By Kenneth M. Stampp, Professor Emeritus, University of California at Berkeley
The impact of the ante-bellum southern plantations on the lives of their black and white inhabitants, as well as on the political, economic, and cultural life of the South as a whole, is one of the most fascinating and controversial problems of present-day American historical research. Depending upon the labor of slaves who constituted the great majority of the American black population, the plantations were both homes and business enterprises for a white, southern elite. They were the largest, the most commercialized, and on the whole, the most efficient and specialized agricultural enterprises of their day, producing the bulk of the South's staple crops of tobacco, cotton, sugar, rice, and hemp. Their proprietors were entrepreneurs who aspired to and sometimes, after a generation or two, achieved the status of a cultivated landed aristocracy. Many distinguished themselves not only in agriculture but in the professions, in the military, in government service, and in scientific and cultural endeavors.
Planters ambitious to augment their wealth, together with their black slaves, were an important driving force in the economic and political development of new territories and states in the Southwest. Their commodities accounted for more than half the nation's exports, and the plantations themselves were important markets for the products of northern industry. In short, they played a crucial role in the development of a national market economy.
The plantations of the Old South, the white families who owned, operated, and lived on them, and the blacks who toiled on them as slaves for more than two centuries have been the subjects of numerous historical studies since the pioneering work of Ulrich B. Phillips in the early twentieth century. The literature, highly controversial, has focused on questions such as the evolution and nature of the planter class and its role in shaping the white South's economy, culture, and values; the conditions experienced by American blacks in slavery; the impact of the "peculiar institution" on their personalities and the degree to which a distinct Afro-American culture developed among them; and, finally, the sources of the tension between the proslavery interests of the South and the "free labor" interests of the North that culminated in secession and civil war.
Research materials are plentiful. Census returns and other government documents, newspapers and periodicals, travelers' accounts, memoirs and autobiographies, and an abundance of polemical literature have much to tell historians about life on ante-bellum plantations. The autobiographies of former slaves, several twentieth-century oral history collections, and a rich record of songs and folklore are significant sources for the black experience in slavery. All the historical literature, however, from Phillips to the most recent studies, has relied heavily on the enormous collections of manuscript plantation records that survive in research libraries scattered throughout the South. These manuscripts consist of business records, account books, slave lists, overseers' reports, diaries, private letters exchanged among family members and friends, and even an occasional letter written by a literate slave. They come mostly from the larger tobacco, cotton, sugar, and rice plantations, but a significant number survive from the more modest estates and smaller slaveholdings whose economic operations tended to be less specialized.
Plantation records reveal nearly every aspect of plantation life. Not only business operations and day-to-day labor routines, but family affairs, the roles of women, racial attitudes, relations between masters and slaves, social and cultural life, the values shared by members of the planter class, and the tensions and anxieties that were inseparable from a slave society are all revealed with a fullness and candor unmatched by any of the other available sources. Moreover, these records are immensely valuable for studies of black slavery. Needless to say, since they were compiled by members of the white master class, they provide little direct evidence of the inner feelings and private lives of the slave population. But they are the best sources of information about the care and treatment of slaves, about problems in the management of slave labor, and about forms of slave resistance short of open rebellion. They also tell us much about the behavior of slaves, from which historians can at least draw inferences about the impact of slavery on the minds and personalities of its black victims.
Deposited in southern state archives and in the libraries of many southern universities and historical societies, the number of available plantation records has increased significantly in recent decades. Our publication is designed to assist scholars in their use by offering for the first time an ample selection of the most important materials in a single microfilm collection. Ultimately it will cover each geographical area in which the plantation flourished, with additions of approximately four new collections annually. A special effort is being made to offer the rarer records of the smaller slaveholders and to include the equally rare records of the plantations in the last quarter of the eighteenth century; however, the documentation is most abundant for the operations of the larger plantations in the period between the War of 1812 and the Civil War, and their records will constitute the bulk of our publication.
The collections microfilmed in this edition are holdings of the Southern Historical Collection, Manuscripts Department, Academic Affairs Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599. The descriptions of the collections provided in this user guide are adapted from inventories compiled by the Southern Historical Collection. The inventories are included among the introductory materials on the microfilm.
Historical maps, microfilmed among the introductory materials, are courtesy of the Map Collection of the Academic Affairs Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Maps consulted include:
Thomas G. Bradford, Comprehensive Atlas, 1835;
Thomas Cowperthwait & Co., "A New Map of California, the Territories
of Oregon, Washington, Utah & New Mexico," 1851; and
S. Augustus Mitchell, "A New Map of Alabama," 1847.
The Reel Index for this edition provides the user with a précis of each collection. Each précis gives information on family history and many business and personal activities documented in the collection. Omissions from the microfilm edition are noted in the précis and on the microfilm. Descriptions of omitted materials are included in the introductory materials on the microfilm.
Following the précis, the Reel Index itemizes each file folder and manuscript volume. The four-digit number to the left of each entry indicates the frame number at which a particular document or series of documents begins.
Description of the Collection
This collection documents the life and work of Charles William Dabney
(1855-1945) and provides considerable documentation for four generations of
Dabney ancestors. There are letters, business papers, account books, and
related papers for several Dabneys, especially William Dabney (1718-1776);
Charles Dabney (1745-1829); Charles William Dabney (1786-1833); Charles William
Dabney (1809-1895); Robert Lewis Dabney (1920-1898); Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney
(1823-1905); James Morrison (fl.1817-1865); and Mary Chilton (Brent) Dabney
(1861-1925).
The papers of Robert Lewis Dabney concern Presbyterian church matters (including correspondence with fellow clergyman Benjamin Mosby Smith); Hampden-Sydney College and the Union Theological Seminary near Farmville, Virginia; Civil War service with the staff of Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson; Dabney's materials and drafts of his Life and Campaigns of Lt. Gen'l T. J. Jackson ("Stonewall Jackson"); travel; and family affairs.
Papers of Robert Lewis Dabney's son, Charles William Dabney (1855-1945), include extensive correspondence concerned with work of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the advancement of scientific, technical, agricultural and general education, his education in Virginia and Germany, and his presidencies of the University of Tennessee (1887-1904) and the University of Cincinnati (1904-1920); personal correspondence with family members; drafts of memoirs and addresses; genealogical information; and pictures.
The collection is arranged as follows: Series 1. Correspondence and Business Papers, 1715-1945 and undated--Subseries 1.1. 1716-1833, Subseries 1.2. 1834-1860, Subseries 1.3. 1861-1865, Subseries 1.4. 1866-1902 [not included], Subseries 1.5. 1903-1945 [not included], and Subseries 1.6. Undated (ca.1866-1945) [not included]; Series 2. Additional Family Letters, 1872-1945 and undated [not included]; Series 3. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson Research Materials [not included]; Series 4. Memoirs of Charles William Dabney (drafts) [not included]; Series 5. Other Loose Papers [not included]; Series 6. Volumes--Subseries 6.1. Volumes 1-20, 1744-1801, Subseries 6.2. Volumes 21-24, 1817-1850, and Subseries 6.3. Volumes 25-33, 1878-1940 and undated (post-1865) [not included]; and Series 7. Pictures [not included].
Biographical Note
The following is a chronology of the life of Charles William Dabney
(1855-1945):
1855 Born, son of Robert Lewis Dabney and Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney.
1873 B.A. from Hampden-Sydney College at Farmville, Virginia.
1874-1877 Attended the University of Virginia at Charlottesville.
1877-1878 Taught chemistry at Emory and Henry College, Emory, Virginia.
1877-1878 Earned Ph.D. at Berlin and Gottingen, Germany.
1880-1887 Director of North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station and state chemist of North Carolina.
1880-1881 Taught chemistry at the University of North Carolina.
1881 Married Mary Brent of Paris, Kentucky.
1883-1884 In charge of government and state exhibits at New Orleans exposition.
1887-1904 President of the University of Tennessee.
1887-1890 Director of Tennessee Experiment Station.
1893-1896 Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
1897 Special agent, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
1902-1904 Head of "Summer School of the South," at Knoxville, Tennessee.
1904-1920 President of the University of Cincinnati.
1920-1945 Retired educator and scientist, active writer. Universal Education in the South (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1936).
Robert Lewis Dabney (1820-1898) was a Presbyterian clergyman and teacher and was associated with Hampden-Sydney College and with the Union Seminary of Virginia at Farmville, Virginia, from 1836 to 1837, 1844, and from 1853 to 1883. He married Lavinia Morrison (1828-1908) in 1855, and together they had several children. During the Civil War he served with the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, first as a chaplain with the 18th Virginia Infantry Regiment in 1861, then as an officer on the staff of Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson in 1862. After Jackson's death in 1863, Dabney wrote a biography of the general entitled Life and Campaigns of Lt. Gen'l. T. J. Jackson ("Stonewall Jackson") (1866), and other works as well. A biographical essay on Robert Lewis Dabney can be found in the Dictionary of American Biography. He was the son of Charles William Dabney (1786-1833) and Elizabeth (Price) Dabney and the brother of Charles William Dabney (1809-1895), who served during the Civil War, in 1861 and 1862, as the captain of Company C, 15th Virginia Infantry Regiment.
Charles William Dabney (1786-1833) was the son of Samuel Dabney and Jane (Meriwether) Dabney. Samuel Dabney was the son of William Dabney (born before 1708, died ca. 1773) and Anne (Barret) Dabney. Anne (Barret) Dabney was the daughter of Charles Barret and Mary (Chiswell) Barret. William Dabney was the son of George Dabney, and the grandson of Cornelius Dabney who probably came to New Kent County, Virginia, about 1649. Charles Dabney (1745-1829), a son of William Dabney, served as an officer during the American Revolution in the 2nd Virginia State Regiment.
Related Morrison family members mentioned in these papers include clergyman James Morrison (fl.1817-1865), father of Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney and Henry Rutherford Morrison (who served during the Civil War in the 31st Virginia Militia until his death in 1864); Mary Anna (Morrison) Jackson (1831-1915), born near Charlotte, North Carolina, who married Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson in 1857; and Mary Moore (Morrison) Smith, who married clergyman Benjamin Mosby Smith (1811-1893) in 1839.
Series 1. Correspondence and Business Papers (1716-1945 and undated)
Subseries 1.1. (1716-1833 and undated) The earliest papers
are deeds and wills of members of the Dabney family. Papers of William Dabney
of Hanover County, Virginia, begin with 1745; they begin to overlap in the
1760s with the papers of his son Charles. The papers for the rest of the
eighteenth century are those of Charles Dabney of Hanover, his brothers George,
Robert, and Samuel and his sister Susanna, of Hanover and Louisa counties.
There is a deed of release, dated 11 October 1716, granted to George Dabney at King William County, from George Alves at New Kent County, with bond (fragment and photostat of missing part). There is George Dabney's patent to 400 acres in Hanover County, dated 9 July 1724. There is George Dabney's will, dated 24 October 1729, naming sons, daughters, grandchildren (William, Susannah, Sarah, Judith, and George Dabney, Mary Pettus, and Mrs. Anderson) and property. There is a memorandum, dated 3 December 1741, of the will of Mary Barret (grandmother of George and William Dabney?). There is a letter dated 26 April 1743 from a London shipper to Esther Chiswell at Robert Barrett's, York River, Virginia, discussing mostly business matters.
Papers for the years 1746 to 1750 are chiefly those related to William Dabney at Hanover County, Virginia, as executor of the estates of Mrs. Esther Chiswell, George Dabney, and Major Morris. There are numerous accounts and receipts. There are also receipts from George Anderson, grandson of George Dabney, and various scattered bills and memoranda. There are receipts for slaves dated 13 January and 27 November 1746. There is a letter dated 2 July 1749 from William Dabney to Esther Chiswell (location not given) about shipping her tobacco and sowing oats.
Items from the 1750s include miscellaneous business papers of William Dabney, including correspondence with Morgan, Thomas, & Co. of Bristol about tobacco and merchandise accounts. There are also various papers of William Dabney concerning the affairs of Esther Chiswell and Edward Ambler. There is additional correspondence with other Bristol shippers and also James Gildart of Liverpool, including itemized lists of general merchandise sent out to William Dabney and tobacco received from him. There are miscellaneous items involving Stephen Pettus, Peter Randolph, an unnamed blacksmith, William Dudley, Robert Jennings, John Wright, Charles Crenshaw, Peter Mason, William Winston, Jr., John Price, estates of William Morris and Henry Robinson, and others, referring mainly to business matters. There is a document, dated 6 March 1755, assigning William Dudley to be keeper of the Hanover County, Virginia, gaol under sheriff William Dabney. There is a list, dated 12 February 1755, of slaves and supplies "sent to Indian Creek" plantation. There is a letter, dated 16 April 1756, from William Winston, Jr. about paying a note (more about this in items dated April 1765). In a letter dated 28 November 1756 to William Dabney, Edward Ambler wrote mostly about hogs, tobacco, and other matters of business. In a letter dated 5 March 1759, Dudley Digges, Jr. at York County, Virginia, wrote to William Dabney about hogs, horses, and tobacco, and about supplies needed. In a letter dated 28 May 1759, Edward Ambler wrote to William Dabney about a shipment of salt for his plantation being imported by Ambler that he wanted Dabney to store for him.
Items from the 1760s consist mostly of business papers of William Dabney involving English firms, Virginia customers, and ships and their captains. There are numerous accounts, invoices, letters, bonds, notes, receipts, and memoranda.
There is an invoice, dated 31 March 1760, of a shipment from London consigned to Edward Ambler. In a letter dated 29 May 1760, Edward Ambler wrote to William Dabney mostly about plantation matters--the Mill Dam, summer work, Ambler's account with Dabney, ruined tobacco, and the purchase of a slave from a Guinea ship on the James River. In a letter dated 14 October 1760, Patrick Henry, Jr. wrote to William Dabney about transferring a note to Richard Ambler. Samuel Gildart at Liverpool wrote, in a letter dated 20 March 1761, to William Dabney about his shipping accounts and the dull tobacco market caused by Virginia vessels bound for London being diverted to France. There is a 1762 account of William Dabney with Johnson & Boswell, a detailed bill for merchandise showing amounts and prices. There is a letter dated 18 February 1762, from Edward Ambler to William Dabney discussing various business matters such as a land sale, an estate settlement, supplies, and tobacco. There is a bond, dated 20 February 1762, of William Dickenson to William Dabney and others to build a bridge over Taylors Creek for use of Hanover County residents. There are itemized accounts of William Dabney, 1763-1765, and correspondence with his English suppliers and Virginia customers. There are also a number of miscellaneous memoranda.
