Following the death of his father John Routh, Jacob Routh (1818-1879) moved with his mother Elizabeth and other family members from Jefferson County, Tennessee, to Plano, Texas, in 1850. He soon married Lodemia Ann Campbell and raised nine children, including Clara E. Routh. Ordained in the Baptist Church, Routh eventually moved to Richardson, where he helped establish a church and school.
Composed of correspondence, a bill of lading, and newspaper clippings, the Jacob Routh Papers, 1852-1964, document Routh’s agricultural activities, events and military life in the Civil War, and the history of the Routh-Campbell families. Correspondence to Routh in Plano, Texas, from family and friends, 1852-1876, discusses their experiences as soldiers in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, including descriptions of camp life, battles, and battlefields. Letters also relate to farming, prices of commodities in the reconstruction period, and the sale of Routh’s cotton in 1876. Newspaper clippings, 1929-1964, pertain to Routh’s involvement in the development of Richardson, Texas, and his former slave, Thomas Routh. Furthermore, the collection includes an 1852 bill of lading and biographical sketches and notes written by Jacob Routh’s daughter Clara about the Routh-Campbell family.
This collection is open for research use.
Jacob Routh Papers, 1852-1951, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s