Table of Contents
Biographical Sketch
Scope and Content Note
Family Papers
Genealogies
Business Files
Photographs
Memorabilia
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Lakeland Room

Special Collections

     NORMAN A. RIGGINS

FAMILY PAPERS

RG1000

SERIES I

FAMILY PAPERS

 DATES
1.5' (3 boxes) 1863-1986

This series consists of materials documenting the daily lives of several generations of the Riggins and Darracott families.  Norman A. Riggins moved his family to Lakeland in 1884.  They returned to Missouri in 1887 and moved to Lakeland once again after the death of Riggins' father, Mann Patterson Riggins, in 1895.  The Riggins and Darracott families were joined in 1907 by the marriage of John W. Darracott to Mary Pattie Riggins, the daughter of Norman and Sarah "Sally" Riggins.  A daughter of that union, Margaret Darracott Pinkston, saved most of the material in this series and transcribed many of the letters.  The transcriptions appear in her book, Mosswood Remembered.

The correspondence of several members of the Riggins and Darracott families are included in this series.  Also included are scrapbooks, compiled by various family members, descriptions of Mosswood, the family's ancestral home on Lake Morton, newspaper clippings and personal reminiscences.

Among the most interesting items in the series are the letters between Norman and Sarah "Sally" Riggins.  The correspondence between them spans a thirty year period beginning a year before their 1883 marriage.  The correspondence reveals the abiding affection between them, as well as the significant and mundane details of family life in the late nineteenth century.  Norman and Sally were separated frequently when Norman traveled on business and when he stayed behind in Florida to settle his business affairs after his family had returned to Missouri in 1887.

Also of interest is Riggins narrative of his first visit to Florida in 1882.  This handwritten travelogue entitled "My First Trip to Florida" documents a month-long trip Riggins took by rail, boat, and stage through northern and central Florida.  It contains his often humorous and always insightful observations about Florida and Floridians of the late nineteenth century.  (Click on the folder title "Riggins, Norman: My first trip to Florida" for pages from the narrative.)

The records in this series are arranged alphabetically by name, subject, or type of record and chronologically within folders.


Norman and Sally Riggins and
daughter, Mary Pattie, late 1880's
BOX FOLDER FOLDER TITLE DATES
1 1 Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Correspondence re. 1903-12
    2 Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Miscellaneous n.d.
     3 Darracott, Annie (Mother of John W. Darracott, Sr.):
     Scrapbook       		n.d
      4 Darracott, John W. Jr. "Jack":  Correspondence 1910, 1967, 1976
     5 Darracott, John W. Jr. "Jack":  Eulogy 1985
    6 Darracott, John W. Jr. "Jack," Miscellaneous 1925, 1985, n.d.
     7 Darracott, John W. Sr.:  Correspondence 1879-1912 scattered
     8 Darracott, John W. Sr.:  Memorabilia n.d.
    9 Darracott, Mary Pattie Riggins (wife of John W.
     Darracott):  Certificates		 1961, 1966
        10     Funeral Guest Book  1977
    11     Letters to 1887-1975 scattered, n.d.
    12     War Ration Coupon Book 1942
    13     Will of (Fragments) 1967
      14 Family Correspondence, Unidentified 1863-1951 scattered, n.d.
    15 Grandfather Clock, History of n.d.
    16 Grizzard, Dora Lee Darracott (Daughter of John  and
     Mary Pattie Darracott)		 n.d.
   17 Hollis, William H.:  Biographical Sketch n.d.
    18 Mosswood (Riggins Family Ancestral Estate).  See
     also:  Series IV		 1950, 1984, n.d.
    19 Newspaper Clippings n.d.
   20 Pinkston, Margaret Darracott (Daughter of John and
     Mary Pattie Darracott):  Correspondence		 1942-58 scattered

2   

21 Pinkston, Margaret Darracott:  Correspondence 1971-86 scattered, n.d.
         22 Riggins, Margaret Frances (Daughter of Norman and
     Sarah Riggins):  Correspondence		 1902-67 scattered
     23 Riggins, Margaret Frances:  Death Certificate 1967
      24 Riggins, Margaret Frances:  Deed 1925
     25 Riggins, Norman A.:  Biographical Sketch n.d.
      26 Riggins, Norman A.:  Correspondence.  See also:
     Riggins, Norman and Sarah		 1891-1935 scattered
  26a Riggins, Norman A.:  "Is Immersion Valid Baptism?" 1910
      27 Riggins, Norman A.:   "My First Trip to Florida, 1882" n.d.
      28 Riggins, Norman and Sarah:  Correspondence 1882-May 1887
         29    Correspondence June-July 1887
      30    Correspondence 1890
      31    Correspondence 1891
      32    Correspondence 1903, 1912, n.d.
       33 Riggins, Sarah:  Correspondence 1879-1927 scattered
      34    Correspondence 1929-46 scattered
     35    Obituary 1948
  

  36  

   Sorosis Club, Founding of 1922
          37        Will of 1944
    38    Women's Christian Temperance Union 1895
   39 Scrapbook n.d.
3  40 Scrapbook (photocopy) n.d.
     41 Scrapbook n.d.
    42 Scrapbook n.d.
       43 Sound Recordings n.d.
     44 Waggoner, Calvin W. (uncle and business partner of
     Norman A. Riggins)		 1895-1906 scattered
       45 Waggoner, Margaret (wife of Calvin Waggoner):  Will 1906
     46 Miscellaneous 1885-1979 scattered
     47 Miscellaneous n.d.

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