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Kezia Payne DePelchin letters

 Collection
Identifier: MS 0201
Finding aid note: Stored onsite at the Woodson Research Center in the vault.

Scope and Contents

The collection includes a bound volume of twenty-eight letters and a boxed photocopy. The vast majority of the correspondence is from Ms. Kezia Payne DePelchin to her sister, Sallie Payne, describing her experience as a volunteer nurse from late August to mid-November during the 1878 yellow fever epidemic. The letters explain DePelchin’s motivations for traveling to Memphis and joining the Howard Association as a volunteer nurse, her experiences as a nurse, the reactions of Memphis society to the work of female nurses, and the difficulties of her occupation. The letters also recount the spread and effects of the epidemic, and chronicle her travels through Tennessee and into Mississippi and Alabama as she followed the illness and responded to need. Letters to her sister from 1879, after her return home, are present as well. Also included in the volume were letters to DePelchin from E. Kate Heckle. Heckle, who was also a Houston resident and a friend of DePelchin, had nursed in several epidemics and responded to the same call for assistance from the Howard Assocation, volunteering from September through October. DePelchin and Heckle proceeded separately to Memphis, and saw each other sporadically through their stays. Heckle wrote several letters to DePelchin describing her own experiences and difficulties.

Dates

  • 1878 - 1879

Creator

Access Restrictions

This material is open for research.

Conditions Governing Access

Stored onsite at the Woodson Research Center in the vault.

Restrictions on Use

Permission to publish material from the DePelchin papers must be obtained from the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library. Permission to use quotes must come from DePelchin Faith Home.

Biographical / Historical

Kezia Payne DePelchin, Texas nurse, social worker and teacher, was born in the Madeira Islands and moved to Texas at the age of eight. Her father died shortly thereafter, and she was raised and educated by his second wife, an English governess. She gained resistance to yellow fever in 1839 when she survived the disease that killed two siblings and weakened her father, and volunteered as a nurse during the Houston epidemics of 1852, 1854, 1858, and 1867. After her marriage during the U.S. Civil War failed, she lived with a minister’s family and participated in charitable activities with women from Houston’s elite families.

In 1878, she traveled to Memphis, Tennessee from her home in Houston to assist the Howard Association during a yellow fever epidemic known as the Yellow Jack, and worked as a volunteer nurse from August 30 until mid-November. Her devotion to volunteer work was based in her strong religious and charitable sentiments. Though she was well respected in Houston, Memphis society viewed DePelchin’s work as a violation of their expectations of a woman’s proper place. She traveled as a volunteer nurse though Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama, following the epidemic, then returned home to Houston in November of 1878. She spent many years as a teacher and matron of an orphanage in Houston.

In the late 1800’s, she took three unwanted babies into a Houston house that, supported by DePelchin and charitable donations, eventually developed into a haven for orphans. In 1893 she officially named the house “Faith Home”, but died three months later from a fever. After the turn of the century, the facility was rebuilt and is now known as the DePelchin Children’s Center.

Extent

0.5 Linear Feet (2 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Overview

The collection consists of a bound volume of 28 letters, the majority of which were written by Mrs. Kezia Payne DePelchin (1828-1893) to her sister, describing her experiences as a nurse during the yellow fever epidemic of 1878 in Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama. The volume also includes letters from E. Kate Heckle, a friend and fellow nurse, to DePelchin, describing some of her own experiences during the same epidemic.

Acquisition Information

This collection was given as a permanent loan from Charles McBrayer of the DePelchin Faith Home in 1973.

General

Portions of this collection are available online at: https://scholarship.rice.edu/handle/1911/21946

Subjects

Record Groups

Related Names

Creator

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Guide to the Kezia Payne DePelchin letters, 1878-1879
Status
Completed
Date
2005
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Woodson Research Center, Rice University, Houston, Texas Repository

https://library.rice.edu/woodson
Contact:
Fondren Library MS-44, Rice University
6100 Main St.
Houston Texas 77005 USA

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Harmful Content Statement
© 2023 Woodson Research Center
Fondren Library, Rice University
Physical Address: 6100 Main, Houston, Texas 77005-1827
Mailing Address: MS-44, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas 77251-1892