Correspondence between General John Smith and Robert Mills, 1802-1812

The Richard X. Evans Collection consists of family papers of or relating to the Smith, Mills, Dimitry, and Evans families. The bulk of the earliest material deals with the professional and private life of Robert Mills (1781-1855), who was State Engineer and Architect of South Carolina (1820-1830), Architect of Public Buildings of the United States (1836-1851), and designer of many houses and monuments, among them the Washington monuments of Baltimore and the District of Columbia. Alexander Dimitry (1805-1883) is the subject of the second major group of family records.

Consisting of 7 boxes of approximately 3.5 linear feet in length, the collection contains correspondence, printed ephemera, official documents, photographs, autographs, newspaper clippings, and various other items. Its usefulness will be most readily apparent to genealogists, although there is much of broader historical value and interest to be found in the collection as well. The areas that might yield the most in terms of quantity of documents are Robert Mills' endeavors with regard to the Baltimore and D.C. Washington monuments; Alexander Dimitry's term as Minister in Managua; and Thomas dabney Dimitry's (1850-193?) activities as an officer of the Sons of the American Revolution. There are also some letters and articles of Charles Patton Dimitry (1837-1910). The remainder of the material in this collection consists of papers of various of Alexander Dimitry's 10 children; principally Thomas Dabney Dimitry (1850-193?). Finally, there is a wealth of genealogical material relating to the Mills, Dimitry, and Evans families, mostly compiled by Richard X. Evans.