FEATHERSTON, LUCIUS HORACE, 1814-1886.
Lucius Horace Featherston papers, 1825-1979

Restrictions on access

Unrestricted access.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction.

Related Materials in This Repository

George Peddy Cuttino papers

Source

Gift, 1968, with subsequent additions.

Citation

[after identification of item(s)], Lucius Horace Featherston papers, Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University.

Biographical Note

Lucius H. Featherston (1814-1886) was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee son of Charles (1771-1852) and Lucy Pitts (1775-1853) Featherston of Virginia. He married Maria Ann Tompkins (1819-1898), a daughter of Nicholas and Catherine Griffin Leverett Tompkins, in 1836. As a young man Lucius moved to Columbus, Georgia and went into business with his brother Edward. He later moved to Franklin, Heard County, Georgia, was admitted to the bar and represented Heard County in the legislature. He was a Brigadier General in the State Militia during his service in the Seminole Indian War (1836-1843). Featherston was first appointed judge of the Superior Court of Heard County circuit in 1863. In 1869 he moved his family to Newnan, Georgia and in 1877 was a member of the Georgia Constitutional Convention. He and Maria Ann had twelve children. Charles Nicholas ("Bud Nick") who later became a lawyer in Rome, Georgia, Giles Winfield, and Lucius H. Jr. ("Bud Lou") all served in the Confederate Army. Other children were Edward Pitts, John Henry, Sarah Maria, William Stegall, Thomas Middleton, Annie May, Joseph Ernest (Joe), Zerlina Catherine (Kate) born 1838, who married Dr. George W. Peddy, and Mary Emma born 1856, who married Henry S. Wright.

George Washington Peddy, son of Alexander George and Celina Shackleford Peddy was born in Franklin, Georgia, 1834. He received a degree from the New Orleans School of Medicine in 1859, and married Kate Featherston the same year. They had six children -- Annie Laurie (Laura) born 1860, Charlie born 1864, who died at 15 months, Minnie born 1869, Sallie Hassie (Daisy) born 1873, Katie May born 1877, and Louise, born 1881. Katie May married David S. Cuttino. Their son G.P. Cuttino is the donor of these papers. Dr. G. W. Peddy was a surgeon with the 56th Georgia Volunteer Infantry, Army of Tennessee (1862-1865). After the war he returned to his medical practice and served as a state senator for Heard, Carroll, and Troup Counties in 1870. He died in 1913 and is buried in Newnan, Georgia where he and his family had moved in 1877.

Henry S. Wright, born in Arkansas in 1857, was the son of John Andrew Wright and Thyrza Francis Flemming Wright. He received his education in Georgia and in 1882 he and Mary Emma Featherston, a graduate of College Temple in Newnan, Georgia, and daughter of Lucius H. Featherston, were married. He received a medical degree from the Atlanta Medical College in 1893, after having been a pharmacist for several years. His portrait was presented to the Fulton County Medical Society after his death in 1911.

Kathleen Wright (b. 1883), daughter of Henry and Mary Wright was educated at Lucy Cobb Institute in Athens, Georgia and at Hollins College, Virginia (1901-1903) where she studied painting. Her education was supplemented with summer courses at UCLA and Harvard and she received an AB degree from Emory in 1927. Kathleen taught in Atlanta public schools in the 1920's, attended the School of the High Museum of Art (1935-1936), and was frequently involved in the arts in Atlanta, where she lived until her death in 1970.

Scope and Content Note

These papers consist of materials produced by or pertaining to the family of Lucius H. Featherston. They are divided into five series, three by family name and two by material type: Featherston family papers, Peddy family papers, Wright family papers, photographs, and memorabilia. The Lucius H. Featherston papers contain both personal and business correspondence, family Bibles and genealogical materials, legal documents, financial records, diaries, club meeting minutes, printed material, photographs and three dimensional objects. The earliest items (1825) are legal documents relating to the Giles S. Tompkins estate. Latest items (1974) are letters concerning the history of the Featherston family.

The strength of the collection lies in the family correspondence which documents daily life in Georgia during the latter half of the nineteenth century, most particularly the Civil War years, and the early twentieth century. A weaker aspect of the collection is the small amount of Lucius H. Featherston's personal papers included in proportion to his business and professional papers. Major correspondents are family members. Prominent Georgian correspondents are Joseph E. Brown, Benjamin H. Hill, Alfred H. Colquitt and Lemuel P. Grant. Major subjects of the collection are law, medicine, courtship and marriage, and education.

Arrangement Note

Organized into five series: (1) Featherstone family papers, (2) Peddy family papers, (3) Wright family papers, (4) Photographs, and (5) Memorabilia