Dr. Samuel Alexander Mims lived in Dancyville and Walnut Ridge, near Dancyville, from early 1849 until late 1853. In Dancyville he lived very near the Methodist Church, close enough to hear the singing and the preacher. Judging from the date he finished medical school, Dancyville probably was his first practice. The letters were written by Dr. Mims, his wife Harriett McIver Mims and Rev. William Nolen, the Baptist minister. All were written to Dr. Mims’ brother, James S. Mims, a professor at Furman Institute, now Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina and to Sarah McIver Mims, wife of James and Sister to Harriett.

THE  FIND

Margaret Ann Mimms Ward, great-granddaughter of  Dr. Samuel A. Mims and sister of  John Allen Mimms Jr., found the letters while searching for information on James S. Mims at Furman University. James was a professor at the college, later to be named Furman. An employee of the Furman Library told Margaret about a box of  James Mims papers and let her look through the box. She found about 100 letters, 18 from Dancyville, starting in 1843 and ending about the time of   James death in 1855. It took the family 2 years to transcribe the letters because the penmanship was so difficult to read. The original letters are in the archives of the Furman University Library, Greenville, South Carolina.

The transcriptions of the Mims Letters are Copyrighted© and the exclusive property of John Allen Mimms Jr. They may be used for personal genealogy purposes only. Commercial use without written permission is prohibited.

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POWER OF ATTORNEY FROM  DR. SAMUEL A. MIMS TO SELL DANCYVILLE LAND – 1857

I greatly appreciate John Allen Mimms Jr., great-grandson of Dr. Samuel A. Mims, providing and permitting the letter transcriptions to be published to this site.

Note: Some of the Mims family, in later generations, added the second ‘m’ to the name.