Tift family papers

Descriptive Summary
Title: Tift family papers
Creator: Tift, Henry Harding, 1841-1922
Creator: Tift, Amos Chapman, 1808-1883
Inclusive Dates: 1750-2015
Language(s): English
Extent: 11 Linear Feet 3 boxes, 6 oversized boxes, 1 oversized folder
Collection Number: ms4074
Repository: Hargrett Library

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Collection Description

Historical Note

The Tift family has its roots in Colonial Connecticut in shipping and trade, as well as the American Revolution.

Nelson Tift (1810-1891) was a businessman, Georgia House of Representatives and U.S. Representative (1868-1869) who settled along the Flint River after working with the family businesses along the east coast, realizing the potential of lumber and cotton in South Georgia for ship building material. He facilitated trade in the area that, with the help of the Georgia Southern and Florida Railway, led to his founding of the city of Albany. For more information, see the article Nelson Tift (1810-1891) in the New Georgia Encyclopedia and his congressional biography.

Henry Harding Tift (1841-1922) was an industrialist who established a lumber operation on that same RR further north of Albany on a high point near the Fall Line, and founded the city of Tifton, Georgia. The city of Tifton grew, and the county of Tift was created as business flourished with the connection to Atlanta and the country beyond. For more information, see the article Henry Tift (1841-1922) in the New Georgia Encyclopedia.

Scope and Content

This collection contains correspondence, business and land records, photographs, family history, and printed material. Some highlights include American Revolution militia recruitment orders, Colonial land records from Connecticut, and photographs of early Tifton, Georgia.

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Tift family papers, ms4074, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries.

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Related Materials and Subjects

Subject Terms

Related Collections in this Repository

Research material related to this collection are in the Tift family research papers, ms4075.

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Series Descriptions and Folder Listing

 

1. History - Genealogy
box	folder
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1	1	Family history
1	2	Mr. Thomas Willingham Tift
1	3	Catherine Tift Porter
1	4	Mrs. Porter
1	5	Lewis Historical Publishing Co.
1	6	Genealogy - correspondence and notes - Catherine Tift Porter
box	folder
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2	54	Genealogy - correspondence and notes
box	folder
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1	7	Tifton Centennial speech
1	8	Obituaries
1	9	Amos Chapman Tift
1	10	Katherine Tift-Jones
1	11	Carolyn Harding Beebe Whitehouse

 

2. Correspondence
box	folder
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1	12	Amos Chapman Tift
1	13	Phoebe Harding Tift (married to Amos Chapman Tift)
1	14-15	Amos Chapman Tift to Phoebe Tift - Florida
1	16	Amos Chapman Tift to Phoebe Tift
1	17	E.H. Tift to Amos Chapman and Phoebe Tift
1	18	Nelson Tift
1	19	William Orville Tift
1	20	Wiliam Orville Tift to Amos Chapman Tift
1	21	Bessie Willingham Tift (married to Henry Harding Tift)
1	22	Helen Tift Beebe
1	23	Thomas Willingham Tift
1	24	Catherine Terrell Tift (married to Thomas Willingham Tift)
1	25	Eliza Tift (married to E.B. Noyes)
1	26	W.F. Tift
1	27	Annie Tift Buckley
1	28	James M. Tift
box	folder
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2	2	Mrs. Henry H. Whitehouse
2	2	Unidentified

 

3. Legal and Business
box	folder
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2	3	Thomas Harding/Harden, Capt.
2	4	Jeremiah Harding, Capt.
2	5	Henry Harding
2	6	Charles Chapman
2	7	Amos Chapman Tift
2	8	Phoebe Harding Tift
2	9	Nelson Tift
2	10	Charles Tift deed to Hannah Tift, 1854
2	11	Henry Harding Tift
2	55	Annie Tift Buckley
2	12	Carolyn Beebe Whitehouse (married to Henry H. Whitehouse)
2	13	E.A. Buck
2	14	Mitchell W. Gaskins
2	15	Killis W. Horne
2	16	Miscellaneous

 

4. Photographs
box	folder
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2	17	Nelson Tift
2	18	Phoebe Harding Tift
2	19	Henry H. Tift
2	20	Bessie Willingham Tift (married to Henry Harding Tift)
2	21	Eliza Mallory Tift (married to William Orville Tift)
2	22	Artie, Mary Katherine Tift - children of William Orville and Eliza
2	23	Thomas Willingham Tift
2	24	Cara Tift Holmes
2	25	Annie Tift Buckley
2	26	Helen Tift Beebe
2	27	Cecelia Willingham
2	28	Carolyn Beebe Whitehouse
2	29	Mary Catherine Tift
2	30	Evelyn Sheppard Tift
2	31	Telie Tift Sumner
2	32	Uncle Dan - worked for H.H.
2	33	Catherine Hill - photograph on glass
2	34	Family groups
2	35	Unidentified
2	36	Houses
2	37	Buildings - farms
2	38	Lumber mill - tin types
2	39	Boats
2	40	Army-Navy E Award - Piedmont Cotton Mills, 1943 July 27
2	41	European trip
box
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3		Cased Ambrotypes (7)
3		Cased Daguerrotypes (6)
oversized_box
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1		Army-Navy E Award - scrapbook, 1943
oversized_box
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2		Large format family photographs
oversized_box
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4		Large family photograph album - cabinet cards
oversized_box
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5		Family Photograph albums (2) - cabinet cards

 

5. Printed material
box	folder
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2	42	Militia recruitment order
2	43	Meeting notes
2	44	Census lists, 1835, 1843
2	45	Miscellaneous
2	46	A Letter Upon Dancing
2	47	Gaskell's Complete Compendium of Elegant Writing
2	48	Connecticut history
2	49	Bessie Tift College
2	50	St. Margaret's School for Girls
2	51	Postcards - New England
2	52	Clippings
2	53	Spring Valley Factory - Youle's shot #3 sack
oversized_folder
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1		Newspapers
1		Pilot Rules for the Inland Waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, 1907
oversized_box
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3		Newspapers
3		Frogs of Windham - comic opera
3		People's Cyclopedia, 1881
3		Georgia plantations in the Albany area - map
3		Generals of Our Army - engraving, 1861
oversized_box
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6		Postcard albums (2)