There are letters to William Dabney, dated 1765 to 1767, from Richard Ambler, James Buchanon & Co. of London, Edward Ambler (York and James Town, Virginia), and accounts, dealing mostly with business and merchandise. There are invoices of shipments of general merchandise from Farell & Jones of Bristol and James Gildart of Liverpool. There is an agreement of sale, dated 22 March 1766, of 800 acres in Louisa County, Virginia, by William Phillips to Edward Ambler of York County, through William Dabney of Hanover County.
In a letter dated 11 November 1766, Dudley Digges, Jr. at Williamsburg, Virginia, wrote to William Dabney about an unpaid debt to Dabney, offering young slaves in settlement. In letters dated 20 January and 3 October 1767, Robert Carter Nicholas (1728-1780) at Williamsburg, Virginia, treasurer of the Virginia Colony, wrote to William Dabney, enclosing Dabney's account and informing him of his duty to prosecute collections for all arrears. Edward Ambler, possibly to Charles Dabney, wrote about the melancholy prospects for his plantations, his overseer troubles, and related matters (14 July and 7 December 1767). There is a list of slaves (ca.1768) born 1765-1768 on Edward Ambler's estate at plantations in Hanover County "since I took possession."
There are numerous papers of William Dabney and also of his son Charles, who apparently assumed increasing responsibility for his father's affairs: these include accounts, deeds, and receipts, but mainly letters and papers relating to the plantation affairs of Edward Ambler at James Town. There is a letter dated 15 December 1768 from Ambler's widow, Mary, about her late husband's business. There are some items relating to William and Charles Dabney and their business transactions with George Bartlett and John Boswell. There are two letters, January and February 1769, from William Nelson at Yorktown, Virginia, to William Dabney about plantation matters being handled by Dabney and his son Charles.
In a letter dated 22 March 1769, Robert Carter Nicholas at Williamsburg, Virginia, requested William Dabney to appraise and inventory the Edward Ambler estate in Hanover and Louisa counties. There is a letter, dated 1 April 1769, from John Blair, Jr. and Mary Ambler to Charles Dabney at Taylor's Creek about the Ambler estate business in Dabney's hands and especially about a report from a slave of the cruelty of the present owner; there is also the draft of Dabney's reply in defense of the overseer. There are letters from April 1769 to William Dabney from George Dabney and Jane Dabney, mostly about health, weather, personal news, and business matters. There are also more miscellaneous accounts and receipts and memoranda on cash and crops. In a letter, dated 20 December 1769, Mary Ambler at James Town wrote to Charles Dabney about the business of transferring her hogs, beef, mutton, and slaves from Hanover to James Town.
Items from 1770 to 1775 include various business papers of Charles Dabney relating to plantation affairs, the Ambler estate, and the William Dabney estate; correspondence and accounts with British shippers; and miscellaneous accounts, receipts, and other scattered business papers.
In a letter dated 3 March 1770, William Morris wrote to Charles Dabney about the enclosed will of Esther Chiswell, by which Morris thought he had a claim to William Dabney's estate. There are other papers relating to the estate of William Dabney, including items of his widow Ann (Barret) Dabney, James Dabney, Joseph Dabney, and others, including accounts, receipts, and other business papers.
In a letter dated 4 February 1771, Mary Ambler wrote to Charles Dabney about sending the year's supply of baby clothes for slaves, and discussing other plantation matters. There are also letters from Thomas and Rowland Hunt of London and from Robert Carter Nicholas at Williamsburg, discussing mostly business matters.
There is a certificate, dated 17 June 1772, concerning the reward allowed for returning a runaway slave from the Ambler estate. There is an agreement, dated 21 August 1772, between Charles Dabney and Ancel Clarkson, that Clarkson would be overseer on a tobacco plantation of the Ambler estate on shares; there is another agreement, also dated 21 August 1772, with Charles Nicholls to be overseer on a different plantation. There are letters, dated 2 November and 27 December 1772, from Mrs. Ambler at Williamsburg to Charles Dabney, mostly about supplies for and the general welfare of her slaves.
For the year 1773 there are bills, receipts, and accounts for shoes, merchandise, blacksmith work, crops, and similar matters. There are bonds of Charles Dabney to Donald, Scot, & Co. of Glasgow, Scotland, and to William Nelson. In a letter dated 19 March 1773, Mary Ambler wrote to Charles Dabney mostly about her plantation. There is George Holland's physician's account for the years 1772 and 1773. In a letter of 25 August 1773, John Barret wrote to Charles Dabney, regretting he could not acquire a hammer for Dabney because of the scarcity of iron. In a letter dated 4 September 1773, Robert Carter Nicholas at Williamsburg, Virginia, asked Charles Dabney to investigate charges of cruelty which were brought against one of his overseers, noting that "few common overseers are to be trusted." In a letter dated 9 September 1773, George Clough at Rocky Mill, Virginia, wrote to Charles Dabney that he was taking in wheat. In a letter dated 16 September 1773, George Dabney, Jr. discussed how he was handling recently sawed lumber.
There are account statements, dated 1773 and 1774, for the Edward Ambler estate with John Syme at Rocky Mill. There are documents dated 19 January 1774, relating to the division of slaves from William Dabney's estate, agreed upon by the legitees: George, Charles, Susanna, Robert, and Samuel Dabney. There are various additional Dabney and Ambler estate papers such as receipts and business notes. There are business papers that were exchanged between the Dabneys and Charles Crenshaw and Robert Anderson in regard to the settling of the estate of William Dabney. In a letter dated 29 June 1774, Zachariah Stanley at Philadelphia wrote to a (Dabney?) friend; he mentioned smallpox in Yorktown, Virginia, a journey, and plans for farming. In a letter dated 1 November 1774, John Barrett at Richmond, Virginia, wrote to Charles Dabney mostly about merchandise and also his wife's illness. In notes dated 17 November 1774 and 20 December 1774, Thomas Hinds advised [the Dabneys?] about the ulcerated throat of "Ben." There are physicians accounts, 1774-1775, including Dr. George Holland's bill to Robert Dabney for treatment of the Ambler slaves. There is an account statement of Samuel Dabney with Spevis Bowman & Co., for dealing with Robert Burton.
For the years 1776 to 1783, there are military papers of Charles Dabney in his capacity as an officer in the 2nd Virginia State Regiment (infantry); also letters to him from his brother George Dabney; and miscellaneous business papers.
There are papers dated 1777 and 1778 relating to the 2nd Virginia, including notes about provisions and pay statements. In a letter dated 4 March 1776, Harry Tompkins requested from Charles Dabney a list of Dabney's men who took the oath of allegiance. There are payroll statements of Charles Dabney's company of minute men. [A number of these items are photoprints only, of originals which are apparently deposited in the Virginia Historical Society Library.]
There is a contract, dated 22 February 1778, between Charles Dabney and John Hogan, waggoner, for one year. There are letters, dated 22 July and 24 October 1778, from George Dabney at Hanover, Virginia, to Charles Dabney, lieutenant colonel, 2nd Virginia Battalion, discussing home news, health of family members, rumors of French aid, prospects for corn and other plantation matters.
There are additional military reports and papers from 1779 and more letters from George Dabney at Hanover to Charles Dabney, mentioning affairs at home, such as mounting prices and increasing scarcities, taxes, crops, and Anne Dabney's cancer. In a letter dated 21 April 1779, Samuel Dabney at Cub Creek, Louisa County, wrote to Charles Dabney mostly about family and personal matters. In a letter, dated 21 April 1779, Robert Morris wrote to Charles Dabney, mostly about the waggoning business they were mutually engaged in. In a letter, dated 4 August 1779, George Dabney wrote to Charles Dabney, mentioning the legislature's attempt to regulate inflationary prices. There is the will of Anne Dabney, dated 20 December 1779.
There is a land patent (photostat only) dated 3 March 1780, to Charles Dabney for a tract in Nelson County, Virginia. Additional material includes a blacksmith's bill and a deed. In a letter dated 22 February 1780, John Overton wrote to Charles Dabney about the organization of the two Virginia state regiments.
There is a photoprint of a letter dated 7 July 1781, from the Marquis de Lafayette, giving his account of recent action and directions for future action. There is a photoprint of a memorandum of the articles of capitulation of Charles Earl Cornwallis; also of a dinner invitation to Charles Dabney from George Washington. There are photoprints of other military papers relating to supplies and troops, as well.
For 1782, there are photoprints of military papers of Charles Dabney at Yorktown, Portsmouth, and Richmond, Virginia, chiefly relating to quartermaster business. There are communications with Alexander Dick, John Hudson, and others, mostly about business. There is Charles Dabney's financial account, 1775-1783, with John Barret, settled in 1791.
Materials from the period 1783 to 1800 include correspondence and business papers of Charles Dabney and, to some extent, of his brothers George, Robert, and Samuel Dabney, his sister Susanna Dabney, and his mother Anne Dabney. These are largely concerned with the acquisition and surveying of Kentucky lands granted as military bounties to Virginians serving in the Revolutionary army; general accounts with John Barret, Fenwick & Dabney, Puckett, Pollard & Johnston, and Micajah Crew; numerous notes and bonds and arrangements for exchanging them, paying them, and renewing them; the settling of estates; and miscellaneous deeds for lands and slaves, and bills and receipts.
There is a bond dated 22 July 1783 from Charles Dabney to John Syme at Hanover County, Virginia. In a letter (photostat) dated 21 October 1783, J. Hudson at Richmond wrote to an unidentified person about a business deal involving the disposition of a ship--timber and coals. There is a bill of sale, dated 6 December 1783, for a slave sold by William Phillips to Charles Dabney. There is an account dated 17 December 1783 of Charles Dabney with John Barret & Co. at Richmond.
There is a bond dated 1784 of George, Charles, Robert, and Samuel Dabney to Samuel Nicholas. There are true copies of certificates relating to certain tracts, and Charles Dabney's military warrants.
There are bonds dated 1785 involving Charles and George Dabney, with Benjamin Forsythe, Wilson Miles Carey, and George Potter. There are several letters to Charles Dabney from his surveyors at Louisville and Danville, Kentucky, reporting on their activities in connection with surveying lands on the Cumberland River.
There are also additional business papers dated 1786 and 1787, including receipts, memoranda, and general merchandise accounts. In a letter dated 11 January 1787, a Mr. Mitchell wrote to Samuel Dabney about beef and news of a recent destructive fire in Richmond. There is a receipt, dated 5 July 1787, of Charles Dabney, for taxes and other accounts with the sheriff.
In a letter dated 3 April 1788, Samuel Nuckols wrote to George Dabney transferring an obligation of six pounds. There is a copy of resolutions of U.S. Congress, dated 17 July 1788, concerning bounties for Virginia soldiers south of the Ohio River, which nullified claims north of that river. In a letter dated 23 July 1788, George Dabney explained the status of and interest on a bond to General Nelson. There are additional business papers, mostly concerned with debts and notes.
There are business papers dated 1789 involving George and Charles Dabney, executors of William Dabney, a debt to Robert Nelson, a bond to William Nelson, and signatures of John Barret & Co., and George Dabney. There is a receipt for expenses, dated 29 August 1789, from W. Croghan at Louisville, Kentucky; there is a letter to Charles Dabney largely concerning the validity of land entries for tracts north of the Ohio River, including efforts to prompt decisions from Congress and the courts. There are papers (1789?) regarding a settlement among the Dabney family in regard to a sale of slaves. In a note dated 16 July 1790, Charles Dabney stated his debt of ten pounds to William Morris for a horse.
There is an agreement dated 14 April 1791, for the division of lands of Charles and Edward Johnston by George and Charles Dabney. There are also additional accounts, deeds, receipts, and bills of sale for slaves and land.
Items for the years 1792 to 1797 include business papers of Charles and Samuel Dabney (accounts, receipts, bills), and correspondence about legal entanglements connected with land in Kentucky. There is an account of the estate of Benjamin Dickenson, to Thomas Grubbs, with expenses for board, schooling, and clothes for the Dickenson children.
There is a certificate dated 6 August 1795 stating that John Pendleton was justice of the peace in Henrico County, Virginia, signed by James Wood, lieutenant governor of Virginia, on a document in which Charles Dabney gave Benjamin Forsythe power of attorney.
In a letter dated 29 August 1795, John Lee of Kentucky, wrote to Charles Dabney about arrangements and taxes for Kentucky lands. For the year 1795, there are additional bills of sale, bonds, and receipts for taxes. There is an account of Charles Dabney with Fenwick & Dabney, 1793-1797, stating interest to 1808. In a letter dated 13 January 1796, Abraham Chapline at Kentucky wrote to Charles Dabney about military bounty lands; the obligations of the Commonwealths of Virginia and Kentucky; and how to handle individual tracts. In a letter dated 2 June 1796, John Lee at Woodford County, Kentucky, wrote to Charles Dabney about land affairs which Lee managed for Dabney in Kentucky. In a letter dated 16 July 1796, William Dabney at Richmond, Virginia, wrote to his uncle, Charles Dabney, about various business matters. There are accounts and an appraisement of the estate of Susanna Dabney with Charles Dabney, 1796-1797. In letters dated 5 August and 15 December 1797, Charles Johnston at Richmond, Virginia, wrote to Charles Dabney about investing the latter's funds on the market and selling him a slave.
In a letter dated 31 January 1798, Edward Johnston informed Charles Dabney that he was sending 16 volumes of an encyclopedia by wagon (purchased from Archibald Currie, agent of Thomas Dobson who published them in Philadelphia). In a letter dated 30 July 1798, Mathew Anderson wrote to Charles Dabney with instructions on the repair of a dwelling, fencing, and other matters of "Goldmine" plantation property. There is a two-year lease, dated 24 August 1798, of "Goldmine" to Zachariah Walden of Caroline, Virginia, drawn up by Charles Dabney as agent for Mathew Anderson. There is an agreement, dated 8 October 1798, of William Dabney, Jr. at Lexington, Kentucky, with George Bryant about Kentucky lands given to the former by Charles and George Dabney of Hanover, Virginia.
