Duncan, Foster, Gibson family papers
Abstract
The Duncan, Foster, Gibson family papers (dated 1811-1985, undated; 12.4 cubic feet; 30 boxes) comprise correspondence, legal and financial papers, photographs, and ephemera, which document the families' daily life, economic influence, and personal opinions primarily during the 19th century.
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Duncan, Foster, Gibson family papers
- Extent
- 12.6 Cubic Feet
- Subjects
- Decedents' estates -- Kentucky.
- Families -- Kentucky -- History -- 19th century
- Families -- Kentucky -- History -- 20th century
- Letters.
- Plantations -- Kentucky.
- Plantation life -- Louisiana.
- Plantation owners.
- Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)
- Slavery -- Kentucky.
- Slavery -- United States.
- Arrangement
- Collection is arranged into four series by subject and format: Duncan family; Foster family; Gibson family; Assorted manuscripts, photographs, and printed materials.
- Preferred Citation
- 2017ms056 : [identification of item], Duncan, Foster, Gibson family papers, 1811-1985, undated, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
- Repository
- University of Kentucky
Collection Overview
- Biography / History
- The Duncan and Gibson families were prominent families of Kentucky and Louisiana during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Foster family had roots in Kentucky, yet gained prominence through the timber industry of Minnesota and Washington during the late nineteenth century.
- Daughter of Lexington lawyer and hemp manufacturer, Henry Timberlake Duncan (1800-1880), Mary Duncan (1838-1910) married Col. Nathaniel Hart Gibson (1835-1904). Her husband, Nathaniel Hart Gibson, commonly referred to as Hart, served for the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. Hart's father, Tobias Gibson, Sr. (1800-1872), was one of the leading cotton and sugar planters of the Mississippi Valley but made Lexington, Ky. his principal residence. Hart's brother, Randall Lee Gibson (1832-1892) served as a U.S. Congressman and U.S. Senator for Louisiana after his time as Confederate Brigadier General during the United States Civil War. Both the Duncan and Gibson families owned slaves in Kentucky and Louisiana leading up to the Civil War. Mary Duncan and Col. Nathaniel Hart Gibson's daughter, Elizabeth Dunster Gibson (d. 1926) married Harrison Gardner Foster (d. 1940). Harrison's father, Addison Gardner Foster (1837-1917), was a successful business owner of timber and coal companies in Minnesota and Washington. He served in the United States Senate for Washington State from 1899-1905.
- Scope and Content
- The Duncan, Foster, Gibson family papers (dated 1811-1985, undated; 12.4 cubic feet; 30 boxes) comprise correspondence, legal and financial papers, photographs, and ephemera, which document the families' daily life, economic influence, and personal opinions primarily during the 19th century. A large part of the collection consists of correspondence to Colonel Nathaniel Hart Gibson, Mary Duncan Gibson, Henry Timberlake Duncan, Tobias Gibson, Sr., and their relatives during the mid to late nineteenth century when they primarily resided in Lexington, Kentucky. Letters in the collection discuss significant issues of the time, such as slavery, the Civil War, and reconstruction. Letters by Tobias Gibson, Sr., a successful sugar plantation owner in Louisiana, discuss moving slaves from Kentucky to Louisiana right before the Civil War as well as contempt for President Abraham Lincoln. Correspondence between brothers, Nathaniel Hart Gibson, known as Hart, and Senator Randall Lee Gibson, include negative reactions to the role of African-Americans after the Civil War. Letters to and from Mary Duncan Gibson primarily discuss family matters, especially among the Foster side of the family, who resided in Minnesota and Washington state near the turn of the twentieth century. Notable items include the plans and deed records for Ingleside manor, the large Lexington estate purchased by Nathaniel Hart and Mary Duncan Gibson in 1879 and given to their descendants upon Mary's death in 1910 and the handwritten account of John Hunt Morgan's Raid into Kentucky.
Restrictions on Access and Use
- Conditions Governing Access
- Conditions Governing Access Collection is open to researchers by appointment.
- Use Restrictions
- The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
Contents of the Collection
Duncan family, 1828-1902, undated
Family correspondence, 1837-1902, undated
Elizabeth Dunster Pyke Duncan to her husband, Henry T. Duncan, undated
Elizabeth Dunster Pyke Duncan to her daughter, Mary Duncan, 1854-1855
Elizabeth Dunster Pyke Duncan to her daughter, Mary Duncan, 1856-1860, undated
Elizabeth Dunster Pyke Duncan to Hart Gibson, undated
Elizabeth Dunster Pyke Duncan incoming correspondence, 1844-1870, undated
Elizabeth (Lily) Duncan to Hart Gibson, 1864
Henry T. Duncan, Jr. to his sister, Mary Duncan Gibson, 1856-1859, undated
Henry T. Duncan, Jr. to Hart Gibson, 1848
Henry T. Duncan, Jr. incoming correspondence, 1863, 1871
Henry T. Duncan, Jr. signed check, circa 1870
[Henry T. Duncan, Jr.?] letter fragment, undated
Mary Duncan to Mr. Duncan, undated
Toulina Johnson to mother (Harriet Johnson), undated
Henry T. Duncan, 1828-1884, undated
Correspondence, 1836-1884, undated
Incoming, 1840-1881, undated
Duncan family letters to Henry T. Duncan, 1842-1866, undated
- Box 1, folder 6
David Sayre letter to Henry T. Duncan, 1862 March 3
- Box 25, folder 20
Letters to Henry T. Duncan, 1860-1862
- Box 2, folder 1
Letters to Henry T. Duncan, 1863
Letters to Henry T. Duncan, 1864
- Box 2, folder 3
Mary Duncan Barr letters to her brother, Henry T. Duncan, 1852-1859
Stephen Duncan letters to Henry T. Duncan, 1840
- Box 5, folder 14
Stephen Duncan letters to Henry T. Duncan, 1841-1842
- Box 5, folder 15
Stephen Duncan letters to Henry T. Duncan, 1843-1844
- Box 5, folder 16
Stephen Duncan letters to Henry T. Duncan, 1845-1849
- Box 5, folder 17
Stephen Duncan letters to Henry T. Duncan, 1861-1864, undated
- Box 5, folder 18
Daniel Duncan letter to his father, Henry T. Duncan, 1841 February 11
Outgoing, 1848-1872
Henry T. Duncan letters to his daughter, Lily, 1870
Henry T. Duncan letters to his daughter, Mary, 1848-1872
- Box 1, folder 2
Henry T. Duncan letters to his son, 1856
- Box 1, folder 3
Henry T. Duncan letters to Hart Gibson, 1840, 1864
Letters written by Henry T. Duncan, 1859, 1861
- Box 1, folder 5
By subject, 1836-1884, undated
Architecture letters, 1842-1845, 1863
Crops letters, 1859, 1862
Slavery letters, 1844-1884, undated
- Box 3, folder 1
William H. Pope and Company letters, 1836-1859
- Box 3, folder 2