Elizabeth Peirce Crockett Thomas Autobiography [1849-1950]

Access and use

Location of collection:
Wytheville Community College
F.B. Kegley Library
Wytheville Community College
Smyth Hall, Room 103
1000 East Main Street
Wytheville, VA 24382
Contact for questions and access:
POC: William A. “Bill” Veselik
Phone: (276) 223-4876
POC: George Mattis
Phone: (276) 223-4744
Fax: (276) 223-4745

Summary

Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Elizabeth Peirce Crockett Thomas dictated this autobiographical memoir to her daughter, Bessie Thomas Hanson, who recorded it in pencil in this paperbound composition book. The autobiography starts with Thomas' childhood life in Wythe County, Virginia, focusing on her visits to numerous relatives including the Chaffin, Peirce, Crockett, Raper, and Graham families. She also writes about her experiences during the Civil War, particularly Averell's raid in May 1864. Thomas continues with memories of her education at Martha Washington College in Abingdon, Virginia, life with her grandmother, Elizabeth Cloud Peirce Chaffin, at her house, "Hickory Grove" in Wythe County, and numerous weddings she attended in the 1860s and 1870s.

In 1876, Thomas traveled to the Centennial Celebration in Philadelphia, Washington, D. C., New York City, and Niagara Falls, travels she describes in detail in her autobiography. She also writes about her courtship and marriage to Charles Benton Thomas. The autobiography ends with an article by her daughter, Bessie Thomas Hanson, entitled "Mama's 86th Birthday."

At some point the autobiography was typed; a photocopy of the typescript is available in the vertical files of the Kegley Library, Families-Thomas (1).

Biographical / historical:

Elizabeth Peirce Crockett, nicknamed "Lizzie," was born on 10 September 1854, the daughter of William Guise Crockett and Emily Chaffin, in Wythe County, Virginia. She married Charles Benton Thomas, son of Abijah Thomas and Priscilla Cavinette Scott of Smyth County, on 24 July 1878. They lived in Wytheville in a house located on Washington and 6th Streets; here their seven children were born.

Elizabeth Thomas (1879-1962), married William Wiley Hanson, nicknamed "Bessie."

William Crockett Thomas (1881-1963), married Czarina Pettit in 1912.

Laura Thomas (1883-1954), married Richard R. Hickok.

Robert P. Thomas (1888-1949), married Sadie Patton.

Charles Benton Thomas (1885-1887)

Charles Mitchell Thomas (1892-1972), married 1) Susie L. Hurt; 2) Mildred Coulter.

David Graham Thomas (1893-1896).

Charles Benton Thomas died on 15 February 1923 and Elizabeth Peirce Crockett Thomas died on 26 May 1950; both are buried in East End Cemetery in Wytheville, Virginia.

Acquisition information:
Donated by William C. Thomas Jr. in 2005.
Physical description:
1 volume.