Melvin E. Steadman collection, 1698-1927

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888

Summary

Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Papers, 1698-1927, collected by Melvin Steadman of Northern Virginia. The collection is organized into three series: Local records, Organizational records, and Private papers. Included are accounts, bonds, correspondence, court records, deeds, estate papers, financial records, plats and surveys, school records, and wills. The bulk of the collection relates to Fairfax and Loudoun Counties and includes numerous 18th century documents. The Local records comprise the largest series and include Chancery Records, Circuit Court Records, Deeds, Fiduciary Records, Free Negro and Slave Records, Indentures, Overseers of the Poor, Road and Bridge Records, School Records, and Wills.

The Organizational records include receipts and accounts of Alexandria Boarding School and Leesburg Academy, as well as records relating to the Methodist Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax, Lovettsville, Loudoun, and Sussex County.

The Private papers contain estate accounts and inventories for the Binns, Chichester, Cooke, Davis, Ellzey, Hamilton, Hopkins, Lane, Lewis, McCabe, Mason, Oxley, Price, Scott, Sinclair, Taylor, Updike, Whaley, and Wrenn families, among others.

Biographical / historical:

Melvin Steadman (1932-1987) was a United Methodist minister, an amateur genealogist, and a historian of Northern Virginia. These papers from his personal collection are largely from the Northern Virginia counties in which Steadman centered his own work.

Acquisition information:
Purchased, May 1990.
Arrangement:

This collection is arranged into the following series:

  • Series I: Local records
  • Series II: Organizational records
  • Series III: Private papers
Physical description:
8.7 cu. ft. (19 boxes)