Alexander Brown Papers (1), 1815-1910.

Access and use

Location of collection:
College of William and Mary
Special Collections Research Center
Earl Gregg Swem Library
College of William and Mary
400 Landrum Drive
PO 8795
Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795
Contact for questions and access:
Phone: (757) 221-3090
Fax: (757) 221-5440
Restrictions:

Collection is open to all researchers.

Terms of access:

Before publishing quotations or excerpts from any materials, permission must be obtained from the Curator of Manuscripts and Rare Books, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.

Preferred citation:

Alexander Brown Papers (1), 1815-1910, Manuscripts and Rare Books Department, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.

Summary

Creator:
Alexander Brown
Abstract:
Inventory includes the letters and business papers,1815-1910, of Alexander Brown (1843-1906), farmer, merchant and author who lived in Nelson County, Virginia.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Alexander Brown Papers (1), 1815-1910, Manuscripts and Rare Books Department, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.

Background

Scope and content:

Inventory contains the papers of Alexander Brown, farmer, merchant and author who lived in Nelson County, Virginia. Includes correspondence relating to his books, The Genesis of the United States,The First Republic in America,The Cabells and Their Kinand New Views,and other correspondence and business papers of Brown including letters written from Australia, England, Wales and Egypt, 1867-1869. Correspondents include Herbert Baxter Adams, Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry, Charles Deane, and Lyon Gardiner Tyler.

The collection also includes papers of Mayo Cabell and ledgers of Mayo Cabell and Co., Lynchburg, Virginia and of the Lynchburg Female Seminary; accounts of "Belmont," "Benvenue," and "Norwood" plantations (in Nelson County); and genealogical material on the Brown and Cabell families.

Items that dealt with, related to or concerned Alexander Brown and the Brown family.

These letters deal with the history of the Early family in Virginia and the coats of arms of Capt. John Smith, with several colored sketches.

Notification of Brown's having been elected a member of the American Historical Association, signed by Herbert Baxter Adams.

Items concern the publication of his book The Cabells and Their Kin.

Items concern the occasion of the death of his wife.

Items concern Brown's claim against the company.

Items concern Brown's claim against the company for damages inflicted on his property during the floods of 1 June and after.

Some correspondents include Charles Washington Coleman, 20 Feb. 1896, notifying Brown of his election to Phi Beta Kappa; C.B. Clawborne; Fanny Cook; Joseph Cohn; Margaret C. Cabell, N.F. Cabell; and P.H. Cabell.

There is an afterwards from his grandmother Eliza Callaway.

Items concern copies of letters which Brown had ordered.

Items concern dues to the American Historical Association, enclosed in the letter.

These items include the papers of Alexander Brown in his capacity as justice of the peace of Nelson County, Virginia. Included is a notice signed by Alexander Brown Justice of the Peace of Nelson Co. authorizing the patrolling of Negro quarters and other places suspected of unlawful assemblies of slaves, 19 Sept. 1857.[This must be another Alexander Brown as he was only 14 years old at the time].

Some correspondents include Clifford Cabell, A letter, 29 July 1867, from L. M. Blackford, N.Y., commenting on the attitude of the Radicals and a letter, 17 Jan. 1849, from Wm. M. Cabell to his uncle Mayo Cabell commenting on Louis Napoleon's election to the Presidency of France and on the California gold rush

Some items included are a letter, 23 April 1864, from Jno. H. Daniell, a Confederate soldier in Early's Division to Mayo Cabell and letters, 20 Sept. 1867 and 10 Jan. 1868, from Thomas W. Gilmer, Fredericksburg, to Mayo Cabell about Texas land values.

Some items included are a letter, 29 April 1865, from Martin & Cardoza, Richmond, Virginia to Mayo Cabell reporting damage in the burning of Richmond.

Scrapbook contains reviews of The Genesis of the United States,and the author's reply to critics of The First Republic in America,as well as newspaper clippings of reviews of his books.

Included in these items are autobiographical notes on Brown.

Items include four letters, 1852 and 1853,from Mayo Cabell to his son William D. Cabell, a student at the University of Virginia.

Items were written upon Brown's election to membership.

Letters concern notification of membership and general correspondence.

Letters concern notification of membership and general correspondence.

Letters concern notification of membership and general correspondence.

Letters concern confirmation of membership onto Brown; and legal and business correspondence.

Letter concerns rumors of Brown's political activities while serving as postmaster.

Letter informs Brown that he has been elected as a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Letters concern notification of Brown of the Doctor of Laws degree awarded him by the College of William and Mary.

Letters are in regards to copper mining and property.

Letters include one, 28 Dec. 1876, regarding a country estate, mining property, and the proposed Clifton Forge Railroad to connect the canal and Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad.

Letters mostly concerning mining.

Among the correspondents is William C. Rives of Cobham, Virginia, Newport, Rhode Island, and Washington, D.C.

Item includes corrections by the author.

Items concern Taylor's purchase of Brown's paper, New Views of Early Virginia History,1606-1619.

Items include legal papers regarding Brown's being adjudged bankrupt, 1873.

Letter concerns Mrs. Caroline A. Cabell, giving consent to Brown's marriage with her daughter Kate.

Letters were written to Brown upon the occasion of his father's death.

Items concern the administering of the estate of Mrs. Lucy S. Brown.

Bonds were held by P.A. Gilmer for produce sold to the Army.

List details winter clothes needed for 62 slaves, 8 house servants, and 54 field hands.

Letter from the Nacogdoches, Texas law firm regarding lands held by a group of Virginians.

Papers include those of Capt. Paul Stratton and others.

Notebook contains questions relating to history kept by A.M. Morrell of Norwood High School.

Letters and postcards are from Edgar Whitehead, Amherst Court House, regarding tin mining with references to Boise, Idaho, western lands, and climate.

Item regards Brown's book The First Republic in America.

The inside cover of the ledger lists the terms of the partnership and distributor in Richmond, Virginia.

Manuscript Includes:

Notes on shipping to Virginia, 1606-1625,listing name of ship, dates of sailing and arrival, captain, etc.

Manuscript copies of A True and Sincere Declaration &c,1610.(a copy made in the British Museum for Brown);

Virginia Reviewedby George Donne, 1637;

The Discourse of the old Company of Virginia,1625.(printed in Virginia History Society Magazine,1893-1894);

and A Short Collection of the Most Remarkable Passages from Origin to the Dissolution of the Virginia Company(London 1651).

Biographical / historical:

Born at Glenwood, Nelson County, Virginia, Alexander Brown was deafened while serving in the Confederate Army in the explosion of a powder-boat near Fort Fisher, N.C. He married Caroline Augusta Cabell and after her death, Sarah Randolph Cabell. He was the author of The Genesis of the United States,The First Republic in America,The Cabells and Their Kinand other works.

Acquisition information:
Purchased: 2,914 items, 05/06/1941. Gift: 5 items, 05/22/1944. Gift: 30 items, 05/09/1946.
Arrangement:

This inventory has been organized into ten series: 1. Correspondence of Alexander Brown; 2. Business Reciepts of Alexander Brown; 3. Business Reciepts and Papers of Various Members of the Cabell Family; 4. Papers of Mayo Cabell; 5. Papers concerning the books written by Alexander Brown; 6. Bills, Reciepts and Papers of Mayo Cabell and His Son; 7. Correspondence of Alexander Brown; 8. Miscellaneous Materials of Alexander Brown; 9. Papers of R. L. Brown, the son of Alexander Brown; 10. Page Proofs of the Books Written by Alexander Brown.

Physical description:
2,949 items.
Note:

Originals are located in the Massachusetts Historical Society.