About the Collection
In 1868, a number of families from former Confederate states in the South fled the Reconstruction policies for Brazil. The family of Colonel William H. Norris was the first to arrive from Alabama. His son Robert C. Norris and daughter-in-law Martha Temperance [Patti] Steagall as well as his own daughter Angela Norris accompanied the Colonel.
This collection contains correspondence from the Norris family [1861-1909] and John R. Buford [1862-1876] as well as early Southern Methodist-Episcopal Mission Reports about the Confederados community [c. 1867-1874], and memoirs of some of the descendants [1970s-1988]. Transcripts are provided for all but the letters written in old Portuguese.