Descriptive Summary
Worsham Family.
Israel Worsham Family Papers
1842-1879, 1975
Materials are in English.
MS 144
0.1 linear feet (about 75 items)
Archives and Special Collections Department, The University of Texas at San Antonio Library.
Israel Worsham lived in Montgomery County in the Republic of Texas, served in the Texas legislature (1955-1956) and the Montgomery County Home Guard during the Civil War. In 1867, he wrote the description of Montgomery County for the Texas Almanac.
The collection contains papers of Israel Worsham and his immediate family, and those of his great-great-granddaughter Ella K. Daggett Stumpf dealing with her research on Israel Worsham.
Israel Worsham's papers, which are largely financial, are divided into two series: Slave Sales and Financial Records.
Biographical Note
The Worsham and Landry families came to Texas, then part of Mexico from Alabama in 1829. Israel Worsham's parents, Jeremiah and Catherine Landrum Worsham, received Headright grant # 5, (a league and labor of land), in Stephen F. Austin's colony. Israel, born in 1820, received 320 acres of land in Montgomery County in the Republic of Texas in 1839. He was elected to the Sixth Texas legislature in 1855-56, and was in the Montgomery County Home Guard in the U.S. Civil War. After the war, he represented Montgomery, Grimes, and Brazos counties for the House of Representatives, in the Eleventh Texas Legislature (1866), where he helped sponsor an act for the punishment of vagrants. In 1867, he wrote the description of Montgomery County for the Texas Almanac. His home, The Worsham Place, was on the old Post Road to Houston; the two-story Greek Revival House was known for its hospitality.
Israel and his wife, Emily Womack Worsham, had five children: Ophelia Frances, Alice Tabitha, Mattie Myrtella, Josephine, and Jefferson Davis Worsham. Israel died in 1882 and was buried in the family cemetery on his plantation.
Scope and Content Note
The collection contains papers of Israel Worsham and his immediate family, and those of his great-great-granddaughter Ella K. Daggett Stumpf dealing with her research on Israel Worsham, which led to a biographical entry on him in the New Handbook of Texas.
Israel Worsham's papers, which are largely financial, are divided into two subseries: Slave Sales and Financial Records. The slave bills of sale and receipts (folders 1 and 2, 1842-64) identify slaves that Worsham purchased by name, relationships, and physical description.
The Financial Records include both pre- and post-Civil War documents. The accounts and receipts (folders 3-12, 1844-79) include receipts for taxes, dry goods, memberships, and services such as music lessons for his daughters. Of special interest are the records from the Civil War years (folders 7 and 8) which include receipts for his sales of cotton, those for musical lessons for his three daughters, and receipts for war taxes and tithes from both the Confederate and Texas state governments. Post-Civil War records include accounts with freedmen; contracts with Royall's Cotton Worm Destroyer and the International & Great Northern R. R. Co.; and an insurance policy for his home with the Merchants' Insurance Company. An undated item (folder 12) may be a list of groceries, containing items like cabbage and corn sugar.
The Ella K. Daggett Stumpf papers date from around 1975. Folder 13 contains her notes, bibliography, and transcriptions on Israel Worsham, and a carbon copy of a letter (17 May 1975) she wrote to Joe Frantz, then director of the Texas State Historical Association, that accompanied her biographical sketch of Worsham for possible inclusion in the Texas Handbook. Folder 14 contains several typescript drafts of her sketch, with her handwritten annotations.
Organization of Collection- Series 1. Israel Worsham Papers
- Series 2. Ella K. Daggett Stumpf Papers
Access Restrictions
There are no restrictions on these materials.
Usage Restrictions
Permission to publish material from the Israel Worsham Family Papers must be obtained from the University of Texas at San Antonio Archives and Special Collections Department.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Israel Worsham Family Papers, 1842-1975, MS 144, Archives and Special Collections, University of Texas at San Antonio Library.
Acquisition Information
Received as a purchase from Maggie Lambeth, rare book dealer, in 2005 (Acc. 2005-078).
Processing Information
Processed by Glenn L. McMullen, May 2006.
Related Material
- Israel Worsham Papers, 1845-1959, Doc. 923, Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.
Index Terms
Personal Names
Worsham Family.
Worsham, Israel, 1820-1882.
Stumpf, Ella Ketcham Daggett.
Subjects
Plantation life--Southern States--History.
Plantations--Texas--Archives.
Plantations--Texas--Correspondence.
Slavery--Texas--History.
Locations
Montgomery County (Tex.)--History.
Genres/Formats
Bills of sale--Texas--Montgomery County.
Correspondence.
Financial records--Texas--Montgomery County.
Legal documents--Texas--Montgomery County.
Receipts (financial records).
Detailed Description of the Collection
Israel Worsham Papers
Slave Sales11Bills of sale and receipts, 1842-185212Bills of sale and receipts, 1854-1864 and undatedFinancial Records13Receipts, 1844, 1853-185414Accounts and receipts, 1855-185615Accounts and receipts, 185716Accounts and receipts, 1858-186017Accounts and receipts, 1861-186518Confederate and Texas state documents, 1862-186519Accounts and receipts, 1866-1869110Accounts and receipts, 1870-1875111Accounts and receipts, 1876-1879112Account, undatedElla K. Daggett Stumpf Papers113Israel Worsham biography: notes, letter, bibliography, 1975 and undated114Israel Worsham biography: drafts, undated