Palmer-McCauley Family, Papers, 1858-1915 (C3952)

.2 linear feet

INTRODUCTION

Papers of the Palmer-McCauley family of Missouri. The papers consist of Civil War correspondence, a daguerreotype, and miscellaneous tax, financial, and other family documents.

DONOR INFORMATION

The Palmer-McCauley Papers were donated to the State Historical Society of Missouri by Donald L. Thurston of Carlsbad, New Mexico, on 23 September 1991 (SHS Accession No. 2857). Mr. Thurston is the great-great grandson of Robert W. McCauley and Margaret L. McCauley. Mr. Thurston's grandmother was Cora McCauley Palmer.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

Several members of the Palmer-McCauley family of Boone County, Missouri, are mentioned or featured in the materials in this collection.

Dates of birth for Robert W. McCauley (d. 17 August 1864) and wife, Margaret L. McCauley, are unknown. Margaret L. McCauley's date of death is also unknown. The McCauleys had children, two of whom may have been William Perry McCauley and George McCauley (birth and death dates unknown). George McCauley married Annie Thurston, who gave birth to daughter Cora Pearl McCauley on 26 November 1883 in Boone County, Missouri. Cora Pearl McCauley married Charles Webster Palmer, Sr. (b. 24 October 1876 in Boone County, Missouri) on 1 September 1897.

Cora P. McCauley Palmer and husband had six children including Lela Palmer (b. August 1899) who married John W. Thurston (b. 5 August 1900), also of Boone County, Missouri, on 30 August 1919. Lela Palmer died at age 79 in 1978 in Carlsbad, New Mexico. J.W. Thurston died 30 May 1979. Their son is Donald L. Thurston of Carlsbad, New Mexico, who donated the Palmer-McCauley papers to the State Historical Society.

Rolly Palmer Jr. (1824-1904) was probably an uncle or cousin of Charles Webster Palmer Sr.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The Palmer-McCauley Papers consist of personal papers and public records, including family correspondence, a daguerreotype, a Boone County, Missouri, state and county land property tax record book, a state and county tax receipt issued from Boone County, Missouri, a Confederate ten dollar bill, canceled checks from a Columbia, Missouri, bank, and school certificates awarded in Boone County, Missouri. This limited collection is arranged by format into five folders. Where possible, materials are arranged chronologically within each folder.

Four of the five letters in the correspondence folder were between Robert W. McCauley and wife Margaret L. McCauley during the Civil War. Robert W. McCauley served in Co. H of the 56th Virginia Regiment. As a union prisoner McCauley was recuperating from an injury to his arm at Nest's Hospital, Point Lookout, Maryland. R.W. McCauley's arm healed, but he died in prison, apparently of dysentery on 17 August 1864. The letters are limited in content and brief, and mostly document the difficulties the McCauleys had in trying to correspond. Little detail is provided about incidents or conditions. One detail of note occurs on the reverse side of the letter dated 18 March 1864. R.W. McCauley appears to have written out the lyrics to a hymn, the first line of which is "What wonderous [sic] love is this o my soul o my soul...." A letter dated 1 August 1864 from R.W. McCauley to wife Margaret foreshadows his death; he closes the letter, "...if we never meet on earth again try and meet me in heaven where parting will be no more." A final letter from 22 August 1864 was sent from R.W. McCauley's cousin James W. Reyton to Margaret L. McCauley announcing and, in limited detail, discussing the death of R.W. McCauley. A daguerreotype of R.W. McCauley, date unknown, is part of the collection.

One letter, dated 1 February 1858, details weather and farm prices in Grundy County in northern Missouri. The letter is from James H. and E. Meek to "Brother and Sister" Rolly (Jr.) and Margaret Palmer, Boone County, Missouri. The name Rolly Palmer also appears on an 1859 state and county tax receipt issued in Boone County, Missouri.

Mr. D. L. Thurston's mother's name, Lela Palmer appears on two documents in the collection, a Diploma of Honor given by the County Superintendent of Schools for perfect attendance, awarded in Columbia, Missouri, on 17 October 1914, and on a District No. 43, Boone County, Missouri, elementary school diploma dated 26 June 1915. Her husband John W. Thurston's name and birth date appear in the front cover of a Boone County, Missouri, state and county land tax book for 1862 to 18 September 1863.

FOLDER LIST

f.1Correspondence, 1858-1864
f.2Daguerreotype, c.1864
f.3Property Tax Record Book, Boone County, Missouri, 1862-1863
f.4Miscellaneous, 1859-1877
f.5Elementary School Diploma and Attendance Award - Boone County, Missouri 1914-1915

INDEX TERMS

These index terms are the subjects, people, places, etc. under which this collection is listed in all available indexes at The State Historical Society of Missouri-Columbia. If you are interested in a specific index term, please contact the reference staff.