross the lines with a hat box and carpet bag; and a memorandum sent to General Joseph Wheeler, concerning personal items taken from the body of Lieutenant William Mead following his death at Resaca, Georgia in 1864.
William Mead graduated from the University of Virginia in 1857 before the Civil War began. The collection has many references to Charlottesville and the University of Virginia, including comments about university professors Basil L. Gildersleeve, Gessner Harrison, Socrates Maupin, John Minor, Schele De Vere, James L. Cabell, Frederick George Holmes, and Alfred T. Bledsoe. Charlottesville families include Peter and Frances ("Fannie") Meriwether, Frances Poindexter, Rector, and Mrs. Ebenezer Boyd, William Cabell Rives, Franklin Minor, Thomas Walker Gilmer and Elizabeth Anderson Gilmer, and Dr. Mann Page.
Anna Maria Otis Mead Chalmers was extraordinary in having been as well educated as any man in Boston (1) and was able to share her knowledge with other privileged young white girls through her school, including Amélie Rives Troubetzkoy, the famous writer.The collection includes examination questions,correspondence about the school and a newspaper article in the The Richmond Times Dispatch dated August 10, 1913 describing Mrs. Mead Chalmers. There are also handwritten poems, short stories, and miscellaneous writings in the collection, including an essay on "Virginia Before and After the Civil War."
The collection also includes correspondence from Anna Maria Mead Chalmer's cousins, Samuel Clarke,James Freeman Clarke (1810-1888) and his sister, Sarah Ann Freeman Clarke (1808-1896). Sarah Clarke was a landscape artist, a world traveler, and a member of the transcendentalist movement.(2) James Clarke was an American theologian, author, and abolitionist.(3) Mrs. Mead Chalmers and her cousins were friends with literary authors including Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel P. Willis, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Oliver Wendell Holmes.The letters refer to these individuals but there is no correspondence with them.
Unrelated to anything else in the collection, is a miscellaneous item which is a specimen of the first telegraphic writing made on the first telegraph in this country by Professor Morse in 1847.
Also of interest in the collection are letters about General William Hull (1753-1825) who fought in the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. His work with the government involved taking land from indigenous persons. In the end, he was charged by the government of not properly defending Detroit in the War of 1812, but President James Madison commuted his sentence.(4) For years, the family and descendants refuted the charges and filed a claim to receive his backpay. In contrast to General Hull's work with the government, is a newspaper clipping of a sermon by Bishop Henry Benjamin Whipple (1822-1901) printed in 1876 which displays Whipple's outrage at the United States government for taking lands from indigenous persons.
From the taking away of the lands of indigenous persons, to enslavement of African Americans, to a widowed woman trying to earn a living in the nineteenth century, with history about the War of 1812 and the American Civil War, as well as politics, religion, transcendentalism, local Charlottesville history and professors at the University of Virginia, this is a collection of letters rich in history that shows the inner workings of government, society, and people and its effects on everyday life. Collections like these help us to envision our collective past and broaden our perspective on our history and our future. This one is worth a deep dive into the history of the nineteenth century locally and nationally.
Sources:
1. Duval, Maria Pendleton. "The Lengthened Shadow of a Woman" Richmond Times Dispatch. August 10, 1913 (Description of Anna Maria Mead Chalmers education in William B. Fowle's school as being the best in Boston and Mrs Chalmer's school as being up to the standards of Harvard)
2. Maas, Judith. "Sarah Freeman Clarke: Artist, Traveler, Diarist" The Beehive. Massachusetts Historical Society. November 21, 2019 https://www.masshist.org/beehiveblog/2019/11/sarah-freeman-clarke-artist-traveler-diarist/
3."James Freeman Clarke." Wikipedia. Accessed June 7, 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Freeman_Clarke
4. "William Hull" Detroit Historical Society. Detroit Encyclopedia. Accessed June 7, 2022. https://detroithistorical.org/learn/encyclopedia-of-detroit/hull-william
Other articles of interest Martin, Susan. "The Unstoppable Anna Maria Mead Chalmers" The Beehive. Massachusetts Historical Society. June 7, 2022. https://www.masshist.org/beehiveblog/2015/03/the-unstoppable-anna-maria-mead-chalmers/
The collection is arranged into fifteen series: 1.William and Sarah Hull papers, 2.Otis Mead Chalmers family correspondence, 3.Anna Maria Mead Chalmers correspondence, 4.Clarke family correspondence, 5. Anna Maria Mead Chalmers business papers, 6. Enslavery, 7. United States Civil War, 8. Financial papers, 9.Diaries and daybooks, 10. Genealogy, 11. Hair collection, 12. Miscellaneous first telegraph of morse code, 13.Photographs 14. Printed items 15.Poetry & writings
Under Series 1. William and Sarah Hull papers includes letters about filing a claim in support of General Hull. Information about the claim can also be found throughout the family correspondence in the collection.
There are letters from the family and others about General Hull's claim throughout the correspondence in the collection.
