The Jeffers Civil War Letters are the subject of the main blog (Your Dear Son). The blog you are viewing here covers related material about the history of the Jeffers family. Below you will find the names of the whole family in 1860 ~ to help you follow the story.
Pa - Henry Langford Jeffers. Born in 1808 in Edgefield District, SC, he was a cotton factor and commission merchant in Hamburg, SC, and later in Charleston. By the 1860s, his wife lived up-country in Greenwood, but Pa stayed in Charleston much of the time to run his business. He diligently met his sons' practical needs for boots, coats, horses, gear, and boxes of provisions.
Ma - Eliza Ann Anderson. Born 1807 in Edgefield District, SC, she married H.L. Jeffers (above) in 1833. For 25 years they raised the children in Hamburg, SC. During the war years she lived at a small farm in the village of Greenwood, near the town of Abbeville. This couple had five children, named below.
Annie Lamar Jeffers - Born 1834, age 26 at the start of the war, Annie was a central point of communication in the family. An organizer, she knit socks, made shirts, outfitted boxes, and unflaggingly met her brothers' most heart-felt need, letters from home. She wrote even when she knew many of her letters would not make it into their hands.
William Henry Jeffers - Born 1836, nicknamed "Buddie." Age 24 at the start of the war, he was already a practical, pragmatic man. He liked to keep things in order. Henry is my great-grandfather. He married Anna Francis Jenkins in 1866, though he does not seem to have known her during the war years.
Thomas Anderson Jeffers - Born 1839, he was age 21 at the start. Thomas joined the same militia as Henry (the Rutledge Mounted Riflemen) in the rush of excitement after Secession. But he was bored by the inactivity of the early months; so in June, 1861, he joined the Hampton Legion Cavalry and headed off for Virginia. In his letters, I see a touch of cynicism, but he stays the course.
Augusta Latimer Jeffers - Born 1840, she was always called Gussie. The brothers were very affectionate towards her, though they turned to Sister Annie for practical help. In 1860, Gussie married William Pickens McKellar. They had eight children. A couple of letters, written by Gussie in the years just after the war, show her to be good-humored and warm. Her oldest three children, born during the war years, were always fondly remembered in the brothers' letters - "Kiss the Babies for me."
James Spann Jeffers - Born 1844, and age 16 at the start of the war. The family managed to delay his enlistment in the RMR for a couple of years. Spann was an earnest, patriotic teenager; he wanted to fight the Yankees and be a good soldier. He felt hero worship for Lee's Army, "Oh, if I could but express the admiration which I feel for the sunburned, ragged and hungry heroes..."
William P. McKellar - Born in 1830, William married Gussie in 1860. After Secession, the young bachelor-men rushed to join a militia; but Mr. McKellar, with babies being born, put it off as long as he could, hiring substitutes to take his place. Finally the conscription pulled every last man into the military, and he joined the RMR in 1863. We have only two letters written by Mr. McKellar, but he was consistently mentioned by the Jeffers brothers. It seems he did write many letters, but those were addressed to Gussie, and did not become part of this collection.
Thomas Melville Anderson - Born in 1813, Uncle Thomas was the brother of Eliza Ann Anderson Jeffers (Ma). He lived in Florida at this time, and served in a regiment from that state. He and young Tommie tried to keep tabs on each other in Virginia. Two letters that he wrote to his brother-in-law Henry Langford Jeffers were kept by the family in the collection. In September, 1861, he wrote an interesting account of the scene in bustling Richmond.
Other Names - There are a few additional letter-writers in the collection, mostly acquaintances conveying information. And there are a few letters written by the women-folk just after the war, but that's a future project.