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Record Group Number: 900000
Series/Collection Number: N2023- 5
Creator:
Title, Dates: Byrd and Plant family papers and photographs, 1905-2001.
Amount: 2.5 cubic ft.
Medium Included:
Organization/Arrangement: By record type and then alphabetical.
Restrictions:
Terms Governing Use:
Biographical/Historical:     The Byrd family was a prominent family in Leon County, Florida. Flavius Augustus Byrd and his wife Catharine Sarah Blake moved from North Carolina to Leon County, Florida, in the mid-1800s. Their son Thomas Blake Byrd (1859-1928) married Rebecca "Rubie" Bernard (1859-1934) in 1884. She was the daughter of Judge Jesse Talbot Bernard and Mary Bradford of Alachua County, Florida. Thomas and Rubie had several children. The Byrd family operated a successful grocery store, T.B. Byrd Grocery, in Tallahassee from the late 1800s through the 1960s.

    One of the Byrd children was Janet Laurie Byrd (1895-1981), who married James Daniel Plant (1898-1986) in 1921. They had two daughters, Rubie Elizabeth and Laurie. Although the Plant family lived briefly in South Georgia, they primarily lived in Tallahassee, Florida. Rubie Elizabeth Plant (1925-2021) graduated from Leon High School and then attended Florida State College for Women from 1943 to 1946, graduating in the last all-women class. She then studied at Garrett Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois from 1948 to 1950, graduating with her Master's in Religious Education. In July 1960, Rubie Plant married Charles Arthur Butterworth, Jr. (d. 2001) in North Carolina and they had three children.

    The connected families represented in the records include the Bernard, Blackburn, Bradford, Groover, MacGowan, Magath, Powell, and Gregory families.

Summary:     This collection contains records that primarily document activities and interrelations of the Byrd and Plant families of Tallahassee, Florida, but also includes materials documenting members of several other related families. The types of records include correspondence between family members, invitations for events such as weddings and graduations, news clippings regarding family member activities, and personal papers that document various interests and activities.

    The collection also contains photographic portraits, mostly of the Byrds and members of their extended families, but also includes several photos of friends and unidentified people. There is also a receipt book from T.B. Byrd and Son Grocery in Tallahassee. Entries are alphabetical by customer last name and most include the date account started, date(s) of purchase order, items purchased, and, in most cases, date paid.

Finding Aids: Folder listing available. 0
Additional Physical Form:
Reproduction Note:
Location of Originals/Duplicates:
Associated Materials: For more materials relating to the Byrd family, see Collection M85-23, Augustus Bernard Byrd, Tallahassee Photographs, 1899-1945 (12 items); Collection M88-72, Byrd Family Papers, 1850-1970 (3 cubic feet); Collection N2008-11, Byrd, Bernard, Bradford, Taylor, and Tilden Family Papers, ca. 1918-2000 (1 cubic foot); and Collection N2010-5, Van Brunt and Byrd Family Photographic Collection, ca. 1850-1930 (79 photographs).
Language Notes:
Ownership/Custodial History: Donor is the great-granddaughter of Thomas Blake Byrd.
Publication Note:
General Note:
Electronic Records Access:
Subject Access Fields: Bernard family.
Bradford family.
Byrd family.
Plant family.
Van Brunt family.
Family Florida
Ledgers. aat
Letters. aat
Photographs. aat
Leon County (Fla.)
Tallahassee (Fla.)
Added Entries