There are more accounts for 1799 of Charles Dabney with Micajah Crew and with Puckett, Pollard, & Johnston.
There is a letter dated 20 January 1800 from John Marshall, then in Congress, to Charles Dabney, commenting on the report of the secretary of war, the state of national finances, the notices for defense expenditures and unavoidable debt, and the infallibility of future resources of America. He argued that any reduction in the militia must be delayed as long as the French question was unresolved. There is a broadside, dated 26 May 1800, entitled "An Address to the Voters for Electors of President of the United States, in the State of Virginia," with a list of electors on the American Republican ticket. In a letter dated 31 May 1800, William Morris, Jr. wrote to James Henry, asking him to send on any passing wagon with whiskey for sale. There is a document, dated June 1800, relating to the estate of Benjamin Dickinson and Thomas Grubbs (who married Dickinson's widow). There are also miscellaneous bills and receipts of Charles and Samuel Dabney.
There is a letter dated 3 July 1801 from Charles Johnston at Richmond, to Charles Dabney about stock purchased for Dabney; there is a memorandum of Richard Morris dated 7 July 1826, about money left in George Dabney, Sr.'s desk. There are documents related to land, including leases, sales, claims; a promissory note, and a bond to William Morris, Sr.
There are letters dated 3 February and 19 August 1802 from James Dabney to Charles Dabney, describing in detail the financial plight. There are also miscellaneous receipts to Samuel Dabney. There are fire insurance policies, dated 24 February 1802, on plantation buildings of Charles Dabney at Hanover, Virginia.
In a letter, dated 14 September 1803, Thomas Price at Woodland, Virginia, wrote to Charles Dabney (?) about religion and his own disbelief.
There are items dated March 1804 relating to the court case Henry v. Joyce. There is a deed, dated 9 June 1804, of Samuel and wife Jane Dabney to Charles Dabney for some Hanover County land. In a letter dated 15 July 1804, J. Moore at Lexington, Kentucky, wrote to Charles Dabney about Morris's embarrassment arising from having gone on a note from William Dabney, Jr. In a letter dated 13 October 1804, Frank Dabney at Pittsylvania Court House, Virginia, wrote to his uncle, Charles Dabney, reporting on his progress in practicing law and expressing appreciation for the latter's help.
For the year 1805, there are mostly business papers of Charles Dabney, but also some of Samuel Dabney, including a deed for land, a receipt for bank shares, accounts for merchandise, bills, and receipts. John Dabney at Campbell County, Virginia, wrote to his uncle Charles Dabney about business and family matters. In a document dated 28 December 1805, Charles Dabney assigned power of attorney to Charles Dabney, Jr. for handling stocks and related business matters of the Bank of Virginia. There is a memorandum concerning an evaluation of property for the Mutual Insurance Company.
For the year 1806, in addition to miscellaneous business papers, there is a letter dated 23 March from E. Winston to Charles Dabney in regard to Patrick Henry manuscripts sent to Dabney for the use of Mr. Wirt--hoping that some parts would remain unpublished.
In a letter dated 14 March 1807, Jane Dabney wrote to Elizabeth Price at Woodland, Virginia, about the activities of young people. In an affidavit dated 24 July 1807, Samuel Richardson denied the unpatriotic pro-British sentiment which rumor said Charles Dabney expressed to Richardson and which Richardson had allegedly repeated to Charles Goodall. In a letter dated 8 August 1807, Charles Johnston at Richmond explained to Charles Dabney the present refunding of government bonds. An 1807(?) statement refuted the rumor that Charles Dabney had neglected his sick soldiers. There are items relating to Charles Dabney's withdrawal from the Mutual Assurance Society, both for buildings of the State of Virginia and for those in his own name.
There are letters, dated 1809, from Charles Dabney, Jr., at Richmond, to his uncle Charles Dabney about business he attended to there for the latter; he advised against investing in the James River Company, except for a return in the remote future. In a letter dated 1 October 1809, Richard Dabney at Louisa, Virginia, wrote to his uncle Charles Dabney about plans for his school course and for eventually studying natural science.
For 1813, there is a plat of a farm on Cub Creek, Virginia, and other property owned by Charles Dabney. There are a series of bills and receipts kept by John D. Andrews in account with Richmond merchants and other Virginians, apparently on behalf of Charles Dabney.
There is also Jane Dabney's account with Charles Dabney, for the years 1812 to 1814. In personal letters dated 20 and 24 February 1814, Charles Dabney, Jr., at Salem and Abingdon, Virginia, wrote to Betsy Dabney, describing his horseback trip westward through Virginia on his way to attend business in Nashville, Tennessee, and Lexington, Kentucky. In a letter dated 20 April 1814, William Dabney, Jr., at Richmond, wrote to his sister about a dress he purchased for her and other family matters. In a letter dated 20 June 1814, Elizabeth Dabney at Raleigh, North Carolina, wrote to Mrs. Elizabeth Dabney at Louisa County, Virginia, describing how happy she was in Raleigh, mentioning the Academy, students, and financial arrangements with her brothers. There is a letter (fragment) dated 5 September 1814, from Camp Fairfield about hardships of the soldiers, the writer's attempts to get a substitute for himself, and his needs.
In a letter dated 22 April 1815, Frank Dabney at Danville, Virginia, wrote to his mother, Jane Dabney, at Jacksonville, Louisa County, Virginia, of his brother Samuel Dabney's family, Samuel's wife Mildred Dabney dying of consumption, and his recent trip. There is a bond, dated 6 June 1815, of William, George, and Charles Dabney to William Morris, Sr. for 40 pounds. In a letter dated 1 July 1815, Frank Dabney at Danville to his sister Mildred M. Dabney at Jacksonville, Virginia, reporting the death of Mildred Dabney, and other family news. In a letter dated 23 August 1815, Elizabeth T. Dabney wrote to her brother (unnamed), mentioning members of the family and telling of her teaching situation under a Mr. Truehart. In a letter dated 29 October 1815, Alexander Balmain at Winchester, Virginia, aged 77, wrote to Charles Dabney at Hanover, Virginia, requesting Dabney to take his place at a meeting of the Society of the Cincinnati at Richmond in December, and advising Dabney of his (Balmain's) wishes in regard to the distribution of the Society's charitable funds. In a letter dated 23 November 1815, Samuel Dabney wrote to his mother Jane Dabney, telling of his plans to move his slaves to Tennessee along with himself and eventually, family, except Martha who would remain at school in Salem, Virginia.
There is a document dated 1817 that granted power of attorney from Charles Dabney to Frank Dabney at Richmond, to handle certificates of debt due from the U.S. Government. There is a letter dated 26 September 1817, from Frank Dabney at Richmond to Mildred Dabney, telling of the opening of the New Eagle Hotel, and family, and personal matters.
There are three letters dated 1818 from John T. Dabney at the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, to his mother Jane Dabney at Louisa County, Virginia, and to his sister Miss Elizabeth Dabney; mentioned is the death of a Dr. Wistar; the contrast between Philadelphians and Virginians; that William Minor was about to return to Virginia with his M.D., and other news. 23 July 1818, Robert Pollard at Richmond to Charles Dabney about investments and banking. In a letter dated 26 November 1818, Alexander Balmain at Winchester wrote to Charles Dabney at Richmond about the disposition of the Society of Cincinnati's funds, in order of preference: the Episcopal Seminary; the University of Virginia near Charlottesville; and Washington College at Lexington, Virginia. There is a deed dated 14 December 1818, for Kentucky land from Charles Dabney to his nephew Charles Dabney, Jr. There are miscellaneous business papers including bills and accounts of Jane Dabney.
Writing in a letter dated 3 January 1819, John T. Dabney at Port Royal, Montgomery County, Tennessee, described to his sister, Miss Mildred M. Dabney at Louisa County, Virginia, his stay with Dr. Hopson, the people in Tennessee, their easy manners, and other details. In a letter, dated 8 January 1819, Frank Dabney at Richmond wrote to Richard Dabney about business matters there. There is an account statement dated 1 February 1819 between Jane Dabney and Dabney & Price. In a letter dated 18 May 1819, Robert [son of Robin] Dabney at Fort Claiborne, Arkansas Territory, asked his uncle Charles Dabney to pay for the purchase of a place in Arkansas, as his leather had not yet come into market. There are forms for proxies for an annual meeting of the directors of the Bank of Virginia.
There is an agreement dated 3 May 1820 of William Dabney (?), Charles Dabney (?), and Richard Morris, Jr. in regard to the support of their sister Miss Catharine after the death of William Morris, Sr. (Charles Dabney was the agent for this arrangement.) There are more accounts of Jane Dabney with Charles Dabney, scattered deeds, and miscellaneous receipts. In a letter dated 14 June 1820, John T. Dabney at Port Royal, Tennessee, wrote to Charles Dabney, Jr. at Louisa County, Virginia, about purchasing the latter's claim to Kentucky lands, mentioning family news and inquiries. In a letter dated 26 December 1820, Frank Dabney at Meriville, Kentucky, to Charles Dabney, described the land and its yield--tobacco and corn; and the fortunate situation of brother Samuel Dabney seven miles from Clarksville.
In a letter dated 25 April 1822, Elizabeth Dabney described to a brother plans to take trips in Virginia when the school at which she was teaching was out of session. In a letter, dated 17 July 1822, W. F. Micou at Richmond inquired of Charles Dabney about the claim of his wife's grandfather, John Lee of Essex, to Kentucky lands. There is a letter dated 5 September 1822, an inquiry by Richmond Terrell concerning a land claim on the basis of his father William Terrill's service as a lieutenant during the American Revolution. There is a bill to Barbara W. Pettus for her son Samuel Pettus's board, books, and shoes for one year with Samuel Mosby.
In a letter dated 26 April 1824, John T. Dabney at Montgomery, Tennessee, wrote to his uncle Charles Dabney, Sr., giving his complete financial history since he came to Tennessee to practice medicine and asking for a loan; he mentioned other family members, including his wife, a daughter of Governor Willie Blount (1768-1835); there are also statements from John Dabney's brother Samuel Dabney and his relative Charles Meriwether that they would secure the loan.
In a letter dated 28 January 1825, Charles Dabney, Jr. wrote with advice to his son Charles William Dabney (usually addressed as William) at school at William Nelson's. There is an agreement of partnership of Woodruff (?) and Frank Dabney at St. Francisville, dated 10 April 1825. In a letter dated 11 July 1825, Dr. Carter Berkeley at Edgewood wrote to John D. Andrews, agent of Charles Dabney, Sr., about the latter's recent illness, present health, and account. In a letter dated 5 August 1825, nephew Dr. Charles Dabney sent Charles Dabney, Sr. detailed instructions for taking care of his ailments.
There is a typed copy of a letter dated 26 July 1826 from Judge John Marshall to Charles Dabney, stating that Congress's liberality included the Continental Line only and did not extend to the 1st and 2nd Virginia State Regiments. In a letter dated 22 September 1826, H. R. Lewis and Mildred Lewis suggested to their nephew Charles William Dabney that he should teach in their neighborhood the next year. There is an agreement, dated 22 September 1826, between William Richardson and John D. Andrews for Richardson's land to be worked on shares for 1827. (Andrews was apparently handling Charles Dabney, Sr.'s affairs.)
For the years 1827 to 1833, there are miscellaneous bills and accounts, chiefly of Barbara Pettus and John D. Andrews, for supplies, physician's services, drugs, and merchandise. In a letter, dated 25 August 1828, Will Broadus at Culpeper wrote to Charles Dabney, asking advice about the status of his claim as a state militia man in the Revolutionary War to land bounties granted to the Continental Line by the U.S. Government and to the state militia by the state legislature. In a document dated 15 November 1828, Charles Dabney, Jr. and Elizabeth Dabney, at Louisa County, Virginia, granted power of attorney to Charles William Dabney in regard to their Kentucky land claims. In a letter dated 30 September 1829, Mildred M. Lewis gave an account of her religious experience. There is an 1830 paper relating to the hiring of Barbara W. Pettus's slaves. There is an inventory and appraisement, dated 7 January 1830, of Charles Dabney's personal estate, by three commissioners, William Wingfield, Bellamy Vaughan, and John D. Andrews, under order of the Hanover Court. There are at least five letters from Charles Dabney at Louisa, Virginia, to his son Charles William Dabney at Hanover, Virginia, in which he advised the latter about plantation business and specific practical problems such as the care of saddles, slaves, and wheat crops. In a letter dated 20 August 1830, John D. Andrews wrote to Charles William Dabney at Hanover about supplying shoes and about his hope to marry Dabney's cousin Eugenia [Price?]. There is an agreement on rent, dated 16 August 1830, between Charles Barret and John M. Price.
For the years 1831 to 1833 there are occasional letters from Charles Dabney to Charles William Dabney, mostly about personal, family, and plantation matters. In a letter, dated 6 December 1831, Mrs. M. W. Morris wrote to Charles William Dabney, mostly about business matters.
There is a letter dated 20 January 1832 from Elizabeth Dabney to her brother, written from Washington, D.C., where she was stranded due to snow, on her way home from Baltimore, trying to make plans for Edmund Dabney, who was very ill. There is correspondence from February 1832 between Charles Dabney and Charles William Dabney mostly about plantation matters; the latter was admitted to the bar around this time. There are four letters dated May 1832 from Charles Dabney to Betsey, his wife, while he was in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington; he described his journey by stage to Richmond, by ship to Baltimore, and by ship and horse-car to Philadelphia for the Presbyterian Assembly; he also described Philadelphia, the business of the Assembly, and the trip home.
