Collection #

M 0964

 

 

ballard–garman family
letters, 1833–1889

Collection Information

Biographical Sketch

Scope and Content Note

Series Contents

Cataloging Information

 

 

 

Processed by

Paul Brockman
June 2008

Manuscript and Visual Collections Department
William Henry Smith Memorial Library
Indiana Historical Society
450 West Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269

www.indianahistory.org

 

COLLECTION INFORMATION

VOLUME OF
COLLECTION:

1 box

COLLECTION
DATES:

1833–1889

PROVENANCE:

James B. Cash, Kettering, Ohio, March 2008

RESTRICTIONS:

None

COPYRIGHT:

 

REPRODUCTION
RIGHTS:

Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained from the Indiana Historical Society.

ALTERNATE
FORMATS:

 

RELATED
HOLDINGS:

 

ACCESSION
NUMBER:

2008.0081

NOTES:

 

BIOGRAPHiCAL SKETCH

Principal recipients of the letters from many senders include Aaron Ballard, his daughter, Kate Ballard Garman and her husband George W. Garman.

Aaron Ballard (1796–1877) was born either in southern Virginia or northern North Carolina, was raised in Grayson County, Virginia and was a veteran of the War of 1812.  He was married briefly to woman named DeWitt in the 1820s.  In 1832 he married Nancy Pearson and they soon purchased land in Jefferson Township, Henry County Indiana.  Ballard was a founder of the Lick Creek Baptist Church in 1835.  Aaron and Nancy Ballard produced six children.

Catherine Ann (Kate) Ballard (1842–1874), one of the children of Aaron and Nancy Ballard, married George W. Garman on 13 October 1864 and lived in New Castle, Henry County.  They had four children.  Kate was well read and considered herself to be a modern woman for her times.  Upon the urging of President Lincoln, she and other literate women wrote letters of encouragement to unknown Union soldiers.  Many of the letters in the collection were from Union soldiers she had written in support. 

George W. Garman  (1831–1924), was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania.  Garman’s father was employed as a blacksmith on the estate of the Wilson family.  George learned carpentry and farming growing up on the Wilson property and had acquired enough money to purchase land in Henry County, Indiana in the early 1850s.  Garman owned and farmed in Henry County until his death.  In 1906 he was one of the founders of the New Castle Casket Company.

 

Sources:

Information in collection.

 

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The collection consists of letters received by three related individuals who lived in Henry County, Indiana:   Aaron Ballad, Aaron’s daughter Kate, and her husband George W. Garman.

Letters to Aaron Ballard date from 1833–1871 and mostly come from relatives he left behind in Franklin County, Virginia, including his parents, brother and cousins.  Most of the letters contain normal family topics and local news. 

Kate Ballard’s letters (1862–1864) mainly come from Union soldiers mostly stationed with Indiana regiments in Kentucky and Tennessee.  Several of these letters were written by her cousin, George W. Ham (1840–1916), a sergeant with the 57th Indiana.  These letters details much of the regiment’s operations in Tennessee and Georgia.

George Garman’s letters (1858–1889) include business related correspondence regarding land in Tennessee and Iowa.  There also are letters from his brothers, Daniel R. Garman, with the 36th Indiana Regiment at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, Corinth, Mississippi, and Murfreesboro, Tennessee, 1862–1864, and John J. Jackson, a farmer in Iowa (1865) and Minneapolis, Kansas (1889).

Also included in the collection is a 228 page typewritten manuscript by James B. Cash entitled American Connections Through War and Peace (2007) which contain biographical information regarding the recipients and writers of the letters. 

 

series CONTENTS

Series 1: Letters to Aaron Ballard, 1833–1871

CONTENTS

CONTAINER

Aaron Ballard Letters, 1833–1859

Box 1, Folder 1

Aaron Ballard Letters, 1860–1871

Box 1, Folder 2

Series 2: Letters to Kate Ballard Garman, 1862–1864

CONTENTS

CONTAINER

Kate Ballard Letters, 1862

Box 1, Folder 3

Kate Ballard Letters, 1863

Box 1, Folder 4

Kate Ballard Letters, 1864

Box 1, Folder 5

Series 3: Letters to George Garman, 1858–1889

CONTENTS

CONTAINER

George Garman Letters, 1858–1889

Box 1, Folder 6

Series 3: James B. Cash, American Connections Through War and Peace, 2007

CONTENTS

CONTAINER

American Connections Through War and Peace
(1 of 6)

Box 1, Folder 7

American Connections Through War and Peace
(2 of 6)

Box 1, Folder 8

American Connections Through War and Peace
(3 of 6)

Box 1, Folder 9

American Connections Through War and Peace
(4 of 6)

Box 1, Folder 10

American Connections Through War and Peace
(5 of 6)

Box 1, Folder 11

American Connections Through War and Peace
(6 of 6)

Box 1, Folder 12

CATALOGING INFORMATION

For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:

1.      Go to the Indiana Historical Society's online catalog:  http://opac.indianahistory.org/

2.      Click on the "Basic Search" icon.

3.      Select "Call Number" from the "Search In:" box.

4.      Search for the collection by its basic call number (in this case, M 0964).

5.      When you find the collection, go to the "Full Record" screen for a list of headings that can be searched for related materials.