Mary Martin Correspondence mssHM 60994-61075
Marisa E. Diehl and Brooke M. Black
The Huntington Library
June 2020
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
reference@huntington.org
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Mary Martin correspondence
Creator:
Martin, Mary, 1815-1858
Identifier/Call Number: mssHM 60994-61075
Physical Description:
2.33 Linear Feet
(2 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1839-1868
Abstract: Correspondence of Mary Martin, and her family, who owned the Albemarle Plantation in Assumption Parish, Louisiana.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
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[Identification of item]. Mary Martin correspondence, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Lois Burks, 1998.
Mary Martin (1815-1858), born Mary Winifred Hill Pugh, was the wife of Robert Campbell Martin (born 1813), the owner of Albemarle
Plantation in Assumption Parish, Louisiana. The Martins' were enslavers and their plantation was primarily geared towards
the production of sugar, although other crops, such as corn and cotton, were also grown. By 1860 the Martins owned 91 enslaved
people on the plantation. The Martins had four children that survived into adulthood: Robert Campbell, born in 1839; Whit
(William Whitmell), born in 1840; James Bryan; and Thomas Pugh, born in 1846. Mary Martin was deeply connected to her family
and friends, and she made several extended visits to friends and family during the period in which the letters were composed
despite her ever-increasing ill health. After a long battle with numerous physical ailments, Mary Martin passed away at Albemarle
on February 22, 1858.
Mary Martin is the most prolific figure in the collection. Fifty-four of the eighty-two letters in the collection were penned
by her, eight were addressed to her, and much of the remaining correspondence is about her. The vast majority of Mary's letters
are addressed to her husband, Robert Campbell Martin, who also authors some of the collection's letters and accounts. Other
significant authors and addressees in this collection include Mary's children and her sister, Maria H. Robertson. The letters
are primarily domestic in nature, focusing on familial health, relationships and visits. Some of Mary's attention, when at
home and abroad, lingers on outside events such as plantation life and local news, although the familial focus is never lost.
Topics briefly addressed are the condition of Louisiana's enslaved people, fugitives from slavery, alcoholism, and educational
practices.
The collection was processed by Marisa E. Diehl in October 2000. In 2020, Brooke M. Black created a finding aid.
Arranged chronologically.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Alcoholism -- Louisiana
Domestic relations -- Louisiana -- History -- 19th century
Fugitive slaves -- Louisiana
Plantation owners -- Louisiana -- Archives
Slavery -- Louisiana -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Slaves -- Louisiana -- History -- Sources
Sugar growing -- Louisiana
Women -- Louisiana -- Correspondence
Assumption Parish (La.)
Louisiana -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Letters (correspondence) -- Louisiana -- 19th century
Personal papers -- Louisiana -- 19th century
Martin, Robert Campbell, 1813-1881
Robertson, Maria H.
Box 1
HM 60994-61038 1839-1856
Box 2
HM 61039-61075 1857-1868
Box 2
Notes in an unknown hand and two silhouettes of Mary Martin undated