In a letter from 1833, Elizabeth Dabney wrote to her son, Charles William Dabney, chiefly about home news from Louisa County. In a letter dated 7 April 1833, Reuben Lewis wrote to Charles William Dabney for help in obtaining the pedigree of a mare he recently bought. In a letter dated 27 July 1833, Charles Dabney wrote to Charles William Dabney, mentioning a wheat harvester and a meeting of Goochland and Louisa Railroad stockholders. There is a notice, from September 1833, of the death of Charles Dabney of Louisa County, Virginia. There is the will, dated 11 November 1833, of Charles Dabney. In a letter dated 22 November 1833, Reuben Lewis wrote to Charles William Dabney, mentioning the funeral of Charles Dabney. There are papers, dated 26 December 1833, relating to the estate of Samuel Dabney (Frank Dabney, executor).
Undated material prior to 1834 consists mostly of numerous miscellaneous business receipts.
Subseries 1.2. (1834-1860) Papers for the years 1834-1842 are chiefly those of Charles William Dabney at Montpelier, Hanover County, Virginia, his brother Robert Lewis Dabney, and their mother Elizabeth Dabney at Louisa County, Virginia.
In a letter dated 17 February 1834, Reuben Lewis wrote to Charles William Dabney, mostly about plantation matters and miscellaneous business. In a letter dated 28 March 1834, Andrew Stevenson (1784-1857) wrote to Charles William Dabney, acknowledging receipt of a pension case to be looked into and commenting on the coming elections and politics. In a letter dated 12 October 1834, John A. Morris wrote to Charles William Dabney about plantation and personal affairs. In a note, dated 19 October 1834, James Fontaine at Taylor's Creek, invited Charles William Dabney to his wedding. In a letter of 18 November 1834, Robert L. Dabney, aged 14, wrote to his older brother Charles William Dabney about plantation and family news.
For the years 1836 to 1837, there are six letters from Charles William Dabney to Robert Lewis Dabney at Hampden-Sydney College, Prince Edward County, in which he discussed social life, crops, the death of Samuel Pettus, family news, and much abstract and theoretical advice about life, society, and philosophy. In a letter dated 3 July 1837, Francis A. Williamson in Cincinnati, Ohio, wrote to Charles William Dabney, lecturing on phrenology, giving Dabney flattering opinions and asking for news of Elizabeth Wingfield with whom he had tried to elope. In a letter dated 13 September 1837, Mildred M. Lewis at Hardin's Tavern, Virginia, wrote to her sister Miss Elizabeth Dabney at Jackson, Louisa County, Virginia, chiefly about orphaned relatives who were turned over to Col. and Mrs. Johnson of Tennessee [John Dabney's children?]. In a letter dated 20 December 1837, Thomas Hord wrote to Charles William Dabney about Charles Dabney's Revolutionary War claims.
In a letter dated 27 June 1838, Lavinia Morrison at Blooming Green wrote to her sister Miss Mary Morrison at Charleston, [West] Virginia, about new songs, weddings, and other local events. In a letter dated 15 December 1838, from Mildred M. Lewis at Winchester, Tennessee (?), to her sister, Elizabeth T. Dabney at Louisa County, she described a trip through Kentucky and Tennessee and provided an account of the Meriwethers, Dabneys, and other relatives in that area.
For the years 1840 to 1842, there are 16 letters from Charles William Dabney at Louisa County, Virginia, to Robert Lewis Dabney at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, discussing plantation affairs, miscellaneous topics of current interest, and philosophical matters. There are two items relating to cousin J. Fontaine's personal bond to Charles William Dabney. In a letter, dated 10 July 1841, William B. Dabney at Richmond wrote to Charles William Dabney at Goochland, Virginia, about a law suit in connection with the Wharton estate. There is correspondence between Charles William Dabney, his cousin Harriet Richardson at Richmond, Virginia, and at Montrose, and cousin William L. King in the North, concerning the complicated legal and financial affairs of Harriet Richardson. Charles William Dabney apparently handled Harriet Richardson's business affairs for her and her family.
There are 1843 letters to Robert Lewis Dabney at Thompson's Cross Roads, Louisa County, Virginia, from Charles William Dabney and from Mildred Lewis at Hardin's Tavern, Virginia, with local news and descriptions of daily life. There are letters from William L. King to Charles William Dabney about law suits centering around the property of Harriet Richardson, and from Benjamin Watkins legatees, and E. F. Wickham, about business matters. There are also letters to Francis Dabney, mostly about business matters.
There are 1844 letters from Mildred M. Lewis at Valley Point, Virginia, to her sister Elizabeth T. Dabney at Thompson Cross Roads and to Robert L. Dabney about family and household news, visits, small trips, and illnesses. There are additional business items relating to the Benjamin Watkins estate and to Harriet Richardson's affairs. There are letters from Mildred Dabney, living with Mildred Lewis, to other members of the family, mostly about personal and family matters. There are also letters written by George Woodson Payne and Anne E. (Dabney) Payne about home and farm matters (Anne was a sister of Robert Lewis Dabney and Charles William Dabney). There are scattered items relating to Charles William Dabney's law practice. In a letter dated 1 December 1844, Charles William Dabney wrote to Robert Lewis Dabney at the Union Theological Seminary near Prince Edward Court House, Virginia, about personal matters.
There are, for the years 1845 to 1847, chiefly letters to Robert Lewis Dabney (at Seminary 1845-1846; at Thompsons Cross Roads, November 1846; at Barter Brook in Augusta County, Virginia, June 1847) from Charles William Dabney and from Mildred M. Lewis. Charles William Dabney's letters to his younger brother were a steady series through the years. They touched on every conceivable topic; besides being discursive they were verbose. There was also correspondence among other members of the family: Charles William Dabney at Montpelier, Virginia, Anne E. Payne, Mrs. Elizabeth Dabney, and George Woodson Payne at Thompsons Cross Roads, with mention of family news, neighborhood activity, crops and other farm matters, the death of Mildred Dabney in 1845, and miscellaneous family troubles. There are business letters to Charles William Dabney from: V. W. Southall at Charlottesville, Virginia, 5 October 1845; James A. Seddon at Washington, D.C., 27 January and 26 March 1846, about the claim of a constituent and also discussing national policy in regard to Oregon, etc.; William Seldon and Richard Randolph at Washington, D.C., February and March 1847, about the claim of Charles Dabney's heirs. Randolph explained that the claim could be honored only with the help of bribery and indirect methods; he discussed politics, the administration, the spoils system, and his own fees in cases.
In letters dated 27 April and 7 June 1847, Benjamin M. Smith at Staunton, Virginia, wrote to Robert Lewis Dabney, in regard to Dabney's being installed and ordained at Tinkling Springs (Presbyterian) Church and giving the text for Dabney's trial sermon. Robert Lewis Dabney at Augusta County, Virginia, in a letter to his sister Elizabeth Dabney, reported on his travels and visits with relatives. In a letter dated 3 August 1847, Charles William Dabney wrote to Robert Lewis Dabney at Barter Brook mostly about the wheat market. Other letters from Charles William Dabney to Robert Lewis Dabney and Mildred Lewis mention family, personal, and neighborhood matters. Charles William Dabney provided his brother with advice and personal philosophy.
Papers for 1848 are mostly of Robert Lewis Dabney at Barter Brook, Augusta County, Virginia, Charles William Dabney, and Mildred (Dabney) Lewis of Louisa County, Virginia. There are many letters from Charles William Dabney to Robert Lewis Dabney, and from Mildred (Dabney) Lewis to both brothers. These letters are concerned with Robert Lewis Dabney's marriage; Mildred Lewis's illness and the affairs and arrangements to which Charles William Dabney attended for her; the birth of a son to Charles William Dabney's wife on 11 May 1848; and Mildred (Dabney) Lewis's trip to Staunton in July 1848. There are also business letters to Charles William Dabney at Montpelier, Hanover County, Virginia, about legal cases and also about the Dabney claim against the U.S. Government for land due to Charles Dabney of the Revolutionary War. Among the correspondents were Dr. Thomas P. Shields at Cartersville, Virginia; Richard Randolph at Washington, D.C.; Philip H. Jones at Louisa Court House, Virginia; James A. Seddon at Richmond, Virginia; and Arthur A. Morson of Morson & Seddon, Richmond attorneys; and William L. King at New York, New York.
For 1849, there are several letters from Richard Randolph about the Dabney land claim, with comments about the spoils system and corruption in government. Among business correspondents were Thomas P. Shields, David Anderson, Jr., Lewis Webb, Philip H. Jones, and Frank Ballinger of Kentucky. They mentioned various aspects of plantation business and merchandising. In February 1849, Robert Lewis Dabney and Lavinia Dabney at Fisherville Post Office, Augusta County, Virginia, announced the birth of a son. In May 1849, Charles William Dabney wrote to other family members about a scandal involving his sister Ann's husband.
Items for the years 1850 to 1855 are mostly papers of Charles William Dabney at Hanover County, Virginia, and Robert Lewis Dabney at Augusta County, Virginia, including family correspondence; there are chiefly letters from Charles William Dabney to Robert Lewis Dabney, and also business letters to Charles William Dabney and other letters to Robert Lewis Dabney. A claim against the U.S. Government for pay due Charles Dabney from the Revolutionary War was settled. Mention is made of attempts to locate the heirs of Thomas Meriwether. Another child was born to Robert Lewis Dabney and Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney. There are a few letters from the Morrison family to Robert Lewis Dabney; also from Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney to him. These letters mention mostly personal and family matters. There are letters from James M. Winston, Thomas P. Shields, Richard Randolph, Philip H. Jones, and others, to the Dabneys, mostly about business matters.
In 1851, there are letters Charles William Dabney wrote to Robert Lewis Dabney about politics and his position in the sectional struggle. There are letters from Richard Randolph about the claim of James Meriwether's heirs. A letter dated 14 March 1851, from Charles William Dabney to Robert Lewis Dabney mentions a current Presbyterian church controversy (this is also mentioned in other letters) and also the Central Railroad's plans for his neighborhood. Subsequent letters discussed the advisability and possibility of publishing a pamphlet about relations between the North and the South. In a letter, dated 11 September 1851, James Morrison wrote to Robert Lewis Dabney about business of the Presbytery; he also wrote about family matters. There is a small broadside about the election in Hanover County, Virginia, of May 1852, with Charles William Dabney listed as the commonwealth's attorney. In a letter dated 14 November 1852, Charles William Dabney wrote to Robert Lewis Dabney, justifying slavery.
For 1854, there are letters to Robert Lewis Dabney at Hampden Sydney from Benjamin Mosby Smith, mostly at Philadelphia, about Presbyterian matters, and from James Morrison at "Bellevue," Rockbridge County, Virginia, about religious, personal, and family matters. In a letter dated 16 January 1855, John Samuels Caskie (1821-1869), U.S. House of Representatives, gave information about Texas land and about the state of politics.
In a letter, dated 26 February 1855, William L. King wrote to Charles William Dabney about family and personal affairs. Charles William Dabney commented, in a letter dated 1 April 1855, on the tendency of the age towards socialistic schemes for internal improvement. There are letters from James Morrison to Robert Lewis Dabney about church, family, and political matters, including his negative sentiments about Catholicism. A letter dated 25 June 1855 is the first of a series of California letters that continued intermittently to 1875, from Billy Thomas Pate, formerly of Hanover County, Virginia, at Rabbit Creek, Sierra County, California, described his voyage from New York; several weeks spent in San Francisco; the economic situation; his venture into the mining business, building a hotel and a seed store; his life and work in California; the climate; hazards; the Chinese, Indians, tax-collectors, and other matters. In a note of June 1855, there is mention of the birth of Charles William Dabney (1855-1945) to Robert Lewis Dabney and Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney; from November 1855, there is news of the death of Robert and Lavinia's son, James Dabney. In a letter dated 17 November 1855, Charles H. Shield described the terrible losses in Norfolk, Virginia, after three months of a yellow fever epidemic.
Papers from 1856 are primarily letters and business items of Robert Lewis Dabney and Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney and of Charles William Dabney, dealing chiefly with personal, family, religious, and business matters. There are letters dated March and April 1856 from John S. Reese at Baltimore, mostly about a new fertilizer he was experimenting with and selling. In a letter dated 2 June 1856, C. P. Higgason (or Higginson) at the General Land Office, Washington, wrote to Charles W. Dabney chiefly about business matters, with comments on Virginia and national politics. In a letter dated 3 December 1856, Billy Thomas Pate at San Francisco wrote about politics and the great excitement associated with it; the Vigilance Committee's activities, business conditions, and morals. There are also letters from James Morrison as he traveled in the Deep South for his health, mostly about the Presbyterian church and local matters.
Many letters of 1857 from James Morrison refer to a conflict with his congregation. In a letter, dated 18 April 1857, James Morrison provided a full explanation of his view of the controversy. In a letter dated 20 June 1857, Samuel Brown wrote to Robert Lewis Dabney about the same controversy. In a letter, dated 8 December 1857, James Morrison at Selma, Alabama, commented on the meeting of the Methodist Conference there. In a letter, dated 19 March 1857 at San Francisco, Billy Thomas Pate wrote of his large legal practice in connection with land titles and divorces. Charles P. Higgason, of the General Land Office, Washington, wrote about Virginia and national politics. St. George Gregg wrote to Charles William Dabney about the latter's political defeat. There are also letters from D. Graham, William L. King, and James G. Mapes. There is a letter dated 14 June 1857 from Thomas M. Howell at Canandaigua, New York, to Charles William Dabney, mostly about politics and sectionalism. There are also additional family letters.
There are numerous 1858 letters to Robert Lewis Dabney, Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney, and Charles William Dabney. These include items from Billy Thomas Pate at San Francisco, 4 January 1858, on general conditions in California, the new governor, and land business; 4 April 1858, about a fugitive slave case; 4 July 1858, about new gold at Frazer River taking Californians away; 5 September 1858, mostly about California politics. James Morrison wrote at Selma, Alabama, to Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney and Robert Lewis Dabney; also at Bellevue, Rockbridge County, in July, and at Christianburg in December. C. P. Higginson [there is an inconsistency in the papers as to the spelling of his name] wrote on politics, office-seeking, and land business; 22 March 1858, on matters before the Congress, and a discussion of the Kansas question. Charles William Dabney evidently was seeking appointment as a foreign consul. There are occasional letters from William L. King at New York, chiefly about business matters. J. A. Cowardin at Richmond, 7 July 1858, described Cobbs Island, Accomack County, Virginia, as a good place for manly men but not suitable for women. There are several letters from Charles William Dabney to Robert Lewis Dabney, mostly about personal and family matters. In a letter dated 27 December 1858, he mentioned plans for a meeting to design a new church.
