Etta Bailey Burgiss papers

Items

• Letter from W. W. Burgiss to Etta Bailey, August 26, 1886
• Envelope from W. W. Burgiss to “Etta Bailey ℅ P.D. Gilreath, Greenville SC”, postmarked Feb 23
• Letter from W. W. Burgiss to Etta Bailey — February 23, 1887

  Will is 23 years old; Etta is 20. The greeting appears something like “Dear May,” but the envelope reads “Etta Bailey” and the content seems to be to her. Was this a nickname?
• Note from W.W. Burgiss to Etta Bailey, undated
• Envelope: “Miss Etta Bailey at Home”, undated
• Letter from W.W. Burgiss to Etta Bailey — February 22, 1886

  Will is 22 years old; Etta is 19.
• Letter from W.C. Bailey to Etta Bailey — undated
• Post card from W.C. Bailey to Etta Bailey — September 26, 1881

  US Postal Card, postmarked Greers Depot Sep 26 1881. William Bailey writes this just days before Etta’s 15th birthday. William is 48. He will die on his own birthday one year later: October 16, 1882. Addressed to Etta "care of" E. Stone; this is Eliza Bailey Stone, Etta's aunt.
• 
  Letter from Victoria Bailey to Etta Bailey — November 15, no year
• 
  Letter from Victoria Bailey to Etta Bailey — September 21, no year
• 
  Letter from Victoria Bailey to Etta Bailey — undated
• 
  Victoria Bailey to Etta Bailey — undated

  This letter mentions Etta’s “beaux.” Could that be Etta's future husband, Will Burgiss — or is it someone else? We know from her friends' letters that Etta did have several interests through her teenage years.
• 
  Letter from Victoria Bailey to Etta Bailey — November 29, no year (188_)
• 
  Letter from Victoria Bailey to Etta Bailey — July 17, no year
• Letter from Victoria Bailey to Etta Bailey — June 24, no year
• 
  Letter from Victoria Bailey and William Bailey to Etta Bailey — undated
• 
  Letter from Victoria Bailey and William Bailey to Etta Bailey — September 29, 1881
• 
  Letter from Victoria Bailey to Etta Bailey — July 22, 1881

  At the time her mother sent her this letter, Etta is 14 years old; Victoria is 39. Etta’s sister Estelle died five years earlier; her father will die one year later. Her twin brothers are now 9 years old, sister Fannie is 6, and sister Bettie is 3. The letter refers to "Aunt Eliza." Eliza Bailey was a resident of Greenville, S.C. and attended Greenville Womens College. She received a degree in 1865; she is also on a census in 1880. Etta is in Greenville at a school.
• 
  Note: “This is every single one of them.”

  This is a small slip of paper with a handwritten note: “This is every single one of them.” The handwriting does not match any other in the collection. This collection of letters from Victoria to Margaret was kept by Margaret; Vic died relatively young, long before Margaret. One possibility is that Margaret gave the letters to Etta shortly after Victoria’s death. For example, at a funeral, Margaret might have mentioned to Etta that she had saved all Vic’s letters, and she’d send them back to Etta. We do not know.
• 
  Envelope, cream, July 7
• 
  Undated envelope, cream, not postal service
• 
  Undated envelope, blue, not postal service
• 
  Letter from Victoria Cunningham Bailey to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — March 21, 1869

  This letter touches on several important topics. The Bailey’s organized a Sunday School at Tabor; that’s Mt. Tabor Presbyterian, which was the Bailey family’s central place of worship for decades. The Masons formed a lodge: WC’s Masonic career was extensive; read more at the entry on W.C. Bailey. Here, Victoria is referencing that he formed the Bailey Masonic Lodge on November 17, 1868, with 23 charter members. She notes that Enoch Cunningham’s son Tom will be tending business on the first floor of the store house, and boarding with the Baileys — and she makes the joke about running a boarding house. This is reflected in the 1870 census, where the residence is noted as a boarding house and Thomas Cunningham is listed among the boarders; so is Vic’s “tolerable good cook,” who is a 23-year-old woman named Sarah Benson — listed as mulatto.
• 
  Letter from Victoria Cunningham Bailey to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — December 6, likely 1868
• 
  Letter from Victoria Cunningham Bailey to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — July 4, probably 1868