Thomas K. Jackson journals

Collection

Identifier: W-0021

No requestable containers

Scope and Contents

This collection includes four journals documenting the daily life of Thomas K. Jackson. Two small notebooks, each thirty-six pages long, include entries from 1868 and 1869. The first journal includes entries from June to December 1868, while the second documents events between February to April 1869. Two larger journals, approximately 100 pages each, consist of entries from 1866; the first notebook includes entries from January to May, while the second covers the period between June and December. Entries include financial notes, descriptions of the weather, and comments on church services. Jackson also records family news, discussing his relationship with his wife, the development of his young child, and the health of other family members. The collection also includes a red satin ribbon bookmark which reads, "spring meeting 1873," and a small cross stitch piece reading "think of me."

Dates

Creation: 1866-1873

Creator

Jackson, Thomas K. (Author, Person)
Williams, A. S., III (Collector, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

None

Biographical / Historical

Thomas K. Jackson was born on December 12, 1824, in Abbeville, South Carolina. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1848. After leaving West Point, Jackson began his military career as a member of the Fourth Regiment, U.S. Artillery and the Fifth U.S. Infantry, serving in Texas and New Mexico. In 1857, he returned to West Point to serve as an instructor. In April 1861, Jackson resigned his position in the U.S. Army to join the Confederate Army, where he accepted a post as the commissary of subsistence serving under General Albert Sidney Johnston. In 1863, he married Lucy Reavis, daughter of Alabama lawyer Turner Reavis. The couple had five children: Reavis, Mary, Thomas M., Temple, and Lucy R. Thomas K. Jackson settled in Gainesville, Alabama, in 1866, where he worked as a cotton planter. Jackson died on August 5, 1902 in Gainesville.