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SUMMARY

BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL NOTE

Alfred Grima Johnson was born June 5, 1919 in New York City to Bradish Gaillard Johnson III and Emma Marie Grima Johnson, both of whom descended from prominent New Orleans families. Johnson attended Harvard and after graduation served in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, earning several decorations from the American, British, and French governments. After the war Johnson completed a law degree from Louisiana State University. In 1948 he joined the Central Intelligence Agency, holding overseas assignment in Germany, Algeria, Vietnam, and Madagascar until his retirement in 1970. Johnson spent the remainder of his life in Charles County, Virginia, restoring the historic estate Branitan. He also restored his family’s ancestral home in New Orleans, the Hermann-Grima house. Johnson died October 29, 2008.

During his later years Johnson was involved in family history research and genealogical studies of several ancestral lines including the Grima, Montegut, Pitot, Pugh, and Foley families. The earliest member of the Grima family in Louisiana, Albert Xavier Grima, arrived in 1780 from Malta. His son, Felix Grima, was born in New Orleans in 1798 and went on to become a noted attorney and jurist. He married Adelaide Montegut, who was the daughter of Dr. Joseph Montegut, a prominent physician and politician in New Orleans. Felix and Adelaide Grima had five children, one of whom was Alfred Grima, who married Emma Cameron Pugh in 1882. Their daughter, Emma Marie Grima, married Bradish Johnson III in 1911. The Foley family branches out from Emma Cameron Pugh’s father Thomas Pugh who married Elizabeth Catherine Foley 1825. The Pitot family is connected through Adelaide Montegut’s sister, Rosa, who married Armand Pitot in 1888.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The Alfred Grima Johnson Family Papers consist of records assembled by Alfred Grima Johnson pertaining to his ancestors in the Grima, Montegut, Pitot, Pugh, and Foley families of France, Malta, and South Louisiana from the early nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. The records include correspondence, financial and legal documents, photographs, and other items accumulated specifically for genealogical study. These include family trees, historical reports and publications, and transactional records detailing family births, marriages, deaths, and business interests. The collection includes records in both English and French.

LIST OF SERIES AND SUBSERIES

Series I. Grima Family, 1805-2000

Subseries 1. Correspondence, 1864-1932

Subseries 2. Financial and Legal Records, 1805-1906

Subseries 3. Grima Family History, 1824-2000

Series II. Genealogical Materials, 1805-2001

Subseries 1. Montegut-Pitot Family, 1847-1996

Subseries 2. Foley Family, 1805-2001

Subseries 3. Pugh Family, 1852-2000

DESCRIPTION OF SERIES AND SUBSERIES

Series I. Grima Family, 1805-2000

The Grima Family series primarily consists of records pertaining to the immediate and extended family of Alfred Grima and Emma Pugh Grima. Most of the records are original items spanning the years 1814 to 2000, however several copies or transcripts of documents and translations from French to English are also present. The original correspondence, financial and legal records, and genealogical materials are written in both English and French. The series is divided into four subseries: Correspondence, Transcripts of Correspondence, Financial and Legal Records, Genealogical Materials, and Photographs.

Subseries 1. Correspondence, 1864-1932

The Correspondence includes letters, postcards, and other written communications between Alfred and Emma Pugh Grima and family relatives and associates. The earliest correspondence (1864-1865) is between Emma Pugh and her immediate family and includes several references to the Civil War. In a letter dated May 19, 1864, Emma writes to her mother, “I am sorry the Confederates took Stonewall as I wish so much to have been at home when they came there.” Later records detail the courtship between Emma and Alfred Grima, including several undated notes and love poems, and a letter dated March 1, 1882 from Alfred to Emma’s father, Walter Pugh, asking for permission to marry her. Other items of note include a menu from a Baton Rouge eatery (1896) and a wedding invitation for Emma Marie Grima and Bradish Gaillard Johnson (1911).

Subseries 2. Financial and Legal Records, 1805-1919

This subseries consists of receipts, notes, certificates, titles, and other official documents detailing the finances, assets, real estate, and other business and professional interests of the Grima family from 1814 to 1906. Of note are a certificate appointing Felix Grima as Notary Public of the Parish of Orleans (1865), deposit and registration records for the sale of a New Orleans property on Carondelet Street by Alfred Grima to Edgar Grima (1888), the succession records of Alfred Grima in 1891 and Marie Grima in 1919, and several documents pertaining to the restoration and general upkeep of the Grima and Pitot family tombs in New Orleans.

Subseries 3. Grima Family History, 1824-2000

This subseries consists mainly of transcripts, research notes, family trees, correspondence, photographs, and other documents pertaining to early Grima family ancestors and family members’ involvement in the Civil War and World War I. The Civil War-era items include handwritten notes and of letters between Alfred Grima (b. 1838), his parents, siblings, and other relatives from August 29, 1863 to March 24, 1865. The World War I era items include transcripts of letters from Alfred Grima (b. 1885) to his wife, mother, aunt, and two uncles from

March 10, 1918 to October 13, 1918. (Note: The original letters are housed in the Alfred Grima Papers, Mss. 816.)

The early ancestry materials pertain mostly to Felix and Barthelemey Grima, and includes a letter from 1824, a copy of a legal document from 1847, copies of written histories about the Grima family, and other research items accumulated and created by Alfred Grima Johnson. Also included is a family tree on blueprint paper (1935) tracing the Grima family lineage to Malta in the early eighteenth century and highlighting their connections to the Montegut and Pitot families. In addition, the Grima Family series includes several undated photographs and photographic prints of Albert Xavier Grima, Maria Ann Filiosa Grima, Paul Grima, Felix Grima, and Emma Grima.

Series II. Genealogical Materials

This series consists of correspondence, research notes, photographs, and other records documenting the Montegut, Pitot, Foley, and Pugh family ancestry of the Grima family. The materials in this series were compiled by Alfred Grima Johnson and include notes and correspondence relating to his genealogical studies.

Subseries 1. Montegut-Pitot Family, 1847-1996

This subseries consists of records pertaining to the family of Dr. Joseph Montegut and Francois de Lille Dupart Montegut. It includes correspondence, newspaper clippings, family trees and notes of varying age with historical information on family members and descendants. Of note is a letter from Gabriel Montegut to Adelaide Le Gardeur dated April 20, 1920 that discusses notable Montegut descendants in France and Louisiana. The subseries also includes undated portrait photographs of Montegut and Pitot family members.

Subseries 2. Foley Family, 1805-2001

This subseries consists of records pertaining to the family of John and Alice Foley. It includes notes, correspondence, original and copied historical documents, photographs, and other items gathered by Alfred Grima Johnson. Of note is a family history report from 1995 that traces the Foley ancestry beyond their arrival in Louisiana in 1803. The subseries also includes several Foley family portrait photographs and wax seals bearing the Foley family crest.

Subseries 3. Pugh Family, 1852-2000

This subseries consists of correspondence, notes, research materials, photographs, and other documents related to the Thomas and Elizabeth Foley Pugh family. It includes a copy of Thomas Pugh’s will from 1852, materials related to succession of Robert Pugh estate (1937-1942), and a genealogical report on that traces the Pugh family to 1666. The photographs include portraits of Thomas and Elizabeth Pugh, Alice Pugh, Llewellyn Pugh, and Sallie Cameron.

INDEX TERMS

Materials relating to these people, places, and things can be found in the series indicated, as represented by their numbers.

CONTAINER LIST