Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Manigault, Morris, and Grimball Family Papers #976, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Microfilm copy available.

Additional microfilm copy available from University Publications of America as part of the Records of ante-bellum southern plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War, Series J.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Meta M. Grimball of Charleston, S.C., in May 1945. Withdrawn by Berkley Grimball in October 1955. Redeposited by Mrs. Sterling Graydon of Greenwood, S.C., in December 1956.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Jane Adkins and Shonra Newman, November 1957 and June 1990

Encoded by: Roslyn Holdzkom, March 2007

Materials are fragile; use of microfilm is encouraged.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Charleston (S.C.)--History.
• Charleston (S.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Family--New York (State)--Social life and customs.
• Family--Pennsylvania--Social life and customs.
• Family--South Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Grimball family.
• Grimball, Margaret Ann Meta Morris, 1810-1881.
• Manigault family.
• Manigault, Margaret Izard, 1768-1824.
• Morris family.
• Morris, Elizabeth Manigault, 1785-1822.
• Morrisania (N.Y. : Town)--History.
• Morrisania (N.Y. : Town)--Social life and customs.
• Mothers and daughters.
• Philadelphia (Pa.)--History.
• Philadelphia (Pa.)--Social life and customs.
• Upper class--New York (State)--Social life and customs.
• Upper class--Pennsylvania--Social life and customs.
• Upper class--South Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Wilcocks, Harriet Manigault, 1793-1835.
• Women--New York (State)--Social life and customs.
• Women--Pennsylvania--Social life and customs.
• Women--South Carolina--Social life and customs.

• Manigault Family papers (#484)
• Margaret Ann (Meta) Morris Grimball diary (#975)
• Grimball Family papers (#980)

Margaret Izard Manigault (1768-1834) was the daughter of Ralph Izard (1741-1804) and Alice De Lancey Izard (d. 1832). Ralph Izard was a member of the Continental Congress and a United States senator from South Carolina, 1789-1805. Alice De Lancey Izard lived in Philadelphia after her husband's death. In addition to Margaret, the Izards had six children who survived infancy: Henry; George; Ralph; Charlotte (1770-1792), who married William Loughton Smith in 1786; Anne (1779-1863), who married William Allen Deas; and Charlotte Georgina (1792-1832), who married Joseph Allen Smith in 1809.

Margaret married Gabriel Manigault (1758-1809) of Charleston, S.C., in 1785. Gabriel was involved in politics and was an amateur architect. Their children were Elizabeth, wife of Lewis Morris Jr.; Harriet, wife of Samuel Wilcocks; Peter (b. and d. 1788); Gabriel Henry; Ann (d. 1792); Charlotte; Charles Izard (1795-1874); Emma; Ann (d. 1800); Edward; and Caroline. Between 1789 and 1794, the family frequently traveled north, visiting Izards and Smiths who were in New York. In 1805, Gabriel sold part of his South Carolina property, and the family moved permanently to Clifton, an estate near Philadelphia.

Margaret Ann (Meta) Morris (1810-1881) was the granddaughter of Margaret, daughter of Elizabeth Manigault Morris, and wife of John Berkley Grimball (1800-1892).

The collection is chiefly family letters, 1804-1822 and 1831-1832, written by members of the Manigault, Morris, and Grimball family, especially Margaret Izard Manigault and Harriet Manigault Wilcocks in Philadelphia to Elizabeth Manigault Morris and Margaret Ann (Meta) Morris Grimball in Charleston, S.C. These letters are heavily focussed on family affairs and social life, providing much detail about Philadelphia polite society, including descriptions of balls, theater parties, social calls, clothing, problems with servants, women's issues, and other matters. There are also references to family marriages, illnesses, and deaths, as well as to world affairs and foreign aristocrats living in the United States.

Transcriptions (some handwritten, some typed) of some of the letters were prepared by the donors. These transcriptions are interfiled with the originals. In the cases of a few letters, there are transcriptions but no originals.