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Southern Alabama Emigration and Development Company letters

 Collection
Identifier: W-0002
  • No requestable containers

Scope and Contents

This collection contains letters written primarily by John M. Green of the Southern Alabama Emigration and Development Company, based in Chicago, Illinois, to Thomas J. Scott and Sons in Montgomery, Alabama, in the late nineteenth century.

The letters, written between 10 February and 29 October 1897, discuss a variety of real estate development projects proposed by the Southern Alabama Emigration and Development Company in the Mobile, Loxley, and Perdido areas of south Alabama with their agents in Montgomery. They also discuss the very real hazards and hardships that the almost annual yellow fever outbreaks imposed on those living in south Alabama and how the inevitable quarantines would affect their ability to sell land and property there.

Dates

  • Creation: 1897

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

none

Biographical / Historical

The Southern Alabama Emigration and Development Company was based in Chicago, Illinois, in the 1890s and was very active in purchasing land along the Gulf Coast with an eye toward creating and developing communities there, particularly for northerners wanting to escape the bitterly cold winters. To do this they employed agents in the targeted locales to carry out the face-to-face negotiations with the property owners and to accommodate potential northern clients. Thomas J. Scott and Sons was one of these local agencies employed by Southern Alabama Emigration and Development.

Thomas J. Scott and Sons was a firm dealing with real estate and other development projects, based in Montgomery, Alabama.

Extent

0.1 Linear Feet (55 letters; 63 pages)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Letters of this Chicago, Illinois, based company to their agents in Montgomery, Alabama, concerning land development projects in southern Alabama in the late nineteenth century.

Physical Location

The A. S. Williams III Americana Collection, Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library, The University of Alabama

Provenance

gift of A. S. Williams III, 2010

Related Materials

Thomas J. Scott and Sons records, W. S. Hoole Special Collections Library, University Libraries Division of Special Collections, The University of Alabama.

General

Title on spine: Development of Loxley, Alabama, 1897

Processed by

Haley Aaron and Martha Bace, 2013

Source

Subject

Title
Guide to the Southern Alabama Emigration and Development Company letters
Status
Completed
Date
August 2013
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the The University of Alabama Libraries Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Box 870266
Tuscaloosa AL 35487-0266
205.348.0513