Letters for the years 1859 and 1860 are mostly to Robert Lewis Dabney, Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney, and Charles William Dabney from friends and relatives; they discuss family, personal, and political matters. Charles William Dabney resided during this time at "Aldingham," Montpelier, Virginia; Robert Lewis Dabney at Hampden-Sydney; James Morrison at Christianburg, Montgomery County, Virginia; with occasional sojourns at "Bellevue," Virginia.
In a letter dated 19 September 1859, Billy Thomas Pate at San Francisco wrote about politics, the duel between Judge David S. Terry and senator David Colbreth Broderick (1820-1859), and Pate's own enterprises and political activities. 30 December 1859, E. Littell of the Living Age wrote to Charles William Dabney evidently in answer to Dabney's statement of pro-unionism, commenting on the sectional struggle, blaming it on the politicians, and doubting whether Governor Henry Wise (1806-1876) was "not insane."
In a letter, dated 13 January 1860, Billy Thomas Pate at Sacramento, California, then a member of the state legislature, described electing Milton Slocum Latham (1827-1882) to fill the senate vacancy caused by the death of David Colbreth Broderick and giving an account of Latham's career. There is a photostat of Charles William Dabney's commission as a captain in the Virginia militia, dated 22 January 1860. There are several letters relating to a possible call to a New York City pulpit for Robert Lewis Dabney. There is also mention of the death of Willie Dabney, son of Charles William Dabney, crushed by a log.
Subseries 1.3. (1861-1865) Papers for the Civil War period consist mostly of family letters, discussing the war, personal and family matters, from James Morrison to Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney and Robert Lewis Dabney; from Charles William Dabney to Robert Lewis Dabney; correspondence between Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney and Robert Lewis Dabney; business letters to Charles William Dabney from B. F. Watson and B. W. Richardson at Richmond, and from Henry C. Spicer, overseer, at one of Dabney's plantations; also letters, 1864-1865, to Robert Lewis Dabney relating to his manuscript biography of Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson.
Items for 1861 are mostly correspondence between Charles William Dabney, Robert Lewis Dabney, Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney, and James Morrison, with some military papers. In a letter dated 18 January 1861, Elizabeth ("Betty") Dabney wrote to her brother Robert Lewis Dabney about the household servants, domestic news, and the gloomy state of national affairs. In a letter dated 30 January 1861, James Morrison at Christianburg wrote to Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney about personal and family matters. In a letter dated 14 February 1861, B. W. Richardson at Richmond, Virginia, wrote to Charles Dabney about state politics, the safety of an unnamed bridge, and fashions. In a letter dated 14 March 1861, Charles William Dabney wrote to Robert Lewis Dabney about public affairs, divine providence, and the household servants. In a letter, dated 23 April 1861, Elizabeth Dabney wrote to Robert Lewis Dabney that Charles William Dabney's company, the "Patrick Henry Riflemen", had been ordered to Richmond; she also mentioned the States Rights Convention in Richmond and plans for the Dabney family in the event of a lengthy war. In a letter, dated 1 May 1861, Charles William Dabney at "Camp of Instruction" [near Richmond] wrote to Robert Lewis Dabney about family matters and mentioned camp life. Dated 6 June 1861, there are special orders to Robert Lewis Dabney, chaplain in the 18th Virginia Volunteer Regiment under Colonel Robert E. Withers, "by order of Maj. Genl. [Robert E.] Lee," signed by Richard Garnett (1817-1863); also special orders (a travel pass) dated 10 June 1861, "by order of Brigadier General [Pierre Gustave Toutant] Beauregard," signed by Thomas Jordan. There are letters from James Morrison at Christianburg, and "Bellevue," Virginia, to Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney at Hampden Sydney, Virginia, mostly about family matters. In a letter, dated 18 June 1861, James wrote that Rutherford Morrison had survived the engagement at Phillippi, [West] Virginia, unharmed, but had lost all his clothes except those he was wearing; in a letter, dated 25 September 1861, he mentioned a visit he made to Monterrey, Highland County, Virginia, also Rutherford Morrison, Colonel Robert Frederick Baldwin of the 31st Virginia Militia Regiment, and his desire to see his sons educated before he died; in a letter of 18 November 1861 he also mentioned that his son Samuel Morrison had joined the 58th Virginia Infantry Regiment as regimental surgeon; another son, Robert Morrison, had also joined the Confederate army. There are letters from Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney at Hampden-Sydney to Robert Lewis Dabney about her duty, the family, finding a servant for him, gardening, and agricultural work. There are also letters from Robert Lewis Dabney to Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney at Hampden Sydney: 1 July 1861, at Fairfax Court House, Virginia, about the situation in camp, and his health; 20 July 1861 at Manassas, Virginia, with details of the engagement at Blackburn's Ford on 18 July 1861; 5 September 1861 at Manassas, on his way home having resigned, about the pay of chaplains, and rampant illnesses in the 18th Virginia Regiment. There are also letters from Charles William Dabney at Aldingham, Montpelier, Virginia, to Robert Lewis Dabney, with plans to evacuate his family. There are letters from Charles William Dabney in the Virginia Peninsula as a captain in the 15th Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment to Robert Lewis Dabney, serving with the 18th Virginia Volunteer Infantry, mentioning in a letter of 19 July 1861 the latter's friend, general Daniel Harvey Hill (1821-1889); in a letter of 24 August 1861, he discussed soldiering and a rumor that general John Bankhead Magruder (1810-1871) had requested a transfer which would leave Daniel Harvey Hill in charge; 20 October 1861, about the kindness of Magruder, his (Dabney's) desire for promotion to the rank of major, and the 15th Virginia Regiment being down to 280-300 effectives. 3 September and 2 October 1861, Garrett F. Watson at Richmond to Charles William Dabney about the latter's investments and his business account with Ludlow and Watson.
For 1862, items include family correspondence of Robert Lewis Dabney, Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney, James Morrison and his wife [name unstated], and Charles William Dabney near Yorktown, Virginia. There are 16 letters from Charles William Dabney to Robert Lewis Dabney, mostly about family matters, the war, and financial arrangements. In a letter, dated 22 April 1862, James Morrison at an unknown location to Robert Lewis Dabney at Hampden-Sydney requested the latter to use his influence with general Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson to secure Rutherford Morrison's transfer from infantry service to Turner Ashby's cavalry, with a mention of Mrs. Jackson. There are several letters, May-June 1862, from Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney at the Union Theological Seminary to Robert Lewis Dabney serving in the field on Jackson's staff, mostly about personal and family matters and the effects of the war. In a letter, dated 22 May 1862, she mention the arrival in Farmville, Virginia, of refugees from Fredericksburg and Richmond. There are several personal letters from James Morrison to Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney about family matters and the death of Tommy Dabney.
Items for the year 1863 include family letters and financial arrangements for the families in war time. There are nine letters from Charles William Dabney at Aldingham, Montpelier, Virginia, to Robert Lewis Dabney at Hampden-Sydney, Virginia, mostly about family matters, the war, and business matters. There are letters to Charles William Dabney at Aldingham from Henry C. Spicer, an overseer, and from B. W. Richardson and G. F. Watson, both at Richmond, about business affairs. In a letter, dated 23 October 1863, Robert Lewis Dabney wrote to an unidentified person about personal news from the Synod.
Items from 1864 include Dabney family correspondence and letters regarding the manuscript biography of Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson written by Robert Lewis Dabney. (See also Series 3 for additional related materials.) In a letter dated 13 February 1864, Robert Lewis Dabney at Henry Court House, Virginia, wrote to Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney about details of plantation affairs. Letters dated July 1864 from Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney to Robert Lewis Dabney mention family and personal matters; Robert Lewis Dabney, in an August letter to Lavinia, described the bad road conditions on his way home. There are many references during this period to Robert Lewis Dabney's work on the life of Jackson. There is a letter, dated 7 April 1864, from William Brown at Richmond to Robert Lewis Dabney about the book. There are also letters from Henry C. Spicer, the overseer, and scattered family letters, with mention of plantation and personal matters. There is correspondence dating from May to August 1864 involving Robert Lewis Dabney as author; this includes exchanges between Robert Lewis Dabney and James Nisbet & Co., publishers, at London (who were then undertaking an English edition of Dabney's biography of Jackson); and involving Mathew Fontaine Maury (1806-1873), who was then attempting to make the best financial arrangements for Mary Anna (Morrison) Jackson, but who appears to have confused and delayed the issue; also William Chalmers, editor, at London, who was seeing the manuscript through the press for Nisbet; Dr. Hoge, who had the manuscript at one time in England; and A. Minis, a Richmond publisher.
Items from 1865 are mostly scattered letters to Robert Lewis Dabney regarding personal and business matters. In a letter dated 16 January 1865, Mary Anna (Morrison) Jackson at Cottage Home (Virginia or North Carolina?) wrote to Robert Lewis Dabney at Hampden-Sydney, Virginia, about her trip to Raleigh, North Carolina, and, with comments and suggestions, about Dabney's biography of Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson. Benjamin Mosby Smith at Hampden-Sydney, Virginia, wrote about the Session, in which he had been asked to supply Robert Lewis Dabney without compensation even while Dabney's salary continued. In a letter dated 14 September 1865, William Smith (1797-1887), ex-governor, ex-congressman, and ex-Confederate general, at Warrenton, Virginia, described the desolation of his home after the war, and his attempts at reconstruction.
Series 6. Volumes (1744-1940 and undated)
Subseries 6.1. (1744-1802) This subseries consists of
account books, ledgers, daybooks, memoranda, and miscellaneous notes by William
Dabney and Charles Dabney kept at various Virginia locations.
Volume 1 is an account book, 1744-1745, kept by William Dabney. This volume is chiefly an account of necessaries delivered to the poor of St. Martin's Parish, Virginia, during William Dabney's wardship. Volume 2 is an account book, 1745-1756, kept by William Dabney. This volume consists chiefly of accounts of profits and charges of the estate of William Morris, deceased, but also includes annual lists of tobacco crops. Volume 3 is an account book, 1760-1765, of the estate of Dudley Digges at Louisa County, Virginia. This volume consists of accounts of overseers, slave lists, and lists of share crops and supplies.
Volume 4 is an account book, 1760-1765, of the estate of Edward Ambler in Hanover and Louisa counties, Virginia. Volume 5 is an account book, 1767-1777, kept by Charles Dabney at Hanover County, Virginia. This volume includes accounts with Edward Ambler and his estate. Volume 6 is an account book, ca.1767, kept by Charles Dabney at Hanover County, Virginia. This volume includes accounts with Edward Ambler. Volume 7 is an account book, 1766-1769, kept by Charles Dabney at Hanover County, Virginia. This volume contains accounts with Edward Ambler's slaves, including lists of crops. Volume 8 is an account book, 1770-1777, kept by Charles Dabney at Hanover County, Virginia. This volume includes accounts with slaves of the estate of Edward Ambler. Volume 9 comprises slave, livestock and crop lists, 1772-1776, 1782-1784, 1789, from the estate of Edward Ambler.
Volume 10 is an account book, 1776-1777, kept by Charles Dabney at various Virginia locations. This volume contains miscellaneous accounts, but also includes lyric poetry about general Richard Montgomery (1738-1775) and his 1775 expedition to Canada, and quotations from Voltaire's "Age of Lewis [sic] XIV." Volume 11 is an account book, 1777-1791, kept by Charles Dabney. This volume also contains written music and a list of commissioned officers of the 2nd Virginia State Regiment and their counties of origin, ca. 1779. Volume 12 is a daybook, 1783-1787, kept by Charles Dabney at Hanover County, Virginia. This volume also contains a list of military certificates. Volume 13 is a daybook, 1784, kept for a blacksmith shop. Volume 14 is a daybook, 1785-1790, kept for a blacksmith shop of Charles Dabney. Volume 15 is a memorandum book, 1788-1791, kept by Charles Dabney for his plantation. Volume 16 is a ledger, 1789-1792, kept for a blacksmith shop of Charles Dabney at Hanover County, Virginia. This volume also contains an incomplete account of militia mobilization in 1775, mentioning Patrick Henry. Volume 17 is a daybook, 1791, kept for a blacksmith shop. Volume 18 is a daybook, 1792-1793, kept for a blacksmith shop. Volume 19 is a daybook, 1795-1797, kept for an unidentified blacksmith shop. Volume 20 is a daybook, 1797-1802, for a blacksmith shop.
Subseries 6.2. Volumes (1817-1850) This subseries contains sermon notes written by James Morrison, plantation notes by Charles William Dabney at Hanover County, Virginia, and extensive writings on Dabney and related family history.
Volume 21 contains sermons and sermon notes, 1817, 1820, 1822, 1825, and 1848, of James Morrison, pastor of New Providence Church, Rockbridge, Virginia. Volume 22 is a "Common place book," 1825-1831, kept by Charles William Dabney, Hanover County, Virginia. This volume comprises plantation notes, accounts, and diary-like entries about cures for ailments and weather conditions. Volume 23 is an account of family history. This volume is a photostat copy of James Morrison's 1850 copy of Joseph A. Logan's copy of clergyman William McPheeters's 1842 original, with notes added by each copyist. It contains only pages 34-68 of Morrison's copy. Volume 24 comprises typed transcriptions of a manuscript written by John Blair Dabney in 1850, with notes written by Charles William Dabney (1855-1945). This volume contains voluminous information concerning the Dabney and related families.
Omissions
A list of omissions from the Charles W. Dabney Papers is provided on reel 5,
frame 1032. Omissions include: Subseries 1.4-1.6. Correspondence and Business
Papers, 1866-1945 and undated (ca. 1866-1945); Series 2. Additional Family
Letters, 1872-1945 and undated; Series 3. Thomas J. "Stonewall"
Jackson Research Materials, 1819-1866 and undated (ca. 1945); Series 4. Memoirs
of Charles William Dabney (manuscript); Series 5. Other Loose Papers, 1877-1941
and undated; Subseries 6.3. Volumes, 1878-1940 and undated (post-1865); and
Series 7. Pictures, ca. 1861-1943 and undated. Descriptions of omitted
materials are included with the introductory materials included with this
collection.
