1835 - 1851

Manuscript Collection: MC074

Size: 9 items

Boxes: n/a

OCLC No: 50105485

Acquisition: Mr. and Mrs. George A. Hill, Jr., Houston Public Library, Annie Hume, 1939 – 1940.

Restrictions on Access: None

Terms Governing Use: Open for research by appointment.

Processed by: Sandra Eileen Yates, 2002

Publication Rights: Copyright has not been assigned to the San Jacinto Museum of History. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Library Director. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the San Jacinto Museum of History as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Citation: [Identification of Item], Briscoe Family Papers, MC074, San Jacinto Museum of History, Houston, Texas.

Creator Sketch:

Born in 1784 in Virginia, General Parmenas Briscoe settled on a plantation near Port Gibson in Claiborne County, Mississippi. There, he and his wife, Polly Montgomery (1794 – ca. 1840) reared eleven children: Andrew (1810 – 1849), James Montgomery, Robert Parmenas, William P., Phillip, George C., Emily, Clarissa, Mary Ann, George Troup, and Samuel. Andrew, James Montgomery and Robert Parmenas settled in Texas. When Andrew died of yellow fever in New Orleans in 1849, his wife, Mary Jane Harris Briscoe, and their 4 children moved to the Briscoe family plantation and stayed there until 1852 before returning to Texas. General Briscoe died in 1851.

Scope and Content Note:

Correspondence, financial records and legal documents record the Briscoe family’s response to the needs of son and brother, Andrew, and his family after his death. An 1835 letter from John Briscoe asks that money be paid to Andrew. A letter written shortly after Andrew’s death in 1849 from James to his father urges the family to take in Mary Jane and educate her children. A letter written in March 1851 to William P. by James after the death of their father considers the settling of the estate and the fate of Mary Jane and her family. Financial documents include 2 receipts (1837, 1839) for a subscription by General Parmenas Briscoe to the Telegram & Texas Register and a list of the slaves on the Briscoe plantation, their ages, and worth. A line of credit of $15,000 to $20,000 from John Briscoe, James Douglass, and J. B. Woner [?] is guaranteed for Andrew in New Orleans (1835) and instructions on rents from G. C. Briscoe comprise the legal documents.

Archivists Note:

Other related papers from the Adele Briscoe Looscan Collection include the Mary Jane Harris Briscoe Papers, the Andrew Briscoe Papers, the John R. and Jane Harris Papers, and the Adele Briscoe Looscan Papers. All photographs are located in the Adele Briscoe Looscan Papers.

Manuscript Collection: MC074

Size: 9 items

Boxes: n/a