Series IV.B.I. Superintendent B.W. Lynn, 1892-1896.

Containers:

Box 391-394.

Scope and content:

Superintendent B.W. Lynn's correspondence are housed in four boxes and arranged alphabetically by correspondent and by subject. Subjects include requests for convict labor from Joseph R. Anderson, The Enterprise Cooperage Works of Virginia, Goochland County (b391, f1 and f2) and W.P. Fortune, for work on Abingdon Coal and Iron Railroad, Washington County, Virginia (b391, f3 and f4); Davis Boot and Shoe Company (employed convicts within the Penitentiary) (b391, f3); letter to Governor McKinney, 8 June 1892 accusing W.P. Fortune of mistreating convicts in Abingdon (b391, f5); letters from R.S. Haller, Penitentiary Officer, to B.W. Lynn, dated 8 July 1892, 11 August 1892, 24 August 1892, 31 August 1892, 6 September 1892, and 12 September 1892, describing conditions at Fortune's camp in Abingdon (b391, f6); Dr. Rolfe E. Hughes, physician at Fortune's camp in Abingdon, 1892-1893 (b392, f1); Dr. T.N.W. Morris, physician for railroad contractors Gooch and Waugh, 1892-1893 (b392, f3); and the establishment of a State Farm, 1893-1896 (b393, f6; b394, f1 and f2).

Bushrod W. Lynn was born in Loudoun County in 1842. During the Civil War, he enlisted as a private in Co. H. 1st Regt. Va. Cav., also known as the Loudoun Light Horse, and fought at the 1st Battle of Manassas. On Feb, 28, 1863, he was appointed ordnance sergeant and ordered to report to the Richmond defenses. Lynn was assigned to Battery No. 9 in April 1863, and later as assistant inspector of the Laboratory Dept., Richmond Arsenal. He also became assistant superintendent of the laboratory on Sept. 21, 1864. After the war, Lynn returned to Loudoun County to work on his farm. He entered the realm of politics and was elected Superintendent of the State Penitentiary three times serving from 1892 to 1898. He was also elected for two terms in the 11th Senatorial District of the State Senate in 1905. Lynn married Frances Hope Allen, daughter of Russell W. Allen of Richmond, on March 5, 1863. The couple had 4 sons and 2 daughters. His wife died in 1908 and he remarried in 1909 to Columbia Foster Van Deventer. He died on Oct. 17, 1917 in Los Angeles, Ca. and is buried in Hollywood Cemetery.

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