COLUMBUS, Miss. (AP) - Aging letters penned more than 125 years ago by a young Columbus girl open a window on local life during the late Victorian era. Her fading words on yellowed paper are no longer in danger of being lost to time, thanks to a partnership of the Billups-Garth Archives at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library and the Mississippi Digital Library (MDL). Seventy-nine letters written by Eugenia “Genie” R. Morgan in 1889 and 1890 have been digitized and are now available online, along with their transcriptions.
Genie was born in 1873 in Columbus to John D. and Mary Couch Morgan. Her paternal aunt, Eugenia Morgan Moore, owned Camellia Place. Genie attended Judson College in Marion, Alabama, but became sick in 1889 and returned home in order to recover. It was during this time of recovery that most of her letters were written. The bulk of them were to her second cousin, William Jemison Prowell Jr., with whom Genie was smitten. Her letters touch on topics such as social activities, family dynamics, religion, friendship, health and more.
Genie’s relationship with her “dear Jemison” in Birmingham, Alabama, was complicated by other suitors, including Charles Dashiell and William Coleman. In her missives, she frequently tells Jemison of her encounters with other beaus as well as what others in their “set” are up to. Snippets of Columbus life emerge, from barbecues and shooting matches on the Fourth of July to borrowing her aunt’s phaeton (carriage) and horse to call on relatives and friends around town.
Genie mentions local dances called “Germans” as well as attending revivals in Aberdeen led by prominent Methodist preacher Samuel Porter Jones.
Her letters attest to her affection for Jemison. From May, 1890: “It is getting hot in earnest, and as I am up stair’s all alone in my room with nothing to break the silence but the sound of my pen, as it makes its trip to and fro from one line to the other, I wonder if you are thinking of me, as I am thinking of you.”
At one point, she writes from Asheville, North Carolina, where she assists her father in his recovery from an illness. Later, she returns to the then Judson Female Institute where she writes about events, students and teachers.
“Oh Jemison, it is almost impossible for me to get used to school rules and restrictions. After being complete mistress of my every wish and inclination for one whole year it is a terrible thing to be governed. … I have truly found that in reality ’there is no place like home,’” she pens Oct. 12, 1890.
In November 1890, in one of the last letters in the collection, Genie shares a confidence: “Now Jemison I will tell you a secret if you will promise not to breathe it, for it would break up a sweet little plot. It is this. Mag and Bev are going to be married while she is home Xmas. They are going to a German and just before the last figure they will give Charlie and I the wink and as he and I have promised to be witnesses we will go with them.”
Readers do not find out whether the “sweet little plot” was successful, for it isn’t mentioned in the collection’s few remaining letters. Genie, unfortunately, would not live long enough to realize all her youthful dreams. She died Dec. 30, 1894, when she was 21 years old. She is buried in Friendship Cemetery.
History keepers
Library archivist Mona Vance-Ali said, “Genie Morgan’s letters are a colorful snapshot of life and romance in Columbus over 100 years ago.”
The collection was donated to the library archives by Kimberly Lentz in 2013. In 2015, the letters were organized and processed by Mississippi University for Women graduate Jessica Thornhill. Both Jessica and Crystal Thornhill worked on the transcriptions.
The letters and transcriptions are accessible at MDL at msdiglib.org/about/partners/columbus. The MDL is hosted by the University of Southern Mississippi and provides a free online space to search and explore the wealth of materials available in Mississippi.
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