Search

This collection of historic manuscripts dates from 1607-1933, with the bulk of materials dating from 1738-1868. The correspondence, journals and diaries, legal and financial records, estate documents, and printed ephemera in the collection primarily relate to the Washington and Custis families, the Revolutionary War, and society life in antebellum Washington D.C. and Virginia.

Papers, 1768-1817, of Andrew Lindamood, of Shenandoah County, Va. Includes accounts and a deed, 18 August 1789, signed by Beverley Randolph, governor of Virginia, granting land in Shenandoah County.

Correspondence, 1756-1764, of Maria Carter Armistead (including letters written by Mrs. Thomas Feilde); business papers, 1782-1828, of William Cocke of "Bremo," Henrico County, Virginia and of "Oakland," Cumberland County, Virginia; and letters, 1861-1863, of William Fauntleroy Cocke, Thomas Lewis Preston Cocke and Edmund Randolph Cocke concerning their service in the Confederate States Army (including the Battle of First Bull Run).

Accounts, 1752-1786, of Benjamin Layman, Shenandoah County, Va.; and accounts, 1788-1815, concerning Layman's estate kept by Godfrey Wilkin, his executor.

Letters, chiefly 1765-1817, of the Blair, Banister, Braxton, Horner, and Whiting families. Correspondents include John Blair (1732-1800), Anne (Blair) Banister and Mary (Blair) Braxton Burwell Prescott. Many of the letters are written by women.

Papers, 1770-1875, of the Blow family of "Tower Hill," Sussex County, Va. and of the Waller family. Prominent correspondents in the collection include Philip Barraud, John Hartwell Cocke, Henry Lee and Edmund Ruffin. Most of these accessions were integrated as the collection was partially processed, but some are boxed separately.

The Borland, Green, and Godwin families are related in the following manner. George Godwin, son of Jeremiah Godwin, married Fanny Green (whose mother was Mary (Giles) Green) in 1805. Dr. Thomas Wood Borland (d. 1830 or 1831), father of Roscius Cicero Borland, married Harriott Godwin, daughter of Jeremiah Godwin and Sarah (Wilkinson) Godwin.

This collection contains documents relating to the Brafferton Estate as it impacted the College of William and Mary such as accounts, decrees, correspondence, biographical material on Robert Boyle, 20th century material on the search for information about the Brafferton Estate, and other material. The collection includes both original documents and copies of documents.

Papers of four generations of the Campbell family of Orange Co., Va. including correspondence of William Campbell (1755-1823). His papers pertain to Revolutionary pensions, bounty land claims, the War of 1812, his superintendency of the Virginia State Penitentary, and his estate and includes a diary of a trip to Kentucky in 1798. There are also papers (correspondence and accounts) of his wife, Mrs. Susan Campbell and their children. The collection includes papers of the Graves family and correspondence, medical accounts, military orders and reports of Dr. William S. Parran who served in the 13th Virginia Regiment of Confederate States Army at the battles of Bull Run, Cedar Mountain and who was killed at Antietam. Correspondents of Parran include A. P. Hill and John Letcher and there is one letter, 1861, concerning Thomas Jonathan Jackson.

Papers, 1765-1922, of the Carpenter family of Rockingham County, Virginia. Includes papers of John Carpenter, William Carpenter and Thomas W. Carpenter. Includes letters, 1837, from Tennessee; and letters, 1851-1853, from Missouri; Confederate currency; accounts, 1810-1817, of C. T. Jones with Doctor John B. Botts; the will of Godfrey Hoge of Philadelphia; and a manuscript recipe booklet, ca. 1800.