N.B. A related collection among the holdings of the Southern Historical Collection is the Southern Education Board Papers. A related collection among the holdings of the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia, is the Dabney Family Papers.
Fredericks Hall Plantation Books, 1727-1863,
Hanover, Louisa, and York Counties, Virginia
Description of the Collection
This collection comprises account books (1727-1775) from Hanover and
York counties, Virginia, and from Fredericks Hall Plantation (1849-1862) in
Louisa County, Virginia. There is also a letter book (1757-1775) of Major John
Snelson (fl. 1757-1775), probably a descendent of Elizabeth Snelson (fl.
1727-1728). He wrote chiefly to Edward Harford, Jr. (fl. 1757-1775) of England.
Principal subjects include tobacco shipments--their prices, quantity and
quality-- and imported merchandise. He also made occasional references to
slavery and mining in Virginia.
Other colonial era merchants include Thomas Partridge (d. 1738), Colonel John Chisholm (d. 1766), A. Gordon (fl. 1750-1751), and Benjamin Anderson (fl. 1755-1756), all of Hanover County, Virginia. John Snelson and Charles Hudson served as executors of the estate of Thomas Partridge, merchant of Hanover County. Activities documented in the ledgers include tobacco export, mining and mineral export, the daily work of merchants, and import inventories. Many ledgers concern stores operated in Hanover and York Counties, Virginia, for William Montgomery & Son, merchants of London.
Antebellum ledgers are chiefly from Fredericks Hall Plantation. Activities documented include lumber production, manufacture and sale of shoes, tobacco production and trade, and merchants' accounts. There is also some information on wages for slave and/or free laborers. The connection between Overton B. Pettit's book of 1823 and the Fredericks Hall ledgers of 1849-1863 is unclear. Fredericks Hall, on the main railroad through Louisa County, appears to have been owned by Nathaniel W. Harris.
This collection was originally divided into parts A and B. The collection has been rearranged chronologically. Series 1 includes Colonial Era Books and Series 2 contains Antebellum and Civil War Plantation Records.
Series 1. Colonial Era Books (1727-1775 with Enclosures from
1801-1854)
Subseries 1.1. Merchandise Ledgers (1727-1758) This subseries
consists chiefly of merchandise ledgers, cash books, and inventories from
Hanover and York counties, Virginia. Some accounts are for slaves and others
reflect activities of slaves. Volumes include several inventories of shipments
received with the name of the ship, its captain, and the date of arrival. Some
inventories of individual stores are also included. Enclosures from these books
are in Subseries 1.4.
Subseries 1.2. Col. John Chiswell's Day Book and Abstract (1751-1757 and 1981) This subseries consists of an eighteenth century ledger and a twentieth century abstract of the ledger. John Chiswell (d. October 1766), planter, merchant, and mine operator, was the son of Charles Chiswell (d. 1737). This ledger primarily documents Chiswell's activity as a merchant. It is Chiswell's only ledger in the Fredericks Hall collection. The abstract "John Chiswell's Day Book, an abstract of a Hanover County, Virginia, Merchandise Day Book, 1751-1757," was compiled by William W. Reynolds, December 1981. Enclosures from this book are in Subseries 1.4.
Subseries 1.3. Major John Snelson's Letter Book (1757-1775) This subseries consists of letters written from Virginia about tobacco shipments--their prices, quantity and quality--and imported merchandise. Many letters refer to the extension of credit to Virginia planters. There are occasional mentions of slavery and mining in Virginia. There are very limited references to politics and the imperial difficulties of the period (Great War for Empire, 1754-1763, and American Revolution, 1775-1781). The majority of letters are to Edward Harford, Jr., of England. There are also many letters to William Montgomery & Son, merchants of London, for whom Snelson bought tobacco and operated stores in Hanover and York Counties, Virginia. Enclosures from this book are in Subseries 1.4.
Subseries 1.4. Enclosures From Series 1 (1742-1854) Some of the enclosures included in this subseries are from the nineteenth century, including sheet music for the "Love Chase Polka" (by M. Strakosch, 1854) and a manuscript letter from David Bullock concerning slave trading (to Christopher Smith, 1801). Enclosures are arranged by the volume in which they were found, then chronologically.
Series 2. Antebellum and Civil War Plantation Records (1823, and 1849-1863
with Enclosures from 1738-1856)
This series consists chiefly of ledger books of Fredericks Hall Plantation.
Subseries 2.1. General Merchandise Ledgers (1823, 1849-1850) This subseries consists of three volumes: Overton B. Pettit's merchandise ledger for Waterloo Mills (8 March 1823-29 August 1823), and Fredericks Hall ledgers (1 January 1849-14 May 1850 and 31 December 1849-30 June 1850). Most entries are for common household goods: cloth, molasses, whiskey, bacon, nails, shoes, salt, paper, etc. Many pages are missing from the Fredericks Hall records. The connection between Overton B. Pettit of Waterloo Mills and Fredericks Hall is unclear.
Subseries 2.2. Lumber Account Ledgers (1850-1853) This subseries consists chiefly of lumber accounts from the 1850s. There are also a few pages of merchandise accounts.
Subseries 2.3. Shoe Shop Ledgers (1856-1858) This subseries consists of ledgers for the Fredericks Hall shoe shop. Other entries include labor accounts and cash accounts. Some meal and lime accounts are included.
Subseries 2.4. Tobacco Ledgers (1860-1863) This subseries consists of accounts with dealers or manufacturers of tobacco in various forms and brands. The second book is evidently an account book of laborers working in tobacco. It is unclear whether the workers were slave or free.
Subseries 2.5. Enclosures from Series 2 (1738-1856) This subseries consists of enclosures, arranged by the volume in which they were found, then chronologically. Some of the enclosures are from the colonial era.
N.B. Related collections among the holdings of the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia, include the Charles Hudson Papers and the Thomas Partridge Account Book.
Burwell Family Papers, 1750-1943,
Mecklenburg County, Virginia;
also Warren, Vance, and Granville Counties, North Carolina
Description of the Collection
This collection consists of correspondence, financial, legal, business,
and personal papers of the Burwell family of Mecklenburg County, Virginia, and
Granville, Vance, and Warren counties, North Carolina, and of the Williams
family of Warren County, North Carolina. Topics include family activities;
tobacco and cotton farming; slave sales and purchases; family estates; a
gold-mining venture in Burke County, North Carolina; and the purchase of a
substitute during the Civil War. Financial and legal papers include receipts
for taxes as well as household and farm expenditures; tobacco and cotton sales;
insurance papers; papers of the superintendents of the common schools of Vance
and Warren counties, North Carolina; and letters from agricultural agents in
Virginia and North Carolina. Other material includes advertising circulars;
report cards of the Burwell children; genealogical material; and thirty-eight
volumes of church, school, and farm records and account books.
The collection is arranged as follows: Series 1. Correspondence, 1792-1923--Subseries 1.1. 1792-1860, Subseries 1.2. 1861-1923 [not included], and Subseries 1.3. undated; Series 2. Financial and Legal Materials, 1750-1923--Subseries 2.1. 1750-1860, Subseries 2.2. 1861-1923 [not included], and Subseries 2.3. undated; Series 3. Writings, 1816-ca. 1862 and undated; Series 4. Other Papers, 1812-1943 and undated; and Series 5. Volumes, 1805-1910--Subseries 5.1. 1805-1860 and Subseries 5.2. 1861-1910 [not included].
Biographical Note
The Burwell family was prominent in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, and Vance,
Warren, and Granville counties, North Carolina, in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries. Colonel Lewis Burwell, son of Armistead and Christina
Blair Burwell, was born 26 September 1745, in Williamsburg. He moved to
Mecklenburg County, Virginia, fought in the American Revolution, and served in
the Virginia Assembly. With his first wife, Anne Spotswood Burwell, he had
twelve children, including Armistead (d. 1819), Lewis (fl. 1792-1848), and
Spotswood (1785-1855), all farmers in Mecklenburg County.
Spotswood Burwell married Mary ("Polly") Green Marshall (1792-1856), and had nine children, including William Armistead (1809-1887), Lewis D. (b. 1813), and Blair (1815-1848). Spotswood Burwell lived in both Granville County, North Carolina, and Mecklenburg County, Virginia.
Spotswood's son William Armistead Burwell moved to Burke County, North Carolina, in the 1830s to attempt a gold-mining venture, and later returned to Granville County to continue farming. He married Mary Graves Williams (1810-1896) and had one child, William Henry (1835-1917). William Henry attended the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, graduating in 1856, and then returned to Warren County, where his father had settled, to work on the farm. He was drafted into the Confederate army in 1861, but left the army upon purchasing a substitute in 1862, and moved to Alabama to marry Laura T. Pettway (1841-1871). He stayed in Alabama until the end of the war, when he returned to Warren County to resume farming. In later years, he continued to grow tobacco, cotton, and other crops, living at various times in Warren, Vance, and Granville counties in North Carolina and at his Berry Hill plantation in Mecklenburg County, Virginia. He married three times and had sixteen children.
Series 1. Correspondence (1792-1923 and undated)
This series comprises correspondence of the Burwell family of Mecklenburg
County, Virginia, and Granville and Warren counties, North Carolina, and of the
Williams family of Warren County, North Carolina.
Subseries 1.1. (1792-1860) This subseries consists chiefly of personal and business correspondence of Armistead Burwell, his brothers Lewis Burwell and Spotswood Burwell, and Spotswood's son William Armistead Burwell of Mecklenburg County, Virginia, as well as some correspondence of the Williams family of Warren County, North Carolina.
From 1792 to 1819, the correspondence of Lewis and Armistead Burwell includes items concerning tobacco farming and sales, horses, slave purchases, agricultural concerns, and the disposition of the estate of their father, Col. Lewis Burwell, including two letters to Armistead from Patrick Henry (1736-1799) concerning beef and slave sales.
After Armistead's death in 1819, his wife Lucy (Crawley) Burwell assumed the running of their plantation. The papers for 1820-1831 include correspondence on the settlement of Armistead Burwell's estate, tobacco and cotton, relations with Lucy Burwell's tenants, and Spotswood Burwell's land grants in Tennessee. Correspondence for the Williams family in this period includes items describing family news and finances, the War of 1812, tobacco farming, and hiring of slaves. There are also letters regarding the establishment of local academies in North Carolina, and letters from the 1830s of a student at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, describing his everyday life and his friends.
From 1832 to 1835, Spotswood Burwell and his son William Armistead Burwell corresponded about the latter's attempts to establish a gold-mining concern in Burke County, North Carolina. Other subjects include growing corn and tobacco, hiring and selling slaves, the family's problems with a runaway slave named Tom, and the bloodlines of Spotswood's horses. There are also letters from agents and businesses regarding the sale of tobacco and other agricultural products, and letters to William Armistead Burwell from various friends and family members, including several discussing the Nullification Crisis in South Carolina and the building of a manufacturing mill on the Catawba River in that state.
In 1836, William Armistead Burwell abandoned the mining project in Burke County and returned to Granville County to resume farming. The letters of Spotswood Burwell and his sons Blair and William Armistead Burwell include business correspondence relating to tobacco weights and sales, cotton farming and household expenses, and personal correspondence describing family and neighborhood activities.
Sometime in the 1850s, William Armistead Burwell relocated to Warren County, North Carolina, where he grew tobacco. His correspondence includes a description of his escape from a steamboat explosion on the Mississippi River in 1848, letters from his brother Lewis Burwell in Rome, Georgia, a letter concerning the state common school system, letters regarding his son William Henry Burwell's school performance, and papers relating to the settling of Spotswood Burwell's estate, including the division of slaves and a survey of his property. There are also many business letters about tobacco and corn crops, household purchases, and the purchase and use of guano as fertilizer. There are several letters in 1856 to Laura Pettway, future wife of William Henry Burwell, in Camden, Alabama, from family and friends relating social news.
Subseries 1.3. (Undated) This subseries comprises undated correspondence of the Burwell and Williams families.
Series 2. Financial and Legal Material (1750-1923 and undated)
This series comprises financial and legal papers of the Burwell family of
Mecklenburg County, Virginia, and Warren, Vance, and Granville counties, North
Carolina, and the Williams family of Warren County, North Carolina.
Subseries 2.1. (1750-1860) This subseries consists chiefly of financial and legal papers of Armistead, Lewis, and Spotswood Burwell of Mecklenburg County, Virginia, and of William Armistead Burwell of Granville, Vance, and Warren counties, North Carolina, as well as some papers of the Williams family of Warren County, North Carolina.
For the period from 1750 to 1830, financial and legal papers include receipts for legal services, state and local taxes, household and farm expenses, farming equipment and supplies, and subscriptions; horse-breeding records; records of tobacco and other farm products sales; and documents relating to the settlement of the estates of Col. Lewis Burwell and Armistead Burwell.
From 1830 to 1845, documents include a horse pedigree, William Armistead Burwell's records of expenses for his gold-mining venture; records of slaves hired and purchased; doctor's bills; receipts for household and farm expenditures and sales; letters of agreement; and indentures.
There is a great deal of material for 1845-1860, including marriage licenses; tuition receipts; receipts for taxes, household, and farm expenses; sales records for tobacco, corn, and other crops; railway stock shares; drafts of various family members' wills; William Armistead Burwell's records of payments of teacher's salaries in his capacity as chairman of the Board of the Superintendents of Common Schools of Vance and Warren counties; records of slave sales and bequests; plans for the building of Dodson's Bridge over Nut Bush Creek in Warren County; and documents relating to the settlement of the estate of Spotswood Burwell. There are also several legal documents of the Pettway and Williams families for this period.
Subseries 2.3. (Undated) This subseries comprises undated financial and legal material of the Burwell and Williams families.
Series 3. Writings (1816-ca. 1862 and undated)
This series includes items from 1816-1817 written by Robert Williams, and
undated papers probably written by William Henry Burwell, consisting of love
letters, school compositions, poems, and essays.
