The Sappington-Marmaduke Family Papers are a combined collection of the papers of Dr. John Sappington and M.M. Marmaduke. They consist of correspondence, circulars, deeds, ferry licenses, bills of sale, receipts, land surveys, commissions, and account books. The Correspondence Series contains personal correspondence relating to family affairs, local news, Missouri politics, and business correspondence regarding Dr. Sappington’s fever pill business and Marmaduke’s mercantile and Santa Fe trade businesses. The collection contains correspondence to and from many individuals who are significant in Missouri history. Among the correspondents are Edward Bates, Thomas Hart Benton, Lilburn W. Boggs, William Clark, John Edwards, Seth Hardeman, Claiborne Fox Jackson, John Marmaduke, George Penn, and Thomas Reynolds. [Note: Dr. John Sappington of Arrow Rock, Missouri, should not be confused with John Sappington of Sappington, Missouri, whose papers are included in the Hawken-Sappington Family Papers.] The Correspondence Series contains numerous documents relating to the family's slave holdings. Slaves owned by the Sappington and Marmaduke families are often mentioned by name. Numerous slave deeds and bills of sale exist throughout the collection. An 1821 copy of a county order establishing a slave patrol to police county roads and punish slaves caught out after 8 p.m. is among the items dealing with slavery. Slavery is also mentioned in a political context in M.M. Marmaduke’s correspondence with various Missouri political figures. The Correspondence Series contains manuscripts, receipts, orders, advertising circulars, business correspondence, and other material relating to Dr. Sappington’s fever pills and the 1844 edition of his book The Theory and Treatment of Fevers. A copy of the manuscript “A Treatise on Fevers” is included in a bound volume. Letters to and from sales agents in the Midwest and southern U.S. document the sales of the fever pills including discussions of prices and marketing. M.M. Marmaduke’s involvement in the Santa Fe trade is represented by correspondence with his partners Samuel McClure and John Lucas. Among the items referring to the Santa Fe trade are Marmaduke’s letters to and from William Clark, superintendent of Indian affairs, regarding items stolen from Marmaduke and his partners by the Osage Indians. The correspondence also contains details about trips to Santa Fe and Mexico. The collection largely documents M.M. Marmaduke’s involvement in Democratic politics in Missouri. Correspondence and circulars concerning political issues in Missouri from approximately 1830 to 1860 are represented in Marmaduke’s papers. Information in the collection relates to Marmaduke’s 1840 election to the office of lieutenant governor of Missouri, his political battles with anti-Benton Democrats, recommendations for political appointments, Marmaduke’s ascension to the office of governor upon the suicide of Governor Thomas Reynolds in 1844, and his involvement in the state constitutional convention in 1847. Correspondence and other papers relating to the life of Confederate Brigadier General John Sappington Marmaduke, son of M.M. Marmaduke, include John Marmaduke’s grade cards from the U.S. Military Academy, letters to his friends while serving in the U.S. Army, Civil War military correspondence, and some postwar items. The last folder in the Correspondence Series contains newspaper clippings of articles that relate to the history of the Sappington and Marmaduke homes, Sappington family history, and various events in the history of the Boonslick and/or Little Dixie region of Missouri written by Charles Van Ravenswaay. The Accounts Series contains two boxes of receipts, memorandum books, bills, bills of sale, account books, ledgers, and other business account items. This series primarily documents the business activities of E.D. Sappington & Company and the firms of Marmaduke and Sappington and Pearson and Sappington. Information relating to the sales of Dr. Sappington’s fever pills is contained in this series. The ledgers and daybooks of E.D. Sappington and Company, a grocery store, are included in this series. The books contain information on the store’s operation from 1829-1845. Three volumes of the general merchandise business of Marmaduke and Company and Marmaduke and Sappington Company of St. Helena and Jonesboro, Missouri, detail the businesses’ operations from 1832 to 1836.