STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI-RESEARCH CENTER ST. LOUIS
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS

s0824 RANNELLS FAMILY PAPERS, ADDENDA 1836-1897
36 FOLDERS


Related collection: s0786 Rannells Family Papers

PROVENANCE

Accession “#2009-037:  Elise Rannells Todd made a second donation of family papers to the Western Historical Manuscript Collection in October 2009, expanding the written record of the lives of her great-grandfather Charles Rannells, his wife Mary Warder Rannells, and other members of their families.

BIOGRAPHY

Attorney Rannells, who arrived in St. Louis in 1841, was a prominent participant in local business and political communities during a period of exponential growth for the region. He found friends among the city’s elite, shared in its prosperity, served in the state legislature and constructed a network of legal and social connections that extended across the country.

By 1846, Rannells had also begun to invest in real estate, purchasing large tracts of land across St. Louis County. He and his wife Mary, member of a prominent Springfield, Ohio, family, built a substantial house around 1850 on a 320-acre farm in what is now the St. Louis suburb of Maplewood. They had three children who survived to adulthood: Elizabeth, Edward, and John.

Health problems cut Charles Rannells' successful career short in the mid 1860s. A court-appointed trustee handled his financial affairs on behalf of Mary Rannells and their children for the rest of Charles’ life.   After Charles Rannells’ death in 1877, his son Edward (then in his early twenties), daughter Elizabeth and her husband Howard Brown continued to live in the family home with their mother, who died in 1896. Edward W. Rannells (1854-1920), also dealt in real estate and practiced law; he served as an associate judge of the St. Louis County Court. The younger brother, John W. Rannells, moved out of the St. Louis area after his marriage.  

SCOPE AND CONTENT

This collection includes approximately 1.0 cubic foot of correspondence, household receipts and other documents. Most of the business correspondence and land records included in this accession were interfiled with the first Rannells collection (sl786), which contains records of the legal and real estate careers of Charles Rannells and his son Edward. 

This collection contains personal correspondence of Charles Rannells, his wife Mary Warder Rannells, his mother-in-law Ann Aston Warder, and other members of both families, along with a few family-related business records.  The papers are organized into three groupings.Approximately one-half of the correspondence is that of Charles Rannells. Business-related documents include letters and records regarding the "hiring out" of slaves apparently owned by the family, legal work done for the Philipson family of St. Louis and papers regarding the Rannells trusteeship . Personal correspondence includes letters written to his wife during an extended family visit in 1863 and a number written while he was under treatment in a sanitoriums in Pennsylvania.

The second grouping contains correspondence both to and from Mary Rannells' mother, Ann Aston Warder (1786-1871), a prominent Ohio Quaker and participant in the Underground Railroad in her community. One series of particular interest is between Warder and Joseph Philipson, a St. Louis businessman and art collector. Last are papers belonging to Mary Rannells. These include a number of letters from family and friends written before her marriage, letters she wrote to members of her family, personal expenditures in her later life and documents related to the settlement of her estate.

COPYRIGHT AND RESTRICTIONS

There are no copyright issues with this collection.

PREFERRED CITATION

From the sl 824, Rannells Family Papers Addenda collection at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection--University of Missouri - St. Louis

CONTACT INFORMATION

Western Historical Manuscript Collection
222 Thomas Jefferson Library
University of Missouri-St. Louis
1 University Blvd.
St. Louis, MO  63121

(314) 516-5143
whmc@umsl.edu

INVENTORY

FOLDER LIST

Box 1: 

  1. Business correspondence, slavery, 1840s
  2. Records, slavery, “hiring out” of Rannells slaves
  3. Legal documents, Philipson family, 1836-1844
  4. Correspondence, Charles S. Rannells, miscellaneous, 1858-1864
  5. Court summons, Renick guardianship, 1866-67
  6. Correspondence, Charles Rannells to Mary Warder Rannells, 1863
  7. Correspondence, Charles S. Rannells to Mary Warder Rannells, 1868
  8. Correspondence, David Vance Rannells
  9. Correspondence, Nathan Rannells
  10. Correspondence, Rannells cousins
  11. Correspondence, Clarkson cousins to Charles S. Rannells
  12. Correspondence, Ann Aston Warder to Charles S. Rannells
  13. Correspondence, Benjamin Warder to Charles S. Rannells
  14. Correspondence, George Warder to Charles S. Rannells
  15. Correspondence, Jeremiah Warder to Charles S. Rannells
  16. Correspondence, John A. Warder to Charles S. Rannells
  17. Correspondence, William Warder to Charles S. Rannells
  18. Correspondence, Ann Aston Warder from family members
  19. Correspondence,  Ann Aston Warder to family members

 

Box 2:

  1. Correspondence,  Ann Aston Warder to Joseph Philipson & others re paintings
  2. Correspondence, Joseph Philipson to Ann Aston Warder
  3. Correspondence,  Ann Aston Warder to friends
  4. Correspondence,  Ann Aston Warder with J.J. Gurney
  5. Ann Aston Warder, miscellaneous papers
  6. Correspondence to Mary Warder (Rannells) before marriage
  7. Correspondence,  Mary W. Rannells to Warder family member
  8. Correspondence,  Mary W. Rannells from Warder family members
  9. School reports for children, 1860s and 1870s
  10. Cancelled checks and receipts, Mary W. Rannells, 1883-1895
  11. Cancelled checks and receipts, Mary W. Rannells, 1890s
  12. Correspondence, Edward (Ned) Rannells to Mary W. Rannells
  13. Records & correspondence, Mary Warder Rannells estate
  14. Probate records, St. Louis County, Mary W. Rannells, 1896-97
  15. Almanacs, 1874 and 1875
    16. 35. Joseph Phillipson legal work