Collections : [University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.]

The Cocke- ElliotFamily papers contain ca. 15,000 items (41 Hollinger boxes, ca. 17 linear feet and four oversize folders), ca. 1773-1992, and consist largely of personal and family correspondence, financial and legal papers, memorabilia, bound volumes, and genealogical and historical research material pertaining to the Cocke, Elliot, and related families from the colonial period through the twentieth century, assembled by John Page Elliot.

Four letters, 1846-1860, chiefly concerning the family of Philip St. George Cocke. In her letter of February 9, 1846, Courtney Barraudof Norfolkwrites her cousin, John Bowdoin Cocke, that she has heard about "the big house" being begun and knows that "cousin Philip" will be very busy as "no one ever was more totally emersed in building." This refers to the onset of the construction of " Belmead" in Powhatan County, designed by architect Alexander Jackson Davis, based on a suggestion by Philip St. George Cocke. From the newly erected " Belmead, " a letter dated March 15, 1848 from Sally Elizabeth Courtney Bowdoin Cocketo her son, John Bowdoin Cocke, who was enrolled at Bremo Academyin Fluvanna County, mentions his father's meeting with "a Committee appointed to make arrangements for building a new Ct House." Richard F. Wilson's letter on March 23, 1857 is in answer to a request from [ John Hartwell Cocke] in Green County, Alabama, concerning the replanting of cedar trees according to Cocke's direction and clearing the graveyard at Mount Pleasant. He mentions a cenotaph, designed by Alexander Jackson Davis, on which was inscribed the names of members of the Cocke family buried at Mount Pleasantin Surry County. In an undated letter to her father, Philip St. George Cocke, Louisiana Barraud Cockeis apparently defending Richard Byrd Kennon, whom she married on June 21, 1860; she relates that she "asserted my pride & dignity as a woman should" by speaking to Kennon about the conversation between him and her father, and that she is satisfied that he is sincere and that she has not been "the dupe of anybody." This letter may have been written in September 1860 as it seems related to the letter dated September 19, 1860 by Kennon ( >#640, Box 63) in which he refers to a resolution "taken at the request of one whom I now hold dearer than life itself."

This collection consists of ten electrostatic copies of letters, 1858-1859, and 1874, from Edward Troye(1808-1874), to General John Hartwell Cocke(1780-1866), Dr. Cary Charles Cocke(1814-1888), and John Bowdoin Cocke(1836-1889), and from Philip St. George Cocke(1809-1861) to John Hartwell Cocke, and Dr. Cary Charles Cocke.

These twelve letters, 1858-1879, and n.d., pertain chiefly to the family and estate of Philip St. George Cocke. Topics of interest include Belmead, the Civil War, and the University of Virginia. Typed transcripts are available for the majority of these letters.