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Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], A. C. and M. A. Hansard Letter, Ms1989-097, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The A. C. and M. A. Hansard Letter was purchased by Special Collections and University Archives in 1989.
The processing and description of the A. C. and M. A. Hansard Letter commenced and was completed in February 2022.
Although this letter bears the initials of both A. C. and M. A. Hansard, it was almost certainly written by Mary Ann Marcum (or Markham) Hansard to her brother James M. Marcum/Markham. Mary Ann Marcum, daughter of Peter and Priscilla Hill Marcum, was born on May 16, 1825. She married Abner Christian Hansard (1816-1895) in 1842; the couple would have 11 children. The 1860 federal census lists the Hansards among the residents of Claiborne County, Tennessee, with A. C. Hansard described as a mechanic (the 1880 census describes him as a cabinet maker). Mary Ann Hansard died in Tennessee on February 23, 1899, and was buried in Thompson Chapel Cemetery, Claiborne County. She is the author of the posthumously published book
This collection consists of a single letter written by A. C. and M. A. (Abner C. and Mary Ann Hansard) during the American Civil War. Addressed to "Dear Brother & Family," the letter is dated from Tazewell, Claiborne County, Tennessee on February 24, 1865. Although the letter bears two sets of initials, it was almost certainly written by Mary Ann Marcum (or Markham) Hansard to her brother James Marcum. The letter focuses on local wartime hardships, including the difficulty in procuring food: "[W]e have had a hard time of it for the last year to live at all we had to [eat] wheat brand for bread last summer for sometime and meat was almost a stranger you will think strange when I tell you the commes[s]ary [sic] was in one mile of our house with plenty of white flour and bacon and we had a right to draw if we had money but owing to rogues swindlers and dishonest people that owed us and would not pay us we could not buy." The writer also reports on widespread robberies in the area: "[F]ive or ten armed men will go through a neighbourhood enter the houses at a late hour of the night and rob them of everything that was valuable and perhaps take every bite their children had to eat ..." After mentioning a local revival, the writer advises her brother not to hold a grudge against Mr. Mountain and discusses family matters, including the recent death of their father, and activities of neighbors and acquaintances. The letter is accompanied by a typed transcript.
The guide to the A. C. and M. A. Hansard Letter by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).