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Lively and Wesson family papers, 1835-1977, bulk 1922-1924.
Amount:
5 cubic ft.
Medium Included:
Organization/Arrangement:
By record type.
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Biographical/Historical:
Matthew Lively was born about 1830 in Georgia. He served as a Second Lieutenant in Company C, Florida 5th Infantry Regiment from February 27 to September 13, 1862. He married Griselle Betton on January 13, 1866, in Leon County, Florida. Matthew and Griselle had one son: Lewis Matthew Lively (b. 1875). Lewis was a businessman in Tallahassee and founded the Lively Technical Institute. He married Francis Stephens Scott in 1901, in Gadsden County, Florida. Francis was born in 1882 to John Wayne Scott and Caroline Boothe Stephens; she was the granddaughter of Samuel Barrow Stephens, a signer of Florida's Ordinance of Secession.
Lewis and Francis lived in Tallahassee and had three daughters: Francis Winifred, Caroline Stephens "Polly," and Emily Griselle. All three daughters attended the Florida State College for Women in Tallahassee.
Caroline "Polly" Lively married Franklin Wilson Carraway in 1928. Carraway served in the Florida House from 1945 to 1950, in the Florida Senate from 1955 to 1965, and was president of the Senate from 1962 to 1963. Winifred Lively married Leonard Allison Wesson, the son of Harry Smith Wesson and Anne Isabelle of Ocala. Wesson completed an engineering degree at the University of Florida and was mayor of Tallahassee from 1935 to 1937. In 1955, Leonard Wesson was appointed Chairman of the State Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission. Leonard and Winifred had two children: Frances Wesson (later Copeland) and Lewis Lively Wesson. Leonard Wesson and Franklin Wilson Carraway ran Lewis Lively's Coca Cola bottling company in Tallahassee.
Summary:
This collection consists of correspondence, photographs, and other records of members of the Lively and Wesson families of Tallahassee, Florida. The bulk of the collection consists of letters from Leonard Wesson to his future wife, Winifred Lively, between 1922 and 1924. The remainder of the correspondence includes letters received by Winifred Lively Wesson, Isabelle Wesson, Harry S. Wesson, Leonard Wesson, Lewis Lively, Francis S. Lively, Emily Lively, and Caroline "Polly" Carraway. The collection also contains a letter written by Samuel Barrow Stephens, a signer of Florida's Ordinance of Secession.
The collection includes photographs of the Lively, Wesson, and Carraway families, scenes of Tallahassee, the Keystone Summer Camp for Girls in North Carolina, and aerial photos of the Gulf Coast in Taylor County, Florida. Other records in the collection include diplomas, tax records, wills, deeds, poetry, notebooks, and programs.
Finding Aids:
Folder listing available. 0
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Electronic Records Access:
Subject Access Fields:
Lively family. Wesson family.
Florida State College for Women. University of Florida.
Family Florida Legislators Florida
Letters. aat Photographs. aat Ambrotypes (photographs). Deeds. aat Tax records. aat
Gadsden County (Fla.) Leon County (Fla.) Marion County (Fla.) Ocala (Fla.) Tallahassee (Fla.) Taylor County (Fla.)
for detailed listing.