Included are comments about University of Virginia Professors Gessner Harrison, John B. Minor, Socrates Maupin, Basil L. Gildersleeve, Maximilan Schele De Vere, James Lawrence Cabell, and William Holmes McGuffey. Included is a letter from Professor Gildersleeve to Dr. George Otis, Jr. dated 1876. Dr. Otis was the first born son of Anna Maria Otis Mead Chalmers.
Condolences on the death of daughter Louisa and her mother Nancy Binney Hull Hickman.
Includes correspondence of Richard Gambill 1851-1856. There is also a letter from Thomas Walker Gilmer to Richard Gambill from 1833.
Other cousins may be included in this correspondence including McLellans and Clouds.
Samuel C. Clarke writes to his cousin Anna Maria Otis Mead Chalmers about his attitudes towards Freedmen after enslavement, and their working and living conditions.
Includes small broadside of Sarah Clark art exhibit
Letters about starting the school, procurement of teachers,letters from parents, and examinations.
Letters and notes about purchase of the newspaper and maintaining its operation.
Papers related to raising money and operating a charity hospital for children in Richmond, Virginia
"The Lengthened Shadow" of a Woman" by Maria Pendleton Duval in the Ricmond Times Dispatch is a newspaper aticle about how Anna Maria Otis Mead Chalmers started Mrs. Mead's School for Young Ladies and how it influenced the opening of the Virginia Female Institute in Staunton, Virginia. Mrs Chalmers taught female students using the same curriculum as Harvard College.
Enslavement, letters from former enslaved people, and information about African American schools, and teaching African Americans to read the bible
Zachariah Mead (husband of Anna Maria Otis Mead Chalmers) writes a letter to his mother-in-law Nancy Binney "Anne" Hickman dated August 24, 1838 in which he describes to her the legislation required for bringing enslaved persons to another state. The family wants to move from Newton, Massachusetts to Richmond, Virginia and take Othello "Tillo" Freeman with them.
Blair writes that the bond agreement was for him to keep Jordan until October when servants would be returning from the Springs, but he will return him if she needs his services.
In her last will and testament, "I direct that my old servant Othello Freeman, be supported from my estate, in such manner as my said executrive, may think proper."
Letter from the Hickman's accountant, Joseph Bacon, that Othello "Tillo" Freeman, who was enslaved by the Hull and Mead family, was removed from the Mclellan household (sister of "Ann" Nancy Binney Hickman) and was being boarded at Mr. White's. He writes that Tillo cannot do any work,is not well, and needs medical attention. Mr. White wants more money to board and take care of him.
Includes unidentified letter to Anna Maria Mead Chalmers about her being honored as a teacher, and her treatment of "Tillo".
Mr. Potter says that he has heard good accounts of the school. No details are included.
A note signed "Massing Bird" to [Frances] E. Meriwether asking to buy a horse. His son has taken his horse so he needs to buy one.
Letter written by "Old William" who was the carriage driver for Mr. and Mrs. Chalmers. He writes to Mrs. Chalmers after the death of Mr. Chalmers about his fondness for them.
Letter from Anna Maria Otis Mead Chalmers describing her memories of her grandfather General William Hull to her cousin James Freeman Clarke. Mrs. Chalmers recollects that her grandfather required Othello "Tillo" Freeman who they enslaved to be present in Church.
One page argument for the Southern Planter's claim that they need the Freedmen to labor their crops. Author unidentified, undated.
Correspondence of the Mead family, Meriwether family, George H. Geyer and others describing camp life, skirmishes and battles, and officers, including General Stonewall Jackson, General Longstreet, General Braggs, General McLellan, and General Grant
Includes a testimony to the gallantry of William L. Mead signed by J.E.B. Stuart; an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy; a map of Chattanooga & Environs November 15, 1863; a notice that William Z. Mead has been appointed 1st Lieut., 1st Battalion Sharp Shooters; a pass allowing Mrs. Anna M. Chambers to cross the lines with a hat box and carpet bag; and a memorandum sent to Gen. Joseph Wheeler, concerning personal items taken from the body of Mead following his death at Resaca, Ga., 1864.
Some letters and notes about the genealogy of the Mead family
Lock of hair belonging to Sarah Louisa P. (Hickman) Smith who was the sister of Anna Maria Hickman Otis Mead Chalmers. Louisa was born in 1811 and died at age 20 from illness. Her husband, Samuel Jenks Smith published a book of her poems in 1829. They had two children.
Annie McLellan may have been a cousin of Anna Maria Otis Mead Chalmers
Photographs identified as Lieutenant William Zachariah Mead, Fannie Chalmers, and Marion Kollock.
Includes article about Bishop Whipple sermon supporting Indigenous persons; article about James Freeman Clarke, other obituaries, and various miscellaneous items including a football game at Pantops Academy.
John Greenleaf Whittier "The Singer" from the Atlantic Monthly, devotional prayers, and miscellaneous
Article Isaac McLellan, Sunday School brochures, advertisement for the Rockbridge Baths, Liturgy of the Holy Eucharist by N. W. Camp, and religious printed materials.
Certificate of Distinction from La Fourches School, Keswick, Virginia for Henry B. Mead; Anna Maria Chalmers marriage certificate; and Kappa Alpha In Universitate Virginiae broadside.