Series 4. Other Papers (1812-1943 and undated)
This series comprises miscellaneous papers of the Burwell family. Genealogical
information about the Burwell family includes a history of the family from
Burwell, Spotswood, Dandridge, West and Allied Family Histories
(Lawrence, 1943); Blair Burwell's family tree; a copy of the tombstone
inscription of Lewis Burwell; and two memorial pamphlets about William Henry
Burwell. There are also school records, 1874-1893, for William Henry Burwell's
children from Randolph-Macon College, Greensboro Female College, and Peace
College; lists of subscribers to a building fund for the Tabernacle Methodist
Episcopal Church and a list of children in the Fishing Creek School District;
and valentines dating from the 1850s belonging to William Henry Burwell and his
soon-to-be wife, Laura Pettway.
Printed items include advertising circulars for tobacco and agricultural dealers; cut-out pictures of horses and other farm animals; advertisements for medicinal cures, household items, insurance, and other products; prices current newsletters; and clippings of the series, "Pen and Ink Sketches of the University of North Carolina, As It Has Been," from the Weekly Sentinel, 1869. Miscellaneous items include business cards; a playbill for 1819 performances of "Wanted a Wife!" and "Ella Rosenberg" at the Philadelphia Theatre; a medicinal recipe; cards; drawings; and party invitations.
Series 5. Volumes (1805-1910)
This series comprises thirty-eight manuscript volumes belonging to Armistead
Burwell and his wife Lucy Crawley Burwell, Spotswood Burwell, William Armistead
Burwell, and William Henry Burwell of Mecklenburg County, Virginia, and Warren,
Granville, and Vance counties, North Carolina; and some volumes of the Williams
family of Warren County, North Carolina.
Subseries 5.1. (1805-1860) This subseries includes account books, farm journals, and church books of Armistead Burwell, Lucy Crawley Burwell, Spotswood Burwell, William Armistead Burwell, and members of the Williams family. Volumes include: a "Horse Book" listing horse breeding records for 1805; the birthdates and names of slaves and horses belonging to the Burwell family for various years; slave purchases and sales; records of household and farm expenses; settlement of estates of the Burwell and Williams family; records of payments and visits of doctors and midwives; weather and farm work notes; a blacksmith shop book dated 1837; lists of both black and white members of the Tabernacle Society of the Tabernacle Methodist Episcopal Church for the 1830s through the 1850s; and an expense book of William Henry Burwell's travels to Alabama in the 1850s.
Omissions
A list of omissions from the Burwell Family Papers is provided on reel
15, frame 0721. Omissions include: Subseries 1.2. Correspondence, 1861-1923;
Subseries 2.2. Financial and Legal Material, 1861-1923; and Subseries 5.2.
Volumes, 1861-1910. Descriptions of omitted materials are included in the
introductory materials included with this collection.
N.B. A related collection among the holdings of the Southern Historical Collection is the George Burwell Papers.
Thomas Edward Cox Books, 1829-1854,
Henrico County, Virginia
Description of the Collection
This collection chiefly documents the farming activities of Thomas
Edward Cox at his farm, Laurel Spring, Henrico County, Virginia in 1853 and
1854. Considerable information also appears on Cox's medical practice in
Henrico County in the 1840s and early 1850s. Limited information on his family
and personal life can be culled from Cox's daybook entries. Edward Cox's
farming activities in the late 1820s receive some attention, but nothing
appears on his life otherwise.
The seven volumes in the collection consist of two farm account books of Edward Cox and two physician's ledger/notebooks and three farm account/daybooks of Thomas Cox. The volumes are arranged chronologically by the earliest date appearing in them, except for Volume 7. This volume was dated by the original processor as 1854 but actually contains some entries for 1853 as well. The volume was not renumbered to avoid confusion for earlier users.
Volume 1 comprises an account book kept by Edward Cox between 3 January 1829 and 21 April 1830, also containing daybook entries by his son, Thomas Edward Cox between 1 July 1854 and 20 December 1854. Edward Cox's accounts (154 pages) are primarily for wheat and flour he sold, and for groceries, hardware items, stationery supplies, and miscellaneous items he purchased.
A few accounts (13 pages) appear for Thomas Cox in 1853. These accounts, dated between 27 December 1853 and 1 January 1854, list his stocks, cash, bills payable and receivable, personal property, savings, groceries, farming implements, and outstanding loans. Some of the accounts pertain to his purchase of Laurel Spring and to his father's estate.
Thomas Cox made almost daily entries in this volume during the summer and fall of 1854 concerning transactions at his farm, Laurel Spring. These entries continue a daybook Cox started in January 1854 (see Volume 6). He frequently discussed gardening, planting, harvesting, and livestock on the farm; described visits he made to sick patients; noted his financial transactions; and mentioned visits to and from friends and relatives, trips to church, and trips he made into town. Of note in the 55 pages of entries he made is one (p. 190) in which he mentions a balloon ascension he witnessed at the University of Virginia by a Mr. Elliot. One enclosure, a sheet bearing miscellaneous calculations, appears in the volume.
Volume 2 comprises a ledger and notebook of Thomas Cox, kept between 30 August 1844 and 29 January 1853. This 231-page volume contains accounts with patients for medicines and visits. Also appearing are a few notes Cox made on the symptoms of his patients, the treatments he administered, and the medicines he prescribed. An index to the accounts for 1849 to 1853 is on pages 108 and 109.
In the beginning of the volume, a list appears of servants at Laurel Spring in 1847 as well as accounts with them for Cox's medical services, and a record of vaccinations.
Volume 3 comprises a farm account book of Edward Cox, 1847-1853, containing accounts for wood, straw, and manure. The volume records over 1,200 trips made by wagoners, who would haul wood, straw, or other items from farms, probably to Richmond, and return with manure or other items. It is unclear whether Cox was buying or selling these items, or both. One entry near the end of the volume records shoes given to slaves. Accounts in this 223-page volume cover the period from 17 May 1847 to 16 June 1853.
Volume 4 comprises a physician's ledger of Thomas Cox kept between 1 January 1853 and 20 December 1854. The 92-page volume contains a one-page index and 82 pages of accounts with patients for medicines and visits (the remaining 10 pages are blank). Of interest are notes in the beginning of the volume concerning how to enter financial transactions in an account book (p. iv).
Volume 5 comprises fifty-three pages of farm and personal accounts kept by Thomas Cox between 9 December 1853 and 2 June 1854. Accounts are for sundries, groceries, farming implements, wood, furniture, livestock, clothes, dry goods, and miscellaneous items Cox purchased and for gardening and blacksmithing services he hired.
Volume 6 comprises a record book designed for use on farms and plantations, containing printed instructions (19 pages) about farm management, regulations, and crop cultivation and blank forms to be filled in (book published by J. W. Randolph, Richmond, Virginia, 1852). About 27 pages of this 131-page farm record contain daybook-type entries by Thomas Cox that pertain to affairs at his Laurel Spring farm. These entries are dated between 1 January 1854 and 26 June 1854 (see Volume 1 for a continuation of these entries). Cox recorded his farm activities, weather conditions, household matters, family and social occasions, church attendance, health, and frequent trips to town.
The volume also includes inventories of slaves on the farm and of stock and implements owned by Cox, and contains notes on Cox's purchase of Laurel Spring. Pages 51 to 64 give accounts of groceries and sundries bought, labor hired, and financial transactions made. These accounts are dated 31 January 1854 to 30 September 1854.
A record of cotton picked at Laurel Spring appears on page 123. Pages 128-131 contain miscellaneous notes on planting, livestock, and meat and meal allowances to slaves and white farm hands. About 30 pages of the volume are blank.
Volume 7 comprises a farm and personal account book of Thomas Cox, 1853-1854. This volume contains 137 pages of accounts of cash spent. Items purchased include furniture, books, groceries, medicines, farm implements, and livestock. Other entries relate to bills payable and receivable; loans; family expenses; and gardening costs. It includes accounts for labor. Accounts are for the period between 9 December 1853 and 9 November 1854.
At the front of the volume, a fourteen-page (i-xiv) index and an "Inventory of Effects, May 1st, 1854" appear. The inventory lists Thomas Cox's personal and real estate worth at $6,250.
Biographical Note
Edward Cox (d. 1853), who married Elizabeth Adeline Harris, owned six
farms in Henrico County, Virginia. Among these farms was Laurel Spring, which
his son Thomas Edward Cox purchased upon his father's death. Thomas Edward Cox,
a physician as well as a farmer in Henrico County, was born in 1815.
Thomas E. Cox was educated at William and Mary Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. He practiced medicine and farmed in Henrico County in the 1840s and 1850s until his death in 1855. Residing at Laurel Spring on Osborne's Turnpike Road along the James River below Richmond, he grew grains and some cotton on the farm and raised livestock.
Cox married Frances Eleanor Grant, probably in the 1840s, and had three children, two of whom died in infancy. One daughter, Martha Ellen, survived. She married Robert Simple Bosher.
Crenshaw and Miller Family Papers, 1751-1916,
Halifax, Hanover, and Pittsylvania Counties, Virginia
Description of the Collection
Consisting almost entirely of legal papers, this collection is especially
useful for the study of early ninteenth-century Virginia estates. Receiving the
most attention are the estates of Major Nathaniel Crenshaw of Pittsylvania
County and Charles Crenshaw, Jr. of Hanover County. The papers are deeds,
wills, bonds, writs of summons, legal correspondence, contracts, land plats,
court orders, and articles of agreement. Only a few financial items, mostly
household accounts and county tax receipts, appear.
Significant, though limited, information can be found in the papers on slaves and freedmen, including the locations of early revolts in Virginia and North Carolina; documentation of an extended celebration among slaves on a Hanover County plantation in 1812; several wills providing for the manumission of slaves; slave bills of sale; and a work contract with freedmen signed in 1865.
Limited information, contained in reports to constituents of acts passed in the Virginia legislature and a broadside, pertains to politics between 1802 and 1805.
The legal and public affairs of the Crenshaw family are best documented between 1751 and 1839. All the papers after that date pertain to their Miller relatives. Almost no details of family life emerge in the documents.
Legal papers are of the Crenshaw and Miller families of Hanover, Halifax, and Pittsylvania counties, Virginia. The collection includes estate papers of Major Nathaniel Crenshaw, Charles Crenshaw, Jr., and Sarah Bacon Crenshaw, miscellaneous legal and financial items belonging to William Miller and his family as well as a few broadsides and clippings.
The first folder, 1751-1794, consists mostly of the legal papers of Major Nathaniel Crenshaw of Pittsylvania County and of his father, Charles Crenshaw of Hanover County. Papers include plats and deeds for tracts of land in Pittsylvania and Halifax counties, bonds, indentures, and other legal items. Of note are Charles Crenshaw's will, dated 9 February 1790, and a bill of sale, dated 5 January 1789, for four slaves Nathaniel Crenshaw purchased from Charles Thompson.
The second folder, 1800-1819, consists principally of papers of Nathaniel Crenshaw; his mother, Sarah Bacon Crenshaw; and his brother, Charles Crenshaw, Jr. One item appears for his brother, John Crenshaw, and one for his nephew, Nathaniel C. Crenshaw of Hanover County.
Nathaniel Crenshaw's papers include his commission as a captain in the Virginia militia, dated 22 May 1800; three printed letters sent him in 1803 and 1805 by state legislators reporting acts passed; a broadside entitled "Fourth March" advertising an upcoming celebration over Thomas Jefferson's election and success as president (1802?); an 1810 call to militia duty from John Tyler to help suppress slave revolts in North Carolina and Virginia; and several items related to the settlement of his estate.
Copies of wills drawn up in 1803, 1805, and 1813 appear for Sarah Crenshaw. She expressed a desire in her will that her slaves be emancipated should it become legal in Virginia to do so. Charles Crenshaw, Jr.'s will, dated 23 February 1808, also stipulated that his slaves be freed upon it becoming legal. Only two other items appear for Charles. One of these is a broadside he had printed in July 1812 pertaining to his breaking up of a "[N]egro frolic" on a neighboring plantation and a fight that ensued between himself, his nephew Nathaniel C. Crenshaw, and the plantation owner's son, Chiswell Dabney. The final item is a deed of trust he signed with Micajah and Margaret Crew of Hanover County concerning money owed him as executor of Sarah Crenshaw's estate.
A broadside publicizing the theft of a horse from his stable, printed 6 April 1801, is the only item pertaining to John Crenshaw. A bill of sale for slaves he sold William Miller of Halifax County appears for Nathaniel C. Crenshaw.
The third folder, 1820-1839, consists primarily of estate papers of Nathaniel Crenshaw and his brother, Charles Crenshaw, Jr., and legal papers of William Miller. The papers include deeds, indentures, writs of summons, land plats, legal correspondence, bills and receipts, articles of agreement, and court orders. Of note are a draft of Charles Crenshaw's will, dated 1 May 1820, and a power of attorney that William Miller gave his son, George Y. M. Miller, on 19 May 1827, authorizing him to retrieve a runaway slave, Armistead, who belonged to Nathaniel Crenshaw's estate.
Items pertaining to William Miller's affairs include several deeds; Pittsylvania County tax receipts for 1837 and 1838; and accounts for 1830 with Weir & Smith and for 1838 with William Smith for dry goods, stationery supplies, groceries, and hardware items. Of interest is a contract MIller signed with Uriah Fisher on 20 September 1828, employing Fisher as an overseer.
Legal correspondence consists of a letter from C. Anthony of Lynchburg to Charles Crenshaw in Richmond, dated 12 February 1824, concerning a debt Anthony owed him; a letter, dated 15 April 1831, from Nathaniel C. Crenshaw in Hanover County to his uncle William Miller in Halifax County, concerning a case to be filed in the Court of Appeals, involving Robert C. Penn; and a letter, dated 12 November 1839, from attorney James Lyon in Richmond to attorney Lewis W. Minor in Washington City, concerning a case Dr. (William?) Miller was involved in in federal court in Richmond.
Three items, including an indenture and a Pittsylvania County tax receipt for 1828, appear for George Y. M. Miller. A final item for Miller is a copy of resolutions passed by a committee of the citizens of Hanover County on 26 August 1831 in regard to putting down possible slave revolts in the county. Fears of an insurrection had been sparked by the Nat Turner uprising in nearby Southampton County. Miller served on the committee in some capacity.
The fourth folder, 1851-1916, consists of papers of the Miller family of Halifax and Pittsylvania Counties, Virginia, and Calhoun County, Texas, including William Miller; his sons George and Nathaniel C. Miller; his grandson, Charles Edwin Miller; and other family members, including Charles E. Miller (d. 1851?), William B. Miller (fl. 1851) of Texas, and Crenshaw Miller (fl. 1826).
Items include deeds, court opinions, writs of summons, work contracts, and articles of agreement. Most of the papers are those of Nathaniel C. Miller.
Of interest are a plat for 1859 of Sharswood, Nathaniel C. Miller's Pittsylvania County estate; William B. Miller's will, made in Calhoun County, Texas, and dated 19 March 1856; contracts, dated 6 Sept 1859 and 12 February 1860, concerning the swapping of slaves; a work contract, dated 9 August 1865, between Nathaniel C. Miller and several freedmen on his plantation; and Charles E. Miller's commission in the Virginia militia, dated 15 August 1866.
One item, a clipping of a letter sent to The Metropolis of Jacksonville, Florida, in 1916 by William Miller's great-grandson, Theodore Frederick Davis, concerns Miller's close friendship with Patrick Henry and Davis's inheritance of a table that had belonged to Henry.
The fifth folder consists of undated papers including: an undated plat showing land owned by Major Nathaniel Crenshaw's heirs in Pittsylvania County; an undated plat showing land owned by Charles Crenshaw, Gent, Joseph Roberts, John Hawkins, and John Smith, probably in Pittsylvania County circa the mid 1700s; and a letter from George Y. M. Miller to his father concerning a plantation employee, Owin.
Biographical Note
Charles and Sarah Crenshaw, their daughter Agnes, and her husband, William
Miller, and their descendants lived on various plantations in Hanover,
Pittsylvania, and Halifax counties, Virginia. They appear to have been
planters, cultivating mostly tobacco.
Charles Crenshaw (fl. 1775-1794) married Sarah Bacon (d. 1818) and lived in Hanover County. Charles and Sarah had six children: Susanna (fl. 1790-1818), who never married; Agnes (d. 185?), who married William Miller of Halifax County; Temperance (d. 180?), who married William Rice; Nathaniel Crenshaw (d. 1818), who served as a major in the Virginia militia and lived on a plantation left him by his father in Pittsylvania County; John (fl. 1801); and Charles, Jr. (d. 1825). Charles and Sarah had at least eight grandchildren, including John Rice Miller and Nathaniel C. Miller (1816-1888), both children of Agnes and William Miller; Sarah B. Rice (m. Walter Crew), Samuel B. Rice, Mary B. Rice (m. Samuel P. Hargrave), and Izard Bacon Rice, all children of Temperance and William Rice; and Nathaniel C. Crenshaw (fl. 1812-1831) and Edmund B. Crenshaw (fl. 1826), brothers who probably were the children of John Crenshaw.
William Miller also had another son, George Y. M. Miller (fl. 1826-1863), by a previous marriage. Agnes and William's son, Nathaniel C. Miller, remained a bachelor, as did their grandson, Charles Edwin Miller (1839-1906). Nathaniel C. Miller left his Pittsylvania County estate, Sharswood, to Charles Edwin Miller.
There are other family members whose relationship to other family members is unclear. They include: Charles Edwin Miller (d. 1851?); William B. Miller of Calhoun County, Texas (fl. 185?); Crenshaw Miller (fl. 1826); and Charles Crenshaw, Gent, possibly an uncle or other relation of Charles Crenshaw.
Several individuals served as executors of wills for family members. John Crenshaw was the executor for the estate of his father, Charles Crenshaw; Charles Crenshaw, Jr. was executor for the estate of his mother, Sarah Bacon Crenshaw, and for the estate of his brother, Major Nathaniel Crenshaw; and William Miller was executor for the estate of Charles Crenshaw, Jr.
Thomas Baylie Cropper Papers, 1832-1879,
Accomack County, Virginia
Description of the Collection
This collection consists primarily of family and business letters,
1832-1848, received by Thomas Baylie Cropper. The bulk of the family letters
document the personal, financial, economic, religious, and political affairs of
Cropper's Accomack County, Virginia, relatives. Some information appears in the
business letters on his activities as a ship's captain, but it offers only
limited insight into his day-to-day routine, touching mostly on personal
business ventures, such as importing cattle, favors he did for relatives and
friends while abroad, and his role as a mentor and guardian for young
sailors.
Nothing appears in the letters on Cropper's family life with his wife and children or on his Gold Rush days. There is only limited information on Rosina Mix (Mrs. Thomas) Cropper.
Though much of the information contained in his family's letters to him pertain to their personal affairs, discussion frequently appears on the political battles of Accomack County in the mid- to late-1840s between the Whigs and the Democrats and the religious controversies raging over northern versus southern control of the Methodist church. Only limited information appears on politics or religion after 1847.
Most of the financial items, principally bills and receipts for household improvements, and miscellaneous items, chiefly invitations, in Series 2 relate to Thomas Cropper's son, John Cropper of New York City. John Cropper owned several residences in the city. A few items appear for Thomas Cropper himself, his wife, Rosina, and his mother-in-law, Mrs. E. Mix.
Locations in Accomack County that figure in this collection include Berlin, Drummond Town, Gargotha, Metompkin Island, and Pungoteague.
The collection is arranged in two series: Series 1. Correspondence--Subseries 1.1. 1832-1839, Subseries 1.2. 1840-1848, Subseries 1.3. 1855, 1868, and undated; and Series 2. Financial and Miscellaneous Items--Subseries 2.1 Antebellum Financial and Miscellaneous Items. 1833, 1837, and 1846, Subseries 2.2. Post war Financial and Miscellaneous Items. 1868, 1877-1879, an undated.
Biographical Note
Thomas Baylie Cropper (d. 1855), a sea captain and participant in the Gold Rush
of the 1850s, was the son of Catherine West Cropper (d. 1855) of Accomack
County, Virginia. Cropper commanded a number of transatlantic merchant ships.
Between 1832 and 1838 he sailed out of Philadelphia on the Montezuma,
the Algonquin, and the Susquehanna. From the spring of 1838
through 1848, he sailed out of New York on the Columbus, the New
York, and the West Point. At least after 1838, and perhaps earlier,
he was employed by Charles H. Marshall of New York.
In 1843, Cropper married Rosina Mix (fl. 1843-1878), and together they had three children: Catharine, called Kitty (b. 1844); Rose (b. 1846); and John (b. 1848).
Thomas Baylie Cropper had two sisters, Elizabeth (Eliza) and Ann. Eliza married a schoolteacher, Joseph Gibb, and lived with him in several Accomack County locations, including Drummond Town, Pungoteague, and Metompkin Island. The Gibbs had six children: Elizabeth (Lizzy), Ann, Catharine T., John J., William J., and Tom. Ann first married George Arbuckle, then, in 1838, Major John Savage. The Savages lived in Gargotha, in Accomack County, and had at least one daughter, Lizzie.
Cropper had two brothers, P. W. (fl. 1832) of Assawamaw, and Coventon (C. H.), who farmed on Thomas Baylie Cropper's farm, Edgehill, in Accomack County. Coventon, called Covey, married a woman named Leah, who died in 1838, soon after the birth of their daughter, Isabella. He then married a woman named Sarah. Coventon possibly had another daughter, Kate.
Thomas Henry Bayly, superior court judge between 1842 and 1844 and U.S. congressman from 1844 until his death in 1856, was a cousin to Thomas Cropper. U.S. Congressman Henry A. Wise was also a cousin.
Series 1. Correspondence (1832-1868 and undated)
Family and business letters received by Captain Thomas Baylie Cropper while
commander of several merchant vessels between 1832 and 1848, and scattered
family letters received by Rosina Mix Cropper in the 1850s. One item appears
addressed to Mrs. Mix, Rosina's mother, in 1868.
Captain Cropper sailed out of Philadelphia between 1832 and early 1838, and early letters are addressed to him in care of Philadelphia merchants Robert Williams, Thomas Cope & Co., and H. & A. Cope, and in Liverpool at the Starr and Garter Inn. Beginning in the spring of 1838, he sailed out of New York, where he received mail at the Astor House, in care of his employer, Charles H. Marshall, and in care of Goodhue & Co. Beginning in 1846, he and his family took up residence on East 14th Street. He also received letters through Baring Bros. in Liverpool.
Subseries 1.1. (1832-1839) This subseries comprises about two-thirds business letters received by Capt. Thomas B. Cropper, while he commanded the merchant vessels Montezuma, Algonquin, and Susquehanna, sailing between Philadelphia and Liverpool, and during the first year of his command of the Columbus, sailing between New York and Liverpool. The remaining third are letters from Cropper's relatives in Accomack County, Virginia.
Most of the business letters pertain to Cropper's activities as a sea captain and include letters of introduction; inquiries concerning sailing schedules, passenger rates, and items shipped; letters of thanks from passengers; and requests from friends and associates for Cropper to procure English goods for them. Of particular interest among the letters is one, dated 29 May 1838, from Cropper's employer, Charles Marshall, which discusses Cropper's salary and his taking command of the Columbus. Also of note is a letter from Thomas T. Cropper in New York, dated 29 September 1838, pertaining to a vessel the writer was having built and requesting a recommendation for a Captain Coalbern. Thomas T. Cropper seems to have been in the shipping business. A final item of interest is a letter of 26 January 1839 from A. Graham of Easton, Virginia, concerning the possibility of his son, George, becoming an apprentice seaman aboard the Columbus.
Cropper also received letters concerning his personal financial ventures. Two associates, Edward Taylor Randolph of Philadelphia and Paschall Morris of Allentown, Pennsylvania, wrote him frequently in 1837 and 1838 concerning the importing and breeding of English cattle, an activity in which the three engaged together. They were particularly interested in the Durham Short Horned and Ayrshire breeds.
Family letters give mostly news of relatives and friends in Accomack County, noting courtships and marriages, illnesses and deaths, visits, local church news, and quarrels within the family and neighborhood. Frequent writers include Cropper's sisters, Eliza Gibb and Ann Arbuckle Savage; his niece, Catharine F. Gibb; his friend, S. Edwards; and his cousin, Catharine K. B. Joynes.
Of interest among the early letters is one, dated 14 August 1832, from Cropper's brother, P. W. Cropper in Assawamaw, Virginia, which mentions a recent promotion Capt. Cropper had received. This is the only letter appearing in the collection from P. W. Cropper, who may have died soon after. Also of interest is a letter, dated 21 September 1837, from a friend, William Joynes, at the University of Virginia, apologizing for his failure to repay a loan and describing both his travels in Virginia and, financial woes in detail.
Ann C. Arbuckle wrote from Mt. William's until October 1838, when she moved to Gargotha upon marrying Major John Savage. Of note among her letters is one of 19 January 1838 that mentioned an attempt by pirates to take the Susquehanna and another of 9 October 1838 that discussed her marriage, the death of their sister-in-law, Leah Cropper, and their mother's receiving a pension from Congress. She hoped that she would be able to raise Leah's daughter, Isabella. Eliza Gibb also wrote in December about Leah Cropper's death. She reported as well that she was moving to Pungoteague, and wrote again in April 1839 from there concerning who was to raise Isabella and giving neighborhood news. Of interest in her letter is mention of a local minister having been let go from his post. S. Edwards of Berlin, Virginia, wrote in April and July and gave additional details of the minister's discharge. He also described events in his church, which seems to have been Episcopalian, including the visit of a Bishop Doane.
Other items of interest are letters from Catharine Joynes in Eastville, dated 14 January and 18 September, in which she discussed her hope that Capt. Cropper would become a Christian, her approval of his forbidding alcohol aboard his ship, and her hopes for his eventual marriage despite her observations regarding its unpleasant aspects. A letter from Catharine F. Gibb on 20 December 1839 related neighborhood news and the plans she was making for attending school. Single letters appear from Cropper's mother, Catharine West Cropper, in 1832, and his cousin, Sally Bayly at Mt. Custis, a farm in Accomack County, in 1838.
Individuals frequently discussed in the family letters include Judge Thomas H. Bayly and his wife, Evelyn, cousin Jane Bayly, cousin Henry Wise, an Uncle Thomas, and Cropper's sister Ann and brother Coventon.
Subseries 1.2. (1840-1848) This subseries is two-thirds letters from relatives and friends in Accomack County and one-third business letters pertaining to Cropper's position as captain of the Columbus, the New York, and the West Point. Cropper's most frequent correspondents in this period were his brother, Coventon (C. H.); his sisters, Eliza Gibb and Ann Arbuckle Savage; and his niece, Catharine Gibb. His cousins, Thomas H. Bayly and T. T. Cropper, and his friend, Edmond Allen, also wrote on occasion.
Political disputes in Accomack County often dominated Coventon Cropper's, Edmond Allen's, and sometimes Eliza Gibb's letters. Allen wrote from Drummond Town on 21 August 1840 concerning elections and described the exciting battle between Whigs and Democrats. He mentioned the Whig "log cabin convention" in Pungoteague, speeches given, and a mob's opposition to Judge Thomas H. Bayly. Coventon Cropper wrote from Edgehill on 13 March and 24 April 1843 concerning the Democratic Convention, local candidates, and their cousin Henry Wise's nomination as minister to France. On 24 April, he mentioned a four-and-one-half-hour speech Wise had given in Drummond Town that had moved his listeners to tears. Religious and economic tensions also seem to have been running high in the county, as Cropper often mentioned hard times, and, on 7 July 1843, described a fist fight that had broken out over religious matters.
Both Coventon and Eliza wrote in the spring and fall of 1844 about the great excitement the election of that year evoked in the county, describing local upheavals over politics. On 1 December, Coventon expressed his unhappiness over the election, bemoaning the "ingratitude of the nation" in its failure to elect Henry Clay and resigning himself to the "second experiment of General Jackson," as he referred to Polk's upcoming presidency. Also of note is a